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How does one go about building influence in a crowded market?I often go back to my own background in B2B sales and look at habits, partnerships, and focus.That's why it was so refreshing to be joined by a special guest who serves the market that I used to work on who has very similar advice.Today I am joined today with the co-founder of the simple yet powerful CRM for small businesses selling B2B, Jeroen Corthout of Salesflare.In this interview we discuss:Focus on habits rather than goals: consistently deliver value in focus areas, rather than focusing everything on goal metricsExpand outside your own influence by leveraging the influence of others: partner up in every possible way with people who reach the same audienceReal expertise is hard to find and extremely valuable, so focus on attaining the highest possible quality (e.g. don't have copywriters write your content; pick your expertise niche; etc.)Reference Links for Jeroen Corthout:Jeroen's Company Salesflare: https://salesflare.com/Jeroen on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeroencorthout/Reference Links for Neal Schaffer:Contact Me about My Fractional CMO Consulting Services: https://nealschaffer.com/contact/Learn more about this podcast: https://nealschaffer.com/maximize-your-social-influence-podcast/The Age of Influence Free Preview: https://nealschaffer.com/age-of-influence-preview

New to Clubhouse? Trying to figure out how to get started and exactly what to do now that you have received that invite and joined the newest rage in social media?Continuing on from my introduction to Clubhouse on episode 196, this episode will provide you detailed hand-holding to help you navigate around the app and create a focused strategy that will help you Maximize Your Social Influence, even on Clubhouse.If you're looking for an invite to the app, make sure you sign up to receive marketing communications from me on my website https://nealschaffer.com to get a chance to be invited when I get new invites to share!Reference Links for Neal Schaffer:Contact Me about My Fractional CMO Consulting Services: https://nealschaffer.com/contact/Learn more about this podcast: https://nealschaffer.com/maximize-your-social-influence-podcast/The Age of Influence Free Preview: https://nealschaffer.com/age-of-influence-preview

Have you ever wondered about how you can build influence by writing a book? Have you ever thought about writing a book but the process seems to be overwhelming and you simply don't have enough time in the day?This episode is for you!I am joined today by best-selling author of The 100-Page Book, Mike Capuzzi, a prolific author who also helps business owners and entrepreneurs write and market their books.In this interview we discuss:The power of helping before selling and why books enable you to market and sell at a more sophisticated level.The unique advantages of short, helpful books (shooks) and why often a short book is a smarter strategy than a traditional book.The essential ingredients to authoring an effective shook.Reference Links for Mike Capuzzi:Mike's Website: https://mikecapuzzi.com/The 100-Page Book: https://amzn.to/3qWCOU9 [affiliate]Reference Links for Neal Schaffer:Contact Me about My Fractional CMO Consulting Services: https://nealschaffer.com/contact/Learn more about this podcast: https://nealschaffer.com/maximize-your-social-influence-podcast/The Age of Influence Free Preview: https://nealschaffer.com/age-of-influence-preview

Have you heard of the latest rage in social media Clubhouse? Have you received an invite on your smartphone and unsure as to whether or not you should join? Are you on Clubhouse and still trying to figure out how to glean value from it? Let me share with you my own experiences with Clubhouse, describe its functionality in further details, and provide you with my advice on how to best maximize your social influence on Clubhouse.Episodes Mentioned:110: How to Generate Leads from Facebook with TabSite [Mike Gingerich Interview]81: Ello? What's all this talk about ELLO?48: How to Maximize Your Facebook Marketing [Interview with Mike Gingerich from TabSite]Reference Links for Neal Schaffer:Contact Me about My Fractional CMO Consulting Services: https://nealschaffer.com/contact/Learn more about this podcast: https://nealschaffer.com/maximize-your-social-influence-podcast/The Age of Influence Free Preview: https://nealschaffer.com/age-of-influence-preview

This week I am the one being interviewed, and by no other than real estate visionary and CEO of the leading real estate network BerkshireHathaway Home Services, Chris Stuart. I have had a chance to work together with Chris and his company, and I have found that the real estate industry is especially ripe for innovation regarding their marketing communication. Keep your eye on BerkshireHathaway Home Services as they represent what the future holds for the industry!Even if you are not involved in real estate, I highly recommend you listen to this episode as it gives you my best practices in using social media as part of your personal or business brand whether you are in sales, marketing, a business owner or an entrepreneur. I believe that real estate agents and brokers make up the largest number of salespeople in the United States, and considering that each one also is their own business owner, they need to be savvy at both sales and marketing. They also cannot meet their customers physically, so there is also a need for them, like yourself, to better digitally engage with their current customer base and prospective clients.I'm confident by the end of the episode you will have found a few new ways to Maximize Your Social Influence regardless of industry.Reference Links for Chris Stuart:Chris's Good to Know - All Things Real Estate Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/chris-stuart-good-to-know/id1510834471Chris's Personal Website: https://stuspropertyviews.com/BerkshireHathaway Home Services: https://www.bhhs.com/Reference Links for Neal Schaffer:Contact Me about My Fractional CMO Consulting Services: https://nealschaffer.com/contact/Learn more about this podcast: https://nealschaffer.com/maximize-your-social-influence-podcast/The Age of Influence Free Preview: https://nealschaffer.com/age-of-influence-preview

