The world is seemingly in crisis, with social and political upheaval having dominated the news agenda for several years. Much of the blame for this is laid at the feet of the social media giants, notably Facebook and Twitter, for creating platforms that fragment society and encourage extremism.

In the opening episode of Season Five of the Digital Download Podcast, I talk to digital technologist and former manager of the BBC’s DigiLab Euan Semple about the current social media environment and what the future looks like. We discuss how much of the responsibility to improve things lies with the social networks, and how much of that lies squarely at the feet of us, the people who use it.

Here’s what is discussed in this episode:

Subscribe to the podcast to receive new episodes automatically to your mobile or email. And if you enjoyed today’s show, please email it to a friend and/or share it on your favourite social media channels. I’d love to hear from you with any comments or thoughts. I read and reply to every single email, tweet or message. And finally, it would also be very awesome and hugely appreciated if you’d be able to take a moment to leave an honest review and rating for the podcast on iTunes, as this helps others discover Digital Download.

In 2019 we’re all hyper-connected. Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, WhatsApp and dozens of other apps compete for our attention on a daily basis. Those working in the communications industry are, arguably, more exposed than most given the nature of our jobs. So what affect is this having on us?

In this special episode of the Digital Download Podcast for #MentalHealthAwarenessWeek, I chat to Leanne Ehren and Alistair Beech, two communications professionals who have not only openly talked about their mental health issues, but who have campaigned to improve mental wellbeing in the workplace. We discuss the challenges of working in communications and ways that individuals and companies can address the issues.

Here’s what is discussed in this episode:

Subscribe to the podcast to receive new episodes automatically to your mobile or email. And if you enjoyed today’s show, please email it to a friend and/or share it on your favourite social media channels. I’d love to hear from you with any comments or thoughts. I read and reply to every single email, tweet or message. And finally, it would also be very awesome and hugely appreciated if you’d be able to take a moment to leave an honest review and rating for the podcast on iTunes, as this helps others discover Digital Download.

PR and SEO have been converging for many years. While each has large areas that are distinct to that discipline, there is a huge crossover in goals and skills. And yet many communications professionals still struggle with the concept of authority link building and with the language and challenges that SEO presents.

In this episode of the Digital Download Podcast, Head of Content at digital agency Aira Shannon McGuirk, discusses her switch from traditional PR to SEO. She talks about getting up to speed with the differences in approach that SEO employs, the similarities between the two disciplines, and about why and how PR professionals are in a prime position to take on link building work.

Here’s what is discussed in this episode:

Subscribe to the podcast to receive new episodes automatically to your mobile or email. And if you enjoyed today’s show, please email it to a friend and/or share it on your favourite social media channels. I’d love to hear from you with any comments or thoughts. I read and reply to every single email, tweet or message. And finally, it would also be very awesome and hugely appreciated if you’d be able to take a moment to leave an honest review and rating for the podcast on iTunes, as this helps others discover Digital Download.

Smart speakers are the fastest adopted consumer technology in history. Faster even than smartphones. The current use case is around routine activities like voice calling, playing music and accessing news headlines, but digital voice assistants are widely expected to take on more and more complex tasks as the technology advances rapidly.

In this episode of the Digital Download Podcast, co-founder of voice first consultancy Vixen Labs, James Poulter, talks about how voice technology is already impacting marketing communications and the ways that communicators need to adapt the way they do things with audio in mind.

Here’s what is discussed in this episode:

Subscribe to the podcast to receive new episodes automatically to your mobile or email. And if you enjoyed today’s show, please email it to a friend and/or share it on your favourite social media channels. I’d love to hear from you with any comments or thoughts. I read and reply to every single email, tweet or message. And finally, it would also be very awesome and hugely appreciated if you’d be able to take a moment to leave an honest review and rating for the podcast on iTunes, as this helps others discover Digital Download.

UK high street retailer Lush’s announcement that it is to close its branded social media accounts was met with reasoned agreement from some industry professionals and by relentless incredulity from others. It is a decision that has proved highly controversial in marketing communications circles.

In this episode of the Digital Download Podcast, social media consultant Helen Reynolds and I debate whether Lush’s shuttering of its branded social media channels is sensible given the rise of dark social media channels and the poor visibility afforded to brands on social networks now, or something that will do nothing but alienate it from insight and customers in the long run. Above all, do customers actually care?

Here’s what is discussed in this episode:

Subscribe to the podcast to receive new episodes automatically to your mobile or email. And if you enjoyed today’s show, please email it to a friend and/or share it on your favourite social media channels. I’d love to hear from you with any comments or thoughts. I read and reply to every single email, tweet or message. And finally, it would also be very awesome and hugely appreciated if you’d be able to take a moment to leave an honest review and rating for the podcast on iTunes, as this helps others discover Digital Download.

ASMR, or Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response to give it its full name, has been gaining lots of attention from marketers over the last few months. But what are opportunities? Are ASMR artists influential? And what actually is it?

