8 tips for those looking to start their own podcast

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

Find charismatic heroes, think carefully about the scenario and take care of the promotion.

Yana Semeshkina's performance at the G8 festival will take place on August 29 in the Space hall at Flacon. You will still have time to watch the program and buy a ticket.

Podcasts are a new type of storytelling in the Russian market. This is a regular audio blog that allows you to fall in love with a client and broadcast your own values. Podcasts are not only entertaining but also engaging, so they serve as a great tool for native PR and promotion.

Podcasts are an evergreen product that stays relevant over time. At the same time, it can be transformed into different types of content: from articles on social networks to books.

In 2018–2019 alone, more new podcasts appeared in Russia than in the past few years. So right now is the time to launch your podcast: the audience is constantly growing and at the same time there are still free niches and the opportunity to quickly get into the ratings.

1. Choose the right genre

Podcasts are generally divided into four genres: interview, talk show, lecture, story.

Interview

• Examples: It Will Be Done, Websarafan, It's Not Easy, The Reader, It's a Failure, Kritmysh, Fabula Rasa.
• Average timing: 40 to 120 minutes.

The most popular genre. The focus of such a podcast is the speaker. It is he who sets the topic and style of the conversation. The interviewer's task is to reveal the guest's motivation, to show the audience what kind of person is sitting at the microphone, what is important to him, what views and values he carries.

If the interview is about a specific topic rather than an individual, a guest expert can pull off the entire episode, bring the podcast a new audience, and provide unique content, even if the presenter is not well-trained.

The main advantage of the format is the dynamics of the conversation and live drama. When there are two people at the microphone, it is much easier to build conflict and intrigue, you can control the reader's attention, set the pace of the conversation with the frequency of questions.

Interview is the genre that best creates the effect of presence and intimate conversation.

Talk show

• Examples: "Coven Dur", "Book Bazaar", "Shelves".
• Average timing: from 20 to 90 minutes.

The next type of podcast is talk show. The group of facilitators discusses the given topic and, as a rule, does it witty and funny.

The tasks of such a podcast can be different: to engage or entertain. Talk shows are great when they are recorded by a bunch of friends, then they turn into a friendly stand-up quite easily. For example, the podcast of four young adult writers “Coven Dur” is a classic near-literary stand-up, while the “Book Bazaar” by Galina Yuzefovich and Anastasia Zavozova or the podcast “Shelves” is already a talk show.

Lecture

• Examples: Lifehacker's podcast, lectures of "Arzamas".
• Average timing: from 20 to 60 minutes.

This is an equally popular genre. Podcasts are listened to by people who are mindful and refuse useless content. Popular science lectures fit best with the concept of conscious consumption.

History

• Examples: "Polyarinov Says", "Hot Ultramodernity", "Brewed a Business", "Human Life", "Pilots".
• Average timing: from 20 to 60 minutes.

And finally, stories. This genre involves one or more leading and complex multidimensional editing. The podcast is built like an audiofilm with sound effects. The goal is to tell the story so that the listener can be completely immersed in it.

2. Prepare well

If you are preparing for an interview, read what they write about the future interlocutor in other sources. Come up with or pull out an interesting and useful topic from the speaker himself. Write a sample scenario with an outline of questions to guide the guest from point A to point B.

Be sure to watch or listen to an interview with your character to find out his speech rate, average length of an answer to a question, and how he behaves in front of the camera and microphone. Then you will understand how many questions you can ask as part of a podcast. During the interview, "swing" the speaker, and for this, first "swing" yourself: for example, Tony Robbins jumps on a trampoline before a speech. You need to create a podcast in a state of ecstasy and leave the negative attitude behind.

Do not forget to ask questions from the perspective of your target audience, ask them to explain the terms, even if you know them yourself.

