Becky Robinson's Blog, page 16

You’ve Been Booked as a Podcast Guest, Now What?

Photo by fedrunovan / 123rf.com

9 Tips to Be a Great Podcast Guest

Congratulations! You’ve been invited to appear as a guest on a podcast to share your expertise and tell your story, but the time to celebrate is short-lived; your work is just beginning. Don’t worry; heavy lifting is not required, just a bit of time and consideration.

Preparation is key to a successful and effective podcast interview—and a successful and effective interview is key to bolstering your reputation, growing your audience, and securing future interviews.

How can you ensure you’re a great podcast guest? Here are nine tips.

Before the Interview:

Study Up!

Take time to read through the podcast’s description, listener reviews, and listen to a couple of episodes. Understanding the host’s interview style and flow will help eliminate surprise questions and ensure a smooth transition from topic to topic. Similarly, understanding the audience’s preference will provide more traction for post-interview benefits. 

Provide Background Information

If you’re partnering with Weaving Influence for your media outreach needs, we’ll provide the hosts with your bio, headshots, and appropriate links; however, if you’re pitching yourself, be sure to send this information to the host and/or their producer ahead of the interview. This information will often be included in the show notes and will provide clear calls to action for both the listeners and the hosts, including book buy links, lead magnets, and social media information.

Present a Story

The goal of the interview is to guide the listeners through a story, a lesson, or a challenge, providing them with entertaining yet helpful information. Take a moment to prepare two to three potential topics and stories you can share with the audience. It’s important to remain accessible, authentic, and knowledgeable. It’s even more important to offer actionable takeaways.During the Interview:

Get Mic’d Up

Be sure you are in a quiet room with little background noise and few distractions. There’s no need to purchase top-of-the-line equipment; however, a headset with noise-canceling headphones and an attached microphone will provide high-quality audio at little cost.

Be Prepared For Both Audio and Video

More often than not, only the audio files will be released; however, many hosts will share the video files on their YouTube channels and other social platforms. Be sure your presentation, both physical and background, are representative of your brand.

Keep It Conversational

It sounds obvious, but you’d be surprised how few guests address the host by name during the interview. Be engaged, keep your answers concise, be confident, and most importantly, have fun! After the Interview:

It’s Good to Say Thanks

Follow up with a quick thank you note and an offer to provide any additional details or resources that may have come up during the conversation, including links, downloads, videos, etc. 

Share. Share. Share.

Ask the host to send you and your team a link to the published episode when it goes live, and be sure to share on your social media channels, tagging both the host and the show when applicable.

Make Proper Introductions

Strengthen your partnership with the podcast host by introducing them to fellow thought-leaders and subject-matter experts that you believe may make excellent guests for future episodes.BONUS: Hear from the hosts themselves: 

Podcasts are an excellent way to reach new audiences, boost your social credibility, and expand the reach of your message, but they must be done right. By spending a bit of time familiarizing yourself with the host, the format, and their audience, and coming to the interview prepared, open, and engaged, you’ll rise in rank to an excellent podcast guest in no time.

A good podcast guest is someone who comfortably shares their knowledge without arrogance, while remaining curious about other perspectives. They arrive prepared, know when to pause, and embrace the imperfection of a human conversation. —Bev Attfield, People at Work I love when guests show up ready to roll. A mark of professionalism is when a guest prepares for the podcast, but is also open to flow with the podcast. A guest who can convey their message clearly and in a dynamic way is going to win every time. —Heather Walker, Lead with Levity The best podcast guests enthrall my audience with a compelling combination of heart and mind engagement—squeezing the heart of a listener with moving story-telling; and elevating the intellectual mind with compelling facts and science-driven data. —Marcel Schwantes, Love in Action I’m looking for guests who are leading transformation in their respective arena, preferably on a national or global scale, and can inspire and equip others to be difference-makers and world changers. They must be committed to integrity and operate in love and service of others, and demonstrate longevity and uniqueness in the transformation they are creating – ideally, transformation that addresses a root issue at the core. — Nicole Jansen, Leaders of Transformation

The post You’ve Been Booked as a Podcast Guest, Now What? appeared first on Weaving Influence.

Episode 52: The Value of Being a Guest on Podcasts

Photo by Maria Bobrova / 123rf.com

Click here to listen on your device and subscribe! 

Welcome to Season 2 of The Book Marketing Action Podcast with Becky Robinson, where we give you information that you can immediately implement to increase your influence and market your books more successfully. This month, we are focusing on the topic of podcasts. In this episode, we are joined by a longtime friend and client, Eileen McDargh—award-winning motivational speaker, executive coach, and author of Burnout to Breakthrough. 

About Eileen McDargh

Becky: We are going to be talking today about the value of being a guest on podcasts. And before we get started on that, Eileen, I hope that you’ll take a moment to tell our listeners about your work in the world and about your latest book. 

Eileen: Good deal. Well, it is my eighth book. The title is Burnout to Breakthrough: Building Resilience to Refuel, Recharge, and Reclaim What Matters, and the good news is the topic is perfect for now. The bad news is the topic is perfect for now. What I do in the world is, I am a wordsmith. I use the written and spoken words to be able to help individuals and organizations create conversations that matter and connections that count so they can grow resiliency, which I think is a life skill. It’s not an, “Oh my god, it’s terrible. Now I gotta be resilient.” We use this all the time. So how do I create resilient relationships, resilient organizations, resilient families, and my own life to be resilient? So I’ve been doing this for, I’ll tell you how many years it is, but I can’t believe that. It’s actually going on 40 years, which is amazing, Becky, because I’m only 22.

Becky: That’s some interesting math, Eileen. Well, you and I were talking before we started the recording, maybe you can tell people about the unique place that you live in. 

Eileen: I live in Dana Point, California, and moved here when I got married and went from coast to coast. I lived on the East Coast, on Amelia Island Plantation. So on that part of the ocean, now I’m at this part of the ocean. If I turn my head to the right, I can look over the roofs of houses and I can see the Pacific Ocean. So it took me probably almost 10 years to be looking in the right place to see the sunrise because I was used to looking in one direction. And that’s where it set, not where it rose. 

