Category: Podcast Archives

Your Podcast Avatar – #5

Podcast Avatar

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What is the best way to decide if certain content will resonate with your listeners? On this week’s episode, Jeff Brown from The Read to Lead Podcast and Podcaster Academy tells us how to develop a podcast avatar and why you should do it.

News:

  • Podcast AwardsVoting for the 10th Annual Podcast Awards continues. There are several podcasts in our Google+ Community. Please consider including the podcasts from our group in your ballot. Podcast Awards voting continues through March 24th. We’re hoping to see SEVERAL of the Google+ community members take the stage in Las Vegas in April as winners in their respective categories.
  • Corey was a judge for a category with the Podcast Awards and talks about how podcasts were judged. A surprising number of podcasts were lacking things like: visible RSS feed, visible iTunes link, ways to contact the host, etc. If you are focused on audio content, it’s easy to forget that your website might need updated or might be lacking certain things. If you were not a finalist in the Podcast Awards, you’ll hear what the podcasts were judged on and you can get your website in order for next year’s Podcast Awards.

Your Podcast’s Avatar

We heard Jeff Brown on Dave Jackson’s School of Podcasting last week. While determining what our topic would be this week, we found ourselves discussing one of the topics that Jeff talked about on that episode with Dave, your podcast avatar.

Jeff explains this idea of developing an avatar for your audience and using that fictional individual to base decisions on your podcast and the content you produce. Creating your podcast avatar isn’t something you HAVE to do before you launch your podcast, but it should be considered. Jeff also talks about using singular language and connecting with your audience by making them feel like you are speaking directly to them.

We then talk about what we feel is our individual podcasts’ avatars and we attempt (notice I said attempt) to create an avatar for THIS podcast.

App/Service of The Week

Nick talks about using Adobe Audition to achieve the loudness standard of -16 LUFS. We talk about this idea and Nick refers back to this video by Mike Russell of Music Radio Creative.

Picks of the Week

Tawny – She Podcasts
Corey – I Hate Critics interview with Diamond Dallas Page
Nick’s anti-pick is Meerkat

Next Week’s Episode

On next week’s episode, we’ll be joined by Ray Ortega from The Podcasters Studio and Podcasters Roundtable. We’re going to talk about video production with your podcast and if you’re talking video, there’s no better podcaster to talk with than Ray. If you do your podcast in video or have found creative ways to enhance your podcast or brand with audio, we’d love to hear about it. You can email us audio clips – [email protected]. Also, if you have any questions you’d like us to ask Ray, send those over too!

Podcast Avatar
March 12, 2015By Corey FineranIn Podcast ArchivesNo Comment

Breaking Podcasting Rules – #4

Breaking Podcasting Rules

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Welcome to the 4th episode of Podcasters Group Therapy. On this episode, we’re talking about breaking the podcasting rules and practices that the experts say you should adhere to. Podcasting is about doing what you want, how you want and so we’re talking about doing your own thing.

The News in Podcasting

  • Podcast AwardsPodcasters in our Google+ Community have 10 podcasts that are finalists in the 10th Annual Podcast Awards.

    BEST PRODUCED
    ONCE Podcast – hosted by Daniel J. Lewis, edited by John Bukenas, Noodle.Mx Network

    BUSINESS
    Beyond the To-Do List Daniel J. Lewis, Noodle.Mx Network

    GENERAL
    The Productive Woman Daniel J. Lewis, edited by John Bukenas, Noodle.Mx Network

    MOVIES/FILM
    Sci Fi Movie Podcast – Remi Lavictoire and Tim Allen

    POLITICS
    Congressional Dish – Jen Briney

    RELIGION
    Are You Just Watching – Daniel J. Lewis, Noodle.Mx Network

    SPORTS
    Ivy Envy – Corey Fineran, Relentless Podcast Network
    Inside the Jungle – Nick Seuberling, SPNT Podcast Network

    TECH
    The Audacity to Podcast – Daniel J. Lewis, edited by John Bukenas, Noodle.MX Network
    The Waves of Tech – Dave Lee and Steve Lee, Netcast Studio

  • There has been some recent news about the future of G+ and we discuss the impact this could have on podcasters.  We focus on G+ Communities (since that’s where this group is based) and Hangouts/Hangouts On Air, since a lot of podcasters use that service to record with hosts in other locations and to live broadcast.
  • We have a ticket to New Media Expo to give away!  To enter to win this ticket, we’d like to hear you finish the following statement: “I love podcasting because…”  You can submit your entries in audio or email form.  Email [email protected].  The cut-off for entries is 11:59pm Eastern on Monday, March 9th.  Last week we talked about NMX and now we’d like to get you in the door!

Breaking Podcasting Rules

Podcasting is a medium that allows for a lot of creativity. When you decide you want to podcast and buy your domain, hosting or microphone, you aren’t delivered a podcasting rule book. The idea of this episode is that we want to talk about the things that we do that fly in the face of the podcasting experts and the conventional wisdom.

Tawny – Swearing and Sound Quality.
Nick – Self Hosting his audio
Corey – No Mailing List. Condenser Microphones. Use of Licensed Music.