For a talk show, it is enough to prepare the theses that you are going to discuss and assign roles between the participants in advance. The main thing is to develop the conflict. In no case do not agree with the interlocutors, find controversial points - this will help maintain the intrigue and attention of the listeners until the end of the episode. For example, Galina Yuzefovich and Anastasia Zavozova distribute points of view among themselves in advance: academic philology vs. books "for boys". Although in life they have similar views on literature, in the podcast "Book Bazaar" they deliberately choose discussion topics and disagree with each other. The authors of the Coven Door podcast say that when preparing the episodes they never discuss jokes or rehearse, because otherwise the energy and spontaneity disappear - and it is thanks to them that the listeners love this podcast.

If you are writing a story, lecture, or audio diary, you need a script. This is the most difficult stage of the work, and the script determines the quality of the podcast by 80%. Your job is to make the story tangible. Appeal to all of the listener's senses: hearing, sight, touch, smell. End the episode with a cliffhanger An art technique in which the narrative ends at a tense moment in the plot, leaving the ending open. - Approx. ed., turn your story into a series.

3. Take care of the equipment

To create a podcast, you will need:

• Skype - for remote recording of interviews;
• call recording software such as Call Recorder, Zoom, Zencastr, Cast, Ringr, Anchor App;
• microphone;
• editing software, you can take Audacity, Garage Band.

The choice of microphone depends on your budget. The easiest and cheapest option is the Boya BY M-1 lavalier microphone (about 1,400 rubles). It is especially convenient for travel and on the road, does not take up much space, and gives good sound quality. An alternative with better recording options is the Rode SmartLav + iPhone lavalier. If you are going to write an interview, buy several microphones at once or the dual model Boya BY-M1DM.

Professional microphones provide a more spacious and clear sound, remove background noise. Prices for such microphones vary from 4 to 30 thousand rubles. A good microphone can be bought in the range of 6-7 thousand.

The most convenient option is devices that connect to a computer via a USB port: Samson Q2U, Audio-Technica ATR2100, Blue Yeti, Rode NT-USB. Another type of microphones are those that connect via a dedicated XLR cable. They provide higher quality surround sound and are used in professional recording studios. To connect these microphones to a computer, you need a sound card (for example, Behringer Audio Interfaces). Or you can buy a recording device (like the Zoom H4n) and connect microphones to it. Popular podcaster gadgets of this kind are Shure SM58, Audio-Technica AT2020, Blue Blackout Spark SL, Rode Procaster.

It is imperative to record a podcast with several participants on different microphones in several tracks. As a rule, all interlocutors speak with different loudness, sometimes they utter parasitic words that will need to be removed. It is very difficult to do this within the framework of one track; moreover, the volume level must be adjusted so that it coincides for all speakers. Then listening to the podcast will be much more enjoyable.

4. Correctly mount

Free and easy-to-use podcast editing software - Audacity, can be installed on iOS and Windows. If you're an avid MacBook user, use the built-in GarageBand app for all Apple products.

Editing a podcast consists of three steps:

• Removal of extraneous noise.
• Cleaning audio from unnecessary words and slips.
• Adding an introduction and conclusion. Each episode needs its own liner, which includes a cut of key episodes of the episode, a short teaser for the topic, a guest dossier if you are writing an interview. In conclusion, summarize: name the main thoughts of the episode, and also say clear call-to-action: how to leave a review on a podcast, how to rate it, how to share it on social networks.

The podcast is published, usually in MP3 format. Sound - mono, quality - from 64 to 128 kbps.

If you do not want to delve into production issues - recording, sound processing and editing - you can delegate this part of the work to professionals. All you need to do is think over the content.

5. Pack wisely

The most important thing about podcast packaging is the headline. Come up with 10 options, do A / B testing, and pick the best one. You only have a couple of seconds to grab the reader's attention and a few more to keep it.

In the text description, highlight the key messages and explain how the listener will benefit. If you are recording interviews, include your character's story.

Add links to useful resources: for example, ask the speaker for material that may be useful and interesting to the audience. Prepare a lead magnet for everyone who reviews your podcast.