What did you enjoy most about the podcast tour you did?

Becky: Amazing. Well, I’m so excited to have this conversation with you today, Eileen, because we had a very successful campaign with you in placing podcasts related to the launch of your book. And so I’m curious what you enjoyed most about the podcast tour that you did.

Eileen: What I really loved was number one was the opportunity to talk about the book. You don’t get that. It’s not like you go to a cocktail party and see people say, let me tell you about a new book, it doesn’t happen. So what was wonderful was to be able to talk about the book, but also you guys found me different windows with which to talk about the book. So in other words, like one, it just came out because he was so booked. It is a leadership podcast, which is very different from a podcast that’s going to talk about stress and health and wellness. So the leadership podcast was very wonderful, and it’s a different take. So what I loved was, number one, was the opportunity to talk to the people. Number two, you didn’t put me in front of people who weren’t amateurs, shall we say. They knew exactly what they were doing and they asked good questions. And they were so fascinating. I enjoyed every one of them. In fact, one of the benefits of doing this was that one of the interviewers has become my video producer. It turns out he does Business Access Podcast, and we just hit it off. He’s just a darling young man. He’s out of Brazil, lives outside of DC. He and his wife just had their first baby. Well, I’m the aunt of that first baby. I helped name that child! So it’s interesting the kind of friendships that you make.

Becky: That’s amazing and unexpected.

How do you know when a podcast is a match for you?

Becky: I’m wondering how you know when a podcast is a match for you, and how you avoid getting caught up in the ego of the moment?

Eileen: Well, this might sound really weird, Becky. I don’t think I have a lot of ego. I just don’t think I do. However, I do not want to waste anyone’s time, including mine. And so one of the potential podcasts, what the requirements were, the number of hoops I had to jump through, some of their questions were things that were really not related to the book.  I said, “I’m going to pass. Thank you very much. But I don’t think I’m going to do that.” So you can tell when there’s kind of a mismatch that you don’t really belong. Yeah, I’ve done that with speeches that there was one in which, when I read everything that they wanted, I said, “I’m not the person for you. You need someone who is trauma-informed. I’m not trauma-informed. Let me see who else I can find for you.” So your gut will tell you.

What benefits did you expect to achieve by participating in podcasts as it relates to marketing your book?

Becky: That’s helpful. Eileen, I’m wondering if you can tell us what benefits you expected to achieve by participating in podcasts as it relates to marketing your book.

Eileen: The benefits to me are fairly obvious. Number one is notoriety. Whenever the podcast occurred, and they told us when it was running, we then used our social media network and put that thing out. And oftentimes, we could repeat it in multiple different formats, whether it’s on Twitter, or LinkedIn, or Facebook, or Instagram. And I see that we’re picking up more people coming to my website and signing up for the newsletter. Now, can I say, because you heard me on this, that’s why you bought the book? No, but let me tell you, sitting by yourself in an office is not going to sell books and there is no way that I can have the reach that people with podcasts have, because they spend their entire time trying to figure out how to get listeners. So the more of a match it is for me with the person doing the podcast, the better is the chance that the person listening is a potential buyer of my product.

What advice would you give authors who want to become a guest on a podcast?

Becky: That’s very helpful. Eileen, let’s talk about some advice you might have for authors who want to become a guest on podcasts, but haven’t done so yet.

Eileen: The first thing I guess, I would say is what makes you worthy to get a podcast? What is it that you can speak about, succinctly that someone would want to hear? So it can’t just be the title of your book. There has to be more that is there and you also need to figure out, if I had 10 minutes, what are the top two things that I would want people to know that would be worthwhile knowing? So as much as we love our books, we have to step back and become divorced from the book, if you will, to say why would someone care about that? So the more you can tie it into what is happening in the real world right now, the closer you come to having the potential of being considered as a guest. So if I was talking about, oh, the creation of the European Union and what the benefits were, excuse me, that’s like boring. It has nothing related to anything. If, however, and I had the right podcaster that I’m talking about, how can you optimize sales within a European Union that sometimes is closed? How do you do that? I’m making this up, obviously. But you get the gist. It needs to be correct and relevant.

How do you sustain your energy around your book in the world?

Becky: So Eileen, I think it would be so fun to apply the topic of your book to the journey an author goes through. So I’m really curious as an author, how do you sustain your energy around your book in the world? How do you avoid burnout? And how do you make sure you have a breakthrough as it relates to your marketing of your book?

Eileen: That’s a really great question. Because there are multiple ways in which you can get burned out. Number one is in the writing. There are times in which you just have to walk away from that book, because you’re too close to it. And then you come back and say, “What is the focus? What’s really important?” What puts us into burnout in the real world is we try to juggle so many things. We think we can handle it all. So my first advice has to do with the marking of the book is the focus, you literally have to close yourself in and say, “I’ve got two hours here, and I’m not doing anything with this book.” Now when we talk about the marketing of the book, and how do we not face burnout, I think we need to celebrate small wins. You’re not going to probably get the cover of The Wall Street Journal, you’re probably not going to be listed in the top 10 books of The New York Times. So give yourself some reasonable expectations. And when you get something go, “Wow, isn’t that great!” and celebrate that. We never know who’s listening to these podcasts, who has in their circle of influence other people who could benefit from our book and therefore would buy it or pass it along. I think it’s that notion of an inch is a sinch, a mile takes a while. So I think when we celebrate the inches, they ultimately add up into miles.

Have you ever experienced burnout as an author?

Becky: Well, and we’re both runners. So that’s a good analogy for us. Eileen, have you ever experienced burnout as an author? Would you be willing to share with us?

Eileen: I have experienced burnout as a human being. Because I am an author, that’s part of it. And I think for me, the burnout is trying to do too much too fast and losing focus. And you just say, “I can’t do this.” The other thing that I found when I write is that I have to write when I get inspired and different things inspire me. And so when I go back and look at some of the things I’ve written, I almost look at that and go, “Oh, my god, I wrote that? Whoa, that’s really good. That’s better than I thought.” Because when we write in the moment, we’re better than when I say I have to do these two chapters. 

