Podcasts are so much easier to create than you might think. I’ve been on the journey from scratch and thought I might share it here, as I find myself having the same conversation with lots of people about how it all works.
I love a podcast, although the lockdown period was pretty awful, there were a handful of good things to come from it, for me, podcasts are right up there at the top of that list. A week doesn’t go by when I don’t listen to a podcast and I am always on the lookout for new ones (please send your recommendations).
Why would you want a podcast?
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You’ve always fancied yourself on the radio
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You have lots to share and are excited by innovation and finding new ways to communicate with your audience
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Research and your customer avatars tells you that your audience are podcast listeners
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Your audience are busy people who travel long distance in the car, by aeroplane or commute and are time poor when it comes to reading but their ears are available when on the move
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Podcasts will help more people to access your content because they can tune in
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You can invite guests to your podcast to gain access to their following, tag, like and share with your collab partner
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SEO audio SEO is the future my friends, think Alexa, Hey Google, Siri (they call themselves virtual assistants you know)
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You can slice and dice (officially known in the marketing world as repurpose) your content. Your one podcast could create:
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Video content
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Short video content for your email newsletters and social posts
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Audio social posts
- Transcribe your podcast to create blogs
Let’s look at some interesting podcast statistics, gathered in 2022:
More than 19.1 million Britons listen to podcasts.
In the UK we listen to podcasts 40% more than we did before the covid pandemic.
40% of UK podcast listeners are between 26 to 35 years old.
79% of us listen to a podcast on our smartphone.
UK podcast listeners mostly tune in whilst commuting or travelling.
48% of Britons listen to a podcast to learn something new.
(Source: Cybercrew)
41% of respondents who listened to podcasts at least once a month did so while doing housework - interesting! That’s me! (Source: Statista)
So now you might be thinking that a podcast sounds like quite a good idea, how do you get started?
Podcast checklist:
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Make a plan, include timelines, set goals, identify what could create valuable content for the listener, think about target audience and so on
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Podcast name - check what’s available
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Podcast visuals - it will need a look, a square look
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Podcast description (Apple and other platforms - check the word count, can vary).
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A podcast platform to host your podcast. What will work for you? I like Libsyn because you add the episode, visual and podcast description, schedule it and it distributes the podcast to Apple, Listen Notes, Spotify etc.
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Music - opening and closing
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I would recommend you record an open and close which can be used on every podcast - your intro and outro, unless you’d like it to vary each week
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You’ll need a description for each episode and don’t forget to add a call to action (CTA - what you want them to do e.g. donate or visit our website).
How to record your podcast
Ready for this… on Zoom or Teams. Yep, just a video meeting. Then take the audio from the video file, edit in your front and backs if you chose to create some, your music and hey presto you are ready to upload to your podcast platform for distribution.
Now I must admit I would recommend the services of a podcast editor to do the tricky bits. If you have guests especially, you might have 'erms' and 'ahhs' and bits you’d like to take out, or you might like to reorder some of the sections. This is where your time might be better spent guiding an expert to do that bit for you.
Getting ready to record your podcast
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Have a plan, have notes and share questions with your guests in advance to keep them on topic and help them prepare their best stories.
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Mic in earphones, a big fancy mic or lapel mic - to contain the noise!
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Send guidance to guests ahead of time...
Some examples:
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Please don’t bang your mug down on a glass table
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Join the meeting/podcast alone
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We can edit out coughs and sneezes so pause afterwards for the editing
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We can edit out mistakes, just start again, but pause beforehand
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Please try to keep windows closed - lorries, lawnmowers etc
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Turn off Teams or email notification sounds
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Leave a note on the front door for the Amazon delivery folk
We live in a world where everyone is a bit more forgiving if the dog barks or the doorbell rings, but it does distract the listener so if it can be edited out great, if it can’t, acknowledge it would be my advice.
4. If you are going to use the video footage as well as sound (e.g. post the podcast recording to YouTube) then make sure your guest is aware so they can brush their hair and make sure their pants aren’t hanging on the washing airer in the background.
5. Test your connection, test that your recording is working, test it all, can you imagine creating a brilliant podcast and it not hitting the record button?! The stuff of nightmares.
Podcast questions
People ask how long should a podcast be? I think like any good blog, you’ll know when you’re getting to the end. 20 minutes, 1 hour, test it, see what your audience is listening to and ask your audience for feedback.
How regularly should I share a podcast? What’s feasible for you? My advice would be to take it a series at a time.
Don’t forget you can use your podcast to drive traffic whether that’s to your website or socials. There might be something during the podcast you mentioned that you said you’d add a photo of to your socials or a download that’s available on your website.
How to share your podcast
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Share on all social media channels, even Pinterest! People don’t use this channel enough, I promise you, try Pinterest out and look at your analytics.
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As I mentioned, pop the video on YouTube, even if it's a static image and the sound. Make sure to add subtitles to keep your content accessible to everyone.
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Watch out for the trending occasions relative to your subject, International Podcast Day is the last day of September.
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Link your podcast in your bios.
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Feature your podcast in your newsletter.
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Pop a link to your podcast in your email signature.
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Post your podcast in groups on LinkedIn on Facebook, especially if they are the perfect answers to a question a group member is asking.
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Do you use direct mail? Add a QR code to your podcast to get your audience from paper to digital.
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Offer yourself up as a guest on other podcasts, make sure their ethics align with yours - and ask if you can mention your podcast whilst you’re recording.
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Ask for reviews and follows at the end of your podcast.
So to answer the original question: how can a VA help you with a podcast? Hopefully the blog has helped so far, now to actually get all of that done - with the help of a VA. It's one of those jobs that for 20-40 mins of output, you pour in a good few hours or more.
Let's take a snapshot of what a VA could help you with to keep your podcast going:
- Help you get set up and stick to your timelines
- Schedule recordings in your diary
- Search for future guests
- Send reminders and guidance to podcast guests
- Book in guests via video conferencing tool
- Seek podcast editor
- Liaise with podcast editor to produce final content
- Create episode visuals
- Craft episode descriptions
- Create social posts to support podcast growth
- Take sound clips and video clips for content repurposing
- Upload your video to YouTube and list it effectively with description, tags, timestamps and subtitles
- Transcribe the podcast for written blog content
The aim of this blog has been to help people who are in the shoes I was wearing a couple of years ago when I set up Stories from the street - the podcast for the Toybox Charity, it was much simpler than I thought it would be. Thanks to a little help from my freelancer friends and brilliant guests, we put together and shared a cracking podcast of which, for the first two series I had the pleasure of being the host as well as creator.
If you’ve got any tips to add, anything you don’t like about this blog that you’d like to challenge back to me or you’d like to pick my brains about my simple understanding of podcasts please email me.