Blog

Words matter. Perhaps now more than ever. Why? Largely because the proliferation of information and content has forced all of us into attention deficit disorder consumption. We skim. We thumb scroll. We let our short attention span perceptions shift our understanding of the world around us without stopping to think. So words matter. If you […]

The world of live is taking over social media. There are hundreds, if not thousands of live stream programs happening all across Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Twitter and LinkedIn. Add to that SnapChat, TikTok and now Amazon Live, then add in the live stream platforms like Twitch, Only Fans and beyond. What’s hot is what’s live. […]

What if I told you that you didn’t need to use influencers to grow your brand? At least not the way we often think of influencers. Imagine you could get people to endorse and post about your brand online without spending a dime and without giving away product? Sam Malone has figured out how to […]

I’m exploring something new on this episode of the podcast. Each Monday, as I have the time to do so, I’m going to post a shorter episode that isn’t an interview, but my take on an issue within influence and influence marketing that has been on my mind. In some cases, like today, the topic […]

It’s been a bit since we’ve talked to an influencer about their journey, their approach to monetization and their advice for brands and other influencers on how to do this influence thing. Today, we’re going to spend some time with Heather Watson.  She’s the person behind Her Kentucky. Yeah, I asked Heather to come on […]

We’ve probably over-done the conversation on this show lately about fake influencers — at least in the context of those who fraudulently buy followers and engagement to appear more influential than they really are. But there’s another kind of fake influencer out there that is potentially more frightening than the first. In case you aren’t […]

We’re up to over 60 episodes of this podcast since it shifted to be totally focused on influence marketing and in that span we’ve talked to a lot of the executives at various influencer marketing software platforms. We asked many of them point-blank questions about how they’re dealing with influencer fraud. Most of them put […]

There are a handful of books in the market now about influencer marketing, beyond my humble entry into the space. We’ve talked to Neal Schaffer and Amanda Russell who both have books out on the topic. A few episodes back, we even spoke to the Professors — Joyce Costello and Sevil Yesiloglu, who edited the […]

What brands typically ask of influencers, and what influencers frequently ask of brands is broken. Influencer marketing agencies and software companies, especially those that are managed services, aren’t helping. And there’s an interesting contradiction to be found in the reason. Ask any influencer or company invested in influencer marketing what the primary benefit of the […]

If you look at what is happening with the upper echelon of social media content creators — influencers if you will — they’re beginning to seize opportunities to return to the older mediums. Vikrant Mathur is facilitating that return. His company Future Today partners with high-volume YouTubers and content creators to build branded apps for […]

Kelsey Formost spent a decade or so in an out of movies and television. She was in a film with Zac Ephron, had a guest spot on Modern Family, was also a successful screenwriter in show business as well. Today, she’s the director of content strategy for Tagger, an end-to-end influencer marketing solution.  It was […]

The world of talent management can seem a little unsettling if you don’t understand its function. I know the first time I ever reached out to an influential person online and was passed off to an agent-type, it was kind of a turn off. But as I grew to understand the role of a talent […]