Three Podcasts You Should Listen To In 2016

The podcast bug seems to have really infected everyone. It only took a decade or so. And Serial. And a dude in a garage who interviewed the President of the United States. But it’s here. Since it’s here, we wanted to share a few favorites that you should plug into your ears.

Now, this list isn’t necessarily going to help you with social media marketing, or business for that matter. That’s what Inc.com’s list of “100 Podcasts That Will Make You Smarter, Better, and Wiser” is for. However, these podcasts will likely strike a chord if you have any interest in social media, marketing, and/or data.

Reply All

The first ‘cast on the list is “A Show About the Internet”. If you like Serial, but would prefer to have your captivating stories told in only one episode, and vary by topic, Reply All is the podcast for you. Every episode tackles a new idea or problem or topic about the Internet in a way that both informs and entertains. Topics range from medical mysteries and how they’re solved (or are they?) through crowd-source medical sites to an episode about the person behind Ripoff Report. There are also occasional short segments that explain and breakdown topical Internet-related issues (e.g. Gamer Gate, the discharge of Reddit’s AMA moderator, etc.) as well as the associated “lingo.”

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What’s the Point

…is what you might ask yourself if you haven’t been bitten by the podcast bug, BUT you’ve got to check out this awesome podcast from FiveThirtyEight (ESPN & Nate Silver’s data blog). In each episode, host Jody Avirgan talks with a data expert in a variety of fields. If you are a data geek like myself, you’ll love this show! Some of my favorite episodes are “The Guy Who Predicts Whether A Movie Will Bomb, Months Before It’s Made” and “How Data Can Solve Our Most Vexing Transportation Problems.” While not explicitly related to social media marketing, most episodes provide really cool takeaways and concepts that can be taken into consideration in pretty much any field that requires data, which is to say – as proven by this podcast – every field.

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The Message

The Message is fascinating in both content and concept. Think digital “The War of the Worlds,” but created by GE as a way to “sell the idea of a brand” instead of selling products. The Message captivates, entertains, and is an interesting new way to utilize podcasts for marketing beyond the omnipresent spots for Stamps.com and Squarespace. It will be interesting to see how the success of The Message fares, and what else we might see from GE Theater!

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What are some of your favorite podcasts?



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