To podcast or not to podcast, that is the question! 2015 is possibly going to be the year of the podcast. Maybe they said that in 2014, but it did do well.
Last time I heard iTunes has over 500 million active users and in addition there’s Soundcloud and Stitcher and everywhere else you can catch a podcast.
Should you make one for your business? Well, the decision is up to you, because it’s a commitment, something you have to do consistently. Remember we talked about consistency a while ago?
If you start a podcast you can’t take a break. You cannot think, “Well I won’t do it for this month I’ll come back to it later”.
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Once you get your audience, your audience is accustomed to listening to you. If you don’t turn up they might give you one more chance. Do it again and they’ll go find a podcaster who does turn up. There are plenty of options.
But should you? That was the question. Well in 2015, in America at least, cars are starting to put more connectivity into their dashboards. There are gadgets that work with iTunes and there are gadgets that work with Android that are going to be standard in cars.
Podcasts will be available in cars. If you think of a podcast as radio on demand; no adverts you listen to what you want, when you want it about anything.
And, if you haven’t looked lately, go to the iTunes system and look in the podcast department. You’ll find categories; business, travel everything… I have no idea how many podcasts are in there but there are a lot and there are new ones appearing all the time.
You may think you can’t compete with all these new ones appearing. Yes you can! There are new TV shows all the time. They are versions of shows that have been done before but they still do well.
If you create a good podcast, you too will become popular and get talked about. People will tell their friends and one day you’re famous.
So, what can you podcast about? Anything!
Listen to me rambling on about podcasts. In your business, no matter what it is, you must have customers. Therefore, you have interest. Therefore, someone will listen.
How long should it be? Mine are five minutes. It could be thirty minutes, the typical average drive to work, or drive home. It could be an hour. I know some that will go on for over two hours and people listen all the way to the end.
You have to be very good if you’re going to do it for two hours and keep your listeners engaged, though. But it’s worth considering if you have something interesting to tell your listeners.
How often? Try weekly, daily is a strong commitment and very difficult to keep up but weekly is a good frequency and I don’t think monthly is enough. I don’t think fortnightly is enough but it’s still doing something.
What can you talk about? One of the best ways is to interview others. Say, for instance, I’m in the fire safety industry why don’t I set up a fire safety blog and interview other people within the fire safety industry? I could interview people worldwide or I could stick to the UK where we sell our products.
There is untold scope and you have knowledge to impart. Serioulsy consider podcasting. This is the year.
Don’t come running to me in a couple of years and say, oh Jon, “I wish I had started earlier”. That’s what everybody says for all aspects of marketing.
Anyway, only you can decide.
Friendly Follow
Time for a friendly follow. This time we’re looking at a hotel. It’s in New York, @RSHotel. Roger Smith Hotel. I love it. Go look at their Twitter feed.
They are a very good user of Vine and I don’t see many of those outside of the young folks age groups. They talk to visitors and discuss aspects of their surrounding area. They’ve got a lot of re-tweets, lots of favorites and a lot of interaction.
When I look at their feed it makes me feel that they’re real. Hotels are so corporate so boring. This feels like it’s an individual hotel with real people.
I just had to visit their website. Their whole brand, the social media, the friendly aspect, the feeling that they care continues through the website and to be honest. I want to go to New York and I want to stay in their hotel.
Now I’ve been to New York and I stayed in a very nice hotel (called Hotel Benjamin by the way), I recommend it. But the Roger Smith Hotel looks great and I get the feeling that they will be the friendliest hotel. I get the feeling they would look after me. And I think I will be staying there one day.
That all came from me coming across their Twitter stream, looking at their tweets and spending a while getting to know them.
Imagine what it can do for you.
Are you a Hotel? Are you a Restaurant? Look at Roger Smith Hotel. It’s worth it.
