Since January, 2013, I have been on a mission to help marketers, entrepreneurs, and business owners better leverage social media marketing to grow their business through this podcast, which was originally called Social Business Unplugged and then, after publishing my 3rd book, Maximize Your Social. With the imminent publication of my 4th book, The Age of Influence, the title was further changed in October of 2019 to the current Maximize Your Social Influence podcast.
The current mission of the Maximize Your Social Influence podcast is to:
Help marketers, entrepreneurs, and business owners to grow their business through leveraging digital and social media marketing through the perspective of digital influence.
While more than half of my podcast episodes are solo recordings, over the years I have been honored to interview many thought leaders in the marketing industry, including (clicking on their name will take you directly to their episode):
- John Lee Dumas
- Jay Baer
- Mark Schaefer
- Michael Stelzner
- Joe Pulizzi
- David Meerman Scott
- Matt Navarra
- Carla Johnson
- Amanda Russell
If you would like to be interviewed for my podcast, please complete the application here.
Below are a selection of my latest and popular podcast episodes for your listening pleasure. You can also subscribe to hear all of my episodes on the following platforms:
- iHeart Radio
- Amazon Music
- Pandora
- Overcast
- Podcast Addict
- Castbox
- Stitcher
- Pocket Casts
- PodBean
- PlayerFM
- Breaker
- Deezer
- RadioPublic
- TuneIn
- Castro
- Listen Notes
- Podbay
- Podchaser
Newest Podcast Episodes
193: The Importance of Influencer Collaboration in Building Influence [Amanda Russell Interview]
Amanda Russell, author of The Influencer Code and Professor of Influencer Marketing at the University of Texas, Austin, joins me for a special interview about building influence in today’s digital world. Amanda has an amazing life story of competing at a global level and then starting over from scratch, but her trained skills combined with intuition in seeking relationships with influencers and capitalizing on the opportunities that they brought her has led her to a successful career that my listeners can learn a great deal about influence from.
Our New Podcast!
- The School of Influence Podcast with Amanda Russell and Neal Schaffer: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/school-influence-podcast-amanda-russell-neal-schaffer/id1544198952
Amanda Russell Links:
- The Influencer Code: https://amzn.to/3rEufyI (affiliate)
- Amanda’s Website: https://amandarussell.co/
- Amanda on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/amandarussellfss/
192: My Marketing Technology Toolstack for 2021
This is part 2 (see Ep. 191 for part 1) of an introduction to my recommended marketing technology tools and apps for 2021, including a detailed breakdown of what tools I use and recommend for search engine optimization (SEO), content creation, writer marketplaces and tools, blogger outreach tools, backlink monitoring tools, website analytics, email marketing software, email verification, lead magnet promotion, social media dashboards, video marketing tools, and podcasting tools.
Tools Mentioned in the Episode
SEO Tools
- SEMrush https://nealschaffer.com/semrush (affiliate)
- Ahrefs https://ahrefs.com
- Moz https://moz.com
Content Creation Tools
- Frase https://frase.io
- Clearscope https://clearscope.io
Writer Marketplaces & Tools
- Upwork https://upwork.com
- WriterAccess https://writeraccess.com
- Copyscape https://copyscape.com
Blogger Outreach Tools
- Respona https://respona.com
- Postaga https://postaga.com/
- Apollo https://apollo.io
Backlink Monitor Tools
- Linkody https://www.linkody.com/
- Linkio https://linkio.com
- LinkMiner https://linkminer.com
- Monitor Backlinks https://monitorbacklinks.com/
- Backlink SEO https://backlinkseo.com
Website Analytics
- Google Analytics https://analytics.google.com/
- Wyzant https://www.wyzant.com/
Email Marketing Software
- MailChimp https://mailchimp.com
- MailerLite https://nealschaffer.com/mailerlite (affiliate)
- ConvertKit https://convertkit.com
- ActiveCampaign https://nealschaffer.com/activecampaign (affiliate)
Email Verification Tools
- VoilaNorbert https://voilanorbert.com
Lead Magnet Tools
- OptinMonster https://nealschaffer.com/optinmonster (affiliate)
- LeadPages https://nealschaffer.com/leadpages (affiliate)
- GetSiteControl https://nealschaffer.com/getsitecontrol (affiliate)
Social Media Dashboards
- AgoraPulse https://nealschaffer.com/agorapulse (affiliate)
- Sendible https://nealschaffer.com/sendible (affiliate)
- SocialBee https://nealschaffer.com/socialbee (affiliate)
- Tailwind https://nealschaffer.com/tailwind (affiliate)
Video Marketing Tools
- VidIQ https://vidiq.com/
- Zubtitle https://zubtitle.com/
- Wave.Video https://wave.video/
- Buzzsprout https://
nealschaffer.com/buzzsprout (affiliate) - Whooshkaa https://www.
whooshkaa.com/ - Squadcast https://
nealschaffer.com/squadcast (affiliate) - Chartable https://chartable.
