Story Behind The Social Media Talks Podcast

I have always been an avid listener to Podcasts so, I decided to look into Podcasting. After a lot of research, I started The Social Media Talks Podcast. The concept was to interview Irish Social Media influencers and bring their expertise to the forefront through the Podcast along with helping business owners learn more about Social Media Marketing. The great thing about creating these podcasts was I was able to engage in conversations with my guests, as that is what my business is all about with Kompass Media, but it was also a great opportunity to build strong relationships with other Social Media Influencers around the Country.

As we started to grow the Podcast we made the decision that not only could I speak to Irish Digital Marketers but with the power of the Internet, Skype or the Zoom Video conferences platform we could reach out to International Marketers from around the world. In the first six months, we had interviewed Digital Marketing CMO’s with Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram Experts and our listenership started to grow week on week to a stage where we now get over 1000 downloads per month on the podcast and it is still growing every week.

One of the many things that I enjoy about the Podcast on a personal basis is meeting so many Social Media Power Influencers from around the world and building strong relationships with them and now can call them good friends. The other day I was speaking to a fellow Digital Marketer and he could not believe I had so many personal email addresses and contact numbers for some of the biggest Power Influencers in the world.

Another great opportunity the podcast has given me is to learn from their experiences and collaborate with like-minded experts in my field. It has opened up so many doors and has helped me grow my visibility and credibility for what I do internationally.

One of my early interviews was with Ted Rubin (Social Marketing Strategist, Keynote Speaker, CMO Photofy, Acting CMO and MC / HOST of Brand Innovators Summits) whom I admired and followed for quite sometime before the Podcast. He gave me one of the best pieces of advice about interviewing guests. So let me set the scene for you, It was 3.30pm on a Tuesday afternoon here in Ireland, the time the meeting appointment was booked for and I was waiting for him to enter the room on a Zoom call and feeling a bit nervous. 3.40pm came and went and I thought he must be busy. I was just about to end the call and he arrived in and said sorry for being late. He had just come off an interview with CNN News in the States about some big crash in a company in the US. I told him well if I was nervous before I am twice as bad now. Ted answered my comment with one piece of advice that I have carried through with all of the big names that I have interviews since.

The advice he gave was “Alan, remember, it doesn’t mean anything about the status I hold, always remember we are just friends having a chat and carry that with you when you are interview other guests”   From that day to this I always think of those wise words when I speak to a guest on the Podcast. Thanks, Ted.

If there is one piece of advice I can give you as John Lee Dumas says “A Podcast is a marathon, not a sprint”. A Podcast is a slow burner and takes time to grow but when it starts to move it is a great feeling of continued accomplishments.

It takes time so stick with it. Most Podcasters disappear after 3 months because they don’t see any results from them. Remember to keep publishing good content and your listeners will keep coming back every week. Podcast subscribers are very loyal.

We are now into year 2 of the podcast and are looking forward to chatting with so many more interesting people from the world of Business, Marketing, Authors and Social Media Influencers.