One look at my articles and social posts and you can probably tell I’m a bit of a podcast nut these days. I wasn’t for a long time. In fact, up until the last 2-3 years, I thought the vast majority of podcasts were terrible. (Well, I still think that, but there are more good ones now that people have figured out how to produce good audio products, but my quirks about sound production are a different post for a different day.)
The reason I steered clear of podcast for so long is my first job out of college was a network radio producer and reporter. I produced ABC Sports broadcasts, and was briefly the associate producer for The Fabulous Sports Babe from 1996-1998. When you’re producing one of the top five syndicated radio shows in the world right out of college, you tend to think every attempt at an audio production is shit.
Aside from building my own podcast, which is rekindling my enthusiasm for good audio products, I’ve added a number of podcasts to my must-listen list each week. Thanks to my partnership with Podchaser, I’ve got a great place to follow and organize shows without having to subscribe to them all and clutter my phone’s memory with downloads. I can stream right on Podchaser, or know when a new episode of a show is up, so I can just grab it for a listen on a car ride or while I tinker around the house.
In the world of Influence Marketing, there are a number of really good podcasts, too. I’d like to think Winfluence – The Influence Marketing Podcast is one. But it certainly isn’t the only one. Because I know some of you might be interested in influencer marketing perspectives beyond mine, and many of you enjoy podcasts, I thought I’d share my list of 12 podcasts influencer marketing practitioners shouldn’t miss. (In random order, not ranked.)
The Influencer Podcast
Host: Julie Solomon
Frequency: Weekly
Average Length: 35 minutes
Julie Solomon‘s weekly interview series focuses on practical advice for influencers and content creators. The occasional episode will also look at the practice from the brand or agency perspective as well.
Recent topics include getting unstuck with your content creativity, way to create more impact and sales and pitching and messaging tips.
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Stitcher
Maximize Your Social Influence
Host: Neal Schaffer
Frequency: Weekly
Average Length: 21 minutes
My pal Neal Schaffer does a great job of teaching influence marketing techniques, talking to people who are practitioners and helping businesses navigate the practice. But he goes beyond influence marketing into more social media techniques and digital marketing advice, too. He’s the author of The Age of Influence, so you can probably guess Neal and I are fairly like-minded.
Recent episodes include one that focused on Real Estate influence, where CMOs should invest in 2021, the importance of influencer collaboration and Neal’s marketing tech tool stack for the new year.
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Google Podcasts
Onalytica’s #LinkedInLive Recordings
Host: Tim Williams (CEO) and Sarah Goodall (Tribal Impact)
Frequency: Monthly/Infrequent
Average Length: 45 minutes
Onalytica is an influencer marketing software company and they’ve started and stopped podcasts a couple of times now. They recently posted the audio from their LinkedIn Live interviews to an old podcast feed and I, for one, hope they continue to do so because the conversations are quite useful.
CEO Tim Williams usually participates as well as Sarah Goodall from Tribal Impact. If they keep this interview series up, this could be a handy listen.
Subscribe: LinkedIn | Soundcloud
The Marketing Book Podcast
Host: Douglas Burdette
Frequency: Weekly
Average Length: 60 minutes
While not specific to influence marketing, Douglas Burdette’s Marketing Book Podcast is a gem for any business. He interviews authors of new books in the marketing space. (I’ll be on a future episode.) Regardless of the book or the author, all of us—influencers, brand or agency folks—can glean some good knowledge. He’s kind of a Cliff’s Notes for podcasting!
Recent episodes featured Bob Regnerus (The Ultimate Guide to Facebook Advertising), Amanda Russell (who we heard from when her book The Influencer Code launched), and Robert Glazer (Friday Forward).
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Stitcher | Spotify
YouTube Creators Hub
Host: Dusty Porter
Frequency: Weekly
Average Length: 30 minutes
YouTube certified host Dusty Porter talks to successful influencers from the platform about how they built their channels, tools they use to manage their content and beyond.
Recent episodes include chats with science and math education channel creator Matthew Tabor, Edris from Beyond the Game TV and Nikki from The Deal Finding Diva channel.
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Stitcher
Influence
Host: Jake Adam Davey
Frequency: Weekly
Average Length: 38 minutes
For influencers and strategists looking to get deeper insight into Instagram influencers specifically, Jake Adam Davey‘s Influence podcast is a strong offering. He actually focuses more broadly on entrepreneurship and marketing tactics, but it’s often put through an Instagram influence filter.
Recent episodes feature guests talking about goal-setting, Instagram predictions for 2021 and ways to increase Instagram engagement.
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Spotify
The Accidental Creative
Host: Todd Henry
Frequency: Twice weekly
Average Length: 21 minutes
I’ve listened to Todd Henry’s Accidental Creative for a few years now. He not only offers up super helpful advice to expand your creative output and manage things like your time, but interviews the occasional guest with similar advice and ideas. I also love that episodes are fairly short and concise, so I can keep up without having to commit 45-minutes to an hour to learn something.
Recent episodes cover career advice, leadership, handling pressure and how to freelance.
