Indianapolis podcast “Edge of the Web” produced by Site Strategics has won a national award. Aug. 3, 2017.
Michelle Pemberton/IndyStar
Three years ago business mogul Steve Forbes told a fledgling Indianapolis radio program that the Circle City would lead the way in technological advances for the Midwest.
If the now-podcast itself is any measure, Indianapolis is on its way.
“Edge of the Web,” a weekly podcast and live stream that covers news and trends in the digital marketing world, earlier this summer won best podcast from the Content Marketing Awards, edging out finalists such as Continental Tire, software company Slack Technologies and global public relations firm Weber Shandwick.
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Digital marketing agency Site Strategics launched the podcast in 2012, initially renting studio space at WXNT-AM (1430) and later WFDM-FM (95.9).
The idea came to Site Strategics owner Erin Sparks while he was regularly hosting seminars to explain search engine optimization and how valuable it is. Sparks realized that many businesses didn’t grasp the concept.
Such unfamiliarity can prove costly, said Nate Torvik, chief strategy officer for the company and regular host of the podcast.
“If you are not trying to push into the digital marketing space,” Torvik said, “you are falling behind.”
The show, which offers digital marketing tips to small- and medium-sized businesses as well as conversation, is streamed live every Thursday on Facebook and released as a podcast the following Tuesday. About two-thirds of its audience is international.
During a recent episode Sparks and his team spoke with Muhammad Yasin, director of digital marketing for PERQ, a marketing firm in Indianapolis.
One of the topics discussed was Twitter’s new automatic Tweet promotion service for $99 per month.
“Not every Tweet needs to be amplified,” Yasin said. “You need to be more strategic about what you are marketing and what you are promoting.”
Other guests of the show have included Silicon Valley venture capitalist Guy Kawasaki and Rand Fishkin, who in 2009 was named among the 30 best young tech entrepreneurs under 30 by BusinessWeek.
“Today, more and more consumers turn to digital resources to help them solve problems,” said Catherine Silver, a marketing instructor at Butler University’s Lacy School of Business. “Businesses need to be where the customers are.”
“Edge of the Web” is now broadcast from within Site Strategics’ offices in a studio built last year. The studio itself is an extension of the goal of the show.
“We built the studio to extend the resource to Indianapolis,” Sparks said. “Live casting is such a visioning medium right now. Our studio is built to support growth.”
Abdul Hakim-Shabazz, author of IndyPoltics.org, is a client. He uses the Site Strategics studio to create his podcast on local politics and to stream live on Facebook.
“They were digitally marketing before digital marketing was cool,” Hakim-Shabazz said.
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