Author: John Kiernan

Promote Your LiveStream – Tips and Tricks

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Promote Your LiveStream

Livestream content has become an engaging form of media. Podbean now gives you the opportunity to livestream your podcast and engage your audience in new and exciting ways. What steps can you take to drive listener attendance and engagement to and with your livestream?  We’ve put together a list of best practices to promote your livestream:

  1. Utilize eye catching promotional images for social media
  2. Promote your livestream during you regularly scheduled episodes
  3. Use your email list and newsletters to promote your livestream
  4. Cross promote your podcast on similar podcasts
  5. Utilize audiograms
  6. Sponsors and advertisers (paid and unpaid)
  7. Develop a community around your podcast
  8. Find new outlets for your podcast to be discovered

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1. Utilize eye catching promotional images for social media

Podbean always recommends posting your new episodes, news and show schedule via your social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook, and Tumblr.  Eye catching images do a great job at drawing attention in the world of fast mobile app swiping. By creating a graphic for your upcoming livestream schedule (whether it’s pinned to the top of your profile, or your chosen social media’s header image) you’re drawing a potential listener’s eye directly to your most important information.

If you’re familiar with our Podbean 101 webinar, we discuss that you can use any digital art programs such as GNU Image Manipulation Program (free), Adobe Photoshop, Pixelmator and others to create your images. 

2. Promote your livestream during your regularly scheduled episodes

Each of your podcast listeners is also another potential livestream listener.  By making a point of bringing up your livestream during your episodes, you give your listeners more access to engage with you. It also exists as a permanent fixture of the episode, so no matter who listens to it they get access to the information, from your longest running listeners to your newest listener. 

If you utilize dynamic ad insertion such as PodAds, record a few bumpers to insert into your back episodes that feature information about your livestreams.  By using ad insertion, you can easily change your ads to keep your livestream info up to date. You can also set reminders and links into your show descriptions on each episode for even easirt access for your listeners.

3. Use your email list and newsletters to promote your livestream

Your newsletters and email lists put you directly into your dedicated listeners’ inboxes. Along with informing your followers about convention appearances, future episode topics, and podcast-related news, you can deliver information about your upcoming podcast livestreams.  

You can also utilize your patron program (Podbean has built in seamless way for fans to support you directly from your podcast), you can also make patron-only perks for your livestreams.  You can have your patrons weigh in on topics you discuss, answer call-ins from patrons only, or set up a variety of livestream-based rewards. 

4. Cross promote your livestream on similar podcasts

Many podcasters cross collaborate on extra-special episodes and/or guest-host episodes on each other’s podcasts.  By featuring these guests, you’re allowing yourself to market to an audience that’s interested in your guest, but may not be familiar with you or your show. The vice-versa may also open your podcast up to a brand new set of ears. Many podcasts within a similar genre also benefit from cross promoting ads on each other’s shows.  

You can also use a tool like Podbean’s Ads Marketplace (as an advertiser) to create ads promoting your livestream to run on other podcasts.  By advertising on podcasts with content similar to yours, you can reach out to a wider scope of listeners.  Ads marketplace allows you to review the statistics and activity of various podcasts such as downloads per month, geographic listenership, and more.  

5. Utilize Audiograms

Audiograms are video clips of audio that play over a video or still background image.  These short clips can be perfect for posting strong, poignant episode points to social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook.  There are also options to include transcripts of these clips or to just have audio only. By deploying a different format to your posts for your social media platforms, you diversify your feed for your followers and create a visual contrast that’s more likely to encourage your followers to check out the rest of your posts.

Don’t be afraid to get creative with how audiograms integrate your livestream into your social media posts.  Create goals for listeners to call in with their best story or wildest joke, and the best one gets turned into an audiogram for social media. Your livestream is an event for people to plan for, but the highly-coveted (or soon-to-be highly-coveted) spot of having the best call can be a goal they can shoot for.  (We’ve been using Headliner with fantastic results!)

6. Sponsors and advertisers: paid or unpaid

There are many ways to benefit from sponsorships. As well as financial sponsorships, sponsors can offer promotional opportunities such as featuring you on their site, providing your access to events you might not have otherwise been able to attend, and discounts on products (such as gear you use and promote during your podcast). Promotional sponsorships allow you to reach a much wider audience, and allow fans of your sponsor to find you as well.  