The other thing that sometimes can burn you out is when it’s a mismatch with the editor. The editor keeps telling you to do this, this, this, and this, and your instinct says no. Now, if you have a really good editor, be quiet and listen to the editor. They do know, oftentimes, more than you do, but ultimately it is your child and how you want your child to look, what you’re willing to do, is very important to the birthing of that child. Then once the baby’s born, you got to send that baby to college. You got to work with that. You can’t just say, “Okay, been there, done that, bought the T-shirt, next.” You do have to put the time and the energy into it. And so I’m also constantly looking for articles that I can refer to. Doesn’t mean I have to come up with original things, but I can put out on social media, “here’s a great article related to burnout, a subject that I’m very familiar with and love. So let me suggest that you read it.” So that way you have a multiplier effect.

Becky: Let’s talk about breakthrough as an author. What are some breakthroughs you’ve experienced?

Eileen: Oh my, breakthroughs! Well, I guess the biggest breakthrough is when you finally get the book written. I think other breakthroughs are when you hear from people who have read your words, and say how much it helped them. That really is a breakthrough, because ultimately, while we write of our own inspiration, we hope that our words matter to someone. And so when someone says, “I got something. I followed what you said in that, and oh my god, what a difference it makes.” Now, this is obviously in the nonfiction world, but that, to me, that was worth the journey. It was worth the effort.

Becky: Well, I love that. And we have veered a little bit from our originally intended topic today, Eileen, of what it’s like to be a guest on podcasts. But I hope that our detour is encouraging to those who might listen. And I think you’re saying things that every author can relate to. On my own author journey, I can certainly relate to that.

Eileen: Let me say also, and I’m saying this not because you and I know each other and you help me with my book, but I will say that you have managed to put around you an incredibly diligent and talented team, who even once we finished what we thought was our working relationship, they still keep you in mind, they still pop up and say, “Don’t forget, you need to go see XYZ, or put this on your calendar because the podcast that we hoped would happen this year isn’t going to happen until next year.” And they stick with it, which I think is pretty darn incredible. 

Action Steps

Becky: Thank you so much for that endorsement. So we typically will wrap up every podcast episode by giving the authors who are listening some action steps that they can take immediately, based on what they heard from our conversation. And so I’m hoping that we can identify a couple of possible action steps.

Eileen: 

Itemize who cares about your book. The first action step to me would be to itemize who cares about your book, because nobody can market it if you can’t identify who that is written for. And if you say it’s written for the world, it’s too big, because the world is not going to buy. So the first action step is to identify who are your target markets. Who can help you share your book? Secondly, begin to identify whom do you know, within those target markets, that could be a resource, either as a testimonial, as a potential reader of that book, someone whom you want to gift that book when the book comes out, in the hopes that it makes sense to them, and they can write a review for you, wherever that review would appear. So what I’m saying is that you’re building a case for why this book, who wants it, and who can help me. 

Becky: Eileen, do you have any action steps specific to being a great guest on podcasts?

Eileen: Have fun and enjoy the conversation. I think you need to take the lead of the person who’s asking you the questions. But here’s the other thing. I have fun asking questions of the interviewer, which nobody ever does. And so when you ask a question, like if I would say to you, Becky, what do you, because you’re going to have a book coming out, what is the first thing that you did to be able to market your book as you began to write it?

Becky: It’s an excellent question. I guess I’ll take the moment to answer it. So we have not actually announced my book on the podcast yet. So if you’re listening and you don’t know that I have a book deal, I signed a contract with Berrett Koehler publishers for a book to come out in spring of 2022. And the first thing that I did to market the book is I went out to my newsletter list first. So I have a Friday email that goes out every week, and as soon as I knew that the contract was finalized, I wrote an email. I used the subject line, “You heard it here first”, and I shared my news with my newsletter list. The second thing I did was share it on Facebook, I believe. And then the third thing I did was share it on LinkedIn.

Eileen: Perfect, perfect. Now notice, you had to have a list to begin with. So I think if somebody is listening to this, and they’re an author, and they have no list, they haven’t created anything, they haven’t reached out and built a community, it’s going to be rather difficult to move that book. So what you have done is you’ve optimized your community, if you let them know in advance what’s happening. You didn’t ask anything of them, you just shared some great news, which is what colleagues and friends do. Later on, you can ask for their support, but right now, they’re just applauding what you have done.

Becky: Thank you so much for that, Eileen. That was fun. So I’m glad that we had this chance to catch up. I hope that you will check out Eileen and her work. 

ResourcesGet your copy of Burnout to Breakthrough: Building Resilience to Refuel, Recharge, and Reclaim What Matters, on Amazon. Learn more about the work Eileen McDargh is doing in the world on her website. Connect with Eileen on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and YouTube. Sign-up to receive The Resiliency Report, her newsletter, and receive an excerpt of Eileen’s new book, Burnout to Breakthrough, and a bonus: a digital copy of Talk Ain’t Cheap: It’s Priceless-Connecting in a Disconnected World.

If you found value in today’s episode, we hope you’ll take a moment to share it with someone else who might benefit from it. If you have any questions or topics you’d like us to cover, please email Becky Robinson here.

Click here for our free resources. 

If you enjoyed this episode, please leave us a review. 

Click here to tweet about this episode!

The post Episode 52: The Value of Being a Guest on Podcasts appeared first on Weaving Influence.

Episode 51: Charles Bergman and Susan Mann’s Author Journey

Photo by Olga Yastremska / 123rf.com

Click here to listen on your device and subscribe! 

Welcome to a very special edition of The Book Marketing Action Podcast with Becky Robinson. Normally we release podcasts on Tuesday, and today is Thursday. It’s Earth Day, and in just a few days it is World Penguin Day. I had the chance to interview Charles Bergman, the author of Every Penguin in the World: A Quest to See Them All. Charles and his wife, Susan Mann, took this amazing journey all around the world, to see every species of penguin, photograph them, and write this amazing book. 