com/
- 191: The Technology and Tools You Need for Your Marketing Infrastructure (Part 1: WordPress Plugins)
- 188: How to Use Podcasting to Expand Your Reach and Land New Customers [Robert Loewenthal Interview]
- 183: Influencer Marketing for Search Engine Optimization: Building Backlinks for SEO
- 179: The What, Why, and How of Podcasting
- 175: Why I am Investing Time in Being Interviewed on 100 Different Podcasts
- 164: How to Skyrocket Your Qualified Organic Traffic [Farzad Rashidi Interview]
- 149: How to Become a Published Author [Lee Constantine from Publishizer Interview]
- 71: Neal’s Fave Social Media Productivity Tips & Tools
- 43: 5 Easy Steps to Get Started Podcasting This Year
- 1: The Biggest Reason You Should Become a Content Creator (and Why I Started this Podcast)
191: The Technology and Tools You Need for Your Marketing Infrastructure (Part 1: WordPress Plugins)
As we approach the end of the year, it’s time to do an audit of our digital and social presence. One of the audits that I recommend you do on an annual basis is for all of the technology you use to support your marketing infrastructure to help you Maximize Your Social Influence. I intended this episode to be more comprehensive, but there are so many tools and apps that I would recommend, after going through Content Management Systems and WordPress plugins, I decided to divide this into a two-part series.
Even if you are not using WordPress or you think you have all of the plugins you need, I highly recommend you give this episode a listen so that you can hear about some functionality that your current website might not have!
Links for Select Tools Mentioned in the Episode:
- Ad Inserter: https://wordpress.org/plugins/ad-inserter/
- CoSchedule: https://nealschaffer.com/coschedule [affiliate link]
- Fanciest Author Box: https://fanciestauthorbox.com/
- Featured Images in RSS for Mailchimp & More: https://wordpress.org/plugins/featured-images-for-rss-feeds/
- Link Whisper: https://nealschaffer.com/linkwhisper [affiliate link – use code neal15 for a 15$ discount]
- LuckyWP Table of Contents: https://wordpress.org/plugins/luckywp-table-of-contents/
- Monarch Plugin: https://www.elegantthemes.com/plugins/monarch/
- OneSignal Push Notifications: https://wordpress.org/plugins/onesignal-free-web-push-notifications/
- PublishPress Revisions: https://wordpress.org/plugins/revisionary/
- Q2W3 Fixed Widget: https://wordpress.org/plugins/q2w3-fixed-widget/
- ShortPixel Image Optimizer: https://wordpress.org/plugins/shortpixel-image-optimiser/
- URL Shortener Pro by MyThemeShop: https://mythemeshop.com/plugins/url-shortener-pro/
- WP Meta and Date Remover: https://wordpress.org/plugins/wp-meta-and-date-remover/
- WP Rocket: https://nealschaffer.com/wprocket [affiliate link]
- Yoast SEO Premium: https://yoast.com/wordpress/plugins/seo/
Previous Episodes Mentioned:
- 187: What If I Told You You Already Had Enough Content to be Successful?
- 91: Announcing the Social Tools Summit
- 71: Neal’s Fave Social Media Productivity Tips & Tools
- 28: How to Audit Your Social Media Presence
190: Can an Introvert Become an Online Influencer? [Bob Gentle Interview]
Is there something holding you or your brand back from digital success? Could it be that you might be a little on the shy side when it comes to a social network, or content medium, or just in general? If so, this is the episode for you! Fellow digital marketing expert is going to help you understand:
- How to move from shy introvert to showing up online
- Why the idea that some people might not like you is a good thing.
- How to best navigate all of the marketing advice and choices you have online into your own context.
This episode will dive into the psychology of how to become a better entrepreneur and marketer online.
Guest Links
- Bob’s Digital Marketing Agency: https://amplifyme.agency/
- Bob’s “The Digital Marketing Entrepreneur Show” podcast: https://amplifyme.agency/podcast/
189: You’re Measuring Social Media ROI All Wrong
Since publishing The Age of Influence, my thoughts on influencer marketing and social media marketing in general continue to evolve. As I prepare for the writing of my next book, I wanted to share with you my latest views on how you and your business can best leverage social media for marketing in 2021 and beyond: By looking at social media as a marketplace for collaboration and strategically moving social media users through your funnel of Social Media Relationships.
188: How to Use Podcasting to Expand Your Reach and Land New Customers [Robert Loewenthal Interview]
A lot of businesses don’t realize that, like blogs, podcasts are not just a personal content medium but can also be used by businesses. To explain the various benefits of podcasting for businesses, I am joined by Robert Loewenthal, Founder and CEO of Whooshkaa, Australia’s leading podcast hosting solution who have been successfully expanding globally as we speak.
Robert will help enlighten you on:
- How some companies are using targeted podcasts as part of their outbound sales and marketing.
- What is a branded podcast?
- How can podcasts help bridge the communication gap during covid?
Episodes mentioned in the show:
179: The What, Why, and How of Podcasting
175: Why I am Investing Time in Being Interviewed on 100 Different Podcasts
Guest Links
- Whooshkaa: https://www.whooshkaa.com/
- Robert Lowenthal on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rob-loewenthal-8a66804/
187: What If I Told You You Already Had Enough Content to be Successful?
We are told that, in order to yield more digital influence and be more successful in digital marketing, that we need to create more and more content, and the more content the better.
But is that really the case?
I will tackle this myth using my own real-life experience and instead help you transition off that hamster wheel of content to something that requires a fraction of the resources and will help you become more successful!