7. Develop a community around your podcast

Community is one of the most important parts of growing a podcast listenership.  By creating a place for your listeners to congregate, you’ve now given them a place to discuss your topics related to and/or covered on your podcasts/livestream.

As examples, you can use a Facebook group or a server on the chat platform Discord to build engagement and post news about livestreams, upcoming podcast events, and other items to keep your community informed.  Much like with your patrons mentioned above, you can allow your community to weigh in on future topics, certain segments of your livestream, or primary priority for calling in on your podcast livestream.

8. Find new outlets for your podcast to be discovered

When we spoke with Gabriel Urbina, he discovered that quite a bit of the conversation for his podcast Wolf 359 was happening on Tumblr, a platform that he hadn’t been present on beforehand.  You never know where your podcast will find its audience, but by reaching out on different platforms you will be able to reach out to listeners who might not navigate your other platforms, and increase podcast livestream attendees.  

There are import/export systems in place to have your episodes cross-posted to places like Twitter, Facebook, Youtube, WordPress, and Tumblr.  Explore the different platforms and formats of your show (with sites like Youtube and Facebook, your episode posts as a video), and expand invitations to your podcast livestreams to each platform.
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When it comes to promoting your podcast and your podcast livestreams, there are many different paths to investigate and travel down.  By using one (or more) of these methods, you increase your visibility, and increase the pool of livestream attendees.  

Podbean Live is available to any podcaster on any hosting company. Click here to start your livestream today!

Podbean Webinars – Get The Most Out Of Your Podcast!

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Podcast webinars

Podcasting, as a medium, constantly expands with new features, practices, and opportunities.  While there are resources aplenty, the rapidly changing nature of podcasting means that a how-to article that was up-to-date four months ago might no longer be so today.  The remedy to this, of course, is a method that allows for changes and updates as quickly as podcasting does: live webinars from voices in the middle of the industry’s source of growth.

Podbean is proud to present our new line of live webinars, Our presenters have a perfect combination of experience in technology, education, and podcasting.  

Podbean 101: Learning The Tools of Podbean
Presenter: Roni Gosch (Podcast Specialist, Podbean)

Whether you’re brand new to Podbean or have questions about parts of the interface that you’re looking to start using, this webinar will walk you through all the key points of your Podbean dashboard.  This webinar will help you:

•  Choose a Podbean site layout that suits your podcast best

•  Find your RSS feed and learn about the different things that change and affect it

•  Decipher your analytics and how learning from them can you grow your podcast in the long run

•  Discover a couple of our monetization options readily available and built into the Podbean interface

Click here to register for this webinar!

Podbean Live: The Podcast Livestreaming Solution for Every Podcaster
Presenter: John Kiernan (Head Of Marketing, Podbean)

Podcast live-streaming is here!  Looking for a new way to connect with your listeners?  Searching for an alternative monetization solution? Wondering if there’s something exciting to bring your listeners for big events?  Podbean Live is the solution for you, and this webinar will teach you everything you need to get started!

In this webinar, you’ll learn how to use Podbean LiveStreaming to:

• Easily record long-distance interviews

• Interact with your listeners via the live chat and call-in features

• Monetize your podcast with Virtual gift and ticket sales

• Understand the tools to start your own podcast livestream!

Click here to register for this webinar!

Monetize Your Podcast
Presenter: Roni Gosch (Podcast specialist, Podbean)

Making money with your podcast should be an exciting prospect that can create more opportunities to grow and spread your message! Podbean makes it easy for podcasters of any size to make money with our integrated monetization options. In this webinar, learn more about our various podcast monetization, as well as learn how to make your podcast appealing to advertisers and sponsors. 

The topics in this webinar will include:

• Creating steady income for your podcast through our patron program 

• How to use podcast live streaming to receive virtual gifts and ticket sales

• Explaining CPM, how to attract advertisers, and how to dynamically insert advertising into your podcasts

•  Learning the basics for growing your podcast traffic

Click here to register for this webinar!

Podbean Enterprise – Your Private Podcasting Solution
Presenter: John Kiernan (Head Of Marketing, Podbean)

Podbean Enterprise is your modern, effective all-in-one internal communications solution. Securely deliver audio and video private podcasts, access detailed analytics and so much more.  

