Blog Monetization – Affiliate

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Best Branding Podcasts

Podcasts are an excellent way to receive syndicated information in an audio format. Whether you choose to download and listen on your computer or portably through your MP3 player, podcasts can deliver content right directly through a web feed in less than a minute.

Competition in the podcast arena is pretty fierce these days, but there are always a few stand outs that deserve a thumbs up or a pat on the back for producing consistent and relevant topics. Take a moment (or five or ten) and listen, or subscribe, to some of these popular branding podcasts. You might be surprised by what you hear.

Brand Fast Trackers. This is a weekly podcast that focuses on helping listeners build their brands and ultimately sell more product. Each week host Brian Martin interviews marketing VPs and CMOs to get their advice and insight on how to help others market themselves.

The BeanCast. Bob Knorpp moderates roundtable-style discussions with a panel of key leaders within the marketing, advertising, public relations and interactive industries. There’s always a great tip or suggestion that can be gleaned from the conversations.

Marketing Over Coffee. This 20 minute podcast is recorded in a local coffee shop each week. Hosts John Wall and Chris Penn cover a variety of topics such as making sense of Facebook, search engine optimization (SEO) and social media. Past guest interviews include:  Seth Godin, David Meerman Scott and Mitch Joel.

Marketing Voices. Created in 2006 by host Jennifer Jones, the podcast focuses on how social media is impacting marketing. This is a great place to learn how to fine tune your current branding initiatives and get ahead of the curve with trends and forecasts.

Six Pixels of Separation. Social media expert Mitch Joel developed this Canadian podcast to unravel the complex world of new marketing. Additionally, The Montreal Business Book Club is also featured and offers regular updates on the books that will help you build your brand and market yourself in the online marketing arena.

Inbound Marketing – HubSpot TV. If Internet marketing seems overwhelming then tune in to Karen Rubin’s and Mike Volpe’s podcast. They’ll help you transform your brand from an idea to actuality. They cover recent marketing news and useful online tips regarding SEO, landing pages, lead generation and more.

The mentions referenced above only represent a tiny portion of the countless branding and marketing podcasts available. Hit the Internet and access some of the online podcast directories to find more great podcast resources.

Top Social Media Rockstars PART 2

Last week we featured the first 10 out of 20 social media thought leaders that are movers and shakers within the industry. Today, we’re continuing with the second half of that list. Each individual featured has a hyperlink their blog site for easy following.

Pete Cashmore. The founder of Mashable at age 19, and also dubbed the Brad Pitt of social media, this Scottish entrepreneur was chosen as one of Inc Magazine’s 30 Under 30, Forbes’ Top 25 Web Celebs and the Huffington Posts’ Top 10 Game Changers 2009. He has a weekly column on CNN and his blog has been selected as a must-ready by Fast Company and PC Magazine. BusinessWeek has featured his site as one of the world’s most profitable blogs.

Liz Strauss. A highly influential blogger, Liz created SOBCon, a conference that combines the best minds and talent from the Internet together to present models, discuss insights and determine best practices – in essence, where virtual meets concrete.

Biz Stone. This co-founder of Twitter (and creative director too) has also helped launch Xanga, Blogger, Odeo and Obvious. He’s published two books about blogging:  Blogging: Genius Strategies for Instant Web Content and Who Let the Blogs Out? These days it’s easier to follow Biz on Twitter. He currently has more than 1.6 million tweeps.

Brian Solis. As Principal of the award-winning new media marketing and branding agency, Future Works in Silicon Valley, Brian has paved the way for social media and PR 2.0. He is among the top 1.5% of all blogs tracked by Technorati and is ranked by AdAge Power 150 index of worldwide bloggers. His book, Engage, includes a forward from Ashton Kutcher.

Clay Shirky. Clay is an associate professor at New York University’s (NYU) graduate Interactive Telecommunications Program (ITP). Not only is he one of the most requested speakers on social media in the world, but he’s a writer and consultant on the social and economic effects of Internet technologies. His columns and writings have appeared in: New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Wired and the Harvard Business Review.

Brian Halligan. Author of the best selling book, Inbound Marketing, Brian co-founded the online marketing and analytics company, Hubspot. Brian is a Sloan Fellow from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and a thought leader on the social media scene.

Dave Morin. In 2009, Fast Company named Dave one of the ‘100 Most Creative People in Business’. Until recently, Dave was a senior platform manager at Facebook. He is partnering with  Napster creator, Shawn Fanning, to create a new startup.

Paul Chaney. Author of The Digital Handshake: Seven Proven Strategies to Grow Your Business Using Social Media, Paul understands at a granular level how social media tools can be used for marketing purposes.  Paul serves as president of the International Blogging and New Media Association, an organization dedicated to advancing the growth of blogging, podcasting and social media as an industry.

Mitch Joel. Author of the book, Six Pixels of Separation, Mitch has been called by Marketing Magazine the ‘Rock Star of Digital Marketing’. He is also known as one of North America’s leading digital visionaries.

Lee Odden. In Michael Miller’s book, Online Marketing Heroes, Lee was chosen as one of 25 online marketing experts to be featured. His experience and background in social media has been cited by The Economist, U.S. News & World Reprot and Fortune Magazine. Lee is the CEO of TopRank Online Marketing.