To become more visible and connect with more ideal people, I thought being a podcast guest was the way to go. Alas, I discovered it's hard to be a podcast guest when the podcasts that seem to be a "good fit" are steeped in "social influence style" and I strongly dislike this popular trend. Do I suck it up and pitch to podcasts even if I can't bear to listen to them? Do I remain trapped in obscurity? What to do?
Marketing Root Work Podcast
Making Peace with "Influencer Nation"
Send us a textTo become more visible and connect with more ideal people, I thought being a podcast guest was the way to go. Alas, I discovered it's hard to be a podcast guest when the podcasts that seem to be a "good fit" are steeped in "social influence style" and I strongly dislike this popular trend. Do I suck it up and pitch to podcasts even if I can't bear to listen to them? Do I remain trapped in obscurity? What to do?
- Duration:
- 7m
- Broadcast on:
- 11 Aug 2024
- Audio Format:
- mp3
Hi, this is Judy Murdock, and this is the Marketing rework podcast. Okay, so the topic for today is making peace with influence nation. I dedicated most of last week to gearing up for my upcoming tour de podcast. The plan was, first, learn strategies and tactics for promoting myself as a podcast guest, two, research podcasts, and identify ones that felt like a good fit, three, launch a blitz of pitches with the intention to be welcome as a guest on a few podcasts, and finally, number four, fame, fortune, love, all would be mine, but like so many good ideas, this one went sideways about midway through. The problem I ran into was finding podcasts that I enjoy listening to. I actually do listen to podcasts. Most are news oriented, a few are science focused and cultural. All of them are on the nerdy side because I'm a nerdy girl. Oh yeah, and a couple are true crime. No, there are literally zillions of podcasts and to narrow my options, I ask colleagues and friends to recommend podcasts. They find interesting and valuable from an entrepreneurial perspective. This gave me a list of about 25 podcasts to explore. And I began listening. I listened to the first five or so, and then I stopped. I couldn't keep listening, I just could not. It wasn't that the podcasts were lacking in useful information and interesting ideas. The content side certainly fit the content I was looking for. It was the style of delivery that I literally could not listen to. Intentionally or unintentionally, many of the hosting guests were using what I call quote influencer, unquote, style. Sometimes I hear this referred to as social influencing. Paraphrasing here, the idea behind social influencing is to share information and ideas in ways that make you, the viewer, feel as though you're hanging out with your besties. So a social influencer might sound like this. You know, sitting in your stylish friend's kitchen and she's telling you about this amazing high fiber protein shake that has totally changed her life. She lost 20 pounds, she's down to a size zero, and she has never felt so young and vibrant. People literally stop her in the streets and ask her if she's a movie star and your friend has a great deal just for you. If you commit today, she can sell you 10 pounds of high fiber protein shake mix for only $500 such a deal. Okay, I'm going to stop here, I'm exaggerating somewhat, but not much. Clearly, the words I wrote sound a lot better, they sound better than when they're written. The whole point is to create what feels like a more intimate quote, we're just friends vibe. And it works brilliantly. Many social influencers have enormous followings and make serious money promoting protein shakes, skincare, pet food, you name it. There are millions of people who genuinely enjoy watching social influencers and feel good about buying the products and services influencers sell. And social influencer can be used for good. Now for profits employ social influence style presentations to encourage donations and volunteerism and other good things that they need. I just can't stand listening or watching people who are using the social influence style. Everything in my body cringes. And when my body says no way, I'm not going to process the interesting useful content. My ears seem to turn off. Certainly back to the podcast tour, bottom line, I discovered that finding quote affinity podcasts, unquote, would not be something I could do on a fast timeline. I will not be moving forward with a blitzkrieg style guest pitching initiative. This doesn't mean I'm not interested in being a podcast guest. I am. I like to present and share information. I like having good chewy conversations. It will simply take more time. I do trust the right things will bubble up and that over time, I'll discover podcasts that are a good fit and or opportunities that are even better fit for my business values and the people I want to serve. I also wish this was easier. And this relates to a deeper issue for me. I often feel as though I'm such an outlier that feels very daunting to find right fit ways to have a business to become visible to those I want to serve and to create what I desire that quote by Steve Jobs, the one about celebrating the edge walkers and the people who think different. I absolutely agree and that quote oversimplifies and romanticizes the idea of being on the French. Yes, we should absolutely celebrate the people who are oddballs who see things in a different way. Whose ideas are far better than their social skills and when you are someone wandering around on the French, it can feel alienating, lonely and lacking in purpose, which brings me back to root work and community, which is why I appreciate those of you reading this and nodding along. I'm not alone, you're not alone. There is a we here and that means a lot to me. I really do believe that there are people who want to find us every bit as much as we want to find them. And I'm always looking for fun, authentic, effective ways to connect and create opportunities for all of us. May we find those fun, authentic ways to connect with the people who truly want our creations, products and services. Judy Murdoch, root work coach, writer, artist. [BLANK_AUDIO]