158. The Power of Fan Engagement, Getting Intimate and Creating a Fan Base with Blair Hughes

08/08/19 • 40 min

The podcasting game has changed in the last decade. Engaging with listeners is so much more than just chatting via Twitter - now we need to be creative and start thinking outside the square.

Welcome to Should I Start A Podcast where each week Ronsley Vaz, with the help of a star-studded entrepreneurial guest line-up, explores why you should start a podcast; build an audience, and how to keep them hungry for more. If you’re thinking about starting a podcast, or simply finding a better way to get your message out to your audience, then this is the podcast for you.

Your audience plays a significant role in the evolution of your podcast, you just need to listen where they want it to go. In this episode of Should I Start A Podcast, we dial into the insightful keynote speech from Blair Hughes, at We Are Podcast. Blair is the trust building guru and fan engagement specialist at Audioboom, in Australia and New Zealand. In a past life, he was a school teacher, but now spends his days comprising innovative ways to keep audiences emotionally engaged while also coming up with solutions that generate value for listeners.

This master of engagement has created partnerships with major radio, media, podcasters and sporting teams including Macquarie Media, SEN, RSN, the 2015 Cricket World Cup, Australian Open, and many more.

In this episode of Should I Start A Podcast, Blair talks podcast monetization through fan engagement, understanding user demographics, while also giving a little insight into the world of Audioboom.

Blair shares with us:

The audio on demand explosion, and the new power of fan engagement
How to establish good engagement ideas
Going viral – the new wave of podcasting
Tapping into the audio on demand culture
Why your audio length is so important
How to generate a hard core fan base
How brewing craft beer increased a stadium’s audience engagement
Why you MUST get creative with your content
Understanding the power of listening
What Pixie Lott and Russell Brand do to build loyalty
How photos are now great for audio
Getting intimate – what kinds of conversations we should be having

Links

Blair Hughes: Website

Blair Hughes : LinkedIn

Audioboom : Website

The podcasting game has changed in the last decade. Engaging with listeners is so much more than just chatting via Twitter - now we need to be creative and start thinking outside the square.

In this episode of Should I Start A Podcast, Blair talks podcast monetization through fan engagement, understanding user demographics, while also giving a little insight into the world of Audioboom.

Blair shares with us:

The audio on demand explosion, and the new power of fan engagement
How to establish good engagement ideas
Going viral – the new wave of podcasting
Tapping into the audio on demand culture
Why your audio length is so important
How to generate a hard core fan base
How brewing craft beer increased a stadium’s audience engagement
Why you MUST get creative with your content
Understanding the power of listening
What Pixie Lott and Russell Brand do to build loyalty
How photos are now great for audio
Getting intimate – what kinds of conversations we should be having

Links

Blair Hughes: Website

Blair Hughes : LinkedIn

Audioboom : Website

Previous Episode

157. 10 Proven Ways to Monetise Your Podcast with Nathan Chan from Foundr

Nathan Chan is the founder of Foundr. And if there’s anyone who knows how to grow a content business from nothing into a content empire with an audience of millions, it’s Nathan.

The story of Foundr is now legend. Starting out as a one-man-band digital magazine for aspiring entrepreneurs in 2013, Nathan has gone on to interview many of the world’s most famous entrepreneurs and business thinkers including the likes of Richard Branson, Seth Godin, Tim Ferris, Gary Vaynerchuck and Tony Robbins just for starters. Not bad for a young guy from Melbourne. Foundr has gone on to become a content powerhouse, incorporating a digital and print magazine, podcasts, blog, email newsletter, ebooks, courses, social media groups and more.

In this video from We Are Podcast 2017, Nathan unpacks the Foundr business model and offers 10 ways you can monetise your podcast based on the Foundr experience.

Nathan gives you the goods on:

How to use great guests to build the authority and credibility
Why you need to be prepared to test and try things
How to repurpose content and leverage it
Using your podcast as a brand builder
Getting people into your ecosystem
Finding inspiration in other industries and markets
Finding the pain killer solution for your market
Success with pre-selling
What is good content that sells?
Repackaging content like a greatest hits album
The best way to do courses
Why books are a great way to monetise
The truth about membership sites
Events, masterminds and paid workshops
Coaching and consulting
Providing done-for-you services
Creating SAAS (software as a service) products

Links:

Foundr.com

Next Episode

159. Clarissa Rayward on Podcasting Success, Going Beyond Traditional Thinking and Her Top Tips

The legal profession is often seen as about as staid and traditional as they come. But lawyer turned podcaster turned all-round entrepreneur, Clarissa Rayward, shows that there are opportunities to shake up even the most traditional of industries and create a lucrative business along the way.

By her own admission, Clarissa has never been a traditional lawyer. Being a divorce lawyer is not easy, and it was the serious mental and physical health effects the job was having on her colleagues and herself that led to her light bulb moment. Now along with running her own legal firm, Brisbane Family Law Centre, she spends much of her time helping fellow lawyers improve their health and wellbeing through her blog, The Happy Family Lawyer, her podcast and book, Happy Lawyer Happy Life, and more recently her membership community.

In this inspiring session from We Are Podcast 2017, Clarissa describes how podcasting helped paved the way for turning her side hustle into a $10,000 a month business. Clarissa also provides a bunch of practical tips that you can apply in any industry.

Here’s just some of what Clarissa covers in this video:

Her inspiration for starting a blog
Surrounding yourself with positive people and inspiring change
The decision to write a book
Her podcasting journey and crystallizing a vision
Creating an online course
The inspiration for a membership community
What has and hasn’t worked for her in podcasting and business
Her four most important lessons learned
Recommended tools to try

Links:

The Happy Family Lawyer

Happy Lawyer Happy Life podcast

Happy Lawyer Happy Life book

Glen Carlson

Mel Telecican, Course9

If you want to be proud of the voice you’re sending out into the stratosphere, download the comprehensive 81 Point Checklist here and get ready to launch your audio marketing machine.