Because today’s Earth Day, and because World Penguin Day is coming up on April 25, we wanted to release this very special episode to give you a glimpse into Charles and Susan’s journey, and then also just to make you aware of this important cause of conserving penguins in their natural habitats. Charles Bergman has a keynote coming up on April 25, with the Smithsonian Associates, available for both members of the Smithsonian and nonmembers to register, and there is a fee associated with it. The link is below in the resource section, with information about how you can register for this upcoming event.

Author Journey Background

Becky: I want to let you know that this is the first of several podcasts that I’m recording as I prepare to publish my book, Reach: Creating Lasting Impact for Your Book, Message, or Cause. My book is coming in April 2022. I’ve been interviewing different authors and thought leaders as I write the book, and this interview that you’re about to listen to is one of the interviews in my series as I write my book. So it is a little bit different, but it does focus on ideas and tricks that you can apply in marketing your own book. One of the things I want you to listen for is the fact that Charles’s book came out last spring, just about a year ago, and it dropped right after the COVID pandemic began. I actually didn’t meet Charles and Susan until later and we did this relaunch campaign to get some additional lift for their book. And it’s a great reminder that it’s never too late to use your book, to share your message in the world.  I’m just thrilled to have been able to support Charles and Susan in creating greater reach for their book, and I think their story will have some ideas for you. 

Charles Bergman and Susan Mann’s Interview

Becky: So Charles and Susan, I want to talk to you a little bit today about the ways that you’ve kept your book, Every Penguin in the World, in conversations online. So I’m curious if you could share with me a few ways that you’ve promoted your book since it first came out?

Charles: Well, apart from Weaving Influence, which was a big part of what we did, I’ve had a speech and book talk that I’ve done about 25 different times to various audiences, both large and small. So far the biggest was Penguin International for Penguin Awareness Day. And I will be doing one for World Penguin Day on April 25, with the Smithsonian. So that’ll have a national and international reach. I also identified lots of Audubon chapters. I’ve written about four, maybe five different articles for magazines in one form or another- photography magazines, environmental, and nature and animal magazines. I’ve done, I think, six or seven interviews for podcasts. So quite a range of activities.

Susan: I would also add that we’ve had this steady drumbeat on social media. And so you know, there are regular posts.

What surprises have you encountered along the journey?

Becky: I noticed those. I love following the two of you. So I’m curious about that. You talked about the various opportunities to do online events associated with the book for all the different things that you’ve tried. What surprises have you encountered along the journey?

Charles: Well, there were a couple of big surprises. One of the great surprises was Washington Post did an interview with me, which they published with photos, and that had a huge boost. That was really terrific. I think there’s a certain kind of national media exposure that makes a really big impact and it sustained it for about three weeks, I think. There was a big spike and it hasn’t fallen really all the way back at all and so that’s very, very exciting.

Becky: So is that a sales spike that you saw as a result of the Washington Post piece?

Charles: Yeah, absolutely. 

Becky: In what ways do people reach out to you as a result of that Washington Post interview?

Charles: Well, lots of email messages and lots of Facebook messages. We have a bookplate which I sign and we’ll mail to people if they buy the book and so we’ve gotten lots of requests for the bookplate.

Becky: Oh, wow. Well, I’m so I’m curious about the messages that you got related to the Washington Post piece. Would you say that those came because people saw the Washington Post piece on their own? Or because of the social media exposure that you gave the Washington Post piece through your channels?

Charles: I think one of my big surprises was how many people found it on their own and came to me or Susan. Of course, we did a social media blitz about it. But lots of people found it on their own. It was great. It was prominent on the front page in the travel section and that was exciting. 

Susan: Yeah, I think it’s an important point. I mean, kind of the power of that kind of public relations. I’m not really sure what you would call it, you’d have the correct term for it, Becky, on that. While we were capitalizing on it on social media, it was just amazing how many people did find it on their own and reached out to one or both of us. People that I knew from my career that I hadn’t talked with for several years were emailing out of the blue. 

What particularly about your book attracted that opportunity?

Becky: Yeah, we were so excited to see that win for you. As I’m listening to you talk about it, in terms of my company, and the number of big media wins like that, that we’ve generated in 10 years, we’ve only generated a few. So do you have any sense of what it is particularly about your book that attracted that opportunity?

Charles: Well, I do actually. The writer, Andrea Sachs, likes penguins and was really interested in our penguin journey. In fact, she had interest herself seeing all 18 species of penguins. So, the interview really wasn’t specific. I mean, the interview was broader. I think she did a really good job of doing the interview, but it was grounded in that desire to actually do the trip. I think that really made a difference, and people really liked reading it.

Susan: Yeah, this is maybe a bit more generalized beyond this specific Washington Post question, Becky. But absolutely, penguins are a huge attractor for people, especially in a pandemic year, which makes book sales difficult in some ways. The idea of armchair traveling has been attractive to people. And the book is so beautifully written about the penguin quest, and these amazing photos. And so that’s been really a draw for people. And then the other thing that we hear time after time is that this is something that we did together. And there seems a bit of a romantic idea of a couple pursuing such a huge, adventurous goal over such a long period of time that also seems attractive to people.

Becky: I certainly think so. And when we think about those either books or messages or ideas that take flight or achieve extreme breach it is because they start the basis is something worthwhile, there’s value in the product that you produced. And you have to start with that.

Charles: I would also say, about surprises, I should probably have known this from other books I’ve done but I had this kind of fantasy that the book would sort of take off on its own. That it might find its stride and just sort of manage itself. And all the publicity would just happen because of word of mouth, or whatever. I mean, the real lesson for me, in this particular publishing project, is that we had something we really liked and believed in and got behind it. But it takes really kind of sustained activity on a variety of platforms from a variety of points of view, to kind of build a certain sort of momentum.

It was published last spring, right in the middle of the pandemic. And so we believe that as we came into the fall, that there was a chance for a second kind of launch as it were, and that’s when we contacted you. Our faith in that was really worn out because we went through this huge portion of sales and I think it was a result of all sorts of things coming together over a sustained period of time. And I don’t know when you kind of reach a certain magic quantity, or magic kind of stat state. But I think even the publisher was surprised, happily surprised at how well it did in the fall.

What does keeping your book in the conversation mean to the two of you?