Episodes mentioned in the show:
- 186: Content Marketing: Why It is Now a Business Strategy [Mariah MacInnes Interview]
- 185: Why You Need to Invest in Content Longevity and Discoverability Going Forward
- 183: Influencer Marketing for Search Engine Optimization: Building Backlinks for SEO
- 137: How To Optimize Your Blog Posts For Higher Search Rankings And Stay Ahead Of The Competition
- 129: How Fresh is Your Content? A “Fresh” Look at Content Marketing
186: Content Marketing: Why It is Now a Business Strategy [Mariah MacInnes Interview]
Join me in this interview with “Content Queen” Mariah MacInnes as we go deep into the value that content has for your business. Among other things, Mariah provides a refreshing perspective on:
- the four pillars you can implement into your content strategy so you never run out of content ideas
- how to be more consistent with content creation without it consuming your time
- the actions you need to take to ensure you get more engagement with your content online
Guest Links:
- Mariah’s Website: https://www.contentqueenmariah.com/
- Mariah’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/contentqueen_mariah/
- Mariah’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mariahmacinnes/
185: Why You Need to Invest in Content Longevity and Discoverability Going Forward
As we close out a year and enter a new one, it’s time to holistically look at our digital and social media marketing strategy.
If content is the currency of digital and social media, where should we be investing our content creation efforts going forward?
Here’s my advice, where I really juxtapose social media with all other content in terms of longevity and discoverability to give you a clear picture as to where to get the biggest bang for your marketing buck going forward.
Episodes Mentioned in the Show:
184: Why Understanding Your Audience’s Pain Point is the Secret to Digital Success [Mitchell Levy Interview]
Today’s special guest is Mitchell Levy, global authority on credibility and the author of the brand new book Credibility Nation. In this episode Mitchell breaks down why understanding your customer’s pain point is the key to success in digital and social media, specifically:
- Why whatever you do in digital and social media, your messaging should be focused on your audience and not yourself
- How to create an audience-centric mindset
- How to revise your digital and social media marketing strategy with your audience in mind
Guest Links
- Mitchell Levy’s Website: https://mitchelllevy.com/
- Credibility Nation on Amazon: https://amzn.to/37FMegx [affiliate]
- Credibility Nation Memberships: https://lifelonglearning.credibilitynation.com/
183: Influencer Marketing for Search Engine Optimization: Building Backlinks for SEO
You’re blogging – check. You’re doing your keyword research and focusing on competitive keywords – check. You’re optimizing all of your blog posts for SEO – check.
You’re probably doing all of the above, but you’re still not ranking in Google – why?
That is exactly the situation I was in until I embarked on doing some research. And from that research, I have come to some conclusions.
The final frontier of SEO and ranking in search engines is in generating backlinks. And if you want to generate backlinks you need to be proactive in doing so.
This episode will hopefully be an eye-opener for you as I introduce my own research and methodology so that you can maximize your own social influence.
Episodes Mentioned in the Show:
- 181: How to Optimize Your Content Publishing on Your Blog and Social Media
- 177: The 11 Blogging Mistakes Your Business _Might_ Be Making
- 160: SEO and Social: Honing the Skills Needed for a Modern Marketer [Cyrus Shepard Interview]
- 137: How To Optimize Your Blog Posts For Higher Search Rankings And Stay Ahead Of The Competition
Reference Links:
- My Instagram: https://instagram.com/nealschaffer
- SEMrush: https://nealschaffer.com/semrush (affiliate)
- Brandon Gailie’s The Blogging Millionaire Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-blogging-millionaire/id1072931592
- Neil Patel: https://neilpatel.com
182: How Networking Helps You Scale Your Business [Philip VanDusen Interview]
Join me for this insightful interview with branding guru, fellow podcaster, and YouTube influencer Philip VanDusen. We talk all about the power of networking and the impact it can have on your business, especially as we are in the midst of this coronarvirus pandemic. Some of the things we discussed include:
- How the pandemic has effected our decision-making power
- The power of mastermind groups
- How “natural networking” – in a new way – can help you scale your business quickly
Guest Links
Philip VanDusen on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCd2J-PizcFDxWHBBfRkp38Q
Philip’s Website: https://philipvandusen.com/
The Brand Design Masters Podcast: https://philipvandusen.com/bdmpodcast
Episodes mentioned in the show and related episodes:
- 179: The What, Why, and How of Podcasting
- 175: Why I am Investing Time in Being Interviewed on 100 Different Podcasts
- 149: How to Become a Published Author [Lee Constantine from Publishizer Interview]
181: How to Optimize Your Content Publishing on Your Blog and Social Media
As you publish more blog posts and content throughout social media on a wide variety of subjects that are relevant to your business, how do you know which content is performing better or worse? How can you take that engagement data and feed it back into your publishing infrastructure to create more or less content about what types of content that are relevant to your company, and in doing so generating higher and higher ROI for whatever metric you are tracking?
In this episode I introduce a quarterly content audit which I just started doing which gives you specific instructions of how to do this with your own content using my own blog as a case study. You’ll learn about the concept of content buckets that I introduced back in 2013 in my Maximize Your Social book and how to apply that in PDCA style with a data-driven approach which allows you to further optimize your marketing with every (quarterly) iteration!
Episodes mentioned in the show and related episodes:
137: How To Optimize Your Blog Posts For Higher Search Rankings And Stay Ahead Of The Competition
180: Why Every Entrepreneur Should Publish a Book [Josh Steimle Interview]
If you want to yield influence in digital and social media you need to become a content creator. Not all content has the same longevity or impact, but if you wanted to make the biggest bang for your buck and create the most impactful content that can help drive your business, a book is the answer. You’ll find out why in this interview with published author, speaker, and entrepreneur Josh Steimle who will share with you the why as well as how to get started, how to keep going and not burn out, and how to leverage your book to grow your business.