In this webinar, learn more about our various private podcasting tools, such as:

• How to publish a private podcast

• How Podbean keeps your podcasts truly secure

• How to track listener engagement across all of your employees

Click here to register for this webinar!

Webinar spaces are limited, so register as soon as possible to save your seat.

Podbean strives to ensure podcasting resources are readily available for all levels of podcasters.  To learn more about our webinar topics, check out our blog pages for podcasting basics, monetization, Podbean Live, and enterprise and business-level podcasting.

DC Podfest 2019 : Learning About Podcasting through Podcasting Smarter’s First Clip Show

/ John Kiernan / 1 Comment
DC Podfest 2019 : Learning About Podcasting through Podcasting Smarter’s First Clip Show

In the years that it’s been running, DC Podfest has prided itself on fostering a community for podcasters of any level or creed to come and find a place amongst like-minded people.  This year’s conference proved no different, with guests ranging from first-time “I might want to start a podcast” thinkers and plotters to folks like Josh Hallmark, creator of True Crime Bullshit, Our Americana, and much more.  While the event only lasted two days, it brought forth a font of passion and dedication to the craft of podcasting.  

We at Podbean sat down with four different podcasters to talk about their journey through the medium, and put their interviews together as a clip show to highlight the positivity, creativeness, and dedication to their work.
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Our first guest, JJ, produces and cohosts RED, BLUE, AND BRADY from Brady, a nonprofit focused on reducing gun violence.  

“We are the podcast arm of the nonprofit Brady, and Brady is one of the oldest gun violence prevention nonprofits in the United States.  We work in three areas: we work in Congress, courts, and communities to help prevent this epidemic of gun violence that continues to harm the US.  What Red, Blue, and Brady does specifically is we bring on survivors, activists, educators, researchers, staff members, politicians, sometimes people who occupy all of those identities at once, which is really interesting, and have them come on and talk about their work and what’s happening.”

Like many of the other attendees, they’re local to the DC area, but their work is spread out across the country.

“We have a physical office here in DC, but we also have satellite groups all across the US in almost every state.  So even if we don’t have physical office spaces – so for example, we have what are generally called like, our Brady field offices, so we have people who are calling in to the podcast that work in a really niche community that it’s in California that’s maybe dealing with urban gun violence, and then we’ll have a really niche community that’s in Massachusetts that’s dealing with a rash of suicide deaths.  And so we try to cover all areas of the US and all areas of gun violence simultaneously.”

To learn more about Brady and their podcast, you can check out their site and their Twitter.

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Our next guest, Eric Snader, pulled up to the booth with his podcast WILD MESSY INFINITE LOVE.

“My podcast is sort of aimed at when you look at someone, or when you look at a community, when you strip down all those layers and you strip down definers such as living location, when you strip down definers such as jobs – you know, all those kinds of things that we’re told about ourselves, whether from our own minds or from society – when you strip it all down, we all have this spirit of love that rests at the deepest core of our being.  And my podcast really is about exploring how we tap into that, exploring how we sort of dip our toes into that flow, so to speak.  

“So that can look like self-discovery, learning about your true self, learning about what sort of person you are, what your purpose is in life.  It can look like being involved with the community, getting out into the world, doing really interesting stuff with other people. It can also be about going out into nature and seeing a really cool sunset and being, “Wow, that is something so crazy,” and it’s almost a feeling of, “I’m connected with something that’s way bigger than myself.”  It’s that point of connection I’m making.”

Eric came to DC Podfest in search of a local community to call his own, and to find the joy he had podcasting in other like-minded people.

“It’s really great.  I’m learning a lot, and meeting a lot of really great people!”

To learn more about Eric and his podcast, check out his Twitter.

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Chris Griffin came to our table sporting some really sweet socks and his show TALES FROM THE ROUND WORLD, which pulls double duty as both a podcast and a way to benefit others.

“We tell stories around a theme.  We do our shows live, and the liveshows are interspersed with variety acts.  They’re interspersed with burlesques, sideshows, side-shows, circuses, and live music.  The live shows are also fundraisers, and we usually try to tie what the theme is for the show with the nonprofit that we’re benefiting.”  