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts
SocialPros Podcast
Hosts: Jay Baer and Adam Brown
Frequency: Weekly
Average Length: 45 minutes
My pals Jay Baer and Adam Brown (of Salesforce) dig in deep with professionals in the social media industry on SocialPros. That often means brand-side marketers and agency types of work all or part of the time in influence marketing. (I mean, influence marketing is kind of becoming a part of all marketing now). The guests, combined with the experience and perspective Jay and Adam bring to the table means you’re going to learn good stuff every single show.
Recent episodes focused on diversity, how Walmart empowers local stores with social media and debunking myths about video content. Look for me as a guest soon, too!
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher
6 Figure Influencer
Host: Cloris Kylie
Frequency: Weekly
Average Length: 24 minutes
Cloris Kylie has a nice show for influencers and brands alike. Through interviews with industry thought leaders and her own perspectives, she helps influencers learn how to better grow their reach, connect with their audience and build their influence. She also helps brands figure out how to measure and value influencer campaigns.
Her most recent episodes include an interview with David Newman on how to gain influence as a speaker, how to pitch and get placed on podcasts and tracking influencer marketing.
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Stitcher
New Age Influencers
Host: Aaron Patton
Frequency: Twice weekly
Average Length: 34 minutes
The purpose of Aaron Patton’s podcast is reportedly to help represent influencers in a more positive light. I’m all for that. The majority of the content is focused on helping online entrepreneurs (i.e. influencers) grow their business and improve their presence.
Recent episodes include a rundown of the new social network Clubhouse, how to use online content to boost your professional life and optimizing a monetization workflow.
Marketing Smarts
Host: Kerry Gorgone
Frequency: Weekly
Average Length: 30 minutes
Another broad marketing podcast, but one that is super useful, Marketing Smarts delivers just that. Host Kerry Gorgone brings the players and sayers from the marketing world to help businesses and brands understand the world of marketing from the professional (and professorial) standpoint.
Recent episodes covered humanizing your brand, storytelling, building customer loyalty and customer service.
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Spotify
The Influencer Marketing Lab
Host: Scott Guthrie
Frequency: Weekly
Average Length: 36 minutes
Scott Guthrie’s Influencer Marketing Lab podcast is perhaps the most like Winfluence in that he interviews a lot of players in the overall industry. From software company executives to brand managers and a few influencers themselves, Scott is well connected in the influencer space in Great Britain. I had the honor of being on a discussion segment with him at last year’s Influencer Marketing Show.
His most recent guests include Cody Eastmond of Science Magic Inc.; Dr. Sevil Yesiloglu, a senior lecturer at London College of Communication and editor of a new influencer marketing book; and Emily Trenouth, the head of influencer marketing at MediaCom.
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher
NOTE: I’ve added a 13th podcast (and then a 14th) in the weeks after this article first went live. Neal Schaffer, whose main podcast is on this list, and Amanda Russell, launched The School of Influence about the same time this published. While as of this addition, they only have five episodes, both have written very good books about influence marketing and interview notable people in the influencer space. Amanda, in particular, has connections in Hollywood and the entertainment industry that will bring an interesting guest or two to the table you might not see on some of the others, so it’s well worth following along as well.
And then Talking Influence, perhaps the best source of industry news out of the United Kingdom, launched their own podcast in late February, so I had to add them, too. If someone else comes up with a great one, I’ll just do another list. Ha!
The School of Influence
Hosts: Amanda Russell and Neal Schaffer
Frequency: Weekly
Average Length: 28 minutes
Amanda Russell and Neal Schaffer both published books on influence marketing a few months before mine hit shelves. Both have insightful and thoughtful perspectives on the space and work with interesting clients on influence strategies. The two of them collaborating on a podcast is sure to be worth hearing, so they brilliantly launched The School of Influence in early 2021.
While their show is very new as of this writing, I’ve enjoyed their interviews with influencers, entrepreneurs and brand marketers—not to mention Russell’s pal Andy Roddick—about the topic. Amanda’s entertainment industry connections will surely equate to unique guests, so I’m excited about future episodes, for sure.
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher
Talking Influence Podcast
Hosts: Neve Fear-Smith
Frequency: Weekly
Average Length: 26 minutes
Talking Influence, the publication associated with the Influencer Marketing Show and the Influencer Marketing Awards, started its podcast in late February of 2021 with a nice twist on the topics. It asks notable people from the influencer marketing industry what influences them personally, professionally and what influences their future.
As of this update, there’s only been one episode, but it is very interesting and their content is always top-notch, so subscribe away!
Subscribe: Google Podcasts | Spotify
You can also follow my Influence Marketing Podcasts list on Podchaser. Any podcast I find I try to include there.
So, what are your favorite podcasts? Tell me about them in the comments. And don’t limit it to influencer marketing ones! I’m always looking for good listens. Do tell!
Note: Photo by Austin Distel on Unsplash
Subscribe to Winfluence
Don’t miss my own podcast on influence marketing: Winfluence – The Influence Marketing Podcast. Twice weekly, I interview brand marketers, agency strategists, software executives and the occasional influencer to help you separate using influencers from actually influencing. We share the stories, campaigns, ideas and strategies that make influence marketing a strategic driver for your business.