2022 Podcasting Insights From the Pros – PCI 323

0:10 Hey everyone. Welcome to Podcast Insider. My name is Todd Cochran, of course, I'm joined by my co-host, Mr. Mike Dell. Mike, welcome to the show. Yeah, thanks. And, uh, yeah, uh, I'm the headset today cuz a little construction going on close by, so hopefully you won't hear the jackhammers. Oh yeah, I know. They're, uh, taking the concrete out of your basement, so, uh, fun stuff. At least you don't have to carry that out. No, I've carried enough crap out of there. . So, uh, this is my, uh, last show before we, uh, head off for Christmas. I'm, I'm gonna be on vacation starting on the 14th. So, uh, the rest of the team will be with you throughout, uh, the rest of Christmas.

0:51 So for, I guess for me at least, uh, Merry Christmas to the Blueberry Family and I hope that you have a good one. But with that, we've got some news, we've got a best practice, we've got some Blueberrying News, we've got a Blueberry Pro tip, and we have a question of the week. But really to kick things off immediately was, and, and I didn't get to watch the live presentation of this yesterday, but I started to read the report this morning, uh, sounds profitable, put out a report called Safe and Sound about listener brand Safety. Mm-hmm. . So did you get a chance to take a look, Mike?

1:32 I browsed through it. Uh, one thing I thought was, uh, pretty cool is they, uh, they got a almost 50 50, uh, men and women, uh, sample. So that was good. And then they had some stuff about genres and particular shows have you heard or not, and all that. But, uh, yeah, basically when brands sponsor content listeners find offensive podcasting is no different than any other media. Some listeners will associate the brand with that content. So, you know, if you're, I think their, their, uh, takeaway is that, uh, controversial content may be harder to monetize because a lot of brands really don't wanna be controversial.

2:16 You know, one of the things that we did in the very early days of podcasting, part of our requirement at Tech Podcast Network was that you had to have a family safe show. You couldn't have cussing in it. Mm-hmm. , but we did not limit the content. We just basically, you said, Hey, don't you know those words that are normally banned from normal broadcast TV and not necessarily cable, but please, uh, you know, don't, uh, make it so that you can have the eight year old in the car with you and listening to the show. And that's kind of the guidelines we had for, and we were very successful. But it's true, if a show is a little bit controversial or is known for, you know, for getting a little ripe, uh, we either be adult content and or political strong language politic.

3:07 Or, and political I think is a lot of what they're talking about here as well. You know, if you're, if you're leaning left and, uh, there's a right leaning podcast that gets sponsored by Xbr brand, you know, how AP are you to tie that brand to that. Podcast? So they, they're staying away from, from political shows because they're a hot potato for 50% of the market, doesn't matter. They're gonna make someone angry. Although the, uh, the, the chart they have here, it was kind of, it says, you know, what percentage would no longer consider a brand if it advertised on a podcast with content you don't agree with.

3:49 And 62% said they wouldn't, uh, consider that, you know, they wouldn't boycott that brand. Oh, okay. Because of that. Uh, so that's actually good. But it's still, it's a high percentage. Yeah. That is, that that would 38% being that they would, so that's, that's pretty amazing. I think we have to understand that advertisers are kind of caught between a rock and a hard place at this point. And you know, I, I think we have to understand that they're trying to reach all audiences mm-hmm. . So it is, uh, it is, it is a bit of a, a challenge for them out there, but, well anyway, good report and, uh, if your podcaster is definitely something you should read and go through for sure.

4:33 So 22 Podcaster rap from Spotify that was released on November 30th. So podcasters, if you haven't looked at this yet, maybe you got your own stats for your show, but you can go into the, uh, to your platform at, at Spotify and take a look. Yeah. They give some insights of what's happened over the year with your podcast. You know, if you're getting enough on there, I don't know, is everybody gets that. Yeah. Cuz I think you have to have a certain amount of viewership. And one thing I found out from Spotify, I was having a very difficult time finding one of my shows on Spotify and I had a open ticket with them and they basically told me, even if you type your show's name exactly, it may end up to 300 shows down the list.