Becky: So I’m curious if I use the phrase: keep your book in the conversation. What does that mean to the two of you?

Charles: Well, it means keeping people talking about it, keeping people aware of it, and keeping it visible. Keeping it visible in some way so people find it and can get a chance to enter into it and see what it’s all about.

Susan: A couple of things come up for me. I mean, one is Chuck’s done such a great job with these virtual keynotes and other ways of keeping the book in the conversation. And my work has been more on the social media side, and so part of what I, and we, are always thinking about with that is keeping the book in the conversation by featuring this cause that we’re so passionate about, that we believe so much in, which is wild animals, penguins, the natural world, and there is this whole environmental message that’s very important to us that is a running theme in social media. One of the other things that I’ve learned through this last, just over a year now, of focusing on social media is that I’m really thinking about the human being who’s looking at Instagram, LinkedIn, or Facebook. You know, at a post with a penguin photo, or a beautiful Antarctic landscape or whatever, I’m thinking about that person, and what will bring them a moment of joy? What will bring them a piece of information that they can act on? So there is something for me there about the human connection, that’s really important to remember, even when it’s all being done virtually and digitally.

Becky: That’s a really powerful thing to remember, Susan. So it sounds like you’re crafting the content to keep the book in the conversation with the human on the other side of the computer in mind, and ensuring that you’re crafting something that will land with them in a powerful way. 

How long do you envision investing in keeping your book in the conversation? 

Becky: So I’m curious how long you envision investing your energy in keeping this particular book in the conversation, and why?

Charles: Well, I suspect that I’ll keep giving talks about this and have spin-off articles and things like that, going for quite some time. I also think that probably when we get to this summer, that will be a year and a half or 15 months, and we’ll probably wind down on the really serious investment of time, energy, and promoting and move to the next project.

Susan: Yeah, I think there are certain baseline things that we envision doing indefinitely. And, when Chuck and I were talking earlier today, in anticipation of a call, I’m just gonna check my note, because you said it so well. One of the things he said is that, it has been a surprise how much work it takes, how much time, energy, and effort it takes, and that you, just in order to sell a book these days, it’s like you’re bombarding messages on so many fronts so frequently. I mean, I’ve been putting sometimes 10 hours a week into this. You’ve been putting a lot in. And so I think there is for us, we get to the official one-year anniversary of the launch mid-April, and we’re planning certain things into early summer, and then I think from there, it’ll be more maintenance mode, because this is a book that the publisher and everyone agrees is evergreen, that will have a life indefinitely, and so we do want to continue to do some things regularly, and take the foot off the gas pedal. I mean, maybe go back to 25 miles an hour instead of 100 miles an hour. It’s been a pretty intense pace.

Charles: One of my big lessons is that the book promotion requires so much more than the book publisher is able to really provide. They have a number of books that come out with each season, you get a certain amount of attention they give you and I’m not criticizing them or anything like that. I don’t want to be mistaken for saying that. But it takes so much more than they really are staffed or able to put behind it. And you’ve got to be prepared for putting big time and really thoughtful campaigns together to keep your book in the conversation, as you say.

Susan: Yeah, Sasquatch Books has been terrific. We both think very highly of them, but there’s only so much a publisher does.

What might a new project do for the other books that you’ve done in the past?

Becky: Yes, I have experienced that as well. So, Charles, you mentioned another project. So I’m curious what your vision of another project might be and what a new project might do for the other books that you’ve done in the past?

Charles: That’s actually a really interesting question. I don’t know what the next project will be. I have a few thoughts in mind and Susan and I need some serious conversation about it. We have a trip to Hawaii coming up, and that might be when we start thinking about that. But I suspect that whatever we do will be some kind of outgrowth of what this book has been. And I don’t mean that in a literal sense. Like, it’ll be titled, Every Puppet in the World, or something like that. I don’t mean that exactly. But that the voice and the kind of project that this was, the attempt to find some genuine way of speaking about an environmental crisis that the planet faces, in personal terms, with some grounding in emotion, will definitely be part of the lesson that’s come out of this book, because I think people have responded to the story, and the role of the photos and the relation with the story and the fact that it was a joint project, really positively. I suspect those elements will move forward with us. 

Susan: Yeah, I like that. As you say that, one of the other things that comes to my mind that I think has contributed to the book’s success and reach is that, in a way that surprises, I think, both of us a bit, it is absolutely multi-generational. And so, we’ve done virtual school presentations to grade-schoolers. Just yesterday, a colleague emailed me and said that her seven-year-old son was reading the book. I’ve had colleagues say their 10-year-old daughter was reading the book. So we’ve had grandparents buy it for their grandkids. I can think of a number of people who bought the book for their parents’ 80th or 85th birthday, for example. So really, from youngsters throughout the adult years to kind of elders, it’s a book that people find attractive, which is so cool. We love that.

Becky: So you’re also inspiring generations of travelers potentially.

Susan: Well, and we hope generations of environmentalists.

Charles: People whose imagination comes alive in thinking about penguins and nature. That stays with you for your life.

What is the lasting impact the two of you are hoping to create through this book and your other work?

Becky: Well, that leads me to the final question. I would love for you to share a little bit about the lasting impact the two of you are hoping to create through this book and through your other work. 

Charles: I mean, I hope that increased awareness about nature, animals, and penguins are part of what this book is all about. The photos, I think, have played a really huge role in the book, and my goal in writing the book was not to write a photo book and not to write a textbook with some photos in it, but to write a book in which photos and story spoke to each other in some way. And were equally important in the conception of the book, and then the way people experienced it, and that has been borne out. People always talk about the photos and how much they’ve appreciated them and I think that has affected people’s imagination about what penguins are, how many there are, how interesting they are, how cute they are, how unforgettable they are, in so many ways. Those images go in people’s minds and stay with them for a long time and I hope that’s really one of the big impacts.

Susan: You know, as you asked that question, I think about our grandkids, Ben, who is four, and Georgie, who is one. And one of the things that we talk about is, what of the natural world, what wild animals, what ice and other landscapes will be there for them, when they’re the ages that we are now? And I mean, I get teary eyed when I think about that, because there’s so much that’s at stake for wild animals and Mother Earth. And so, for me, one of the most important things is this idea of kind of the book’s legacy being penguin glow and that feeling of joy, something about learning and an insight and education that comes from it, and also inspiring people to take action.