6. Choose a convenient hosting

There are several hosting services for publishing podcasts:

• SoundCloud;
• Podbean;
• Simplecast;
• Blubrry;
• Libsyn.

On all of the listed hosting sites, the monthly content placement fee is around $ 15. This will bring your podcast to many popular platforms.

To get to others, for example, "Yandex. Music", "VKontakte" and Bookmate, you need to independently submit an application to register a podcast on these sites and connect an RSS feed - all new episodes will appear there automatically. Also, be sure to register with iTunes.

7. Think about promotion

The podcast market has huge potential. The main task for a beginner is to bring the audio blog to the top in iTunes. This will increase the number of auditions tenfold. To get to the top, you need to collect reviews and ratings from listeners, as well as replicate your work through contextual advertising, email newsletters and social networks.

The promotion of podcasts is also influenced by the media visibility of guests. Experts, influencers, bloggers can bring a podcast to the top very quickly, the most important thing is to choose the top ten strategically important guests who will help raise the position.

The exact algorithms for entering the top iTunes are not spelled out anywhere, but there are clear criteria that are taken into account in it:

• regularity of new episodes;
• high-quality useful content that is relevant to the target audience;
• reviews and ratings of listeners;
• number of subscribers;
• total number of plays;
• the number of episodes listened to until the end.

The podcast has just eight weeks ITunes podcast rankings: how does it work? to skyrocket in the iTunes rankings. This will be more difficult later on. Therefore, make a detailed promotion plan for the next two months.

1. Record your podcast pool ahead of time with content ready for the next eight weeks to get your episodes published right on time.
2. Prepare a trailer for each episode - a three-minute cut of the most interesting moments of the upcoming episode. In the preview, name the exact release date (3-4 days after the publication of the preview). This will help increase the number of episodes that have been listened to until the end and the number of new subscribers who will not want to miss a new episode.
3. Take care of a support group - 15–20 people from your environment who will immediately write positive reviews about the podcast after its release and give the channel five stars.
4. Add clear call-to-action. In the issue itself, in the description, in social networks, in the email newsletter, you need to publish clear instructions on how to leave a review in iTunes.
5. Convert listener feedback into iTunes reviews. Communicate with your audience as actively as possible, answer all questions. Your task is to make listeners the evangelists and ambassadors of the project.
6. List the media your audience reads. Write to these publications with an offer to prepare material about podcasts. The media influence the increase of your expertise and recognition, but most importantly, they will bring in a new loyal audience.

8. Don't make common mistakes

Here are the reasons why podcasts don't take off:

• Positioning problem. When the concept of a podcast can be explained in one sentence, it is memorable and stands out from the crowd.
• Boring presenter. Podcast is a special genre, it involves close contact with the listener. The cool podcasts we love attract the hosts with their charisma. Today, instead of traditional advertising methods, companies are focusing on emotional storytelling. In a good story, brands don't have to be the protagonists; they convey their voices to real people: celebrities, public intellectuals, or micro-influencers. By focusing on the right people, they will breathe life and meaning into the brand's philosophy, values and beliefs.
• Irregular episodes. People who subscribe to the podcast look forward to regular content updates. If you go out of sight of the audience, you are forgotten. People become attached to the schedule, and if the timing of new episodes starts to "float", this causes negativity from the listeners.
• The fallacy “great content sells itself”. Many podcasters believe that quality content doesn't need to be promoted; it attracts the right audience by itself. This is not true. All applications through which listeners access podcasts have a weak and inconvenient recommendation mechanism (the exception is YouTube). Useful, engaging content doesn't guarantee popularity. It is important to keep this in mind and apply marketing tools.
• The opinion that grateful listeners themselves will appreciate the podcast. People are inert and do not like to do unnecessary actions. At the same time, users are much more willing to give negative ratings than positive ones. This is why many podcasters advise, as mentioned above, to prepare their own support group, which will definitely leave positive reviews and high ratings under the episodes. This is very important when launching a podcast.