Tag: Meerkat

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