What are my predictions for 2021? Instead of trying to predict the future, which I don't think anyone can do accurately, I'd like to offer you my advice as your virtual CMO. Focusing on those key areas that I am focusing on in writing my next book, here is where I would invest my marketing budget across Search, Email, and Social to help you reach your business goals and improve the digital and social media marketing for your organization or brand.Episodes Mentioned:192: My Marketing Technology Toolstack for 2021191: The Technology and Tools You Need for Your Marketing Infrastructure (Part 1: WordPress Plugins)185: Why You Need to Invest in Content Longevity and Discoverability Going Forward183: Influencer Marketing for Search Engine Optimization: Building Backlinks for SEO178: WHY You Need to and HOW to RESET Your Marketing TODAY [Jay Baer Interview]138: Customer Experience Marketing: Why You Must Embrace It to Stand Out as a Business [Dan Gingiss Interview]Reference Links for Neal Schaffer:Contact Me about My Fractional CMO Consulting Services: https://nealschaffer.com/contact/Learn more about this podcast: https://nealschaffer.com/maximize-your-social-influence-podcast/The Age of Influence Free Preview: https://nealschaffer.com/age-of-influence-preview

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/id1544198952Amanda Russell Links:The Influencer Code: https://amzn.to/3rEufyI (affiliate)Amanda's Website: https://amandarussell.co/Amanda on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/amandarussellfss/Reference Links for Neal Schaffer:Contact Me about My Fractional CMO Consulting Services: https://nealschaffer.com/contact/Learn more about this podcast: https://nealschaffer.com/maximize-your-social-influence-podcast/The Age of Influence Free Preview: https://nealschaffer.com/age-of-influence-preview

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 EpisodeSEO ToolsSEMrush https://nealschaffer.com/semrush (affiliate)Ahrefs https://ahrefs.comMoz https://moz.comContent Creation ToolsFrase https://frase.ioClearscope https://clearscope.ioWriter Marketplaces & ToolsUpwork https://upwork.comWriterAccess https://writeraccess.comCopyscape https://copyscape.comBlogger Outreach ToolsRespona https://respona.comPostaga https://postaga.com/Apollo https://apollo.ioBacklink Monitor ToolsLinkody https://www.linkody.com/Linkio https://linkio.comLinkMiner https://linkminer.comMonitor Backlinks https://monitorbacklinks.com/Backlink SEO https://backlinkseo.comWebsite AnalyticsGoogle Analytics https://analytics.google.com/Wyzant https://www.wyzant.com/Email Marketing SoftwareMailChimp https://mailchimp.comMailerLite https://nealschaffer.com/mailerlite (affiliate)ConvertKit https://convertkit.comActiveCampaign https://nealschaffer.com/activecampaign (affiliate)Email Verification ToolsVoilaNorbert https://voilanorbert.comLead Magnet ToolsOptinMonster http://nealschaffer.com/optinmonster (affiliate)LeadPages https://nealschaffer.com/leadpages (affiliate)GetSiteControl http://nealschaffer.com/getsitecontrol (affiliate)Social Media DashboardsAgoraPulse 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 ToolsVidIQ https://vidiq.com/Zubtitle https://zubtitle.com/Wave.Video https://wave.video/Podcasting ToolsBuzzsprout https://nealschaffer.com/buzzsprout (affiliate)

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 Summit71: Neal's Fave Social Media Productivity Tips & Tools28: How to Audit Your Social Media PresenceReference Links for Neal Schaffer:Contact Me about My Fractional CMO Consulting Services: https://nealschaffer.com/contact/Learn more about this podcast: https://nealschaffer.com/maximize-your-social-influence-podcast/The Age of Influence Free Preview: https://nealschaffer.com/age-of-influence-preview

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 onlineWhy 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 LinksBob's Digital Marketing Agency: https://amplifyme.agency/Bob's "The Digital Marketing Entrepreneur Show" podcast: https://amplifyme.agency/podcast/Reference Links for Neal Schaffer:Contact Me about My Fractional CMO Consulting Services: https://nealschaffer.com/contact/Learn more about this podcast: https://nealschaffer.com/maximize-your-social-influence-podcast/The Age of Influence Free Preview: https://nealschaffer.com/age-of-influence-preview

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.Reference Links for Neal Schaffer:Contact Me about My Fractional CMO Consulting Services: https://nealschaffer.com/contact/Learn more about this podcast: https://nealschaffer.com/maximize-your-social-influence-podcast/The Age of Influence Free Preview: https://nealschaffer.com/age-of-influence-preview

