In 2018, 73 million people in the US will listen to a podcast at least once a month, according to eMarketer estimates. Statistics say 80% of people listen to all or most of the entire episode. In the UK, podcast listenership is quickly catching up with live radio for young people.
If you could go back 12 years and double down on becoming an influencer on Facebook and YouTube, would you like to have that chance? Podcasting hasn’t completely changed the way we consume media yet, but it’s right where those other two giants were in their early stages.
Like Facebook and YouTube, podcasting presents an extremely low barrier to entry for brands and influencers. The challenge is simply creating quality content that your audience will eagerly consume.
This may seem daunting for those not-too-familiar with the platform, but you’ll quickly discover just how easy it is to create your own podcast content. And the best part? A podcast will enhance all your other digital marketing efforts. If you record video from each episode, you’ll have a wealth of branded YouTube, social media, email and organic SEO content.
If you’re a stand-up comedian, motivational speaker, or entertainment personality, creating your own podcast could be pretty easy. For the rest of us, a 30-60 minute monologue might not feel natural.
Using a co-host(s) is an easy way to lighten the load for a podcast talent. Think about Live with Regis and Kathy Lee from the 90s and all it’s incarnations since then. It’s essentially a podcast filmed and aired on morning television. (And just for nostalgia’s sake…)
Inviting guests to your podcast is the easiest, most engaging way to inform and entertain your audience.
If you dive deeply into one topic, each guest could be one episode. If you want to hear from multiple perspectives for a particular topic, you may have a few guests answering the same few questions.
To make things even easier, you might use the same set of questions for every guest who comes on your show.
Here are a few more tips for interviewing a guest:
- The more closely related the guest is to your industry or niche, the better. The further away the guest is from your scope of work, the more interesting he/she should be.
- Get out of the way. You brought the guest in for a reason – they have something to say on a specific topic. Ask him/her about that topic and let them talk.
- Listen closely. You should have a set of preset questions, but if you listen closely to your guest, you’ll hear some things you want to know more about. If you’re curious, it’s likely your audience is too.
See how easy that was? You didn’t know just how ready you were to start your own podcast. You have friends, colleagues, and a social network. Identify the 8-10 most interesting people in your circle and ask them to be guests on your podcast.
Those 8-10 also have their own friends and colleagues. Once they know how great it is to be on your podcast, ask them for an introduction to other interesting people in their network. You’ll soon have a snowball of great guests rolling down a hill.