Anything I should have asked you that I didn’t ask that you want the opportunity to say?

Becky: I love that. So is there anything I should have asked you that I didn’t ask you that you want the opportunity to say?

Charles: Well, I guess we didn’t say, I mean, we only referred to it, but I will say that Weaving Influence, actually deciding to go with you guys, was a huge difference maker in the fall. And I had never done anything like this in any of my earlier books, and didn’t know what to expect, really. But I’m really glad we did. It made a huge difference and I just don’t think most authors are capable of this, the kind of push that it requires to sustain over a month. I mean, we really were talking about a year-long campaign, figuring out almost daily ways of making ourselves visible in some way or another to potential buyers, editors, and readers. And there’s just no author I know that’s capable of that, and maybe one or two people are lucky and it takes off and flies off the shelf as they say, but people need help doing this. I think that’s an important discovery for me.

Susan: Yeah, I agree. I mean, you all have been terrific. Your team’s been terrific. It’s been an education process for both of us. Neither one of us has done anything like this before in terms of promoting a book this widely, this frequently, and taking it on. I mean, the book was set to come out right when the world went into shutdown, and so there just was so much pivoting that was necessary. So it’s been a big education process for sure. And we’re grateful for your help and your team’s guidance. 

Becky: Well, we’re grateful to have had the chance to get to know you, and excited to see those projects that might come out from the two of you in the future.

Action Steps

Becky: Thanks for listening to the interview with Charles and Susan, I want to make sure I give you a few action steps because this is the Book Marketing Action Podcast. Charles and Susan talked about the fact that they are looking at a long term view of marketing their books. 

Make a calendar. Get out a piece of paper and make four quadrants on your paper divided into four squares. And in the top left hand square, what I would like you to do is write Q2 2021, then Q3 2021, Q4 2021, and Q1 2022. Now, if you happen to be listening to this, you can adjust the dates to whatever the real dates are, if you’re listening later. Make a plan. Then what I want you to do is come up with four ideas or ways that you could market your book and keep your book in the conversation if it has already launched. Come up with one key initiative for each quarter that you can implement. So you know, maybe one of the quarters you want to do a concerted effort around following up with people to get some additional Amazon reviews for your book. So that might be your Q2 priority for 2021. Maybe you want to do a virtual event or book club for your book for Q3, maybe in Q4 you want to do a holiday gift campaign and create some energy around people buying your book as a gift. Whatever it is, spend some time brainstorming four ways over the next year that you can continue to bring attention to your book. Share it. If you do that, snap a picture of it and send it to me via email. I would love the chance to hear about your creative ideas, and how to keep your book in the conversation. 

Thanks so much for joining today’s podcast. We will be back next week at our regularly scheduled time. But I’m so glad we had this chance to talk with you today, on Earth Day, about a very important topic.

ResourcesLearn more about the work Charles and Susan are doing in the world.Check out Charles and Susan’s book, Every Penguin in the World: A Quest to See Them All, on Amazon. Connect with Charles on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube. Connect with Susan on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram. Sign up for Charles Bergman’s keynote coming up on April 25th, with the Smithsonian Associates. It is available for both members of the Smithsonian and nonmembers to register. 

If you found value in today’s episode, we hope you’ll take a moment to share it with someone else who might benefit from it. If you have any questions or topics you’d like us to cover, please email Becky Robinson here.

Click here for our free resources. 

If you enjoyed this episode, please leave us a review. 

Click here to tweet about this episode!

The post Episode 51: Charles Bergman and Susan Mann’s Author Journey appeared first on Weaving Influence.

Episode 50: Using your podcast as a vehicle to market your book

Photo by Olga Yastremska / 123rf.com

Click here to listen on your device and subscribe! 

Welcome to Season 2 of The Book Marketing Action Podcast with Becky Robinson, where we give you information that you can immediately implement to increase your influence and market your books more successfully. This month, we are focusing on the topic of podcasts. In this episode we are joined by a longtime friend and client, Bonnie Marcus—executive coach, author, speaker, and podcast host.

About Bonnie Marcus

Becky: Before we dive into our topic today, I would love for you to tell our audience about your book.

Bonnie: My book is called Not Done Yet!: How Women Over 50 Regain Their Confidence and Claim Workplace Power. I really had fun with this book because it was a topic that I didn’t know, as much as I thought I did about one of these things. I have to confess that I realized as I was writing it, how ageist I am myself, and that was kind of a discovery, but it’s really a guidebook for women to defy their ageist assumptions, and stay marketable, keep their job, and stay at the top of their game. Because society really marginalizes women over 50, I would say, as soon as we start to show visible signs of aging, we are pretty much viewed as not having much value anymore. So I’m really passionate about that and it really kind of pissed me off, I felt like I really needed to bring some awareness to gender ageism, and also help women to navigate it.

When and why did you start your podcast?

Becky: Bonnie, you’re also helping women through your podcast, Badass Women at Any Age. And that’s the topic of our podcast today. It’s a little bit meta, we’re gonna have a podcast talking about podcasts. But particularly today, we want to talk about the way a podcast can be another tool in the marketing of your book. So Bonnie, maybe we could start with you telling us about when you started your podcast and why?

Bonnie: Sure, I had to look it up because I knew you were gonna ask me that. I lost track. I actually started the podcast in September of 2019 and I just completed 68 episodes. I was looking back and scrolling on Apple and looking back at all the episodes and I was like, whoa. When I wrote the book, Not Done Yet!, I really wanted women to find that badass energy and courage that perhaps they had when they were younger. And so there are three sections in the book, and the third section is be your best self. And at one point the book was titled, Badass Women at Any Age. I ended up just making that into one section of the book, but picking up on that theme is when I started the podcast, Badass Women at Any Age, because really it’s any age, it’s not just women over 50. I really wanted to focus on women who have made amazing journeys in their life and career, and how that inspires us, all of us, myself included, who’s interviewing them, but also my listeners, to really take in that inspiration and understand that at any age, you can be a badass. You can really step up and authentically understand who you are and what you have to offer. So that theme in the book is something that I have picked up on in this podcast, and then every week I’m doing these amazing interviews with women who just inspire, week after week, with their stories of how they’ve overcome so much to reach where they are today. And it’s not big celebrity women, Becky, it’s just ordinary women in a variety of careers who have had to face certain obstacles and reach where they are today.