5:19 The only way that you, even if there is no shows with other n no name like yours, you still might be 300 below everyone else because they require your show to have some sort of consumption over there. Hmm. And if you, if you don't have any consumption at all, they drive you all the way down. So if you, if you are not getting a lot of traction at Spotify, it probably is because people can't find your podcast cuz it's buried, it's buried in the search results and they only reward shows in, in search that actually get traction. So it is a, it's a little irritating when someone says, Hey, I can't find your podcast on Spotify, and you go look for it and you can't find it yourself.

6:08 So of course if I can't find my own show on Spotify without the direct link to it. So if you want to drive your searchability and Spotify, you have to drive people there manually from a link to be able to listen to your show. That's the only way you're gonna get get found. Yeah. You gotta give them the direct link to your listening over there. Yeah. You can do that in our destinations areas of, of all our tools. So that's, uh, a way of promoting it if, you know, if you're interested in getting a lot of people on Spotify, you know, some shows just don't do well on Spotify. It's, it's very genre specific, I think. Yeah.

6:49 So what PR Pro should know about podcasting, uh, lots of helpful stats on podcast creation trends. Yeah. And this is from muck rack.com and again, takeaways from the state of podcasting. It's kind of interesting because sometimes these articles come out and you're like, who is this ? Who are you? Yeah. And how, you know, how do you know this? So, but, uh, pretty good writeup. Yeah. Yeah. Uh, one of the things they thought was interesting is current events drive content inspiration, but not for everybody. So like you are doing a tech show, something big happens in tech that will inspire you to talk about it.

7:30 Sure. But if you know something politically happens that it doesn't have anything to do with tech, you are not gonna talk about it, but some political show might. Yep. So, which makes sense. And, you know, that's the advantage of being, uh, doing a new show is because there's fresh content every day. I don't have to really go digging for it. It creates itself. So it makes it easy, uh, to, to put a podcast together, send news from Westwood One and podcast one founder, norm Patas has passed away at 79, I believe he had throat cancer. Ah. And, uh, I've, I've, uh, met and talked to Norm on numerous occasions, probably the last time about a year and a half ago.

8:13 And Norm was a larger than life character in the podcasting space. Had a unique reputation as well. Accomplished a lot. Westwood one podcast, one he had, uh, front row season tickets with the Lakers. So, you know, big Lakers fan Rip. Norm. Yeah. I met, I I I met him, uh, I think at n a B show in 2015. He was speaking, uh, cuz that's when the, the podcast conference of the day was, uh, was tied with with that. And, uh, an interesting guy. Definitely larger than life and, uh, . Yep. You know, you know, and, and I'm sure if he had not gotten cancer, he probably would've lived to been a 110 years old.

8:56 He was very active, sharp fit. Yes. The whole nine yards. So, uh, yeah, just, you just never know. And, and sadly, a a second loss, uh, fellow podcast hosting company employee BJ Foresight, their scrum master for their dev team at Lipson has, uh, passed away in a car accident and they have a GoFundMe, uh, which I looked at it, you know, uh, the other day. And it looks like it's stalled out a little bit. It's about 7,000 of the $10,000 of trying to reach. So, uh, if you feel that you're, uh, can donate to throw 10, 15, 20 bucks at that, uh, whatever you feel, uh, please considerate. Yeah.

9:40 He has three, three little kids. Yeah. Yeah. Small children and a wife. And, uh, so many sad news there for, uh, for their, uh, longtime employee, BJ Foresight, Rob Greenley of formerly of Microsoft Podcast, one Spreaker and formerly of Libson is now working at Podbean. . Yeah. Uh, not everywhere. Svp SVP of Content and Partnership. So I, you know, I was teasing Rob yesterday said, wow, Rob, you got another notch in your belt. Oh my goodness. You're gonna, you're making your rounds working for all the podcasting companies. He knows where all the dead bodies are buried. Oh, I'm sure. .

10:21 He also, uh, shockingly yesterday showed me that, uh, he's using a Mac now. Part of it is POD being asked him to. Yeah. But I, you know, Rob's Die Hard Windows guy, you know, and for him to, uh, have a Mac as I was floored, it really was. Welcome to the Dark side for sure. Rob Greenley is over there at, uh, Podbean. But just as a reminder, Mike is the foremost expert in migrating people off Podbean. So hands. Breaker and Leton and. . So, uh, keep that in mind. So I get our best practice here. Tis the season for giveaways. Ooh.

