Best Podcasts + Books for Influencers and Bloggers 2020

Best Podcasts and Books for Bloggers and Influencers in 2020

Business and marketing podcasts for bloggers and influencers really help motivate me to keep grinding. Ever since this quarantine thing happened, my motivation went straight out the front door while I’m staying locked inside. Last week, I only mustered up the energy to create a shopping blog post + posted my YouTube video for distressed jeans. Even though it feels similar to my life before, (I’ve always worked from home with my corporate job) this somehow it feels different with no other activities scheduled to change up the week. My current routine consists of moving back and forth between the office and kitchen all day, with a half effort “workout” sometime around 10 pm.

With that, I’m getting out of my funk by sharing with you the people who motivate and inspire me – my favorite podcasts and books for Influencers and bloggers! Listening to these social media experts ALWAYS makes me feel better and motivates me to continue to grind daily, no matter how small the task.  I’m always left with a can-do attitude that makes me ready to tackle the to do list, and helps me get out of my own head when the anxiety, fears, and doubts start to cloud over my thoughts.

All of the podcasts are FREE resources for you to learn more about starting a business, how to grow on Instagram, engagement rates, how to pitch to brands, hashtag strategies, and MUCH more! Keep reading for the best podcasts for bloggers.

Best Podcasts for Bloggers and Influencers in 2020

The Influencer Podcast – Julie Solomon

Julie Solomon – the first person who introduced me to the back end of blogging – what being an influencer actually takes and how to monetize into a business. She was really one of the first people in the field producing content FOR influencers with an “instruction manual” per say – so she’s always a resource in my book. She offers coaching, online courses such as Pitch it Perfect, and other paid content, however, her podcasts are always free resources!

Julie’s episodes now mainly consist of guest speakers coming on to talk about on their subject expertise. To me, these episodes are more inspirational than “here’s exactly how to start a blog.” If you’re looking for motivation, to hear big influencers stories such as Julia Engel from Gal Meets Glam, Hunter Premo, and Officially Quigley, hop on over to Julie’s podcast.  I’ve been listening to Julie for 2 years, so it’s hard to pick out my favorites. I’ll recommend some more recent ones:

1. Episode 139: Best of the Influencer Podcast: Mindset
2. Episode 140: Best of The Influencer Podcast: Business Growth
3. Episode 103: Q&A with Julie: The Most Common Pitch Problems Solved

Blogging Unscripted – Danielle Gervino  

I discovered Danielle’s podcast last fall and so happy I did! If you are looking for a guide on your content creation, building an engaged audience, how to pitch, how to determine your rate, and SO MUCH MORE – this is for you! I LOVE how actionable Danielle’s podcasts are. She gives SUCH valuable information for things you can’t find on google –  how to find contacts for brands past the basic “find them on LinkedIn.”  I recommend EVERY. SINGLE. ONE. Of her episodes – but here are my top 4 musts:

1. Your Guide to the Pitch Process: 7 Key Principles of Pitching
2. Your Guide to the Pitch Process: Negotiating Your Best Brand Deal
3. Successfully Navigating Holiday Season as a Blogger
4. Strategies to Boost Your Instagram Engagement

Overall, Danielle gives it to you real – and doesn’t hold back information that people normally charge big bucks for. She also has a Facebook group for her listeners, with over 1,000 people in it! It’s a safe place to ask questions and also the place where Danielle polls her audience and you can give input on what you want her to talk about in the next episode. She also has additional blog posts and blogging resources on her website.

A Drink With James – Fohr

You’ve probably heard of Fohr and what it means to be “Fohr verified.” If you haven’t, you definitely need to get Fohr verified! Brands use the website to “verify” your social media insights to confirm you have a real audience. Fohr also acts as a brand collaboration tool, however, as a “micro influencer” I’ve never once gotten a campaign through the Fohr platform. It tends to be a platform for bigger bloggers to find collaborations through – if you want to know more about influencer marketing platforms to find brand collaborations read my full guide here.  