Much like our other guests, Chris is local to the DC area, but the driving force behind his attendance to DC Podfest is the chance to learn more about podcasting as a medium.  

“I came from this ‘live show/production’ standpoint, and not really a podcast standpoint.  This has been great, a lot of cool new ways to apply everything through my lens. It gets to be, ‘Okay, how does this work with what I’m doing’.”

His advice for live show podcasters?  Don’t be afraid to push the envelope.

“If you’re doing a live show, just spice it up.  In our past, besides doing the storytelling, we have a full range of sound effects we do live.  And I’m a huge Rocky Horror fan so we have audience participation, we have signs that are like, ‘scream this thing now!’”

His next live event will be on November 22nd at the Eaton Workshop in DC, with TraRon as their partnered nonprofit.  To learn more about the even, Chris, and his podcast, check out his Twitter!

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Our last guest, Zoe Collis, came bearing not one, not two, but THREE political podcasts.

“The two that I produce – one is a news-driven show called The News Next Week, that previews what is going to happen in foreign policy/international relations world next week.  The second’s called The President’s Inbox, and it is hosted by CFR’s VP and Director of Studies, and he interviews experts each week talking about pressing foreign policy issues facing the United States.  And our third and newest podcast we’re really excited about is called Why It Matters. Again, it is a foreign policy story-driven podcast that takes a look at different issues that are posed to the United States.”

Her advice to podcasters?  Stories are where it’s at.

“I think that people like to hear stories.  There’s one thing that I felt with both the pre- and post-production of two of our shows, and what I find in the pre-production phase that I really enjoy is learning about what is going on in the world and being able to write all of that down, give our hosts notes, plan it out.  But then when I’m editing it, it’s more fun to just edit someone who’s telling an authentic story about what’s going on around the world, or something that’s happened to themselves. At least to me, that’s more entertaining than just rattling of facts about something.”

To learn more about the CFR, check out their site (especially their podcasts page)!

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DC Podfest 2019 provided us just a brief glimpse into the podcasting careers of locals in the industry.  But these small looks were enough to broadcast the passion that these podcasters have for their craft, and the desire to help and inspire those around them.  While this post hopefully brought some of that into view, we also hope that it inspires you to bring some of the same energy into your life (and some of your energy to DC Podfest 2020)!

Internal Communication Podcasts Pitfalls (And 3 Ways To Avoid Them!)

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Your internal communications podcast can be one of your most effective tools to deliver key company information, highlight employees, and distribute internal training across your company. However, you may find that your employees’ engagement with your podcast is not what you’d hoped. Here are three potential challenges as to why your internal podcast may not be reaching your goals. We also provide three solutions that can help get employees to tune into your podcast. 

Internal Communication Podcasts being shared amongst team members.

1. Are Your Employees Listening To Your Podcast?

Challenge: While you may have some employee engagement and listener retention, you’re finding the podcast’s listenership still falling short.

Solution: Your podcast needs an internal marketing plan. How are you getting the word out and creating excitement about the podcast? In what ways is the podcast being promoted as part of your overall communications strategy? Are employees aware and shown how simple it is to get the content? Do they know why the podcast will be useful to them and save them time?

Here are some methods companies have used to be sure the podcast is promoted and accessible to employees: 

Ensure that push notifications are enabled on your employees’ mobile devices. This will alert your employees when a new episode is published. Many internal podcasts are also shared via internal emails with a link to the podcast episode(s). Also, take advantage of scannable QR codes that will take employees right to the latest podcast episode.

Your podcast also has a place within your meetings. Refer to your podcast or to topics mentioned in the podcast during meetings or in emails. Make a point of showing positive affirmation to employees who bring up your podcast without prompting. Offer incentives based around listening and sharing news about your internal communications podcast.

Frequently advertise your podcast in places where your employees tend to congregate, such as physical signage in break rooms and around the office. Don’t be afraid to get creative! Host employee get-togethers to celebrate episodes being launched. Utilize your current listeners by inviting them to be podcast ambassadors to spread the word. 

By bringing more attention to the episodes you’re publishing, more employees will tune in and listen. Once word gets around, your podcast will often become your most popular communications channel.

2. Is Your Content Engaging Enough To Foster Listener Retention?

Challenge: Your employees are accessing the episodes, but your analytics indicate that their engagement with your content is low.  