11:05 Yeah. This is a big one. Yes. So go ahead and read our, read our best practice, Mike. Yeah. If you're feeling a extra giving this holiday season considered gifting your loyal listeners and fans with merchandise, uh, or in-person or virtual experience, a special shout out on the show. There's all kinds of things that you can do or give away or, uh, you know, doesn't even have to cost a lot. You know, maybe, you know, have a a half hour conversation with them if, if that's, uh, something that would be of value to them. You know, I've done this before, we've done this as a company before and, you know, it just gets people a little more involved Right. With your show and, you know, it's kind of fun, you know, especially if you like, have a network of shows where you have some overlapping audience.

11:50 You can do it at a network level. Uh oh. Did we ever do that at Tech Podcasts? I, I don't think so, but. Uh, no, you know, and I think the key is though, you know, a merchandise and gift is kind of hard. How do you select which fans Sure you're gonna give something and do you make it a contest then if you do a contest? There's all kinds of, you know, considerations with that. But I think the special shout outs are always important and, you know, give the folks that are helping you with your show, you know, anyone that's added value to your podcast, and I think you should do this every episode, but if you have specific fans that are, you know, the super fans and the folks that are going the extra mile and maybe retweeting and, you know, just take some time and, and thank those folks because fans like to be appreciated. You great for, uh, bringing together hosts again, and like you said in networks.

12:41 And I think the main thing is just to show appreciation. And I, I try to do that every episode anyway, but I think a little more on holidays is, is warranted. For sure. I said, uh, I've done that before. You know, when I was doing uh, podcast help desk, I, I gave away a complete podcasting rig, uh, as a, uh, as kind of a contest thing and you know, a little mixer and a mic and a couple things, you know, and Right. And it was great cuz I got to talk to and meet a lot of, lot more of my audience cuz they were, they were more interested in that obviously. And, you know, I gave it away to a, a guy that, uh, was setting up a podcast studio for, uh, high school and Right. You know, it was just, it was really rewarding too on top of it. But, uh, definitely had some more engagement than I would've normally.

13:37 So. Let's move into Blueberry News. We got a blog post up. What to Consider When Choosing a Link for your podcast is written by Jen Thorpe. Mm-hmm. , this was a nice companion. Read the pr prose from our news segment this week. Yeah. And we're also beginning compile a 22 blueberry industry recap article. Let us know if there's something specific that you'd like to find out. And we're wrapping up a, well, not a handful, a large handful. . Truck projects before. Yeah. A truckload of projects before the end of the year and they were mentioned the latest newsletters. So I'm sure what we are probably going to do is a lot of this stuff. We're gonna wait, get it all refined, everything done, and we'll probably pop, uh, some of this stuff out right at the beginning of the year.

14:23 We're gonna probably have three or four, five announcements Right. The, at beginning of the new year. We'll see where the timing is. Some of the stuff is, you know, one thing is coming as for sure is the reporting for the programmatic advertising. Yeah. That's in the final stage that'll be, uh, delivered and maybe even some payments will be delivered before, uh, Christmas. So we will, uh, keep you advised there. Speaking of which, it's not on our list, but I have another thing also affiliates out there, the, uh, year end bonuses are coming. Oh. That's true. That's, uh, we try to get that out to people somewhat before Christmas, but maybe right before, I don't know what the timing is on that, but, uh, if you're an affiliate and, and you've, uh, gotten some checks along the way, uh, you may be getting a little bit bigger one.

15:12 That's right. The annual bonus, and again, if you're not an affiliate already and how that works Yeah. Is we pay between five and 7% at the end of the year depending upon the volume of business that you've brought to us cumulatively mm-hmm. , there's also some components in there on staying active as an affiliate as well. But, um, technically you, we, we have some affiliates that do earn significant amounts of money, uh, every year, five figure checks. So definitely look at, uh, becoming an affiliate if you're not one already. And now that's basically promoting blueberry podcasting services. Alright, let's go ahead and roll into the Blueberry Pro tip.