Anyway, Fohr’s founder, James Nord, also releases a weekly podcast and YouTube series called “A Drink with James.” Personally, I have zero time to sit and watch YouTube videos, and I usually listen to podcasts while multitasking and doing something else, like driving or working out. My top episode recommendations:

1. 5 Tactics to Improve Engagement (and prevent fake engagement)
2. Everything you need to know about Instagram Stories
3. How to Create Content that Drives Action

The Content Creatives – Emma and Maddy

Content creators and/or bloggers – whatever term you want to describe yourself (because it really is personal preference!) – Emma from @EmmasEdition and Maddy from @madcrayy have teamed up to share how they create content! I was already following Emma and reading her blogging tips posts religiously, and so excited when she and her friend launched a podcast at the beginning of 2020! The tips they share are focused on the business side of blogging and staying organized. Prepping for photoshoots, balancing a full-time job and blogging, the tools they use, and more! My episode recommendations:

1. How to Plan for a Photoshoot
2. How to Balance a Full Time Job and Create Content for your Passion
3. 10 Tools you can use to Create and Organize Content

Behind the Feed – Josie Sanders

I looooove hearing from real bloggers. Not people who stopped blogging to “coach” social media. They have the real-life experience and going through the exact same problems you are in the same exact climate and time period. Nothing is “old news” because they are constantly sharing the current strategies that work for them, along with their personal experiences. That’s what’s cool about a podcast format too – there’s always recent content out there. Both A Drink With James and Josie have episodes out on COVID – 19 and what it means for influencers.

Josie just launched her podcast in March, so I haven’t caught up and listened to all of her episodes yet, only the first one listed below. BUT I’m about to catch up and listen to 2 and 3 this week!

1. Freebies to Franklins: Working with brands on free trade collabs and getting paid
2. My Story: From College Drop Out to Successful Business Owner & Influencer
3. Connecting With your Audience: The Key to Instagram Growth

6 Figure Influencer with Allie Reeves

Allie Reeves is more of a coach for small business wanting to learn social media and those of you who want to launch a course or workshop, so I definitely recommend this this one if that sounds like you.  Definitely sort through her title list to see which podcast episodes will be the most relevant for you! I personally found her hashtag episodes super insightful and I learned things I did not know yet after doing this for 1.5 years!  The 2 episodes from Allie I found the most helpful:

1. Hashtags: Why the F They’re So Important + Best Practices
2. How to Beat the Algorithm

Best Books for Influencers

Okay….so I’ve only read 1 influencer book. Maybe because there aren’t a lot of books on the market? Since blogging is a 100% digital space, creators are more likely to produce online courses, podcasts, and other digital literature for all of us to soak in.

Influencer: Building Your Personal Brand in the Age of Social Media – Brittany Hennessy

 PURE GOLD. BRITTANY IS AMAZING AND COMES WITH THE MOST ROBUST INDUSTRY KNOWLEDGE. She basically created influencer marketing from the brand standpoint at Hearst Magazines Digital Media, aka owner of Seventeen, Cosmopolitan, Elle, Marie Claire, Harper’s Bazaar, Redbook, Esquire and more. She’s paid influencers $75k for 1 post on IG. SHE’S GOT THE JUICE AND KNOWLEDGE ON WHAT BRANDS WANT. I get so excited about this book I jump all over the place, so I will break it down into the 4 parts of the book:

1. Building Your Community
   1. Everything from creating great content to how you get people to follow you
2. Packaging Your Brand
   1. How to stand out from the crowd and get brands to notice you
3. Monetizing Your Influence
   1. How do you determine and negotiate your worth
4. Planning Your Future
   1. How do you prepare for what’s next?

 Yes, a lot of the content is above my “influence level” aka I’m not someone in the over 100k range followers and won’t be for a while. But so what? Dress for the job you want, not the job you have. And I want to make blogging my full-time career, so you know I’m acting like it. I’m soaking in all the tips to the be the best I can be and preparing for what I need to be at the next level. Mentally, I am there and ready, and so is my content. My follower count just isn’t there yet. That’s fine….we’re playing catch up in a saturated market…but we will get there!

Hopefully these resources help motivate you the way they help me! It’s to hear like someone is speaking to your soul, and truly on some of these episodes you are nodding along with them like THIS IS ME, THIS IS WHAT I NEED, THANK YOU!!

And of course…..what podcasts or books did I miss?!! Who’s your favorite source of inspiration? Is there a favorite podcast episode you love that I missed? Spread the love below in the comments to make this list even bigger for best podcast and book resources for bloggers!