25 Key Learnings From Podcast Movement 2018
This blog post is a collaboration between Feisworld and Gareth Martin, an Executive and Lifestyle Coach. He is also the Co-Host of The Ridiculously Human Podcast
Why create this blog post
Gareth attended the 2018 Podcast Movement event in Philadelphia. He thought it was “an amazing conference” and that you should make an effort to go in 2019.
Note: This is not a sponsored post. We are not affiliated with Podcast Movement.
Quick Facts on the 2018 Event
- Out of 3,000 attendees, ⅓ didn’t have a Podcast
- The event ran for 4 days
- Day 1: meet and greet
- Day s 2-4: Started at 9am and finished about 6pm. 10 Lectures halls with a presentation in each one on the hour
- Gareth had to really be prepared and plan what he wanted to attend
- Podcast Movement created a useful app which Gareth could use to create and manage his schedule
- Plenty of networking opportunities although there could have been more time made for that
- Lots of exhibitors with some pretty nifty new stuff
- China’s Ximalaya was there in full force. They have a branch in San Francisco which is dedicated to growing their English Brand (Himalaya). They were interested in featuring and promoting certain podcasts to help with their exposure.
- Two great keynote speakers
- Pay Flynn. Pat is starting a new podcast with his son with the goal to help get more kids involved in podcasting)
- Terry Gross on Interviewing People
- Some of the talks were amazing. Some weren’t as good even though they involved big names in podcasting
25 Key Learnings From Podcast Movement 2018
- It’s important to remember that podcasting is still in its infancy
- Your Podcast is your platform for “other things” – Speaking Gigs, Courses, Books, Etc.
- Podcast is probably not best to monetize unless you are getting crazy numbers. We talked about an example of podcast earning 70K downloads a week and apparently that’s still not enough (i.e. it generates about $700 from one sponsor)
- Take more notice of your podcast stats and begin to notice trends of when and how your listeners are engaging with you.
- Remember to audit your podcast, at least very 6 months. Be truthful with yourself. Request feedback from other – podcast mastermind groups, your own listeners through survey.
- Respect the time of your listeners. Spend a good amount of time editing, and always consider the new listener’s experience. For example, consider going back and edit an older intro
- Provide you guests with Social Media sharing packs after an episode (i.e. images you’d use on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, tweets you’ve written to share the episode)
- Buffer’s new podcast “The Science of Social Media Podcast” is a gem of amazing ideas. Listen to it.
- Facebook Live is (still) a big growth. Do more Facebook Live and you’ll more gain more Facebook audience
- Try to tell stories about each of your episodes on Social Media. Entice people to listen and want to be part of it. (Tie that back to #9, try use Facebook Live to tell these stories)
- Don’t be scared to share your podcast episode, social cards, etc., numerous times with your listeners. Stats say ‘People need to on average about 7x to take action’
- Using P.S in email campaigns is one of the highest clicked CTA’s
- Make sure to start writing a Blog. Overtime it really helps with the SEO of your page, and hence it’ll help spread the word of your podcast. (Here’s Feisworld’s Blog)
- Have obvious links on your webpage for people to listen to your show. Also create Podcast categories! (Check out the 6 new categories of our podcast after launching 160+ episodes)
- When starting out your podcast, create a two-year goal. No break. 1 or 2 shows a week if you can, or create a frequency that works for you. (For Feisworld, we release new episodes once a week, and that’s our sweet spot). Do this instead of creating seven episodes can call it quits.
- Finding your true voice will take time. You will evolve, so will your audience. The voice gets sweeter, the experience of being a podcast gets better.
- Listeners build you into their lives. Listening on certain days, in certain situations. (Note: it’s not always easy to discover the trends, iTunes Connect doesn’t give you all the information, but you can always ask (email) your listeners to learn more. Gareth and I both have conducted simple surveys of just a few questions and learned a TON from our listeners.
- Cliff Ravenscraft is a veteran podcaster. Gareth enjoyed his talk at Podcast Movement. Cliff also helped Feisworld get started since the very beginning in October 2014. Since we missed his talk on “Creating an online business profitably. 11 Step process.”, you can listen to this episode of his podcast instead. Don’t forget there are many more tools and resources on his website.
- Google Podcasts is going to hit us in a big way. Learn more today.
- Don’t always prioritize people who do “speaking tours”. Here we refer to already famous people who may be releasing a new book, new project. They hop on every podcast they possibly can, so you don’t necessarily want them on your show because they have been heard on 40 others already.
- Make small changes, not wholesale ones. Your audience won’t like drastic changes. Make changes and shifts at your pace, no need to rush it.
- Audience Acquisition Tip #1: Go on other peoples Podcasts
- Audience Acquisition Tip #2: Go to Industry Events and Trade shows to Network. Get a press pass, set-up a stand, where you record Podcasts. You can use those contacts to then grow at a later stage.
- Audience Acquisition Tip #3: Go on local radio (there are still many who listen to traditional radio). When you pitch to them, make sure you give them information on why they should speak with you and explain what you do.
- Audience Acquisition Tip #4: PR firms will collaborate if you are willing to give them a cut of your sponsorship. Gareth suggests that you consider the neighborhood of 15% split.
About the Ridiculously Human Podcast
Ridiculously Human is an original Podcast hosted by two South African buddies, Craig and Gareth. Both have fantastic faces for Podcasting 🙂
Together we share a passion to unwrap and explore the lives of fascinating people. As humans we are all connected on a much deeper level and through storytelling, we aim to realize and understand those real human connections.
Each episode the hosts have conversations with guests who are recognized in their community as people who provide inspiration, motivation, and hope. We unpack how adversity or their sheer determination and mindset has been used to create a positive and meaningful impact in their and other people’s lives. The themes of wellness, business, spirituality and fun are traversed to educate, inspire and stoke your curiosity.