Winfluence - The Influence Marketing Podcast

One of the fascinating new trends in the influencer space is that of influencer houses. You may have heard The Hype House, probably the biggest example in the U.S., is queued up for a Netflix distribution deal after starting on social media channels. There’s another in the U.S. called the Sway House, yet another called Club Beverly Hills.  The concept borrows from the original reality TV show -- T...

I’ve had the good fortune to have built a respectable audience over the years, creating and sharing content on social networks, writing blog posts and articles, speaking at conferences and the like. My primary platform for much of that time has been Twitter. And the way I built a nice following there was by sharing good content. At one point in time I actually wrote the following on a sheet of pap...

Nothing gets me excited quite like finding like minded people who are interested in and knowledgeable about the same things I am and having a good conversation. That’s why I started this podcast. I feel like I eat, sleep and breathe influence marketing these days. So I love talking to smart people who do the same. Henry Langer is one of those people. He’s the vice-president of customer success at...

When the first inklings of what we have come to call influencer marketing emerged in the late 2000s, Instagram, TikTok and SnapChat didn’t exist. Facebook was actually barely a thing at that point, because only college-tied emails initially earned access to the platform. YouTube existed, but web video was still complicated and cost-prohibitive for the masses. Influencer marketing back then was pri...

It’s pretty obvious that you believe in the power of podcasting. Or at least you’re willing to give it a shot or you wouldn’t be listening to this, right? Yes, podcasts are a great way for someone like me to share ideas and interview interesting people for people like you. Ideally, you find the episodes helpful and get smarter about influence marketing. But what switch needs to be flipped for you...

People don’t solve problems in a vacuum. At least most people don’t. Problems are usually solved when two or more people get together and collaborate on ideas. That’s the nugget of truth behind the concept of networking. You get together with others to share ideas, but also challenges, tapping into the crowd for resources, solutions and suggestions. Jessy Grossman knows the power of networking. Sh...

There is a force at play in the influencer marketing space that puts the entire industry in danger. If that force isn’t reckoned with, and soon, the practice of leveraging individual content creators with attractive audiences on social networks for brands will die. This particular group isn’t killing influencer marketing intentionally, mind you. But they’re treating the space we all know and love...

What’s the sexiest medical device you can think of? I recently discovered that eyeglasses are technically considered a medical device. And that puts them squarely in the crosshairs of style and fashion. Marissa Cundiff is the vice-president of marketing for Kenmark Eyewear, a manufacturer that supplies some of the most recognizable sunglass and eyeglass collections in the world. Vera Wang. Lilly P...

Last month the Screen Actors Guild and American Federation of Television and Radio Artists or SAG-AFTRA in the trade, unveiled a plan to account for influencers in its union. My initial take was applause for the move because it meant that an influencer or content creator now had at least a path to health benefits and pensions they don’t normally have as independent entities. As it turns out, the p...

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 see a headline that says “more than half of instagram infl...

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. In case you didn't know, I host a live stream interview show more bro...

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 do that. He is the founder and CEO of Guru Club. It started out as an exclusive, invite only influencer m...

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 is going to be inspired by something I’ve written, either at JasonFalls.com, on Entrepreneur.com or elsewhere...

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 the show because she’s in my neck of the woods as we say around here, so she’s t...

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 aware, there is an emerging niche within influencer market...

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 on their sales hat, telling us how their proprietary thingamabob has a tra...

There are a handful of books in the market now about influencer marketing, beyond my humble entry into the space. We’ve talked to Neil Schaffer and Amanda Russel 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 first known college text on the topic. Gordon Glenister has thrown his offering into the mix,...

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 distribution along channels most people consume on the...

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 that perspective of a successful Hollywood actress that begged me to ask her what she...

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 manager — to handle the busy work of influence as a business and let the creator do what the creator does well — I r...

Yet another signal that the influencer marketing space is growing and maturing has emerged. The practice now has its first dedicated college text. The aptly named Influencer Marketing published in November and is edited by professors Sevil Yesiloglu and Joyce Costello, both of whom originally connected as lecturers at Bournemouth University in the United Kingdom. Unlike the influencer marketing bo...

If you've ever talked to an influencer at length about working with brands you inevitably hear horror stories of being asked to work several hours to create great content only to be offered free product samples as payment. That, coupled with the more insidious problem of unfair pay among races and genders and the influencer marketing industry is just screaming for some equilibrium. Enter Lindsey L...

What do you think of when you hear the word “empathy?” The definition of the word is the ability to understand and share the feelings of another. Now, some might equate empathy with psychology and touchy-feely emotional moments. But would you believe that empathy can actually drive better business results? It can even drive more successful influence marketing. Sarah Panus is a veteran brand and so...

At Winfluence, we like to talk to people who have multiple perspectives on the influencer marketing space. Someone who is an influencer but who also does marketing consulting and understands having to select and manage other influencers for brands. Or someone on the brand side who makes those decisions, but is also an influencer for some interest of theirs.  Kelly Olexa brings more than a couple o...

You could argue that one communications discipline that has changed more than others as a result of the world of social media is public relations. is a PR pro who came to the profession at the dawn of the digital area. He is a digital strategist for Golin, one of the larger public relations firms in the U.S. He and I chatted about the media landscape, why some public relations professionals are st...