Episodes mentioned in the show and related episodes:
179: The What, Why, and How of Podcasting
175: Why I am Investing Time in Being Interviewed on 100 Different Podcasts
149: How to Become a Published Author [Lee Constantine from Publishizer Interview]
Contact Josh Steimle
Published Author Program: https://www.publishedauthor.com/
179: The What, Why, and How of Podcasting
If you are a marketer, entrepreneur, or business owner and you are listening to this podcast, why aren’t you creating your own?
Podcasts are easier to create than you might think.
They are also one of the most powerful forms of influencer marketing, as I will explain to you in this episode.
If you’ve been on the sidelines, this episode will hopefully push you over the edge into launching your own podcast!
Episodes Mentioned in the Show:
175: Why I am Investing Time in Being Interviewed on 100 Different Podcasts
Links mentioned in the show: (affiliate)
External Microphones for Podcast Recording:
- Samson Q2U: https://amzn.to/32WJJn9
- Audio Technica ATR2100: https://amzn.to/3j3LOna
- Blue Yeti: https://amzn.to/32TWoqW
- RODE Podcaster: https://amzn.to/3iSKW4u
Podcast Hosts:
- Buzzsprout: https://nealschaffer.com/buzzsprout
- Libsyn
- Anchor.fm
- Captivate
- Whooshkaa
Podcast Audio Recording Software
- Squadcast: https://nealschaffer.com/squadcast
- Zencaster
- Zoom
- Skype
- Google Meet
178: WHY You Need to and HOW to RESET Your Marketing TODAY [Jay Baer Interview]
The digital first mindset that your business needs to survive today is only part of the story. My special guest for today, the legendary marketing author and speaker Jay Baer, argues that the circumstances that we live in today require every business to function as a startup and create an entirely new relationship with your customers and potential clients.
Listen in as Jay gives some specific advice as to how to do this – hint: “FAQ” is a strategic keyword here – as well as also provides some strategic wisdom around the customer experience marketing gap that he sees and why it is critical to close it to remain relevant today.
Jay Baer Links:
Convince & Convert: https://www.convinceandconvert.com/
Jay Baer: https://www.jaybaer.com/
Social Pros Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/social-pros-podcast/id499844469
Episodes Mentioned in the Show:
138: Customer Experience Marketing: Why You Must Embrace It to Stand Out as a Business [Dan Gingiss Interview]
35: Youtility: Jay Baer Shares Insights on Mobile, Content Marketing, and Social Media
177: The 11 Blogging Mistakes Your Business _Might_ Be Making
I have been blogging since 2008, and to be honest with you I really didn’t think strategically about blogging since fairly recently when I started talking about the freshness of content on episode 129 almost two years ago. Since then I have come to realize the mistakes of my own blog as well as those that I have helped in a variety of capacities over the years. Since Google is the biggest digital influencer of them all, I wanted to share with you the 11 blogging mistakes that I see businesses make yet very few podcasters or people in the blogosphere talk about. I hope after listening to this episode you will have a much more strategic look at blogging and how impactful it can be for your business.
For those of you interested in my fractional / outsourced CMO service, please contact me here: https://nealschaffer.com/contact/
Episodes mentioned in the show:
160: SEO and Social: Honing the Skills Needed for a Modern Marketer [Cyrus Shepard Interview]
137: How To Optimize Your Blog Posts For Higher Search Rankings And Stay Ahead Of The Competition
129: How Fresh is Your Content?
Links mentioned in the show:
SEMrush: https://nealschaffer.com/semrush [affiliate link]
The Blogging Millionaire on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-blogging-millionaire/id1072931592
Ahrefs study on blog traffic: https://ahrefs.com/blog/search-traffic-study/
The 10 Best Social Media Marketing Podcasts to Listen to in 2020: https://nealschaffer.com/best-social-media-marketing-podcasts/
Yoast SEO Plugin: https://yoast.com/wordpress/plugins/seo/
176: Corona Marketing – What Marketers Need To Know Now [Joe Pulizzi Interview]
Today the Godfather of content marketing, Joe Pulizzi, joins me as a special guest to help you find opportunity in the midst of the coronavirus. Our episode on “Corona Marketing” led us to talk about a wide variety of things your company can be doing _today_to grow your business despite the times that we live in. These include:
1. How marketers can cut through clutter with their content.
2. Strategies on how to build an audience in a recessionary environment.
3. What subscriber channels make the most sense to drive revenue.
Links mentioned in the show:
Joe Pulizzi’s Website: https://www.joepulizzi.com/
Joe Pulizzi’s books on Amazon: https://amzn.to/2Z3LMUl
Corona Marketing [Free Ebook]: https://www.joepulizzi.com/corona-marketing/
175: Why I am Investing Time in Being Interviewed on 100 Different Podcasts
I got really serious about podcasting in 2020 142 episodes after I began this podcast. I got even more serious with the publication of The Age of Influence, utilizing this podcast to build a community that listens to podcasts. Utilizing podcasting as a form of influencer marketing to help incite word-of-mouth marketing about my book has taken my understanding of the significance that podcasting can have for any business or entrepreneur to a completely different level.
