Stop Shouting, Start Talking

07/10/20 • 3 min

Episode 3: Podcasters tend to be a pretty well spoken bunch, especially those who do their own editing. There’s no better motivation to improve your diction than having to go back to edit all your ums, ahs, and mouth clicks. Time is money.

With all the time invested in making our shows, it’s not surprising that we’re super eager to do anything in our power to get the word out. If you were guaranteed a 10 percent increase in downloads, would you scream from your rooftop? Heck, I would probably do it for just 10 downloads. It doesn’t work, in case you were wondering.

Guilty of Oversharing

We’re such an enthusiastic bunch that most Facebook groups need to establish and enforce strict rules. Here’s an example from the Podcast Movement FB group:

No self promotion
No posting of own show links
Ask questions, share your knowledge, and become a part of the family

When the admins make an exception, look what happens.

Have you tried sifting through 600+ Facebook comments?! We’re all shouting but few are listening.

As podcasters, most of us are on social media. Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn. In an effort to get more listeners, we post about our latest episode — everywhere. How is that working for you? I find that it’s a lot of time spent without a great return.

13,000 Unread Messages

This got me thinking about my email inbox where I get a lot of spam. Nearly 100% is automated. Looking at my sent folder as analytics, here’s an important finding.

How many automated spam emails I responded to? Zero.How many emails I responded to from people who I know? All of them.

Follow the Rules

This brings us back to the third rule from the Facebook group: “Ask questions, share your knowledge, and become a part of the family.” This is gold and needs to be our focus.

In marketing, this is the difference between social selling and social spamming. When it comes to podcast marketing, we need to be thinking and behaving differently.

Here are some tactics to try:

Follow more people on social platforms
Comment on blog posts
Share feedback and ideas via email or direct message
Take a social media conversation offline to phone, Zoom, or Skype

Done correctly, great marketers have repeatedly built big dollar, business relationships that began as friendships on social media. If it works for them, it can work for us.

Let’s approach social media in a different way. Stop shouting, start talking.

Guilty of Oversharing

We’re such an enthusiastic bunch that most Facebook groups need to establish and enforce strict rules. Here’s an example from the Podcast Movement FB group:

No self promotion
No posting of own show links
Ask questions, share your knowledge, and become a part of the family

When the admins make an exception, look what happens.

Have you tried sifting through 600+ Facebook comments?! We’re all shouting but few are listening.

13,000 Unread Messages

This got me thinking about my email inbox where I get a lot of spam. Nearly 100% is automated. Looking at my sent folder as analytics, here’s an important finding.

How many automated spam emails I responded to? Zero.How many emails I responded to from people who I know? All of them.

Follow the Rules

This brings us back to the third rule from the Facebook group: “Ask questions, share your knowledge, and become a part of the family.” This is gold and needs to be our focus.

In marketing, this is the difference between social selling and social spamming. When it comes to podcast marketing, we need to be thinking and behaving differently.

Here are some tactics to try:

Follow more people on social platforms
Comment on blog posts
Share feedback and ideas via email or direct message
Take a social media conversation offline to phone, Zoom, or Skype

Done correctly, great marketers have repeatedly built big dollar, business relationships that began as friendships on social media. If it works for them, it can work for us.

Let’s approach social media in a different way. Stop shouting, start talking.

Previous Episode

Best Advice For New Podcasters

Episode 2: Before launching a podcast, most podcasters ask about things like gear, media hosts, and show art.

Before I started, I asked a friend who had published over 1500 episodes for advice. His first reaction was, “Are you SURE that you want to launch a podcast?” When I assured him that I did, this is what he said.

If you’re absolutely sure that you want to start a podcast, commit to doing it for a year. Once you start, keep publishing at whatever frequency you decide. Don’t look at downloads. Don’t consider whether you like doing it or not. Do it for an entire year before evaluating anything because podcasting takes time.

Every year, I treat my podcast like a television show. Where TV network executives look at viewer ratings, I look back at the prior twelve months to see what I’ve gained from running the podcast. What did I learn? What mistakes were made? Did I earn more business? If I decide that it was worth my time, my podcast gets renewed for another season.

Even though I know I shouldn’t look at downloads, I still do. Committing myself to publishing another full year of podcast episodes ensures that distractions (like looking at download stats or binge watching TV) won’t stop me from keeping my weekly publishing schedule.

I highly suggest you do the same. Give yourself time.

Next Episode

Use Social Currency to Entice Guests to Share

Episode 4: If you do an interview podcast, how frequently do guests share the episode to their networks on social media? Probably, it’s not often enough.

NOT GETTING ENOUGH SHARES?

You created a stellar episode. You thanked your guest and provided her with marketing assets — pretty graphics, a quote card, and audiogram. That’s a good start but a lot of friction remains for a guest to take an image, write a blurb, and share it.

Willie Mandrell, who was on my show a couple months ago, created his own graphic and just shared it on Instagram. It was a marketing epiphany for me.

View image at https://www.instagram.com/wjmandrell

Look at what he did! Willie shared his podcast appearance; but even better, he raised his own profile by featuring himself alongside other high profile guests who have appeared on my show. This is great publicity for him and me.

SOCIAL CURRENCY

In 2014, Taylor Swift wrote an article in the Wall Street Journal. In it she wrote:

I haven’t been asked for an autograph since the invention of the iPhone with a front-facing camera. The only memento “kids these days” want is a selfie. It’s part of the new currency, which seems to be “how many followers you have on Instagram.” -Taylor Swift

Let’s break down what Willie did because he went through a lot of effort. He searched my podcast back catalog for guests, saved show art, and created a new graphic. His audience may not know my podcast, but if they know Ryan Serhant and Chris Hogan, Willie just used social currency to get more value for the time he spent on my show. He created a powerful “selfie!”

He also proved the problem isn’t too much friction. We need to give guests a reason to share. What’s in it for them?!

As podcasters, we can copy Willie’s idea and supercharge a graphic with social currency. Create a template with a couple big guests from your show and drop in your current guest, front and center. Make something that’s worthy of sharing.

Let’s use social currency to increase the chances of a guest sharing our podcast. This simple twist on a graphic puts your guest first and gives him/her more reason to share it. Sharing can be a win-win. Thank you, Willie!