Solution: In order to gain and retain listeners, you have to design and cultivate your content with your employees’ workflow and focuses in mind.  We discussed in a previous article that when creating a successful internal communications podcast, it’s important to consider various points, including:

  • Is our podcast replacing or supplementing an existing communications channel?
  • Is our podcast revisiting previously shared information?
  • How does the podcast make work life easier for the employee or provide something unique?
  • Are our podcasts being segmented to the proper teams in our company?
  • How concise and focused is the content delivery in our episodes?

Always review your content and ensure that it stays relevant and concise. Consider getting feedback from employees who are listening. Ask teams what they need and how they prefer the podcast content to be delivered. Look at your listener engagement intel to analyze patterns and make adjustments. Perhaps listeners are skipping certain segments or dropping off at a certain time. This can tell you a lot about how to make content more appealing. Remember that you can always create more content around a specific topic, so shorter targeted episodes speaking about a bigger topic may lead to deeper podcast engagement.  

3. Is Your Content Organized and Unified?

Challenge: You find that your content is not unified or formatted the same way throughout your episodes, creating a disorganized listening experience for your employees.  Also, every piece of content is being shared with every employee, which may be overwhelming to your listeners.  

Solution: Do you have a team allotted to podcast production and a plan for producing and distributing your podcasts? It is vital to allocate tasks for the podcast and have an overall plan for the consistency of the content. The podcast plan should stem from the goals…the reason(s) your company wanted to do a podcast. This helps form the structure for your podcast(s), as well as timing, content segmentation (who needs to get which podcasts) and more.

By designating your teams and time allotment for production, you can regulate the presentation of your episodes. Consistency in how your internal communications podcast is presented (as well as the release time) sets expectations for your listeners. This, in turn, will lead to your employees coming back for new episodes and making the podcast part of their routine. By having content targeted to the right listeners and complementary to other communication tools, you demonstrate this is something worth employees’ time.

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You’ve put a lot of work into your internal communications podcast. By taking these steps, you can ensure that your internal podcast reaches the most ears, keeps them engaged, and has them returning for the next bit of your company’s content.

Learn more about Podbean’s internal podcasts solutions by clicking here.

Internal Podcast – How to Track Your Podcast’s Success

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Whether you’re delivering training to various branches or sharing your monthly newsletter, communicating information across your teams is essential to the success of your company.  By hosting internal podcasts for training and internal communications, your employees are receiving your internal content in a way that meshes with their busy lifestyle. Meanwhile, you can utilize Podbean’s many solutions to track the success and engagement of your internal podcast to track key performance indicators, completion rates and more.

According to Gallup’s 2017 report State of the Global Workplace, “only 15 percent of employees are engaged in the workplace.”  However, you can rectify this by taking advantage of one of the most engaging, modern solutions: podcasting, especially internal podcasts.  Nielsen’s Q3 2017 Podcast Insights state 50% of all US homes are podcast fans and 62 million listen to podcasts weekly.  

internal podcast

Internal Podcast Strategy and Measurement

When thinking about tracking success, it will be important for your team to first determine the goals for your podcast to set benchmarks and key performance indicators. What is the purpose of the podcast? How do you plan to use it as a communications tool and what need(s) do you want it to fulfill? Are you hoping to increase employee engagement or get a certain completion rate on learning modules or employee development? What would success look like? 

How often will you measure benchmarks and report progress? What affects your results (type of content, promotional activities, etc.)?  Who will be responsible for reporting and reviewing how the project is going and making changes? How will the analysis fit into your overall measurement of various employee communication channels?

Now that you’ve considered your strategy and what you need to measure, here’s an overview of the tools Podbean provides to help you track the success of your internal podcast.

User Engagement Intel

User Engagement Intel reveals insights into your user’s behavior via your white label app, the Podbean app and players. User engagement intel allows your company to gain deeper knowledge of how your employees respond to each episode.  Your company will easily be able to review user playthrough of each episode, as well as stop points and skip points. These analytic tools can help you develop and adjust your content to suit the needs of your employees, as well as create media that best suits the content.   

Internal podcasts: user engagement intel tool from Podbean.

