I’ve been banging the drum for people to start podcasts. Here’s another reason: they expand your coverage immediately and quickly. How do I know? I just launched a podcast last week, and I’ve already got 18 regular steady subscribers to that RSS feed. When I first launched [chrisbrogan.com], it took me about six months to have 18 regular readers to rub together. Hmm… one week, six months.
An audio or video podcast brings you more readers/listeners/viewers because it gives consumers yet another medium to consume your message through. If the content is something of interest to them, it will build value into the overall “package” of information you’re providing.
Tips
- Be Original– Don’t just read blog posts into a microphone and considre that your podcast. You can approach it a few different ways. You can augment what you’ve posted about on your site with an audio podcast. You can shoot complementary video that talks about similar topics, but is an original post in its own right. But don’t just “translate.”
- Be Certain– If your blog or website is the MAIN thing you want to highlight, make sure your podcast material is complementary to the site. It can be original and stand on its own, but if you’re trying to build business on your site or blog, then reference the blog, talk about why it’s good to come to the site, and keep your listeners/viewers aware of what the site’s true value is.
- Be Engaged– I’ve listened to a half dozen corporate podcasts over the last week that were just rotten BORING. One was from a top-shelf print media company, and I swear, they were just basically including audio from conferences without any sense of production, without care for the microphone placement, and with very little in the way of effort. If you’re going to put something up, put some production value into it.
- Be Entertaining– If you want people to listen, give them something engaging. Put energy in your voice. Cover things you think might be of interest. Hell, I listened to two guys discussing what they were going to do for a webcomic and I was ENTHRALLED by the conversation. I felt like the “third guy on the couch,” a postively PERFECT entertainment experience where you just feel like you’re hanging out with friends. Don’t just phone it in, so to speak. Try to connect with your listeners/viewers.
- Add Value– Make your podcast something people seek out, something that really goes along with the text and imagery content on your website. Produce small web movies. Maybe you can do how-to movies that go along with your existing product on your site. A certain stationary-obsessed site I know and love would really benefit from a video-show-and-tell to go along with their excellent coverage of all things stationary.
- Band Together– I encourage content networks. Basically: band together with people writing about, blogging, producing similar content, and see if maybe there’s a podcast opportunity among the bunch of you. It’s easier than ever to share audio files across the web, edit them together, and produce a single, unified show based on the efforts of your various podcasters. Why go it alone? Build a powerhouse show built on the efforts of 3 sites.
I think you’ll find more of this every day. Just watch the Podcast section of the Apple iTunes store. More and more branded material is showing up there. Of course, it’s DWARFED by all the consumer-generated media, but that’s another story.
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tag: content, podcast, podcasting, business, entrepreneur, promotion, newmedia