Prologue
More Voices = More Listeners
A couple of weeks ago, I posted a funny meme on Facebook (see below) about guests "hijacking" interviews. If you have a story about this that you'd like to share, please submit it here, as I'm putting together an episode of Build a Big Podcast that covers this topic, including advice for what you can do when you find yourself in this situation.
Thanks for your support of my new book, 101 Podcast Episode Templates over the last couple of weeks. I've been doing a number of interviews talking about this subject and I'm continuing that here, in this issue of Big Podcast Insider, with a couple of different directions you can take as far as coming up with great segments and episodes for your podcast.
BONUS TIP: The more voices you have on a podcast, the more stimulating it is to listeners. This is one of the reasons why interview-format podcasts get more downloads than solo-format podcasts, Even if you do a solo podcast, it's easy to bring in listener voices (see the "guest hijack" section for an example) and take advantage of having multiple people on your podcast without having to do full interviews.
Podcaster Opportunities
38 Types of Secrets (You're Likely Keeping at Least One)
You're an honest person, right?
According to Michael Slepian, associate professor of leadership and ethics at Columbia University, it’s likely that you’re keeping at least one secret from the people around you.
This means that your listeners are also keeping secrets.
This list of 38 different types of secrets will give you lots of ideas for segments, episodes, and shows themselves.
Examples:
- Illegal drug use, or abuse of a legal drug (e.g., alcohol, painkillers)
- Habit or addiction (but not involving drugs)
- Something illegal (other than drugs or theft)
- Physical self-harm
- Abortion
- A traumatic experience (other than the above)
- A lie
- A violation of someone’s trust (other than by a lie)
- Romantic desire (while single)
- Romantic discontent (being unhappy in a relationship)
- Extra-relational thoughts (thoughts about having relations with another person while in a relationship)
- Emotional infidelity (having an inappropriate emotional connection with someone, engaging in something intimate other than sex)
- Sexual infidelity
- A relationship with someone who is cheating on someone else to be with you
- Social discontent (unhappy with a friend, or unhappy with current social life)
- Physical discontent (dislike of appearance or something physical about yourself)
- Mental health struggles
Don't let this statistic depress you – it simply shows that people are human and all of us are working through something. It's also a good opportunity for you to use podcasting to help people in these situations.
NOTE: People love confessing secrets (see the "secrets" section from Issue 78 for an example), so bringing in an "audience confession" segment, with audio clips from listeners, may be something for you to consider. You can see how I do this below, in the Guest Hijack section.
Podcast Marketing
7 Types of Videos to Market Yourself (and Your Podcast)
If you're worried about doing video that isn't as polished as your podcast, this guy has an interesting outlook you may want to consider.
If you've read the Big Podcast book, you know about the rule of "they zig, you zag." In short, for this example, it means that when everybody else is doing polished videos with great lighting and production, which can be hard to compete with, your best option to stand out may be to do something completely different, such as short, "lo-fi" videos. For example, this short video about the audiobook version of 101 Podcast Episode Templates. It's not flashy, but it's great for people who are curious about the "behind-the-scenes" elements of what I do and a "teaser" format like this can help build excitement about what's to come.
Worth a look. And if you post something on Instagram, please tag @bigpodcast1, because I'd love to see what you do with these ideas and feature you!
Podcast Hosting Skills
5 Negative "Podcaster" Mindsets
I'm always skeptical of articles with titles like 5 Negative Mindsets That Can Wreck Your Judgment, but I saw it mentioned by Joe from The Stacking Benjamins Podcast, so I checked it out based on my trust in him.
I was surprised. This isn't your typical "clickbait" article with rehashed info you've heard a million times before. And I found myself saying, "Yeah, I fall into that sometimes."
The Five Common "Distorted" Mindsets:
- Mind Reading - Mind reading happens when we assume we know what the other person is thinking or feeling.
- Mental Filtering - Mental filtering makes you pay attention to a small set of observations and ignore all others.
- Labeling - Labeling is using dismissive words that caricature one’s thinking and feelings about situations and people.
- Blame - In this mental distortion, you assign blame to yourself or to others, while the true case for a problem may lie elsewhere.
- All-or-Nothing Thinking - Someone is either a hero or a zero. A certain choice is either perfect or totally flawed.
Take a couple of minutes to read more. I think you'll find this information helpful to both you and your podcast.
Podcast Production
6 Types of Podcasts You Can Start Publishing Today
I've spent a lot of time over the last couple of weeks doing promotion for 101 Podcast Episode Templates, which has had me talking a lot about various frameworks for podcast segments, episodes, and shows.
Here are six of them:
- Reporting - Podcasts with a journalistic lens. The value proposition for reporting podcasts is often a unique viewpoint or exclusive coverage readers can't find anywhere else.
- Analysis - Analysis podcasts are typically run by narrowly defined subject-matter experts. Their content is often long-form, includes charts or graphs, and presents an opinionated take on the topic at hand.
- Curation - As the volume of content on the internet continues to grow exponentially, tastemakers with podcasts who can help listeners sort through the noise are finding themselves in high demand.
- Artistic - These types of podcasts tend to be built around a single creator where the main value given to listeners is the creator's unique perspective.
- Practical - Practical podcasts have one of the most straightforward value propositions for listeners: subscribe to learn how to do x.
- Hybrid - These podcasts combine the best elements from any of the other types in order to create something truly unique.
These formats also work for newsletters, by the way, which is how this article was framed.
Ready to start your newsletter? This is the best (and cheapest) software to do it.
Podcast Humor
The Guest Hijack
There are two kinds of podcasters:
- Those who have had a guest hijack an interview.
- Those who will have a guest hijack an interview.
We've all been there (or will be). You ask a question to your guest and ...
- You get a sales pitch ...
- You get an answer to a question, but not the question you asked...
- The guest asks you a question ... then answers his own question
Do you have a guest hijack story? Share it here to be included in an upcoming episode of Build a Big Podcast.
The Wrap Up
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My goal is to better empower podcasters to be more successful in spreading their messages and make more money with their podcasts.
I'd love it if you'll help me spread the word about this newsletter by sending your podcasting friends to bigpodcast.com/newsletter.