Your favorite episodes on Badass Women at Any Age?

Becky: So Bonnie, among those 68 episodes, do you have any that really stand out to you as being particularly meaningful or inspirational, in case our guests would like to give them a listen?

Bonnie: Whoa, that’s a hard question. So I have five podcasts that I’ve just selected as my top 20 of 2020. And I’m highlighting them now in both the blog and on the podcast itself. So one of them is Jessica Buchanan, who was doing some work in Somalia, and was kidnapped by Somali pirates, and held for ransom. The Navy SEALs needed to go in and rescue her. So now she’s a public speaker. She’s a TEDx speaker, and she does different coaching programs on resilience. But her story was really, really powerful.

Not something that you and I would normally face, but how she changed and what she has done as a result of that experience is definitely one of them. And Lisa Kohn, who survived her childhood growing up in a cult, and how she escaped that type of childhood, which was so addictive. She became a very successful career woman. So, there are really unusual circumstances that some of my guests have had, but nevertheless, they’re still very inspiring.

Becky: Lisa Kohn is definitely a hero of mine. So I’m glad that you had a great conversation with her.

Bonnie: You know her story, right?

Becky: I do. I actually read Lisa’s memoir in its very earliest stages. I printed it off on Microsoft Word and it was like four or five years before the book ever came to print that I had the chance to read her story. So it was very powerful. 

How are you using your podcast as a vehicle to promote your books?

Becky: So Bonnie, let’s shift and talk a little bit about how you’re using the podcast as a vehicle to promote your latest book and in what way you create connections for the book through the podcast?

Bonnie: One of the things that I found most valuable when I was promoting my first book, The Politics of Promotion, was using the radio show that I had at the time to invite certain guests, career-related women. I found that by having them on my radio show at the time, I was making connections with women who I ordinarily would meet. They were then very willing to write endorsements for my book or be interviewed. So I took that lesson, certainly from this podcast as well. Now, the women that I’m interviewing, I had already written the book when I started the podcast. But now I find that developing these relationships expands my network. That women who are on this podcast understand the theme and the importance of talking about these stories and have helped me to promote the book. The other thing that I find is really great is that then people reciprocate. You invite them on your podcast and they reciprocate, or vice versa. So that widens your exposure and your message out there. The more podcasts you can do, the more you talk about your work and your podcast, the more exposure you have.

Becky: That’s a really great point. So when you invite people on your podcast, and we were talking before we started recording how it seems like everyone has a podcast these days, so that cross-pollination of audience is really helpful for expanding beyond the people who already know you. 

What challenges have you faced with your podcast?

Becky: So Bonnie, what are some of the greatest challenges that you faced with this podcast?

Bonnie: In the beginning, I had a challenge of finding the right platform, finding a platform that was affordable, professional, and I knew that I wanted it to sound as professional as possible, and not sound like I was in my closet somewhere recording. So it took a couple of tries and then I found my current producer, and they’re terrific. So that was the first challenge. 

Then I would say the second one is finding guests and vetting guests if you can. And understanding who would make a good guest, what their story is, and how it would fit. Scheduling them sometimes, I’m doing all of that myself, so that becomes a bit of a challenge and it consumes a lot of my time. 

Because I’ve done a radio show for years, I guess, I already knew that it takes a lot of time. Though I do not script my interviews, it takes time to pull it together and to end up leveraging the podcast the way you would want. So the only part of my podcast that I do script is the intro and the outro. And that’s where I do my self-promotion. I’ll either tie the topic of the guest to my book, or I will talk about the topic of the book Not Done Yet! and you can find a download of the book discussion guide, anything that would help to promote the book. Especially in the outro, we’ll talk about different events that I am doing, that will help promote book sales. So I had a virtual book event at a local bookstore, a virtual event, or I’m doing different events for women’s organizations, etc. But I will always talk about that, put the links in the show notes, and refer everybody to the show notes. That’s the best advertising and the best way I can leverage without detracting from the content of the podcast itself.

Becky: So that’s a really important point, Bonnie, that you’re using your intro and your outro to talk about your book and your services. And you’re allowing the content of the conversation with each guest to stand on its own. 

What recommendations do you have for someone considering starting their own podcast?

Becky: So I’m wondering, Bonnie, if authors are listening today, and they are considering starting their own podcast as a means of getting their ideas out into the world, what recommendations would you have for them?

Bonnie: That’s a tough one because, like you said, everybody is doing a podcast. Because it does take time and it does take a lot of work, I would say make sure that you find a topic for your podcast that you’re passionate about, that you will bring a lot of energy to, especially if you’re doing it every week. Because otherwise, it’s going to seem more like a chore, more like a burden. Like though this is what I’ve got to do this week, I have to say that, yet, each Thursday when I do my recordings, I look forward to the conversations and I look forward to getting to know more about my guests. And because I don’t script it, sometimes it’s pretty surprising, but I think that finding that topic is something that could be really important to begin with.

Action Steps

Becky: That’s helpful. Thank you, Bonnie. So as we come to the end of our conversation, one of the things that we always do on The Book Marketing Action Podcast is give our listeners a couple of actions that they can implement right away. So I’m wondering, Bonnie, if we can identify together some next steps that people could take as a result of listening to today’s podcast?