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 Podcasting175: Why I am Investing Time in Being Interviewed on 100 Different PodcastsGuest LinksWhooshkaa: https://www.whooshkaa.com/Robert Lowenthal on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rob-loewenthal-8a66804/Reference Links for Neal Schaffer:My Website: https://nealschaffer.com/Learn more about this podcast: https://nealschaffer.com/maximize-your-social-influence-podcast/The Age of Influence Free Preview: https://nealschaffer.com/age-of-influence-preview

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 Forward183: Influencer Marketing for Search Engine Optimization: Building Backlinks for SEO137: How To Optimize Your Blog Posts For Higher Search Rankings And Stay Ahead Of The Competition129: How Fresh is Your Content? A "Fresh" Look at Content MarketingReference Links for Neal Schaffer:Contact Me about Fractional CMO Services:My Website: https://nealschaffer.com/Learn more about this podcast: https://nealschaffer.com/maximize-your-social-influence-podcast/The Age of Influence Free Preview: https://nealschaffer.com/age-of-influence-preview

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 ideashow to be more consistent with content creation without it consuming your timethe 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/Reference Links for Neal Schaffer:My Website: https://nealschaffer.com/Learn more about this podcast: https://nealschaffer.com/maximize-your-social-influence-podcast/The Age of Influence Free Preview: https://nealschaffer.com/age-of-influence-preview

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:179: The What, Why, and How of PodcastingReference Links for Neal Schaffer:My Website: https://nealschaffer.com/Learn more about this podcast: https://nealschaffer.com/maximize-your-social-influence-podcast/The Age of Influence Free Preview: https://nealschaffer.com/age-of-influence-preview

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 yourselfHow to create an audience-centric mindsetHow to revise your digital and social media marketing strategy with your audience in mindReference Links for Mitchell Levy:Mitchell Levy's Website: https://mitchelllevy.com/Credibility Nation on Amazon: https://amzn.to/37FMegx [affiliate]Credibility Nation Memberships: https://lifelonglearning.credibilitynation.com/Reference Links for Neal Schaffer:Contact me here if you're interested in my Fractional CMO service: https://nealschaffer.com/contact/My Website: https://nealschaffer.com/Learn more about this podcast: https://nealschaffer.com/maximize-your-social-influence-podcast/The Age of Influence Free Preview: https://nealschaffer.com/age-of-influence-preview

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 Media177: The 11 Blogging Mistakes Your Business _Might_ Be Making160: 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 CompetitionReference Links:My Instagram: https://instagram.com/nealschafferSEMrush: https://nealschaffer.com/semrush (affiliate)Brandon Gailie's The Blogging Millionaire Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-blogging-millionaire/id1072931592Neil Patel: https://neilpatel.comReference Links for Neal Schaffer:My Website: https://nealschaffer.com/Learn more about this podcast: https://nealschaffer.com/maximize-your-social-influence-podcast/The Age of Influence Free Preview: https://nealschaffer.com/age-of-influence-preview

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 powerThe power of mastermind groupsHow "natural networking" - in a new way - can help you scale your business quicklyGuest LinksPhilip VanDusen on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCd2J-PizcFDxWHBBfRkp38QPhilip's Website: https://philipvandusen.com/The Brand Design Masters Podcast: https://philipvandusen.com/bdmpodcastReference Links for Neal Schaffer:Contact Me About My Fractional CMO Services: https://nealschaffer.com/contact/Be the First to Know About My 90-Day Group Coaching Program: https://nealschaffer.com/membership/My Website: https://nealschaffer.com/Learn more about this podcast: https://nealschaffer.com/maximize-your-social-influence-podcast/The Age of Influence Free Preview: https://nealschaffer.com/age-of-influence-preview

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:137: How To Optimize Your Blog Posts For Higher Search Rankings And Stay Ahead Of The CompetitionReference Links for Neal Schaffer:My Website: https://nealschaffer.com/Learn more about this podcast: https://nealschaffer.com/maximize-your-social-influence-podcast/The Age of Influence Free Preview: https://nealschaffer.com/age-of-influence-preview

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 spisodes:179: The What, Why, and How of Podcasting175: Why I am Investing Time in Being Interviewed on 100 Different Podcasts149: How to Become a Published Author [Lee Constantine from Publishizer Interview]Contact Josh SteimlePublished Author Program: https://www.publishedauthor.com/Meltwater Social Media FestivalRegister for free here: https://nealschaffer.com/meltwaterReference Links for Neal Schaffer:My Website: https://nealschaffer.com/Learn more about this podcast: https://nealschaffer.com/maximize-your-social-influence-podcast/The Age of Influence Free Preview: https://nealschaffer.com/age-of-influence-preview