Today’s guest has been an influential part of the podcasting community that has been podcasting since 2004 and was inducted into the Podcast Hall of Fame in 2017. They have also recorded thousands of podcast episodes as both a guest and host. Rob Greenlee is the Co-Host of The New Media Show and the SVP of Podcast Content and Partnerships at Podbean. Rob delves into the roles and responsibilities of a podcast host, how to tell the underlying story of your podcast, and what lies ahead for podcasting as a medium.
Takeaways: Best Practices for Podcast Hosts
- Podcast growth is reaching the maturity stage within the US with year-over-year listenership growth increasing by 2-4% over the past few years. Podcast adoption is growing much faster outside of the US currently and presents a great opportunity.
- There are two types of podcasters. Indie podcasters create their show from a place of passion and handle the production themselves. “Procasters” host shows that are like traditional radio in that they are the talent that gets assigned to a pre-designed show
- To be a successful podcast host, you need to represent someone that your audience can trust. Now, more than ever, people are looking for people they can trust and they are loyal to the trustworthy people they find, so make sure your audience can trust you.
- Podcast hosts need to build their relationship with their audience and that requires attention, focus, and participation. Of course, this is easier said than done, but it is still important to take every chance to encourage audience participation.
- When hosting an interview podcast, think about the underlying story that you are telling your audience through every episode. To develop the connective “red thread” of your podcast, interview guests that can share their expertise on a part of that story.
- The typical duration of the most popular podcasts is between 30-45 minutes. However, there are outliers on either side of that range. The real downside of creating a short podcast is that it’s harder to provide value with a very short podcast.
- A longer podcast means that you can space out advertisements and sponsor messages to avoid a block of ads for listeners. Podcast listeners are less tolerant of over-commercialized media and inserting too many ads could be a turnoff for listeners.
Quote of the Show:
“As a podcast host, the role that you need to play in the market now is to build trust.”
– Rob Greenlee
Shout Outs:
- The Sporkful: https://www.sporkful.com/
Rob’s Links:
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robgreenlee/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/robgreenlee
- Personal website: https://robgreenlee.com/
- Podbean website: https://www.podbean.com/
- The New Media Show: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/new-media-show-video/id392545647
Ways to Tune In:
- Amazon Music: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/12f108ea-018f-44a6-8bb0-9444e9cbf3cc
- Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/creating-the-greatest-show/id1638399900
- Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1B7OnWCGoxBRzH2rbkEFIf
- Google Podcast: https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkLnBvZGJlYW4uY29tL2NyZWF0aW5ndGhlZ3JlYXRlc3RzaG93L2ZlZWQueG1s
- Podchaser: https://www.podchaser.com/podcasts/creating-the-greatest-show-4823789
- YouTube: https://youtu.be/TlIeHoDstg4