Winfluence - The Influence Marketing Podcast

You already know we focus our attention here on influence marketing. That encompasses what many traditionally think of as influencer marketing (with the R) where a brand finds a social media content creator with a large audience to post about their product or service. We expand that conversation to include anyone with influence … social media followers be damned … to help communicate your message....

We’ve got a little holiday feed drop you today. I know many of you may not pick up the podcast player during this yule tide season or even on until the New Year, but if you’re like me you get through the festiveness and overeating and need a little alone time with a good podcast. Of course many of you will be traveling … perhaps with family or alone to see family. Some of you will be driving for a...

It’s hard to have a conversation about influencer marketing software platforms and companies without talking about IZEA. IZEA Worldwide is a publicly traded company on the NASDAQ. Annual revenues are thought to be in the $20 million range. As of the end of 2021 its revenue was actually up 96% year over year. Not bad for a little idea called Sponsored Posts that Ted Murphy dreamed up at what was es...

The world of content creators is far more diverse that you think. I’ve personally worked with influential voices who produce furniture, pour concrete, sell steel cages in warehouses … there are creators out there for every niche and business vertical.  Occasionally on Winfluence, we like to bring a content creator on the show to explore how they built their brand, but, for our brand and agency fol...

In the context of influencer marketing, there’s a big difference between an influencer and a celebrity. My definition of that difference has always been that an influencer is someone who built an audience on social media by creating content on social media. A celebrity is someone who built an audience on social media because of something else. They’re an actor. Or singer. Or politician. Or athlete...

We’ve talked frequently on Winfluence about the pay gap in influence marketing, both as it refers to gender and race. We’ve also spent some time with some amazing people discussing the issues of inclusivity, diversity and equity. But I don’t think anyone would say we have done so enough. It’s important for all of us to continue to discuss these issues to ensure all parties at the table in influenc...

Yes, this is a special edition of the program. This episode should drop on the Wednesday of Thanksgiving week here in the United States. So most of us are welcoming family to the house, or visiting relatives at theirs, readying for turkey and ham and, of course, Thanksgiving Day American football.  But many of us have either can’t distract ourselves from thinking about work for a four- or five-day...

Content creators and influencers typically receive payment for their work. It’s an exchange of goods and services. The brand pays them, sometimes in cash, other times in product or other valued items. In turn, the creator creates. The influencer recommends, and so on. The nature of that exchange of goods and services means the government is going to want their share. Whether you’re in the United S...

I’ve been doing this for more than 15 years now. No, not podcasting. That’s about the last 4-5 years or so and just two years so far on this particular show. But I’ve been doing this social media, digital marketing, influencer marketing talking head thing for a long time.  The first time anyone really took notice of what I was saying was when I started reviewing and talking about social media moni...

If there’s one type of influencer or content creator that I am asked to find more than others these days, it’s the performance-based, affiliate-type of micro or nano influencer that can just drive sales. It make sense that most businesses, particularly direct to consumer brands, would rather skip the high cost, awareness influencer types and just drive revenue. Unfortunately, it’s not easy to iden...

There are dozens of different types of influencers. The two that often get the most grief are the superficial fashion and beauty, maybe food and lifestyle influencers that I like to call the peace sign, duck lips crowd. The other are the self-promoting talking head types in the B2B space … often fraught with marketing nerds like me. They don’t seem to have clients or case studies, but they claim e...

When you pull back from the narrow focus of influence and influence marketing and look at marketing and advertising overall, the linchpin to being successful in any of this stuff we call a job or career is understanding consumers. The first rule of any type of communications is to know your audience. If you don’t know them, or don’t start there, you’re creating a long way to the goal rather than a...

Did you know that 41 percent of Americans 12 and older have listened to a podcast in the last month? Twenty-six percent have listened in the last week. That’s 74 million people.  And of the people who listen each week, they average hearing eight podcasts.  All that information is from The Infinite Dial. It is the annual social media and audio listening habits research provided by Edison Research....