By teaching you what I have experienced and learned, I believe you will not look at podcasting the same just as The Age of Influence and this podcast have hopefully helped you look at influencers and influencer marketing in a completely different way.
Episodes Mentioned in the Show:
166: The Many Ways to Become an Influencer Today [John Lee Dumas Interview]
13: Got Good Social Media Marketing Apps? [Ian Cleary of Razor Social Interview] (my first interview!)
174: How to Rethink Innovation to Grow Your Business [Carla Johnson Interview]
What sets successful businesses and professionals apart? One might argue it is all about being able to innovate. Fortunately for our podcast listeners we have a very special guest, Carla Johnson, who has written a few compelling marketing books and will soon release her newest book, RE:Think Innovation. This podcast will be a sneak preview of that book, in which you will learn why:
- People think innovation is only about the products and services they sell, and why they’re wrong and missing a huge growth opportunity.
- There are things that iconic companies with big budgets do that you can learn from and apply right away for your business…if you know how.
- You too can learn how to innovate through a simple, repeatable, scalable formula for how to take inspiration from any brand, experience or situation you have, and turn it into extraordinary outcomes for their business – startups, established Fortune 100 brands, and any organization in between.
Links mentioned in the show:
Carla Johnson’s Website: https://www.carlajohnson.co/
RE:Think Innovation by Carla Johnson: https://www.carlajohnson.co/author/
173: My Guide to Help You Maximize LinkedIn for Your Business
Social networks come (TikTok) and go (Google Plus), and some merely borrow the best features of other social networks to continue innovating (Instagram). The one thing about social media that has NOT changed since I began my career in social media marketing is that LinkedIn continues to be the best place for professional networking and B2B social media marketing.
Every year or two “newbie” marketers wake up to the potential that LinkedIn has for your marketing, but since I wrote two books on the subject in 2009 and 2011, I would argue that the potential has always been there. Similar to influencer marketing, marketers have tended to dismiss LinkedIn when they talk about social media marketing options. As part of my role as an educator, I have been creating a free ebook for sometime with best practices for using LinkedIn, and I’m psyched to announce that my newest version is now available for download. Listen to the full episode for an introduction and details on how to get your free copy!
Links mentioned in the show:
Maximizing LinkedIn for Business: https://nealschaffer.com/maximizing-linkedin-for-business
Podcast episodes mentioned in the show:
163: LinkedIn Message Ads: The Convergence of Influencer Marketing and Paid Social
147: LinkedIn Ads: A Comprehensive Look [AJ Wilcox Interview]
While the current coronavirus pandemic has provided us some urgency in which we need to tweak our marketing, the fact of the matter is that anyone in charge of marketing their business always need to pivot amidst the constant change that existed before we first heard the term “COVID-19.” I can’t think of anyone better to help guide us through this change than Ken Fitzpatrick, CEO of the Digital Marketing Institute, who provides:
- an insight into how c-19 is bringing even more change to marketing
- some perspective on marketer’s fear of becoming irrelevant
- what are the skillsets marketers need in the near future
Links mentioned in the show:
Digital Marketing Institute: https://digitalmarketinginstitute.com/
171: How to Gain More Experience – and Yield More Influence – in Social Media
I often get asked by marketers in transition or recent graduates how they should navigate the job market as a digital marketer. Whether you are looking for more ways to make yourself more marketable (pun intended!), gain more experience, or yield more influence in digital and social media, I believe the solution is one and the same, and the answer to the problem is often staring you right in the face!
Links mentioned in the show:
The 10 Best Social Media Marketing Podcasts to Listen to in 2020: https://nealschaffer.com/best-social-media-marketing-podcasts/
170: Why Earned Media is More Important Than Ever During a Pandemic [Valerie Christopherson Interview]
In crisis there is opportunity, and for those who understand how media consumption has changed during this coronavirus pandemic, there are distinct opportunities for your business to appear on the radar of more people organically earned media. Learn all about this opportunity straight from the PR expert and thought leader Valerie Christopherson, Founder and CEO of the PR agency Global Results Communications, headquartered right here in my beloved Orange County, California.
Our conversation went above and beyond the topic of the current pandemic as we discussed other issues upon us and how we can respond to them, including my sharing my own story of how I was called out on social media and how I will be responding. It is a good reminder that if digital influencers are the new media, with that comes responsibility.
Links mentioned in the show:
Maximizing LinkedIn for Business Free Ebook: https://nealschaffer.com/maximizing-linkedin-for-business
Neal Schaffer on Instagram: https://instagram.com/nealschaffer
Global Results Communications: https://www.globalresultspr.com/
Global Results Communications on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/globalresults/
Episodes mentioned in or related to this one:
169: How to Leverage Your Employees as Influencers
According to my brand affinity model for influencer marketing, your employees are those that naturally have the most brand affinity for your company because they are an organic part of it. How, though, do you activate your employees as influencers? How does this relate to the concept of employee advocacy? How would this work in regulated industries? And are there any analogies to leveraging employees as influencers that you see in influencer marketing today?
Today’s episode covers all of these questions and is a summary for a recent webinar I did for the leading employee advocacy platform PostBeyond entitled “Employee Advocacy is out, Employee Influencer is in.”
