Beyond creating audio content, podcasting equips you with the tools to connect with others, share ideas and build relationships. In this blog post, we’ll explore how podcasting can enhance your networking and collaboration capabilities, opening doors to exciting opportunities.
Broadening Your Network
Podcasting provides a platform par excellence for connections. Whether with listeners, through social media, email interactions or feedback every interaction is a chance for deeper linkages. The point of a good podcast is its ability to connect people over a niche. Irrespective of whatever else might be going on in people’s lives, your show is that tiny area in the middle of a venn diagram with a circle for each of your listeners. You become the bud in the centre of an enormous flower.
This extended network leads to unexpected opportunities, from new friendships and professional connections to potential collaborators and mentors. The thing is, you don’t need to go chasing these connections. Your show acts as a lighthouse in your niche. Sending light through your words to illuminate the minds and lives of your listeners. People will contact you. You can ask for reviews, feedback. Another way to amplify your show for connections which becomes a bit of a feedback loop, if you’re lucky, is to include your show’s link in your email signatures. This is a subtle way to spread the word that you are a podcaster, maybe pick up a few listeners and definitely a great way for conversations to start. Now this can get out of hand for the novice podcaster, in a goodish way. The issue is the release of creativity accompanying entry into the medium. There are storytelling options everywhere, perhaps an infinite number of stories and a finite amount of time, 168 hours each week. You can, therefore, see the problem with 10 or 15 shows in your email signature. Probably just pick one and go with that.
Building Credibility and Authority
As a podcaster, you establish yourself as a knowledgeable and credible voice in your chosen field or niche. Over time, listeners come to trust your insights and expertise. This credibility can open doors to networking opportunities with professionals and experts in your industry. This is the greatest benefit from podcasting. People, businesses and NGOs are starting to wake up to this. Building credibility and authority takes time. Time matched with consistency of production. “The best laid schemes o’ mice an’ men Gang aft agley.” as young Robert Burns put it and this has occurred recently. I bumped up my production schedule and published three times a week. A workload that was surprisingly easy to maintain. Then, for the third time this year I was hammered with a chest infection. Publishing has dropped back to once a week which is a more than acceptable schedule. The point is, with a minimum level of consistency, once a week, I had a safety net for when the extra publishing efforts could not be met. Using a seasonal approach meant I had a few episodes in the can and ready to go but the illness outlasted the pre-recorded episodes. The thing was I could edit and publish my clients files, I was just unable to record mine because the voice was, well let’s say, questionable.
The consistency of once a week publication was the bedrock of my show and that was still met. Just know things can and do “Gang aft agley”.
Consistency and authority built over time bring their own collaboration and networking benefits. With a consistent history behind you and your show, reaching out to other producers in your niche for collaboration opportunities are a simpler sell.
Collaboration Opportunities
Co-hosting episodes, conducting interviews or featuring guest experts are common podcasting practices that promote collaboration. This collaborative spirit extends beyond your podcasting platform and can lead to exciting projects outside the medium. I’m putting together a proposal for a series of audio files accompanying a new walking track being built in the local area. With my history of production, I’ve been able to get my foot in the door. Never forget the benefits of building a body of work.
Through podcasting, you develop the skills and confidence needed to initiate and manage collaborations, from joint ventures and creative partnerships to professional alliances and industry initiatives.
Learning from Others
Podcasting offers a unique opportunity to learn from your reading, guests and co-hosts. Engaging in conversations with experts and individuals with diverse experiences expands your knowledge and broadens your horizons. Announcing you’re a podcaster at networking events is now less likely to bring blank looks and more likely to lead to connections. Most people have at least heard of the medium and the majority know what you’re doing. If not, you have an opportunity to show rather than explain what you’re about.
I find most people are curious and 90% of “newbies” to the medium are delighted to have the process explained and even set up on their phones, with consent. The conversation usually goes along these lines.
What’s podcasting?
Showing you is the quickest way to explain it, do you have your phone on you? Do you have a favourite hobby?
Yes and fishing.
May I?
I then open their podcasting app they didn’t know was on their phone, search for fishing, or whatever hobby they mentioned, shows and hit play one for them. The look of amazement is worth the time and effort.
These people then become agents for me, telling their friends and family. A few jobs have come from this approach. One the next day, the others months and years later but the connections were made through the medium.
Tapping into a Supportive Community
The podcasting community is a supportive and collaborative culture. By becoming part of this community, you gain access to a network of fellow podcasters, creators and enthusiasts who are willing to share insights, advice and collaboration opportunities. I’ve never had a problem that couldn’t be fixed by asking for help in one of the podcasting groups on Facebook. We are a generous community, come and join the “in” crowd as they used to say back in the day.
Engaging with this community leads to valuable connections, mentorship and collaborative projects that enhance your podcasting experience and expands your network.
One of the many benefits of podcasting is the growth of your networking and collaboration skills while making meaningful connections. To that end, JMPS will be offering a “How to Podcast” course based on 1000s of episodes, nearly a decade of hard won experience and predicated on 40 years of meditation practice which might not seem related but it is. Through the meditation practice, I’ve learned to discern the necessary from the superfluous. The Course, as it’s coming together, will cover just what you need to enter the medium and nothing you don’t. I’m looking at a Black Friday/Cyber Monday launch date. If you’re interested, drop me a line at jon@mrjonmoore.com or through my Linkedin profile, both are located in the show notes for this episode.
The next episode, #10 in Season 9 is entitled: “Passion into Profit: Making a Quid From Podcasting” which might stretch your mind a little further than you’d expect!
If you’ve found some value in this episode, please tell a friend who might be interested. This really is the best way you can help this show spread the word and such referrals are deeply appreciated, thanks.