We also have some great feedback from podcasters in our Google+ community that talk about how they do their own thing. Albie Burdge from The Quantum Leap Podcast tells us why he compresses his audio at a higher quality than most experts would suggest. He also explains that his podcast episodes are significantly longer than conventional wisdom tells us episodes should be.

Bob Zerull from I Hate Critics Podcast does his own thing by not niching down. He also calls podcasting “punk rock” because you can do your own thing.

Dave Jackson from The School of Podcasting talks about a unique interviewing style he has that would probably go against any professional opinions on how to conduct interviews.

JD Sutter from Porchlight Family Media shares that he does his own thing by not adhering to a weekly schedule, but instead releases podcast episodes once a month.

App/Service of the Week

meerkat-appThis week, Corey talks about Meerkat which allows you to stream live video from your phone to Twitter. Simply open the app and click “Stream” and your Twitter followers will be notified that you are live broadcasting. Viewers can ask questions that are displayed on your screen. When you end the broadcast, you are able to save your video, but the video is not available to the public unless you post it on YouTube, your website or any other location.

This is a really interesting way to connect with your audience. The three of us talk about how we might use Meerkat with our podcasts.

Picks of the Week

Nick – Comments on his statement last week about “podcasting” on Soundcloud with no RSS feed.
Tawny – Invisibilia, especially the “How to Become Batman” episode.
Corey – Pod on Pod

Next Week on Podcasters Group Therapy

On the 5th episode of Podcasters Group Therapy, we’re going to be talking about our podcasts’ avatars. We’re also going to workshop during this episode and try to create an avatar for this podcast. We want to hear about your podcast’s avatar. Do you have one? How did you decide what your podcast’s avatar is? After our discussion on this episode about doing your own thing, do you NEED an avatar for your podcast? We want to hear from you, send your audio clips to [email protected].

March 5, 2015By Corey FineranIn Podcast ArchivesNo Comment

Conferences for Podcasters – #3

#3

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On this week’s episode of Podcasters Group Therapy, we’re talking conferences for podcasters. New Media Expo is coming up in April and Podcast Movement is releasing names of new speakers and keynote presenters. Should you attend a conference for podcasters? If you can only financially afford one, which one do you choose?

The News in Podcasting

  • Stitcher Smart Radio is experiencing some updating issues. If your podcast is on Stitcher, you probably received an email from them to let you know updates were moving slowly. Corey shares his experience and explains why Ivy Envy not being updated in Stitcher is a very big deal for his show and his listeners. We also use this opportunity to each discuss our podcast’s audience on Stitcher.
  • The finalists for the 10th Annual Podcast Awards are to be announced this upcoming Sunday, March 1st at 9pm Eastern. We decided that it’d be fun to do a G+ Hangout for our Podcasters Group Therapy Google+ Community during the announcements. If you have not yet joined our G+ Community, do so to participate in this Podcast Awards Hangout and our PGT Sessions, which we do every other Monday night. The next PGT Session will be on Monday, March 9th.

Conferences for Podcasters

New Media Expo 2015 (Las Vegas, Nevada) is coming up soon and Podcast Movement (Fort Worth, Texas) is announcing speakers every couple of days. In this episode, we describe these conferences. We talk about the sessions, the networking during the conference and the evening networking events.

Most podcasters are doing this as a hobby and/or on a budget and if you’re in that boat, we do our best to explain the differences between the two conferences and describe what kind of podcaster each conference seems to be geared toward.

App/Service of the Week

On this week’s episode, we talk about some of the different apps that exist for listening to podcasts. Nick and Corey are both using Pocketcasts by Shifty Jelly. Tawny moves around a bit more with her listening apps. She talks about Stitcher, Pocketcasts and the iOS Podcasts app. We also talk about other services like TuneIn.

Picks of the Week

Tawny – Ivy Envy Podcast: Baseball Card Episode – 6.59
Nick uses this opportunity to talk about people who use the term “podcast”, but their show lacks something very essential to the term, an RSS feed.
Corey – Effectively Wild Podcast. This is a baseball podcast that discusses the game with an advanced statistics slant. On Friday’s episode, the hosts shared the news that an Independent League baseball team, the Sonoma Stompers, have asked them to run the team’s front office for the 2015, implementing the concepts they discuss on their podcast. We believe this is the first instance of a podcast being given the keys to ownership of an entity.

Listener Feedback

John Bukenas shares his “Holy Crap!” moment with us. John is “currently podfading” at Let’s Reverse Obesity. We also get a “Holy Crap!” moment from Dave Jackson from The School of Podcasting. Both of these “Holy Crap!” moments have to do with listener feedback, and I think all of us get that feeling whenever we hear from our listeners.

