If you didn’t already know I started The BrandMade Podcast just over a year ago. The reason I turned to podcasting was because I felt tired. Tired from creating content such as instagram carrousel that never lived longer than a day. I was seeking a place where my branding knowledge and experiences could really help other one-woman business owners. My carrousel could never go into much depth. This made me feeling like I was only providing you with half the help, or half the pie so to speak.
Wondering why would I want start a podcast?
And well I’m not really saying that you should, but for me podcast was a great option. Asides from the fact I wanted to help others, I desperately wanted more people to know that A. my brand existed and B. Could trust me. Long-form content like podcast is a great way to build more trust and show others you know your stuff!
What’s Long-form content?
It can be anything from blog posts, podcast and youtube videos. Where as short-term content is more instagram post, stories and ticktock videos etc. Things that are shortly lived. I’d spend a lot of time and energy on short-term content and wasn’t reaping in the rewards either. But really just turning my wheels. Now that I’m just over a year into podcasting I’d like to take some time to share with you all the things that i’ve learnt. These tips are likely to help you save time, and be mindful of if you’re thinking of starting a podcast too.
Podcast Tip One.
After just over a year of podcast I’ve reached just over 1000 downloads. This number might not seem like very much to you. Because I’m use to listening might higher ranking podcasts that could easily receive this in 1 day or month. But for me and my little podcast just over a 1000 downloads is an incredible achieve considering no one really knew about it. So tip number one is to remember where you’re starting. I didn’t start my podcast with a huge following on any of my social media platforms. I just begin as a very small fish in a rather large pond. If this sound like you remember it’s going to take a while before your podcast will start reaching healthy numbers. I mindfully lowered my expectation on number of listens so i didn’t become disheartened or discontent. Instead I put 100% focused on being consistent and uploaded every Wednesday. It’s true what they say consistency is crucial
Podcast Tip Two.
There have been a few episodes that I hesitated whether or not upload. I would either be questioning will it really help my listeners and or I should of included xyz. But when you’ve only got one set of hands your sort of pushed for time. And how long you can titivate with long-form content is cut short specially when trying to stay consistent. That’s why podcast tip number two is I would just encourage you to upload whatever you have. Then to maybe monitor it closer. If you’ve been question that it wouldn’t help much, I would maybe keep a closer eye on stats. If You could have included more information, write all the extra things you could have included for further reference. Uploading an episode you’re unsure about is far better than not uploading anything at all.
Podcast Tip Three.
This leads me to my next podcast tip, there sometimes when we just can’t stay consistent with an upload. Something unforeseeable happens, a file gets corrupt, you ran out of time etc. I had one week back in the heart of summer where I was having some technical issue with my laptop. And I missed one upload I luckily got to it the following Friday but still two days late. At the beginning of the podcast I was committed to batching episodes and scheduling well in advance. But as time went on and I got busier and my batching system got more fragmented. That’s why tip number three is batching and scheduling. If you can batch write, record and schedule episode I would! I’ve revises and fine tuned my batching process throughout. The main reason why batching episode helps is so you’re a head of the game. When laptop plays up you’re not going to miss an upload day.
Podcast Tip Four.
However, batching and prescheduling doesn’t work for certain people and or businesses. But we could all benefit still from having a safety blanket, you know specially when the unpredictable does happen. Fourth podcast tip is to write and record 2 or 3 back up podcast episodes, ready on your google drive or drop box. The episodes should be waiting for you to just simple upload from any device to your podcast hosting platform. It maybe simple.But by having a safety bank of a couple of podcast episodes patiently waiting and ready for you to whip out from your pocket can reduce so much stress. Specially in those times when internet goes down, technology fail us, or we get ill and our voice sound too much like Darth-Vador on the mic. Instead of freaking out and not being able to stay consistent with an upload schedule , you can simple use a back up episode!
Podcast Tip Five.
Last I want to remind your long-form content is suppose to be helping you bring visitors back to your site. So that they can see your services and product. Obviously your episode will be living on another platform such as Spotify and or apple podcast or preferable both. This means that people won’t really be lead to your site unless you incite them to click the link within the episode description. So how do we get more people finding you?
My 5th podcast tip is optimising on SEO. I create a transcript for all my podcast episodes. It’s not only a great recourse for listeners to easily refer back to. But you’re getting more bang for your buck with SEO purposes. So for every episode make sure your publishing the written copy along side of them! Kind like you would with a blog post! I also include a embedded audio link to each episode. So any visitor that lands on any episode show notes they can still listen to the audio version rather than read. Without having to leave my website at all! Having show-notes for every episode helps your episode to get found! But this also helps you get more people directly on your site rather than on apple podcast.
Podcast Tip Six.
What’s helped me most to get people notice to my site is Pinterest. I heavily rely on using Pinterest to promote all my episodes. This helps my podcast gets noticed by reaching a wider audience. I believe Pinterest has contributed to a lot of my success with podcasting. That’s why my 6th podcast tip is use Pinterest to promote every podcast episode. The best part about it is you can even directly link your pin to your show notes from your website. Help you boost the chance of people landing on your site!
I really hope these 6 simple tips will help you in podcasting, like they have for me.
For any more podcasting tips and help go check out episode 30. 5 steps to helping you build a brand identity for your podcast. It’s jam packed with helpful info I wouldn’t want you to miss!