For those of you out there who are content creators, whether you call yourself an influencer or not, you know I am a loud champion of owned channels. I harp on the fact that you can’t rely on the social networks … borrowed channels … for your content or audience forever. You need to have your own website. Your own email newsletter and list. Perhaps your own podcast. I do talk about podcasting a lo...

You're starting to hear a theme emerge in a lot of influencer marketing industry predictions and trends talk, it's been there but seems to be getting louder. The word or phrase I'm referring to is "data-driven." Most of your influencer marketing platforms have that verbiage in their marketing literature because marketing decision makers like you respond to it. Data means more insights, more predic...

If you read the tea leaves of the conversations people are having about social media channels these days, you’d probably think TikTok was dominant, Instagram was struggling, YouTube was relevant and everything else was dead. But the way the conversations go and reality aren’t always aligned.  HubSpot published two reports over the last couple of months specific to Instagram. One was its 2022 Insta...

Influencer marketing software is a hell of a lot of confusing. There are platforms that do everything … help you find, prioritize, analyze, select, book, contract, collaborate, review, measure and even pay creators. Then there are softwares that do just one of those things. And some that do 2-3 of those tasks. Then there are managed services that will do all or part of the full process for you. Bu...

The world of social media and content is changing … again. It does that every so often. Unfortunately. more often than we probably care for it do so. Where Instagram, then Instagram Stories were the content du jour for influencers and, thus brands, a year or so ago, now our focus is on snack-able, vertical video. Thanks TikTok. Actually, platforms like TikTok, Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts ar...

Winfluence was nominated to be a part of Guru Events' Top 50 Marketing Podcasts of 2022. Now, the creators have arranged for four shows at a time to go up against one another in an NCAA Tournament-style bracket to determine which is (allegedly) the top podcast for the year in the category. Winfluence is up this week against three other great podcasts, but is far behind in the voting. Get out and v...

The world of content creators is deep and wide. There exists literally at least one creator for almost every interest or niche out there. Part of what I love about being an influence marketing strategist is discovering new, interesting, creative people who connect with audiences in fun ways. If they make sense to work with a client I’m helping, I get super excited. In addition to the diversity of...

You regular listeners are probably wondering what’s up with an episode drop on a Thursday. We’ve gotten into a nice weekly rhythm here on Winfluence. But today, I have a treat for you. We’re going to drop in on an episode from The Business Storytelling Podcast hosted by my friend Christoph Trappe. He’s a smart content marketing guy who, as his show’s title might imply, focuses on storytelling for...

The primary reason I like to interview people about this wild, wonderful world we work in is that I know I don’t know everything. Even though we talk about a lot of the topics that I consider myself fairly well schooled or experienced with, someone else always brings a different perspective to the table. It’s the accumulation of those different perspectives that I feel makes me, and I suppose, you...

Does the name Sam Farha mean anything to you? If it does, you’re probably a fan of poker. Farha is a rather famous professional poker player. He is most know, however, for a hand he lost. In 2003 Farha was on the verge of elimination from the World Series of Poker Texas Hold ‘Em Main Event … the one you typically see on ESPN. In fact the 2003 tournament, and Sam Farha’s role in it, helped make tel...

Winfluence is not a podcast about podcasts. There are plenty of those out there. I listen to 2-3 to keep myself informed about the tips and tricks, ideas and innovations in the space. There are far more qualified people out there sharing that type of content specific to genre. Podcasts, however, are content creations of content creators who leverage those mechanisms to build audiences and influenc...

This is episode 178 of Winfluence. I don’t typically count or even add the episode number to the shows because I’ve always thought episode numbers were more of an internal cataloging system for the podcaster and listeners don’t care.  I keep track, but it’s easier to just search for the guest or topic on my website or even the podcast apps than have to remember numbers. Thanks to mobile phones, wh...