Links mentioned in the show:
Exploring the impacts of employee advocacy on job satisfaction and organizational commitment: Case of Taiwanese airlines: http://www.isihome.ir/freearticle/ISIHome.ir-21028.pdf
FTC calls out Sony — and Deutsch L.A. — for deceptive advertising: https://adage.com/article/news/ftc-sony-deutsch-la-deceived-consumers/296004
The Age of Influence: https://nealschaffer.com/ageofinfluence
Episodes mentioned in or related to this one:
165: Influencer Marketing During COVID-19: Still Worth the Investment?
123: Enterprise-Wide Employee Advocacy is a Natural Outcome of Social Business [Sociabble Interview]
121: Everything You Wanted to Know about Employee Advocacy [PostBeyond Interview]
115: How Cathay Pacific Built a Global Employee Advocacy Program
107: Creating Employee Advocates with GaggleAMP
94: Employee Advocacy, Social Selling, and The Missing Alignment Between Sales and Marketing
82: How to Take Your Employee Advocacy to the Next Level: An Interview with GaggleAMP
69: The Definitive Guide to Employee Advocacy
Popular Podcast Episodes
While the above are my 25 newest episodes, below are my “Greatest Hits” from the past, including some pretty epic interviews and advice that you’ll want to subscribe to download them all!
168: What You Need to Do Today to be Successful on Instagram [Ace the Gram Interview]
Instagram has become a critical piece of the puzzle for most businesses because of its popularity and high engagement, but not everybody succeeds on the platform. There’s a lot of noise about what you should and shouldn’t do on Instagram, and some of that advice is either outdated or might lead your account to getting banned.
Let’s change that. From the importance of niche branding on Instagram to the critical role that influencers play on Instagram to the unique way in which you should use Instagram for personal branding, Instagram specialists Viv and Tash from Ace the Gram will teach you a thing or two new about the platform that can help improve your Instagram TODAY!
Links mentioned in the show:
Ace the Gram Website: https://acethegram.com
Ace the Gram Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ace-the-gram/id1351123456
10 Best Social Media Marketing Podcasts to Listen to: https://nealschaffer.com/best-social-media-marketing-podcasts/
Episodes mentioned in or related to this one:
147: LinkedIn Ads: A Comprehensive Look [AJ Wilcox Interview]
167: How to Gain Clear Visibility into Your Digital and Social Media Marketing Activities
How do you know what impact everything that you do in digital and social media marketing has on your business? The secret comes down to what I call the PDCA approach to marketing that my agency is named for, but more importantly, it comes down to visualizing your marketing funnel and aligning everything you do with a part of that funnel. After that it comes down to measurement and truly geeking out on the numbers in the reporting that I recommend you do.
Listen in for the full details as to how to effectively do this spending little time but having maximum impact on your business!
Links mentioned in the show:
The 10 Best Social Media Marketing Podcasts to Listen to in 2020: https://nealschaffer.com/best-social-media-marketing-podcasts/
Episodes mentioned in the show:
161: The Hidden Power of Email Marketing to Scale Your Digital Influence (my episode on lead magnets and email marketing)
110: How to Generate Leads from Facebook with TabSite [Mike Gingerich Interview]
166: The Many Ways to Become an Influencer Today [John Lee Dumas Interview]
John Lee Dumas is one of the most influential rockstar entrepreneurs out there, and it was an honor to interview him for my podcast. You will learn a lot in this episode on John’s story as to how he became an influencer through podcasting but also his recommendation for you if he were to do it all over today.
Links mentioned in the show:
John Lee Dumas’ Website: https://www.eofire.com/
My being interviewed on Michael Stelzner’s Social Media Marketing Podcast: https://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/social-strategy-with-neal-schaffer/
My being interviewed on John Lee Dumas’ Entrepreneurs on Fire podcast: https://entrepreneuronfire.libsyn.com/615-neal-schaffer-maximize-your-social
Episodes mentioned in or related to this one:
164: How to Skyrocket Your Qualified Organic Traffic [Farzad Rashidi Interview]
165: Influencer Marketing During COVID-19: Still Worth the Investment?
You might be wondering what impact COVID-19 might be having on influencer marketing. After all, you can’t fly freely around the world to take pictures of product in exotic locations. But, as you know, travel influencers only represent a small portion of the influencer marketing pie. Here is my advice for businesses trying to navigate the current uncertainty to figure out what role, if any, influencer marketing should have in your marketing strategy.
Once again, today’s episode, like Episode 161 before it, is based off of a webinar I provided for the University of Jyvaskyla in Finland about marketing in the age of coronavirus.
Links mentioned in the show:
Jon Rettinger’s YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCR0AnNR7sViH3TWMJl5jyxw
Age of Influence Free Preview: https://nealschaffer.com/age-of-influence-preview
Episodes mentioned in the show:
161: The Hidden Power of Email Marketing to Scale Your Digital Influence (the other content from the similar webinar I presented on)
156: How to Pivot Your Marketing During the Coronavirus Pandemic
154: COVID-19: What Your Business Needs to Do to Survive During the Coronavirus Pandemic
164: How to Skyrocket Your Qualified Organic Traffic [Farzad Rashidi Interview]
For many businesses, their primary source of digital influence doesn’t necessarily come from their social media presence but from their website. How to increase the digital influence of your website in the eyes of Google and generate more qualified organic traffic leading to more business through “free” advertising is what every business owner wants.
