🎤 Podcasts to Movies (Issue 113) January 27th 2023

Prologue

Welcome to the Arena

I had an interesting social media experience earlier this week. I had a two-sentence Tweet that was seen over 900,000 times within 24 hours.

How it happened ...

I responded to a conservative broadcaster, giving pushback to a hateful and discriminatory comment. He immediately retweeted my comment and the pile-on from his followers began ... I was tagged in hundreds of messages, most of them nothing more than name-calling.

This is why people, podcasters included, don't speak up. And I get it – the "internet" can be mean and we often forget that there are living, breathing people behind the messages we see.

The next day, my message was still getting views and I got another couple hundred "mean" messages.

But while scrolling through them to make sure I didn't miss any important messages being sent to me, I noticed something interesting ... I wasn't the only one pushing back against what was said.

The Snowflake Echo Chamber

It's easy to look at Twitter, or YouTube comments, or wherever, and be scared off by the volume of noise from angry and hateful people who seemingly live there. I can't blame somebody for not wanting to jump into that arena.

But when it comes to your podcast, I hope you don't let the numskulls keep you from speaking your truth.

There are people waiting for your message.

Copy that sentence and print it out ... maybe even a few copies. And tape it where you will see it.

Want help getting your message out? That's what this issue of Big Podcast Insider is about. And if you want more help, reach out to me.

Podcaster Opportunities

Book >> Podcast >> Movie

The Subtle Art of Not Giving a #@%! was just made into a movie.

You've probably seen the book. It's sold over 15,000,000 copies ...

What you may not know is that Mark Manson's first book, Models, was self-published. And he's got a podcast.

In the last issue of Big Podcast Insider, I mentioned how, as a podcaster, you're already positioned to write a book. You've got the content – all you need to do is package it in a certain way.

Same for movies.

This is an opportunity for you. But you must have an audience. And the way you build an audience is to create something now.

Here are five actions you can take today to help you grow your podcast audience:

Optimize your podcast for search: Make sure your podcast title, description, and episode titles include relevant keywords to improve discoverability on platforms like Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
Utilize social media: Share your podcast episodes on your personal and professional social media accounts, and engage with your listeners to build a community. Send me a photo of your studio via the Big Podcast Instagram page and I'll share it on my social media.
Guest appearances: Reach out to other podcasters and ask to be a guest on their shows. This can help expose your podcast to a new audience.
Leverage email marketing: Collect email addresses from your listeners and send them updates about new episodes, behind-the-scenes content, and other exclusive material. Need mailing list software? Try SendFox.
Cross-promote with other podcasts: Reach out to other podcasters in your niche and ask if they would be willing to cross-promote each other's shows to their audience.

Podcast Marketing

EXPOSED: 30 Ways "Influencers" Cheat

I was talking to an "old school" music business friend of mine the other day. This dude has been in the music business since the 70s, when he was working with Led Zeppelin ... and he's seen a lot.

I asked him about a recent publishing deal that was in the news and he said, "Nothing is ever as it seems – there's always more to the story than what we see. And there's definitely more to that story."

And this is true. There's the "press" big music artists (or podcasters) release to the world ... and then there's what actually happened behind the scenes.

Nowhere is this more true than social media. Like "reality" television, most of what we see from online influencers is anything more than hype and entertainment.

This is what happens behind the scenes. Not always, but a lot of the time.

It's a fascinating read.

Podcast Hosting Skills

How to Be a YouTuber: The Ultimate Guide

This is a deep dive into how to be a YouTuber.

Maybe you're like me and have absolutely no desire to make this happen for yourself ...

If so, I still encourage you to take a quick look. This thing is full of great advice you can use to make your podcast better.

Some "big ideas" I think you'll find helpful:

People are either haters, champions, or bored. Bored is the biggest camp. They're not judging, and it's your job to shift them to champions.
~~Camera~~ Microphone confidence depends on true confidence. You develop true self-confidence by becoming comfortable in your own skin.
For each piece of content you create, focus on getting 1% better in an area that interests you.

And this message on becoming a great broadcaster by Ira Glass:

Nobody tells this to people who are beginners, I wish someone told me. All of us who do creative work, we get into it because we have good taste. But there is this gap.

For the first couple years you make stuff, it’s just not that good. It’s trying to be good, it has potential, but it’s not.

But your taste, the thing that got you into the game, is still killer. And your taste is why your work disappoints you.

A lot of people never get past this phase, they quit.

Most people I know who do interesting, creative work went through years of this. We know our work doesn’t have this special thing that we want it to have. We all go through this.

And if you are just starting out or you are still in this phase, you gotta know it's normal and the most important thing you can do is do a lot of work. Put yourself on a deadline so that every week you will finish one story.

It is only by going through a volume of work that you will close that gap, and your work will be as good as your ambitions.

And I took longer to figure out how to do this than anyone I’ve ever met. It’s gonna take a while. It’s normal to take a while. You’ve just gotta fight your way through.

Good stuff, right? Take a look and let me know what you're resonating with via Twitter or Mastodon.

I'll have more thoughts on the audio edition of this newsletter.

Podcasting Events

How Podcasters Can Make the Most of Podcasting Conferences

Some great podcasting conferences are coming up, including RocknPod this March in Nashville. And Podfest is happening this week in Orlando.

Some thoughts on how to make the most of your time:

Research the conference beforehand to know which attendees, speakers, and panels you want to see. Reach out to people you want to meet and connect with in advance of the event.
Bring business cards and/or a way to collect contact information from other attendees. A QR code that links to your podcast will make it easy for people to listen and subscribe.
Utilize social media to share video and photos from the conference or share key takeawavs. Tagging this content with the official conference hashtag will immediately connect you with attendees whom you'd never meet otherwise.
Be prepared to record audio or video content for your podcast during the conference. STEAL THIS IDEA: Have a single question related to your podcast topic that you ask multiple people, then combine the different answers into a single episode.
Be prepared to talk about your podcast and why people should listen. Can you describe your podcast in a single sentence?

A simple, one-sentence "podcast description" formula: "My podcast is for [listeners] who want/like/desire [goal/outcome]."

Read the FULL LIST here.

Podcast Production

How To Make Acoustic Panels for Your Podcast Studio

Acoustic panels are expensive. I record in a 5'x8' room and, when I priced "pro" panels a year ago, I was looking at at least $2000 to get anything close to what I wanted.

So I made my own for under $500 worth of materials (and a couple of days of labor) and got exactly what I wanted.

Derek Frank did something similar and shows you how to build panels for your podcast studio in this video.

How do these panels sound? Listen to Build a Big Podcast to hear them in action.

Not handy with a saw and measuring tape? Hire Derek to build acoustic panels for you.

Podcasting Deals

$9 Custom T-Shirt for Your Podcast

You don't have a real podcast until your podcast has its own t-shirt.

I kid, I kid. But if you want a custom t-shirt for your podcast, you can get one for $9 here.

Podcast Humor

A Cure of Insomnia?

Everybody's got that thing that puts you right to sleep ...

In all seriousness, when you talk to people about your podcast, you don't need to go into the small details about what RSS is and how it works. People don't need to know the behind-the-scenes of how podcasting works, they only need to know they can listen to you on a mobile phone.

Want to make it easy for people to subscribe to your podcast? Get a QR code for people to scan via phone! See how to use it here.

Classifieds

The Wrap Up

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Grow your podcast audience.
Get people talking about your podcast.
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