15:53 Okay, here it goes. Hi, it's Toby Goodman here. This December holiday season has always created a pattern interrupt for many. It's, uh, chance to unwind and take a break. But for us podcasters, there's a strong argument we should continue publishing through the holidays precisely because of that pattern interrupt. Why? Because it's long been the case that for many podcasters we see new listener acquisition at its highest during this December and January period. So how does that translate? Well, for podcast listeners that pattern interrupt means a chance to check out new podcasts they normally wouldn't have time to listen to. So for us podcasters, it means getting to fresh ears during a time of year, we wouldn't normally be able to do so.

16:44 So today's tip is keep going through this holiday period or being well, you've batched produced some shows ahead of time and preloaded them to your blueberry hosting account. So you can also take a break if you're feeling overwhelmed with all of that stuff. The Blueberry Pro production team can help just come and say hi over@blueberrypro.com. Yeah, we talk about that every year, . It's, that's right. I, I agree completely Is, uh, keep on rocking. Yeah. And it looks like our schedule here is gonna be, uh, yeah, we'll be able to, we'll be able to swing that, uh, all the way through so we shouldn't be skipping any more shows. Good.

17:30 So we get a question from Facebook. Hello. I always record audio only for my show, but another show invited me as a guest host and they also record video. I have a webcam attached to my Windows 11 PC and my mic running through an audience interface. Does anyone know if this will allow for the camera to capture video and the microphone to capture the audio during the entire recording? In the past, my attempt with this setup always found the mic on the webcam taking precedents over my interface. I appreciate any and all suggestions or via advice in advance. A lot of people miss this, but you know, if you're using a, a system like Skype or Zoom or, uh, you know, all the, all the different ones of those, uh, they do have microphone settings where you can select which audio source you want to go into the system. I do that here. Uh, currently today we're using Skype and I've got my webcam right in front of me and I've got the road caster that I select as the audio source in the Skype settings. And some of 'em, uh, that are web based.

18:39 There'll be a little, uh, uh, a little icon up, up in the, by the address bar to uh, set it in the browser, which microphone, which video, you know, like I have two different cameras here and you know, I have to select which camera and I have to s select which audio source cuz I have a built-in mic and a and, and the, the road caster and all that. But, uh, there are settings depending on what system, you know, I, I can't give you the exact thing, but look for any sort of settings with that system, you should be able to do that without too much issue even on Windows. And if you're coming in via remote guest, most of the platforms being used by podcasters, they have the ability to again, not only select which camera, like if you have more than one.

19:23 So sometimes be able a webcam and a laptop camera. Yeah. So you might have one or two and number two would be, again, like Mike said, you might have one or two or even three audio sources depending on the setup of your system. So, um, yeah, perfect answer there Mike. So if you get a question like us to answer in the show, drop an email to mike@blueberry.com, audio, text or video and we may use it. You can also post a question on the Blueberry podcasting Facebook group. Yep. And the best place for support for any blueberry product or services, our ticket system over at blueberry.com/support and tickets, give the whole team access rather than direct emails or phone calls.

20:04 And of course, you've been coming to you this week from the new Media Production Studio Quarter Michigan and Mike Dell's World Studio in Traverse City, Michigan. Produced of course by the Blueberry Pro production@blueberrypro.com. And you can fill out our listener survey at surveys.blueberry.com/podcast Insider and you can set up your own if you're on our stat system and, uh, run a survey yourself. You can schedule a one-on-one with me hosting Customers home only email todd blueberry.com. And you can schedule a tech checkup with me, uh, hosting customers only email mike blueberry.com. You can send us your podcast sticker and a self address stamped envelope and we will send you a Blueberry Care package.

20:47 That information is@podcastinsider.com within the show notes of the podcast, everyone that's been here, thank you so much. And again, Merry Christmas. I will be out for the next couple of weeks and I'll be back probably for the New Year's show. So, uh, look forward to that. Yep. We got a, we got a little bet to settle on that show, so . Oh, we do? Yeah. What, what do I owe you? A dollar or. Two? Yeah, a dollar. . Okay. Alright. . Anyway, I, I'll have Mackenzie I believe next week, uh, as a co-host and I don't know who on the, uh, 22nd, but, uh, somebody will be here from the team. All. Right. Outstanding everyone, thanks for being here and thanks for watching the, and listening to the podcast Insider. Everyone. Take care.

21:32 We'll see you next time. Bye-bye.