Podcasts are an ever-growing platform that ranges from pure entertainment to in depth educational content. Kevin is a man that draws the line down the middle. He is a podcast guru that teaches us the most effective techniques to building an audience and even more excitingly how to monetise it. Here Mr Chemidlin gives us some crucial knowledge needed to thrive in today’s podcasting world.
1. Due to the Coronavirus, is now the perfect time to start a podcast and why?
Now is definitely the perfect time to start a podcast, but that’s not because of COVID. Even throughout the pandemic, more and more people around the globe are discovering podcasts. We’re still in the early days! Podcasting actually grew this year, despite the pandemic, and that growth will accelerate next year once people go back to commuting and hitting the gym regularly.
2. What is the best way to grow your podcast during this pandemic?
By far the best way to grow a podcast is through what I call Targeted Daily Engagement. This is where you spend an extremely intentional 15 to 60 minutes every single day engaging online with your target audience. Note that I said engaging, not publishing – the true growth is found when you actually engage 1-on-1 with the people who will become your podcast listeners. You want to answer their questions, swap opinions, and celebrate their wins. If you focus on making their day online, they will check out your podcast. That’s how you make fans.
3. Has it become easier to overcome the inevitable plateau in viewers during these times? Moreover, what are your top 3 tips to overcoming this ceiling?
COVID’s effect on podcasting actually equalled itself out a bit – people listened to podcasts a little less, yes. But, people also flocked to podcasts to learn about COVID and to hear about the latest news. This bump un-did the hit that the lockdowns caused. So, podcasting has actually been thriving all year! That said, every podcast eventually hits a plateau with its listenership after it launches. So, my 3 tips to break through the listenership plateau: 1, engage online every day, commenting, sending DMs. Be social on social media. 2, be explicit and specific when you title your episodes. There is a lot of competition now, and you need to hook your subscribers into each and every episode with a catchy title that makes them feel excited about what’s to come. 3, when you engage with folks every day, take note of the questions they have and the things they want to talk about right here and now. Use that when you are deciding which episodes to make next month, and you’ll always be topical.
4. What is the Accelerator program, and have you needed to adapt it for 2020?
The Grow The Show Podcast Accelerator actually launched in 2020 because so many podcasters didn’t know what to do next when the accelerator hit. The intensive program helps podcasters grow and monetize in 90 days. I took my first podcast past 100k downloads and $100k monetized in 1 year, and recently I took my second one past $23k in 63 days. The accelerator is where I teach other podcasters to do the exact same thing. It also includes audio editing, video editing, and content generation services too.
5. With constant alterations on social media algorithms how can one ensure that they are still reaching their audience?
The social algorithms are simply optimized to show people content that they will actually engage with – like, comment, follow. Too many people blame the algorithm for their lack of growth when, in actuality, their content sucks, or they just don’t actually engage on social. Don’t optimize your content to make the algorithm happy, optimize your content to make your followers happy. Do that, and you will never have to worry about the algorithm. Also, you can model what GaryVee does, he’s got an entire army of people who watch the algorithms to see what will perform best.
6. Why is it so important to fully focus on your niche audience?
People only listen to a podcast when it makes them hear their own truth. So, if the target audience is very broad or vague, the show will have overly broad and boring topics. The show won’t be appealing to any specific group of people, and nobody will pay attention. The potential audience might be bigger, but nobody in that audience is going to care about it. Compare that to a niche show: it is ruthlessly created specifically for one type of person, and that one type of person LOVES it. They become a raving fan. That core group of raving fans then spreads the word about how awesome you are, and pretty soon, your audience grows bigger than you could have ever imagined. This is actually the number one mistake I see people make – they try to reach the largest audience they possibly can, and because of that, they make their show watered down and all-over-the-place. Also, it is WAY easier to sell ads for a show that has a super defined audience, because businesses will know who they’re reaching.
7. What challenges has Covid-19 created for podcasters?
Remote recording, though I think this has been a blessing in disguise! At first, I was devastated that I couldn’t record podcast episodes in person anymore. But, after I did a few remote interviews, I learned how to make them sound just as intimate and connected as the rest of them.
8. What are a couple podcasts that you would highly recommend to someone starting out and why would you recommend it?
If I may be so shameless, my new podcast Grow The Show is specifically designed to teach podcasters how to grow and monetize a thriving podcast. If you’re just starting out as a listener, you should definitely check out a flagship show like Serial, Song Exploder, or Revisionist History.
If you are in the podcast world and resonated with this information be sure to check out Kevin’s growtheshow podcast.