In this episode of the Digital Download Podcast I talk to ASMR artists Creative Calm and Scottish Murmurs, who between them have 400,000 YouTube subscribers. We discuss how ASMR is perceived, what sorts of people watch the videos, what the opportunities are for marketers and whether ASMR is really here to stay.

Here’s what is discussed in this episode:

Subscribe to the podcast to receive new episodes automatically to your mobile or email. And if you enjoyed today’s show, please email it to a friend and/or share it on your favourite social media channels. I’d love to hear from you with any comments or thoughts. I read and reply to every single email, tweet or message. And finally, it would also be very awesome and hugely appreciated if you’d be able to take a moment to leave an honest review and rating for the podcast on iTunes, as this helps others discover Digital Download.

Both podcasting and blogging have been around for nearly thirty years. But whereas the former has undergone a huge resurgence due to developments in mobile technology and 4G, the latter is in decline as readers switch to more immersive forms of content. Both still hold significant benefits for marketing communications, but which is better?

In this episode of the Digital Download Podcast I debate the issue with Darryl Sparey, Business Development Director at Hotwire UK. Darryl believes that blogging is less demanding, had greater SEO benefits and is more measurable. I believe that podcasting is a more engaging form of media and attracts a higher quality audience and, consequently, is of higher business value.

Here’s what is discussed in this episode:

Subscribe to the podcast to receive new episodes automatically to your mobile or email. And if you enjoyed today’s show, please email it to a friend and/or share it on your favourite social media channels. I’d love to hear from you with any comments or thoughts. I read and reply to every single email, tweet or message. And finally, it would also be very awesome and hugely appreciated if you’d be able to take a moment to leave an honest review and rating for the podcast on iTunes, as this helps others discover Digital Download.

A year ago I wrote a rather controversial blog post titled ‘The Four Horsemen of the PR-Pocalypse’ that outlined four key threats to the communications industry. I asserted that the prevalence of fake news, an influencer bubble, declining content visibility in both social and traditional media, and the evolution of artificial intelligence are coming together to form a perfect storm around public relations.

In this episode of the Digital Download Podcast I revisit that blog post to look at how those four trends have progressed, whether my original post had any substance and whether it’s more challenging working in communications and PR than it was 12 months ago.

Here’s what is discussed in this episode:

Subscribe to the podcast to receive new episodes automatically to your mobile or email. And if you enjoyed today’s show, please email it to a friend and/or share it on your favourite social media channels. I’d love to hear from you with any comments or thoughts. I read and reply to every single email, tweet or message. And finally, it would also be very awesome and hugely appreciated if you’d be able to take a moment to leave an honest review and rating for the podcast on iTunes, as this helps others discover Digital Download.

As users turn away from public social networks to using private groups and dark social media, reaching those people with branded messages is becoming more and more difficult. In accordance with this, employee advocacy is on the rise, with an increasing number of companies focusing on their own staff to spread their messages far and wide.

In this episode of the Digital Download Podcast I talk to Keith Lewis, Social Media Manager at Zurich Insurance UK, about the organisation’s journey over the last few years towards a fully-fledged employee advocacy programme. We discuss the challenges of the approach and some of the key considerations, such as how to identify and encourage advocates, how to guide them, and what processes and software tools work best.

Here’s what is discussed in this episode:

I’d love to hear from you with any comments or thoughts. I read and reply to every single email, tweet or message.

If you enjoyed today’s show, please email it to a friend and/or share it on your favourite social media channels. You might also want to check out Digital Download Membership, which is like having an army of expert mentors to turn to who keep you updated with the latest digital and social media developments and provide feedback and opinions on your ideas.

And finally, it would also be very awesome and hugely appreciated if you’d be able to take a couple of minutes to leave an honest review and rating for the podcast on iTunes, as this helps others discover Digital Download.

Artificial intelligence has been variously painted as the next big thing, the technology that will all-but-kill communications and the development that will increase efficiency and productivity exponentially. But where does the truth lie? Is AI all just hype? Do we really need to bother with it yet when no-one else is?

Katie King is a digital transformation and management consultant, and was recently appointed to the UK Government All-Party Parliamentary Group task force for the enterprise adoption of AI. Her new book, Using Artificial Intelligence in Marketing, seeks to clear up some of the confusion around AI with case studies of companies using it both successfully and not-so-successfully. In this episode of the Digital Download podcast, Katie and I address some of the more challenging questions when it comes to AI and the communications industry.

Here’s what is discussed in this episode:

I’d love to hear from you with any comments or thoughts. I read and reply to every single email, tweet or message.

If you enjoyed today’s show, please email it to a friend and/or share it on your favourite social media channels. You might also want to check out Digital Download Membership, which is like having an army of expert mentors to turn to who keep you updated with the latest digital and social media developments and provide feedback and opinions on your ideas.

And finally, it would also be very awesome and hugely appreciated if you’d be able to take a couple of minutes to leave an honest review and rating for the podcast on iTunes, as this helps others discover Digital Download.