Today I interview Farzad Rashidi, co-founder of Respona, who is going to give his advice on how to exactly do that. Some of the topics we discussed include:
- Organic traffic 101: Why it’s important for hockey-stick level growth
- How to properly research and create quality content and landing pages
- How to get your content ranked for your target keywords
Links mentioned in the show:
Age of Influence Free Preview: https://nealschaffer.com/age-of-influence-preview/
Age of Influence on Amazon: https://nealschaffer.com/ageofinfluence
Visme: https://www.visme.co/
Respona: https://respona.com/
Marketing Strategies We Used to Bootstrap Visme to 4 Million Users [Free Ebook]: https://www.visme.co/marketing-strategy/
The 10 Best Social Media Marketing Podcasts to Listen to in 2020: https://nealschaffer.com/best-social-media-marketing-podcasts/
HARO (Help a Reporter Out): https://www.helpareporter.com/
Episodes mentioned in the show:
Ep. 160: SEO and Social: Honing the Skills Needed for a Modern Marketer [Cyrus Shepard Interview]
Ep. 156: How to Pivot Your Marketing During the Coronavirus Pandemic
Ep. 154: COVID-19: What Your Business Needs to Do to Survive During the Coronavirus Pandemic
163: LinkedIn Message Ads: The Convergence of Influencer Marketing and Paid Social
One of the goals of influencer marketing is to incite the word of mouth marketing that organic social alone can’t, but there are times that we will still pay to play and employ Paid Social as part of our marketing. How might we be able to use Paid Social as part of our influencer outreach? This is a case study from my own influencer marketing program for the launch of my new book, The Age of Influence, and how I am leveraging one of the unique and most cost-effective forms of Paid Social that many don’t know exist or haven’t utilized properly: LinkedIn Message Ads.
Links mentioned in the show:
The Age of Influence Free Preview: https://nealschaffer.com/age-of-influence-preview/
The Age of Influence on Amazon: https://nealschaffer.com/ageofinfluence
Episodes mentioned in the show:
147: LinkedIn Ads: A Comprehensive Look (AJ Wilcox Interview)
161: The Hidden Power of Email Marketing to Scale Your Digital Influence
1 of the 6 pillars of digital marketing is email marketing, but it’s often the one easy to forget as most talk about more trendy topics such as social media marketing, content marketing, or influence marketing (I’m partly to blame!). Based off of webinars I provided for both the University of Jyvaskyla in Finland as well as the email marketing software company GetResponse, learn all you wanted to know to get you inspired to do more with email marketing and lead magnets.
Links mentioned in the show:
My Marketing Book Giveaway: https://nealschaffer.com/marketing-books-giveaway/
Age of Influence Free Preview: https://nealschaffer.com/age-of-influence-preview/
Email Marketing Statistics: https://nealschaffer.com/email-marketing-statistics/
Recommended Email Marketing Software: https://nealschaffer.com/email-marketing-tools/
GetResponse: https://nealschaffer.com/getresponse
Episodes mentioned in the show:
160: SEO and Social: Honing the Skills Needed for a Modern Marketer [Cyrus Shepard Interview]
What is the connection, and even the similarities, that marketers who want to improve at both SEO as well as social media need to have? Join me in this interview with one of the world’s leading experts, Cyrus Shepard, SEO Advisor for MOZ, as we discuss:
- Why SEOs and Social Marketers both need to have a wide breadth of skills for writing across social pages, metadata and more
- The way in which aligning SEO and Social skills can lead to more backlinks, improved engagement signals, and more owned SERP real estate for branded queries
- How enhanced social media efforts can lead to higher search demand
Digital influence isn’t just about influence on social networks. It includes influence you hold in the search engines! That’s why this conversation was so exciting and stimulating for me, so I’m sure it will be worth your time.
In case you are new to the podcast, my new book The Age of Influence can be bought at any major bookseller worldwide. Here’s a link to the Amazon USA page for it: https://nealschaffer.com/ageofinfluence
This is the 3rd in a series of episodes helping you make sense of what the coronavirus pandemic means to your business. This episode will be focused on the marketing aspect of your business. Is it OK to publish content on social media now? Is it OK to advertise? What should I be posting about? What marketing activities should and shouldn’t we be doing? These questions will all be addressed in hopes of inciting you to action to show up and help your own community by pivoting your marketing in these continued uncertain times.
Today’s episode is a special edition broadcast because so many clients and others have asked what our businesses should do in the midst of the current coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic. I want to offer my own perspectives not because I am an expert per se in managing pandemics (I don’t know of any marketers who are!), but because you need to listen to a lot of different perspectives to navigate the best path forward, and I want to be one of the voices that you tune into. It is this same concept that I bring up as advice in this episode. Stay positive and stay safe!
153: How to Create and Implement an Instagram Strategy to Grow Your Brand [Christy Laurence Interview]
Instagram requires a very different strategy compared to other social networks in order to be successful. I had the pleasure of interviewing Christy Laurence, CEO and Founder of the leading Instagram scheduling app Plann, to discuss all things Instagram and how you can best create and implement an Instagram strategy to grow your brand.
Some of the things we discussed include:
– Instagram content strategy
– the importance of the grid
– hashtags
– posting frequency
– the value of Instagram analytics
– and more!
Additional links:
152: Getting Started with B2B Influencer Marketing
Today I want to share with you a real-life example of how I am rationalizing my client’s marketing spend and the different options we are considering for B2B influencer marketing. If you are looking to create fans for your business, why wouldn’t you reach out to influencers in your industry and try to recruit them through the spirit of collaboration like I teach in The Age of Influence? This episode will help you understand how to find B2B influencers and all of the different ways in which you could collaborate with them.
