15 Social Media Podcasts to Take Your Marketing Skills to the Next Level

What should you do if you want to become the best at what you do?

There's probably a long list, with lots of options. One thing we're particularly fond of at Buffer when it comes to improving ourselves is listening to podcasts relevant to our niche and industry.

In our case, that means social media podcasts!

What we love about podcasts is that they make it easy to hear from industry leaders and talented folks about their experiences and advice (which we might not be able to read about anywhere else). There are so many of these voices in the marketing space that have been influential for me and the team!

Related: How to Promote Your Podcast

So the big question is: Where to start? Which podcasts should I try? What episodes should I listen to?

I have the same questions in mind whenever I find the time to listen to podcasts. Rather than spending your podcast time finding a podcast episode to listen to, I'd love to help you skip that step and go straight to listening. Here's a list of 15 top marketing podcasts, covering three areas of social media marketing, with some top episodes from each podcast to check out!

To make it easier to find the parts of this post that are most helpful, here's a look at all we'll cover:

9 of the very best Social Media Marketing podcasts
3 Paid Social Media Marketing podcasts
3 Community Building & Customer Support podcasts

Psst! Our new podcast, The Science of Social Media, is live in iTunes.

This is our newly-launched social media podcast for marketers and brands interested in learning about new and exciting ways to implement social media marketing across a variety of platforms and industries. Every week, Hailley Griffis, Brian Peters and Kevan Lee interview some of the best marketers around in quick, 30-minute episodes.

Here are some recent episodes you might like:

9 Top social media marketing podcasts

1. Social Pros by Jay Baer and Adam Brown

Real people doing real work in social media. Social Pros, recently named the best marketing podcast at the Content Marketing Awards, dives into the inside stories and behind-the-scenes strategies of how huge companies and brands like Ford, Dell, IBM, ESPN and more manage and measure their social media programs.

Hosts: Jay Baer (President of Convince & Convert) and Adam Brown (Executive Strategist at Salesforce)

Format: Interviews (with its 'The Big Two' questions at the end: 1. What's your one tip for becoming a social pro? and 2. If you could do a Skype call with any living person, who would it be?)

Duration: Ranges from 30 to 60 minutes

Recent episodes you might like:

2. Social Media Marketing with Michael Stelzner of Social Media Examiner

In his weekly podcast, Michael Stelzner interviews social media experts to find out how successful businesses run their social media and uncover strategies and actionable tips to improve one's social media marketing.

For each episode, there's a very detailed blog post about the content of the interview so that you don't have to take notes while listening.

Hosts: Michael Stelzner (Founder of Social Media Examiner and the Social Media Marketing World conference)

Format: Interviews (with a quick social media discovery of the week at the start)

Duration: 45 minutes

Recent episodes you might like:

3. The #AskGaryVee Show by Gary Vaynerchuk

For each episode of #AskGaryVee, Gary Vaynerchuk answers a question from his audience about marketing, social media, entrepreneurship and startups based on his lifetime experience of building successful, multi-million dollar companies. If you tweet him your question with #AskGaryVee, you might get on the show!

The show originally started as YouTube videos only, and Gary turned them into podcasts too so that his audience can listen to them on the go. If you usually listen to podcasts on your computer or prefer to watch the video, you might find the #AskGaryVee Search Engine useful!

Hosts: Gary Vaynerchuk (CEO of Vayner Media and co-founder of Vayner Sports)

Format: 1-2 questions from his audience and answers from Gary

Duration: Ranges from 15 to 45 minutes

Recent episodes you might like:

4. Social Media Social Hour by Tyler Anderson

This is a podcast for marketers and entrepreneurs looking to get on the social media fast track. Each week, Tyler Anderson interviews people behind top brands and influencers to discuss social media, tech and online marketing. Tyler also shares tools and processes he personally uses (like Focus Booster) to help him with social media management, marketing, productivity and more.

Hosts: Tyler Anderson (Founder and CEO at Casual Fridays)

Format: Interviews

Duration: Ranges from 20 to 50 minutes

Recent episodes you might like:

5. Online Marketing Made Easy by Amy Porterfield

In her podcast, Amy Porterfield shares how to monetize your online marketing and blogging efforts using her own tested, actionable lead-generation strategies. Amy creates educational content on social media marketing, freelancing and several other areas of online marketing and even shares free cheatsheets and guides so that you can follow along while listening to the podcast. Sometimes, she's joined by a Facebook ad expert, Rick Mulready, to discuss all about Facebook ads.

Hosts: Amy Porterfield (Social media strategist and co-author of Facebook Marketing All-In-One for Dummies)

Format: Mix between interviews and solo podcasting on Facebook ads, online marketing and blogging

Duration: Ranges from 30 to 50 minutes

Recent episodes you might like:

6. Social Zoom Factor with Pam Moore

With 100,000 downloads per month, Social Zoom Factor is one of the most popular marketing podcasts. The show is hosted by Pam Moore of Marketing Nutz, a company with clients like IBM and Adobe. Pam covers topics such as social media, experiential branding, digital marketing and more.

If you are an auditory learner and prefer listening versus reading blog posts, this might be the podcast for you!

Hosts: Pam Moore (CEO and Founder, Marketing Nutz)

Format: Solo podcasting on social media strategies

Duration: About 30 minutes

Recent episodes you might like:

7. #TwitterSmarter by Madalyn Sklar

In this podcast dedicated to Twitter, Madalyn Sklar interviews amazing movers and shakers in the world of social media and online marketing to discover the best Twitter insights, information and resources.