Podcast Statistics Overview

Podbean’s enhanced statistics give you an in-depth picture of your audience, episodes and trends for you internal podcast. You can review your data and download the information to an Excel spreadsheet for further analysis. Podbean’s powerful analytic tools are available to all Unlimited and Business/Enterprise plans at no extra cost. Our statistics dashboard gives you insight into the top ten listened to episodes, listener retention (through Podbean App listens), and even downloads by time of day.  Using these tools, you can continue to create and release content that motivates your employees to tune in on a schedule that will yield the best engagement results.  

Podcasting for internal communications and training is an effective, modern medium for businesses that is quickly becoming a communications standard.  With the two tools outlined above, your team has direct access to understand how employees are engaging with your content to be sure your podcast achieves the results you want.
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Check out these articles for even more tips and strategies on running and recording a successful internal podcast:

Find out more about Podbean’s Enterprise Solutions for internal communications podcasts and contact us to get a demo.

Podbean Live at DC PodFest!

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Still curious about Podbean Live?  Making your way to DC Podfest?  Now’s the perfect chance to try it out for yourself!

Come visit Podbean’s booth to talk with our podcast specialist, demo our live-streaming service, and sit for a 5-minute interview broadcasted live on our app!  Not only will you get first-hand experience with Podbean Live’s interface, you’ll have the chance to promote yourself and your podcast in a brand new way.  Check out the LiveStreams on the Podbean App!

We’re excited to have you stop by – and don’t forget to grab one of our con-exclusive stickers before they disappear for good!

Podbean Exclusive Collectable Stickers – Now Available at Conventions!

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Ready to rep your favorite podcast host? We are excited to announce that we’ll be launching convention exclusive collectable stickers for our Podbean family at upcoming conventions!

These stickers will be printed in limited quantities and only given out at podcast conferences, so be sure to stop by our booth at your upcoming podcast conventions.  Use the hashtag #PodbeanFamily on social media, upload a photo of your limited edition sticker(s) and we’ll retweet the photos and your podcast!

UPDATE: Be sure to stop by our booth at DC PodFest 2019 on November 1-2, 2019 to learn about our podcast hosting platform, Podbean Livestream, public and private podcasting solutions and for our DC PodFest 2019 stickers!

Sticker Roster (Last updated 10/30/2019)

Podbean Classic
Podbean DC PodFest 2019 Collaboration

Internal Communications Podcast: Five Tips For Maintaining An Employee Podcast

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An internal communications podcast is the audio/video tool that offers more engagement opportunities for your employees.  Whether you use it for company wide training or to highlight employee success stories, we’ve got five tips that will help you optimize and integrate your podcast at every step.

Internal communications podcast being listened to by two employees.

1. Don’t be afraid to start recording your internal communications podcast, but assess your recording methods.

The first step to recording an engaging internal communications podcast is to actually record the podcast.  Zane Ewton, a communications consultant with Arizona Public Service, offers this advice, “Just get started. It won’t be good at first, but you will get better with each episode.”  

However, the decisions made before you record form the shape of your podcast.  This is where you decide what microphones and recording software to use, the organization of the content in your podcast (such as if you would want your podcast to be interview-based or just centered around one or more hosts), and how you’d like to set up your recording space or mobile recording setup.

If you’re not sure where to start, we’ve created a whole guide to help you record a quality podcast.  This guide breaks down hardware and software, and also gives you tips for editing, microphone etiquette, and recording remote guests and co-hosts. While there’s no need to be an audio expert, some basic setup can go a long way to making your internal communications podcast enjoyable to your listeners.

2. Pick the team to handle podcast production and decide on roles.

Your internal communications podcast will play a big role in educating and informing your people. But to make it work, it’s imperative that you have designated employees own aspects of producing the content. Consider how the content planning, recording, production and promotion will be managed, as well as how this will integrate with current roles. Podbean’s collaboration tools make it easy to assign different production roles. Look at how your podcast can build on current programming and goals. Make sure to involve key decision-makers so you don’t find the project floundering. 

Donna Papacosta from Ragan Communications recommends that you make sure to include your IT department in podcast talks.  She notes that they can give insight into the security of the content, as well as address ownership concerns for content production.  While they’re not in charge of your internal communications, it’s important to hear their concerns and address them. Podbean makes keeping your content secure easy and worry-free. You can learn more about our security measures and SSO login integration here.