Next Week on Podcasters Group Therapy

Next week’s episode will be entitled “Doing Your Own Thing”. The idea behind this is that you don’t have to do what the professionals tell you. We will share instances from our podcasts and podcasting journeys when we have bucked the conventional wisdom. We’d love to hear about the things you do with your podcast that go against the podcasting conventional wisdom. Send your audio clips to [email protected]

Follow Nick on Twitter – @NickSeuberling
Follow Corey on Twitter – @CoreyFineran
Follow Tawny on Twitter – @tawny_lynne

Join the Podcasters Group Therapy Google+ Group

February 26, 2015By Corey FineranIn Podcast ArchivesNo Comment

Podcasting Workflows – #2

Podcast Workflow

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On this episode of Podcasters Group Therapy, we are talking about our own personal podcasting workflows. One of the beautiful things about podcasting is that you have total control over your show. You can talk about any topic, record for any length of time, release whenever you want and you can record your episode in the way that best suits you.

The News in Podcasting

In the news portion of this episode, we talk about the announcement of The Academy of Podcasters Awards. The Academy of Podcasters Awards is presented by Podcast Movement and Stitcher. The ceremony for these awards will be held in Fort Worth, Texas on July 31st, the night before Podcast Movement starts. We talk about both the Podcast Awards and The Academy of Podcasters Awards, comparing the two and discussing the difference between these two awards.

Podcasting Workflows

Each of us have a different podcasting workflow, which we define as topic development to socially sharing the episode. We cover everything from 5 minute episodes recorded entirely on BossJock and don’t have show-notes to regular long-form 45-60 minute episodes to video podcast production. We also each explain how we include co-hosts in the recording. Two of our podcasts also involve live broadcasts and we describe that set-up, too.

We’d love to hear what your podcasting workflow is? What services and equipment do you use to produce your episodes?

App/Service of the Week

This week, Corey talks about Twitter Analytics. Twitter Analytics is a great way to measure the effectiveness of your Twitter strategy. By displaying the impressions, engagements and engagement rate, you are able to determine what types of tweets are most appealing to your followers. This information would be crucial if you are an entrepreneur using your podcast and your Twitter account to sell a product or service. Even if you’re a hobbyist podcaster though, if you’re going to use Twitter, you want to be effective with it and serve your followers in the best way possible, so I think Twitter Analytics is useful to anyone that has a strategy with their Twitter account.

Picks of the Week

Tawny – I Hate Critics Podcast episode on 50 Shades of Grey
Nick – NeoSounds.com
Corey – The Walking Deadcast

Next week, we’ll be talking about podcasting conferences. Why should you attend conferences? If you can only go to one podcast conference, which should you go to? We’ll discuss these topics and many more on next week’s episode of Podcasters Group Therapy.

Follow Nick on Twitter – @NickSeuberling
Follow Corey on Twitter – @CoreyFineran
Follow Tawny on Twitter – @tawny_lynne

Join the Podcasters Group Therapy Google+ Group

February 19, 2015By Corey FineranIn Podcast ArchivesNo Comment

Defining Success in Podcasting – #1

ep1

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Welcome to the first episode of Podcasters Group Therapy. Like every first episode of a podcast, you’re going to learn who we are. We will share our podcasting journey. You will also learn what this podcast will be.

Podcasters Group Therapy is an extension of a Google+ community we started for podcasters after we met at New Media Expo 2013. This started off as a private mastermind-type group, but after New Media Expo 2014, we decided to open the group up to the public. Our goal with the group is to hold “Therapy Sessions” every other Monday. This is a time for podcasters to come together in a G+ Hangout to share successes, struggles and brainstorm ideas in a supportive manner with other podcasters.

cover_200By being an extension of the G+ group, you can expect a similar vibe with this podcast. We will discuss a podcasting topic on every episode, sharing our thoughts and opinions, as well as the thoughts and opinions of other podcasters in the G+ group via audio clips. Who is our target audience? Anyone that has a podcast or has aspirations of podcasting.

Podcasting Success

This week, we’re discussing a topic that applies to every podcaster. Whether you are an entrepreneur or a hobbyist podcaster, we all have our own definitions of podcasting success. We play audio clips from other podcasters: Bob Zerull (I Hate Critics Podcast), Rem Lavictoire (SciFi Movie Podcast), Ray Harkins (100 Words or Less), Daniel J Lewis (The Audacity to Podcast) and Ray Ortega (The Podcasters Studio) and hear how they define podcasting success.

App/Service of the Week

Corey talks about Ringr, a new app that allows you to record double-enders via your iOS device. If you record interviews for your podcast with people that aren’t as technologically or audiologically (is that a word?) savvy, you might want to consider using this app. The quality is far better than a phone call through Skype. Tawny also talks about her recording situation and why Ringr might actually work for her and her co-hosts on Mommy’s Cocktail Hour.

Picks of the Week


Tawny – All Songs Considered episode with Modest Mouse and Death Cab for Cutie
Nick – Dave Ramsey Show
Corey – Awesome 80’s Podcast interview with Donald Fullilove (Mayor Goldie Wilson in Back to the Future)

Follow Nick on Twitter – @NickSeuberling
Follow Corey on Twitter – @CoreyFineran
Follow Tawny on Twitter – @tawny_lynne

Join the Podcasters Group Therapy Google+ Group

We want to hear from you. How do you define podcasting success and what was your podcasting “holy crap!” moment?

February 19, 2015By Corey FineranIn Podcast ArchivesNo Comment