If you are into Twitter chats, Madalyn also hosts a weekly #TwitterSmarter chat -- a Twitter chat to connect, learn and share Twitter tips -- every Thursday at 1:00 p.m. ET/10:00 a.m. PT.

Hosts: Madalyn Sklar (Twitter marketing strategist)

Format: Interviews

Duration: Ranges from 10 to 30 minutes

Recent episodes you might like:

8. Hashtagged by Jordan Powers

Hashtagged is a podcast all about Instagram. In each episode, Jordan Powers interviews a member of the Instagram community to uncover insights to growing a following, building a community and making an impact.

Hosts: Jordan Powers (Photographer and co-founder of Made in Mankato, a video production company)

Format: Interviews

Duration: Ranges from 30 to 60 minutes

Recent episodes you might like:

9. Manly Pinterest Tips with Jeff Sieh

In this podcast mainly for everything about Pinterest, Jeff Sieh explores best practices, strategies and demonstrations with several Power Pinners. Once in a while, Jeff will cover other social networks like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram too.

Hosts: Jeff Sieh (Social media consultant and speaker)

Format: Interviews and answering questions from the community during the interviews

Duration: Ranges from 40 to 60 minutes

Recent episodes you might like:

Paid social marketing

1. The Art of Paid Traffic by Rick Mulready

In The Art of Paid Traffic, Rick Mulready reveals the best paid traffic tips, tactics and strategies for generating leads and sales on autopilot for your business. Together with expert guests such as Massimo Chieruzzi, founder & CEO of AdEspresso, Rick dives into Facebook ads, YouTube ads, Twitter ads, Google Adwords, retargeting and more.

Hosts: Rick Mulready (Expert in Facebook ads and marketing strategies for small businesses)

Format: Mix of interviews, case studies and solo podcasting

Duration: Ranges from 20 to 50 minutes

Recent episodes you might like:

2. Perpetual Traffic by Keith Krance, Molly Pittman and Ralph Burns

Perpetual Traffic podcast covers actionable strategies mainly for advertising on Facebook, with occasional mentions of YouTube, Twitter, Google AdWords, LinkedIn and more. Keith, Molly and Ralph interview business owners on how they overcame struggles with digital marketing and online advertising.

Hosts: Keith Krance (Founder and president of Dominate Web Media), Molly Pittman (Vice President and Traffic Manager, Digital Marketer) and Ralph Burns (Managing Partner at Dominate Web Media)

Format: Interviews and discussions on digital marketing and online advertising

Duration: Ranges from 20 to 40 minutes

Recent episodes you might like:

3. Social Media Pubcast with Jon Loomer

In each episode of Social Media Pubcast, Jon Loomer invites an industry expert to his virtual pub to discuss Facebook marketing and advertising over a beer. Jon also records audio versions of his blog posts for people who want to listen on the go.

Jon manages an exclusive community for advanced Facebook marketers, Power Hitters Club, which I thought is pretty awesome (says the Community Champion in me)!

Hosts: Jon Loomer (Founder of Jon Loomer, For Advanced Facebook Marketers)

Format: Mix of pubcasts with guests and audio version of blog posts

Duration: About 40 minutes for pubcasts and 10 minutes for audio recordings of blog posts

Recent episodes you might like:

Community building and customer support

At Buffer, the distinction between marketing and community is very blurry. In fact, we believe they belong together! An example is how our awesome social media manager, Brian Peters, has built an engaging community on Instagram.

Here are two podcasts with a strong community focus, plus a bonus third podcast with ties into customer support (a really great skill for social media marketers to have).

1. The FeverBee Podcast by FeverBee

While this show has stopped for a while now, the archive is a treasure trove of information! The podcast covers the latest in community management, social science and FeverBee news. In each episode, a community manager or social media manager of a well-known brand joins the show to share their knowledge.

Hosts: Caty Kobe (previously Head of Training, FeverBee)

Format: Interviews

Duration: About 30 minutes

Recent episodes you might like:

2. Community Signal by Patrick O'Keefe

Community Signal is a weekly podcast for community professionals, which is very community-focused. Patrick O'Keefe believes that social media is a set of tools for building a community and while "marketing brings new customers, community helps you keep them."

Hosts: Patrick O'Keefe (Managed communities for more than 16 years)

Format: Interviews

Duration: About 30 minutes

Recent episodes you might like:

3. Support Ops by Chase Clemons

I believe it's quite common for social media managers to receive support requests on their social channel. If that's the case for you and if you are wondering how to get better at that, Support Ops might be just for you! This weekly podcast aims to help you deliver a better support experience to your customers.

Hosts and team: Chase Clemons (Support, Basecamp), Carolyn Kopprasch (Chief Happiness Officer, Buffer), Chase Livingston (Happiness Engineer, Automattic) and Jeff Vincent (Product, Wista)

Format: Discussions on customer support among the team, sometimes with guests

Duration: About 30 minutes

Recent episodes you might like:

15 Social Media Podcasts to Take Your Marketing Skills to the Next Level Take it from the pros -- these podcasts will help boost your social media presence.

Psst! Our new podcast, The Science of Social Media, is live in iTunes.

9 Top social media marketing podcasts

1. Social Pros by Jay Baer and Adam Brown

2. Social Media Marketing with Michael Stelzner of Social Media Examiner

3. The #AskGaryVee Show by Gary Vaynerchuk

4. Social Media Social Hour by Tyler Anderson