3. Create engaging, targeted content that’s relevant to your employees.

Your company already has a lot to manage, and likely has multiple means of communications. Podcasting can be an engaging way of keeping employees informed and updated. Many companies specifically find them beneficial for efficiency, if done right. You’ll want to tailor your podcast to the needs of your employees, both in its formatting and its content.

Some questions you should ask yourself are:
• “How long do I want my employees to spend listening to each podcast episode?”
• “Will this be supplementing or replacing a communications channel?”
• “Do I already have content ready for podcast content creation?”
• “Which teams will need access to this content?”

By keeping your content targeted, you also keep your episodes concise and impactful. There’s no rule about how long podcasts should be, but employees don’t want to feel they’re wasting time. Long-winded content will cause employees to skip around or tune out, leading to them being more likely to miss important information. Brainstorm how to present information in an engaging way, so that employees immediately see the value of your podcast(s).

4. Promote your podcast internally.

How do you get buy-in from your employees to tune in to your internal communications podcast? You want them to utilize the podcast and return to it as an ongoing resource, which means building awareness and excitement about it.

Push notifications and email notifications work as reminders that your content is now live.  You can also take advantage of employee login pages or announcements on your company’s intranet homepage.  By displaying updates and clips to places that employees have to check every day, you increase visibility and make podcasts accessible with just a click.

Set the tone and vibe for your internal communications podcast by creating in-person events for it.  Throw a launch party for your first episode, and use signage around employee breakrooms to increase awareness in places that employees spend time.  You can even utilize employee involvement by including certain employees as ambassadors and spokespeople for the podcast.  

Follow-up strategies also increase your employees’ engagement with your podcast.  Ask for feedback or include information mentioned in the podcast during meetings to emphasize and integrate the content. The podcast shouldn’t be an island in itself, but an important part of your company’s communications strategy.

Mobility also increases the likelihood of awareness and interaction with your podcast.  Podbean gives you the chance to build a custom white-label app just for your company and your private podcasts, letting your employees access the podcast while on-the-go but making sure it’s as secure as possible.  

5. Get your employees involved as both contributors and guests of your podcast.

We’ve spoken before about the benefits of including employees in creating internal communications podcasts.  By involving employees, you let them take on leadership roles and responsibilities so you can accomplish more while moderating their progress and content.

Zane Ewton found success in taking advantage of the widespread nature of his company’s internal podcast to highlight employees around the state.  Ewton, who helps run his company’s internal communications podcast, says that one of his favorite episodes is one they did with an employee whose parents had been with the company before him.  “His love for his work and his community just jumped out,” he says, and points to this as why their podcast is so engaging.  James Ellis, a speaker and podcaster, notes the same thing: “If you tell the stories of employees and what they are doing and how they are changing things, that creates a connection that increases the likelihood someone will listen.”

By using your internal communications podcast in this manner, you put the focus on employees and further inspire them to exceed expectations and put their best work forward. 

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Your internal communications podcast can be one of your most engaging communications tools. These tips will help you build it up into the tool everyone in your company looks forward to using.  Check out our use case interview with Marty from VMWare and learn how their team implements internal communications podcasts in the workplace.  

Find out more about Podbean’s Enterprise Solutions for internal communications podcasts and contact us to get a demo.

ShePodcasts LIVE – LiveStream Event Line Up

/ John Kiernan / 4 Comments

She Podcasts Live is a women’s conference that caters to all types of women podcasters, from the woman at her company’s desk to the woman under a sheet in her closet, and every woman in between.  This conference isn’t just going to focus on how to start, grow and monetize. She Podcasts was born with a desire to support this community in every way possible, and our conference is going to be an enormous extension of that.

She Podcasts will be hosting She Podcasts LIVE – Podcast Conference in Atlanta, GA from October 10-13th.  She Podcasts will be LiveStreaming selected sessions on the Podbean app.  Click on each link below to access the LiveStream of your choice!

How to listen: Download the free Podbean app from the Apple App Store or Google Play to listen to She Podcasts Live sessions. For more detail, check out Podbean’s Guide to Live Streaming.

