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Pod-Crashing: Episode 32

Building your community. We hear a lot about that. If you\u2019re a podcaster and it\u2019s not your thing. You\u2019ve still gotta get on board. Posting your episodes on the digital platform without using the other tools is like walking into a restaurant just to use their bathroom. You didn\u2019t buy anything. You used their water, paper products and their customer service space.
I\u2019m amazed at how many podcasters aren\u2019t on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Even more shocking are the number of talkers that won\u2019t go anywhere near a blog to help push their numbers up. I love Mix.com. It\u2019s free. Post the URL and let your episode take a ride on the wild side.
Communities are organic. As much as it hurts knowing how long it takes to shape a listening audience it\u2019s not always a good idea to fork out money you\u2019re not making to a group that\u2019s promising you more listens and followers. Kind of a dangerous game to play if your podcast features copyrighted music. The more people you\u2019ve get hooked up means the streaming fees are going up up up.
Posting on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pretty much means your circle of supporters are the only one\u2019s getting it. Unless you gain the courage to start accepting people you don\u2019t know. That in itself sinks a lot of podcasters into a mode of self-protection. When I bring it up to podcasters I usually get shrugged shoulders or oh hell no. I don\u2019t a huge community to feel like I\u2019m doing a good job with my episodes.
I was listening to Joe Rogan\u2019s Facebook live rebroadcast as a podcast. The master of all things digital media loves the idea of inviting friends over to do nothing more than sit around smoking pot and talking about everything under the sun. And oh boy do they. In an odd ball way I found it to be engaging.
The only downfall that served as a constant reminder to bail was how bad the vocal quality sucked.
The episode was unbelievably unedited. It wasn\u2019t as studio smooth as we\u2019re used to getting. But you\u2019ve got to hand it to Rogan. The Dude\u2019s got a plan to keep his numbers alive and kickin.
The way I Facebook Live and or Skype the conversation is by running the computer through the control board. While the cameras are on the Adobe Audition is capturing everything. Maybe it\u2019s the commercial production person from terrestrial radio trying to push he\u2019s ego into the mix. The one thing that\u2019ll crush your somewhat healthy or new list of followers is the horrid echo caused by the room.
I love the idea that podcasting can be recorded in any place of choice. Building that community requires you to be in the public eye. I have a great time hosting 5 to 7 telephone conversations while sitting on the patio at Panera Bread. I\u2019ll invite guest hosts to join me. It creates talk while listeners watch.
I talked with Holly Frey and Tracy V Wilson from the podcast Stuff You Missed In History Class. They totally dig doing their episodes in front of group of people. It requires a lot of confidence to put on the earphones and get locked up in talk while sitting in public. I had a program director stand next to me at a live radio event during the 90\u2019s. Every time I talked on the road he\u2019d come over on live radio and hit me, throw nurf balls at me and make wild faces that would bust open a giant can of laughs.
Learning how to tune out your surroundings allows you to stay focused on your community that\u2019s tapping in via the digital platform. Then again maybe your episodes don\u2019t require that. No matter where you stand there\u2019s still got to be a left or right hand on the heartbeat of why you\u2019re reaching for analytic numbers.
Building that community. Before I was kicked off SoundCloud I\u2019d personally write a note to every person that checked in. I don\u2019t know why the other platforms don\u2019t allow you do that. I was getting some hot numbers because time was spent saying two words, \u201cThank you.\u201d I got kicked off the platform because of my music interviews. Itty bitty snippets of sound from a new album or catalog from the past were being used. I was talking to the makers what\u2019s the big deal right?
Unknowingly I was breaking copyright laws and was forced into SoundCloud prison. Here\u2019s what made the entire process preventable. When I started using the platform I had a different email address. After a couple of years I stop using it. SoundCloud was sending me warning letters over and over. I was totally disconnected from the email. So they booted me.
That\u2019s another area you need to be careful with. What email are you signing up with? That would be your business community. These people need to always have a place to get your attention. When something\u2019s not right they\u2019re not coming to your front door.
Speaking of that email. Are you letting your listeners send you mail? Yeah yeah that\u2019s just another way to be slammed with a virus. Create a second or third Google account. If it smells like a virus on that page it\u2019s gonna be instantly tossed into Spam.
It\u2019s fun to answer questions on the air from listeners. It opens the door for you to talk about episodes that were posted a week or a month ago. Your community will love you more if you take the time to slip in a billboard. The question is asked and your answer is totally promoting the episode. All the more reason to never do this on Facebook Live cuz you may think you\u2019ve got a good memory until the stuff isn\u2019t instantly working its way to the listening audience. Then your episode gets weighed down by ums, ands and well hell I forgot.
So what\u2019s the moral of the story? Don\u2019t just stand there with your hands in your pocket. You\u2019ve been given a world of tools to craft a huge community of faithful followers. But for some reason we think they\u2019re gonna just pop up and love ya. Even if they did what\u2019s happening on the next episode that\u2019s gonna keep them there?
Picture yourself on a kayak four miles out on the Atlantic Ocean. That\u2019s your podcast. Unless you\u2019re looking to become a human raisin, you\u2019ve gotta find some land! Water! A worm for your hook so you can eat seafood!
Building a community means getting into the community. It means utilizing the strength of why we podcast. To make connections. To create conversation. To be accepted for your hardcore passion and drive for professional wrestlers that wear bowling shirts while trying to enter an upscale nightspot.
Set aside 15 to 30 for each new episode. If you talked about peanut butter and the brand that\u2019s made it famous. Let your community expand by posting your episode on their Facebook or by hash tagging their beautiful name. Use your @ symbol. Your community will begin to grow and the only thing you spent was time massaging the ears of people you may never meet.