Additional links:
- The Age of Influence – my new book
- Respona – blogger outreach platform
- GroupHigh – blogger outreach platform
- Superfans – book by Pat Flynn
- Maximize Your Social Influence community on Facebook
151: How Every Small Business Can Increase Sales with Video [Jayson Duncan Interview]
Are you looking to do more with video in social media? Join me for this interview with video marketing expert Jayson Duncan as we discuss how can businesses get into a groove of creating video on a regular basis, how to get people to watch your videos on LinkedIn, Facebook and YouTube, how to create successful video ads, and more! Learn more about Jayson and his company Miller Farm Media here: https://millerfarmmedia.com/
Please join our “new” community on Facebook: Maximize Your Social Influence Facebook Group
150: How to Know When It’s Time to Monetize Your Influence
As you try to build more digital influence, you might start wondering when and how to begin monetizing your efforts. This episode provides you a number of different scenarios for both the different triggers which might indicate why you should begin to ask for compensation as well as calculating what sort of remuneration you should begin to ask for. This episode also includes advice for marketers who want to build better relationships with influencers.
149: How to Become a Published Author [Lee Constantine from Publishizer Interview]
Did you know that my new book on influencer marketing, The Age of Influence, began as a test market on a crowdsourcing platform for authors called Publishizer? It’s true! You can even see my original proposal page here: https://publishizer.com/the-business-of-influence/. Today’s podcast is looking at the personal side of influence for those that want to yield more influence by becoming a published author. If it wasn’t for Lee, my new book wouldn’t have been written, so I hope today’s episode inspires YOU!
The Age of Influence page on Amazon is here: https://nealschaffer.com/ageofinfluence
148: How to Scale Your Digital Branding
Whether you work at a company with staff or you are an entrepreneur, you need to scale so that you can focus on your business and have other experts around you do what they are good at. This includes your digital and social media marketing work. If digital influence is yielded from content creation, you need to stay focused on your content and IP and let others help you do things that are not primary business drivers. I want to share with you what I have done to help scale my own marketing operations and my advice for you.
147: LinkedIn Ads: A Comprehensive Look (AJ Wilcox Interview)
Everybody talks about Facebook and Instagram Ads, but what about LinkedIn Ads? If you are targeting a lucrative demographic or are a B2B company, LinkedIn should be one of the focus points of your marketing. Join me in this interview with one of the world’s foremost experts on LinkedIn Ads, AJ Wilcox, as he teaches you all of the different options you have and how to make the most of them for effective advertising on LinkedIn.
146: Pinterest Marketing for Those Who Still Don’t Get It
I have published 3 other episodes about Pinterest marketing, but because Pinterest continues to deliver results for me, I wanted to share you with my latest thoughts on the platform for those that have yet to take Pinterest seriously. Pinterest is a very different social network, but for those business and influencers that are content creators, Pinterest just might be the gold mine you have been searching for in social media.
145: Free PR: How to Leverage the Media to Amplify Your Brand Exposure and Increase Credibility without Spending Money [Adrian Salamunovic Interview]
Join me for an interview with Adrian Salamunovic, Founder of Earned.co and Author of FREE PR, where we discuss all of the free things you can do to get media exposure. This includes learning how to differentiate yourself, identifying the right media targets and channels, and how to amplify and leverage the media you get after it’s published by using social media and paid social.
144: How to Do Influencer Marketing the Right Way in The Age of Influence
There is an incredible amount of misinformation out there about influencer marketing. Fake followers, phony engagement, people that come out of nowhere and get paid hundreds if not thousands of dollars for posting a single photo on Instagram. Is this influencer marketing bubble about to burst? These are some of the ways influencer marketing is portrayed, but they miss out on a holistic definition of digital influence, which existed way before Instagrammers or YouTubers, and also ignore other trends in digital marketing that will push more and more brands to creating collaborations with influencers. Learn about how to do influencer marketing the right way by listening to this podcast.
139: LinkedIn for Students: What Do I Put in My LinkedIn Profile if I am a College Student?
How do you advertise your profile amongst so many professionals while you are still only a college student? And what might professionals learn about their own LinkedIn profile optimization from my advice to college students? Listen on for the details!
131: How to Create Your Own Instagram Followers Policy to Increase Your Community and Gain More Engagement
On this podcast I first compare the concept of an Instagram follower policy with that of other social networks and then focus on detailing my experience on Instagram to help you create a policy that will help you grow both Instagram followers and engagement.
127: 10 Tips to Hack Your Social Media Growth
Today I’m talking about something that I haven’t talked about before: growth hacking. Growth hacking is basically how to quickly create a robust social presence on a newly launched effort in a short amount of time. I have had a few companies reach out to me for advice on this subject, and was recently asked what my first steps to start building a big presence would be. The ten tips I’m talking about today are great not only for social media newbies, but also for folks who maybe need to take a step back and make sure they haven’t missed these important steps.
28: How to Audit Your Social Media Presence
The background for and importance of auditing your social media, with a concrete example comparing the Facebook presence of two hotels.
1: The Biggest Reason You Should Become a Content Creator (and Why I Started this Podcast)
Welcome to the first episode of my podcast! This will tell you why I launched my podcast, which at the inception was called the Social Business Unplugged podcast. I also want to share with you how a podcast can feed into an inbound marketing strategy.