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About She Podcasts

She Podcasts began in 2014 as a small Facebook group, built so that their women podcaster friends could have a place online to get quick podcasting answers, tips and resources from one another. However, as soon as the group started, it grew enormously. Friends were adding friends and before long it had been built to over 11,000 women in some phase of building and PRODUCING a podcast. Learn more about She Podcasts Live.

About Podbean Live

Podbean Live is an innovative new podcast live streaming service. It aims to help podcasters easily expand their podcast with live audio shows to grow audience engagement and add a new form of monetization with virtual ticket sales and listener gifts. Learn more about Podbean Live Streaming. 

Friday, Oct 11 Schedule

Your Voice Is A Gift Sponsored By Warner Media
10:00 AM – 10:45 AM

PodConfident
11:00 – 11:45 AM

Women Supporting Women
12:00 – 12:45 PM

The Podcasting Wage Gap: And What We Can Do About It
2:30 – 3:15 PM

No More Money Drama!
3:30 – 4:15 PM

Crafting A Content Strategy That Grows Your Business
4:30 – 5:15 PM

Saturday, Oct 12 Schedule

SheListens: Insights On Women Podcast Listeners + Bingo!
9:00 – 9:45 AM

Podcast Rules Were Meant For Breaking
10:00 – 10:45 AM

How To Grow A Thriving Community With Your Podcast
11:00 – 11:45 AM

Influence And Authority: Insider Media Tips
12:00 – 12:45 PM

MasterClass: How To Grow Your Podcast Brand Online
2:30 – 3:15 PM

From Podcast To Book
3:30 – 4:15 PM

Fierce Grace: Unleash Your Power, Presence and Purpose
4:30 – 5:15 PM

Namaste, Beautiful: Creating Your Own Version Of Podcast Success
5:30 – 6:15 PM

Sunday, Oct 13 Schedule

Storytelling Fundamentals For Riveting Content
10:00 AM – 12:00 PM

Creativity and Dreams
12:00 – 12:45 PM

Narrative Editing For Independent Podcasters
1:00 – 1:45 PM

My Co-Host Is My Bestie: What Could Go Wrong?
2:00 – 2:45 PM

Sell Out Your Products, Programs and Services
3:00 – 3:45 PM

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About Podbean

Podbean has been providing podcasting services as an industry leader for more than twelve years. Podbean offers a user-friendly interface that integrates publishing, management, syndication, monetization and analysis tools into an easy-to-use podcasting platform. The Podbean community consists of over 300,000 podcasts and a rapidly expanding app-user base. Podbean’s apps for Android and iOS have over 1 million active users.

To learn more about Podbean podcast hosting and monetization, visit www.podbean.com.

Podbean Livestream Show Schedule – Week of 09/30/2019

/ John Kiernan / Leave a comment
livestream

Podbean Live, our new livestream platform, has just been beta released for our pre-registered podcasters! Our live streaming podcast service aims to help podcasters easily expand their podcast with live audio shows to further audience interaction and add a new form of monetization.  Best of all, Podbean Live is available to any podcaster for free.

Here’s your week of Livestream podcasts for the week of September 30, 2019.  
*Note: All times are in Eastern Standard Time (EST).

Want your podcast to be featured?  Please send us an e mail to podbeanlive@podbean.com with the following:

• Name of your podcast;
• The link to your scheduled Live podcast;
• Date and Time;
• Clean or Explicit tag;
• A short blurb about your podcast (what is your podcast about?) 

**Please note that with the high volume of podcasts, only podcasts that e-mail us about their live podcast will be featured in this blog.  Deadline for submission each week: 5:00 PM EST Friday.**

Also, please use the hashtag #PodbeanLive when you launch a live podcast and we’ll be sure to retweet it. 

Comedy

  • MJ And The Boys
    Date/Time: Monday September 30, 2019; 6:30 PM
    About the Podcast: A free weekly comedic podcast featuring discussions on music, movies, TV, weird news, pop culture, and life.

Sports and Recreation

  • The Armchair Bookers Podcast
    Date/Time: Tuesday October 1, 2019; 10:30 PM
    About the Podcast: The Armchair Bookers Podcast brings to you a weekly episodic wrestling analysis by five avid wrestling fans. The Armchair Bookers Podcast brings you hot button topics, interviews with your favorite (or our favorite, really) names and minds from all walks of the wrestling landscape.