Tips on How You Can Start a Podcast
With over 80 million Americans listening to podcasts every week, now is a great time to start your own podcast and turn it into a successful career. As the popularity of podcasting skyrockets, we’ve been providing some helpful advice for those who are interested in capitalizing on this exciting media outlet. This is the final post in our 5-part series, So, You Want to Start a Podcast. Below, we’ll get you caught up on the most important tips from these articles, so you have a head start in pursuing your podcasting dreams.
Develop Your Niche
Podcasts are usually targeted towards a specific and unique audience, whether devotees of true crime, home brewing, classic movies, etc. In The Importance of Developing Your Niche, we talked about the importance of narrowing your focus to something that you are passionate and curious about, so you can create a podcast that attracts people with similar interests. The 2021 Directory of Podcasters lets you see the wide variety of topics that people podcast about today, which may give you some ideas and inspiration for your podcast. You should also check out the competition in the subject area you are interested in and think of ways to differentiate your podcast from the others and rise above the rest.
Find Your Why
Our second post encouraged you to Find Your Why and explore why you want to start podcasting. The best podcasters are gifted storytellers, with a passion for talking about a specific subject and an innate ability to connect with people. If that sounds like you, podcasting might be an ideal career path to explore. It also helps to be motivated and hard-working, so you can consistently produce new episodes on a regular basis to draw in listeners. Finally, having the technical skills (both audio and video as we’ll see below) can give you a competitive edge in the marketplace and help you to create a much more professional podcast.
Build Your Community
Once you’ve created quality podcast content, the challenge is in acquiring listeners and building a loyal, active, and engaged audience who can spread the word. In Building a Podcast Community, we discussed ways to engage with your listeners (answering questions, using their suggestions, giving shout-outs), building community connections among your fanbase online, and creating compelling, share-worthy content. Also, be sure to be yourself – open, vulnerable, weird or funny – and you’ll find that people may be drawn to your unique personality.
Use Video to Market Your Podcast
It’s important to market your podcast to ensure you get the listeners you need to succeed. Our last post on How Video Production Can Boost Your Podcast Strategy, provides valuable advice on using the popularity of video to boost your podcast subscribers. Turning podcast episodes into simple videos can give you the additional reach of YouTube and other video platforms, and transcribing those videos helps ensure your podcasts can be found more easily in the search engines. Additionally, you can post live, behind-the-scenes footage of you interacting with guests on your show, create a compelling show trailer to act as a commercial for your podcast, announce upcoming episodes on social media, or build a highlight reel of your greatest podcast clips. All of these videos can help further propel and promote your podcast to a wider audience.
If you’re interested in starting your own podcast, the International College of Broadcasting (ICB) can help you get there with innovative programs in Audio and Video Recording, Broadcasting, and Multimedia. ICB can give you the training you need to take your podcasting career to the next level. Contact us today to learn more!