How Can You Give Back To Podcasting?

When was the last time you did something to make all of podcasting - not just your podcast - better? We're all in this together, so here are 9 things that you can start doing to give back to podcasting.

Hello, and welcome to another Podcast Pontifications with me, Evo Terra.

If you've listened to me for a while, you know that I am focused on making podcasting better, not just easier. Oftentimes, that starts with a podcaster making their own podcast better. But what if we took a wider view and took some liberty with the words of America's 35th president, "Ask not what podcasting can do for you, but ask what you can do for podcasting." Cheesy and a rather obvious quote, but here are nine ideas, in no particular order, that you could examine and with notably less cheese. All right.

Number one: you could write a niche newsletter and share your knowledge with the world. Now, when I say a niche newsletter, remember, there are a lot of 101, how to get started podcasting newsletters. And if you want to do one of those fine, but I would counsel you to think more about what is the thing that you do better than anyone else that you know? What is your real secret sauce? Can you write a newsletter about that? Can you be that narrowly focused and write on a regular basis for people? We would love to have that knowledge in the podisphere.

Number two: buy something that is advertised on a podcast. Not necessarily a mattress, but definitely buy something that is from an ad of a podcast you're listening to. Especially if it's a smaller podcast that managed to get an ad. Almost all of those ad deals are predicated on people actively using them. Sometimes they just want branding, but most of the time they want to get something back. So you can go do that.

Also, one more thing, a lot of the offers you hear on a podcast are free trials. So visit, use the code, do the free trial thing, and if you like it, great. Not out of any money if you don't like it. But if you like it, keep using it. Any sort of signal like that shows those advertisers that podcast is worth investing in. And when that podcast is worth investing in, maybe they'll keep podcasting because they keep getting paid to do it.

Number three: volunteer to help at a podcast event because I think podcasting events are coming back 2022. I'm hopeful. It sure looks that way. I mean, sure, you can speak at these events if that's what you want to do, or you could submit to speak to those events. But keep in mind that events like these are always hungry for volunteers, people to run the day of show stuff, whether it's working the booth to check people in or providing information, getting around. People always need help at these events. So think about volunteering at a podcasting event.

Number four: participate in Pod Rev Day. That's Podcast Review Day. It's the eighth of every month. I don't talk about it on the show. I'm going to start, I'm going to change the way I do that. Or just do reviews for people. You don't have to wait until the eighth to do a review. Podcasters love it when they get reviews. While they don't necessarily help in boosting the ranking, they're nice social proof. So use Podchaser or whatever platform you're listening to just use that, but leave reviews for the shows that you love.

Number five: share podcasts that you love outside of podcasting circles. Sure, you want to tell me about a podcast you love, I'm happy to hear about that. But what about the people who are not in podcasting that you interact with on a regular basis? Yeah, your friends and your family, but also, I'm thinking coworkers, people that you interact with online, in other groups that are not related to podcasting. Share those IHNIs. Remember IHNIs? "I had no idea?" Those high-quality podcasts that make people go, "Wow, I had no idea this is what podcasting can be." Share those podcasts with people who are not yet into podcasting.

Number six: as a podcaster, try out new tools and services and share on your social channels the ones you really love. You know, we have to try new things. A lot of podcasters get stuck and they don't know how to get out of things. So if you're the curious person, like I'm a curious person, and you like to try new things, talk about them. Maybe there's a podcaster following you on a social channel who's got the problem and they're just looking for that tool they just didn't know existed. You can help them get unstuck.

Number seven: offer to be a mentor to another podcaster who has less experience than you. And there are a variety of ways you can do that. The podcast Academy has a mentorship program for members helping members. You don't get paid for this. Every week or every two weeks, you meet with your mentee and you just talk for a while and you share your knowledge and ideas with them. It's a great way to help boost podcasting one podcaster at a time.  

Number eight: host a local podcasting meetup in your town. Or if you live in a really big town like me, I live in Phoenix, it's the fifth largest metroplex in the country, you can maybe start a podcast local meetup just for your section of town. Giving that encouragement to other podcasters, camaraderie if you will, and just getting people out of the house now that we can leave the house once again. Talking to other podcasters who do this is a wonderful recharging thing, which will get people more excited and interested, which leads me to -

Number nine: start collaborating with other podcasters. Maybe the ones from your local meetup, maybe the ones from your social circles. Just start collaborating. Form alliances. Start generating that network effect across podcasts. Think about building new podcasts together if you want to. There's so much you can do when you share and collaborate with other podcasters.

If you have some podcasters that you want to share this with, please send them a link to this article or this episode to give them some ideas of what else we could do to help make podcasting better because it works when we're all helping out.

Now if you love these ideas, one thing I want you to do, show me your love and appreciation by going to buymeacoffee.com/EvoTerra and buy me a virtual coffee.

That's it. I shall be back tomorrow with yet another Podcast Pontifications.

Cheers!