Bonnie: 

First of all, do your homework, reach out to different podcast hosts, and find out what platform they’re on, if they like it, how’s it going, and talk to them about some of their challenges. The best way they found to market their podcast, the best way they found to get it on there. I think doing that homework will give you some direction to where you eventually want to go to position your podcast.Find a good partner like Weaving Influence to help you promote your podcast. I find it takes enough time and energy to do the podcast, I certainly don’t have the time and energy to get it on Instagram and to get it on Twitter and all my different social channels. So it really is helpful. And in finding the right producer, it’s taken me a while to find a good producer, but they do promo videos for me. They are my partner in helping me to build my platform for the podcast, they do great editing, they do the show notes. A lot of different podcast producers only do the recording and the editing. So I just found that having a partner in all of it, if you can find that, it’s good.ResourcesLearn more about Bonnie Marcus and the work she does, here. Learn more and listen to her podcast episodes. Check out her books, Not Done Yet! and The Politics of Promotion, here. Connect with Bonnie on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn. 

If you found value in today’s episode, we hope you’ll take a moment to share it with someone else who might benefit from it. If you have any questions or topics you’d like us to cover, please email Becky Robinson here.

Click here for our free resources. 

If you enjoyed this episode, please leave us a review. 

Click here to tweet about this episode!

The post Episode 50: Using your podcast as a vehicle to market your book appeared first on Weaving Influence.

The Power of Podcasts And Why They Should Be in Your Media Arsenal

Photo by Christian Horz / 123rf.com

In a world where traditional media—TV, newspapers, print, and even digital publications—are seeing massive drop-offs, podcasts continue to rise above the rest. According to a recent Nielson report, podcasts continue to grow by more than 20%, year over year. 

Why?

Podcasts offer listeners what traditional media cannot: the ability to multitask. With the ability to listen to a podcast anywhere, anytime, podcast listeners can tune into their favorite shows during morning commutes, while performing household chores, and while at work. Moreover, it’s easier for podcast hosts to pivot based on listener feedback because of their episodic nature, thus making them more adaptable, versatile, and customized. 

Despite the trends actively pointing us in the direction of podcasts as a key content marketing tactic, it is still a medium that is vastly underutilized. 

As you build your media relations and content marketing strategies, here are three reasons to consider adding guest appearances on podcasts to the top of your list.

Broaden your audience and exposure

Blogging and guest posting on the same platforms over and over again rarely offers the opportunity to reach new audiences, due to their predetermined topics and audiences.

However, unlike most traditional media, podcasts can be both narrowly focused and, at the same time, quite broad as far as topics, guests, and listeners. They are an excellent way for persons mildly interested in a topic to further explore with minimal commitments. And, with more than 1.9 million unique podcasts, the opportunities to expand your message are nearly endless. 

Create real-world connections

Podcast interviews are often real, up-close-and-personal conversations. These conversations allow you to show up authentically and share your real-world experiences that may go beyond your key message. This is beneficial to you, as consumers are more likely to become fans/loyalists when they can connect with the person behind the book or brand.

Generate brand-new content for your website and social channels

Podcast interviews are an excellent way to breathe new life into your content marketing strategies. Pull audio clips to create teasers that are perfect for social media, create quote graphics for monthly email newsletters, and expand on specific topics covered in the episode through long-form blog posts and articles. Most importantly, leverage full interviews and video clips on your speaker and media web pages and in your speakers’ reels to boost credibility.  

Podcasts are an excellent and pain-free way to boost your SEO, social proof, and expand your message’s reach. With the platform growing in popularity and accessibility, now is the perfect time to consider adding guest appearances on podcasts to your content and media outreach arsenal.

If you’re interested in exploring how Weaving Influence can help broaden your exposure through podcast pitching, send an email to Becky at becky@weavinginfluence.com

The post The Power of Podcasts And Why They Should Be in Your Media Arsenal appeared first on Weaving Influence.

Episode 49: What to consider before starting a podcast

Photo by Maxim Evseev / 123rf.com

Click here to listen on your device and subscribe! 

Welcome to Season 2 of The Book Marketing Action Podcast with Becky Robinson, where we give you information that you can immediately implement to increase your influence and market your books more successfully. This month, we are focusing on the topic of podcasts. In this episode, we are joined by Carey Green, Founder of Podcast Fast Track, Consultant, Speaker, and podcaster. 

About Carey Green

Becky: Today is a little bit special because we have Carey Green with us and Carey and his team happened to be the producers of the audio for our podcast. So we’ve gotten a little bit meta in these last few episodes talking about podcasts and how they can be a help in boosting your book. And today, we want to talk about the idea of should you start a podcast for your book and promoting it? And if so, what does it take to get there?

So before we dive in, would you be willing to share a little bit, Carey, about your background and your work in the world so our audience can get a sense of who you are and what you do?

Carey: Absolutely. I am, most of all, a follower of Christ. My past reflects that. I was a pastor for 20 years and so, after retiring from pastoral ministry, I had to find a way to put food on the table. I had a radio background as well, so podcasting was kind of a natural fit into that, and digital audio made it really easy. I began serving clients doing podcast editing, and it just took a life of its own in a way. Many people like you, Becky, and others who had the need for professional help to come along behind the scenes and get the audio done, really just came on board. We’ve got over 50 clients now and are working hard to make great content every week.

Becky: Fantastic. So would you tell us the name of your podcast and also the name of the company that does this audio production that you’re talking about?

Carey: Absolutely. The company is called Podcast Fast Track. My podcast is called Podcastification.

What makes a great podcast?

Becky: So you’ve worked on a lot of podcasts, you’ve produced a lot of podcasts, you’ve hosted a lot of podcasts, tell us, Carey, what makes a great podcast?

Carey: A great podcast is made by great content. You’ve got to have something that is helpful to your target audience, whoever they are. And helpful doesn’t necessarily mean practical, how-to steps. Helpful could be entertainment. Helpful could be some form of humor, that’s helping people laugh off the stress of a day. So helpful content is the main ingredient and then it has to be presented well, in a way that’s not harmful to the ears, not unenjoyable to listen to, but also is communicated in a way that’s effective and gets the point across.

What is important to consider before starting a podcast?

Becky: So if I have listeners today who have thought about starting their own podcast, what are some things that anyone should consider before embarking on this adventure?

Carey: I think, first of all, you need to think through a couple of really key things.

Who is the audience you’re trying to help? What is the message you are uniquely qualified to speak about that they need to hear? 

When those two are coupled together in a unique way, you find your audience over time, and you find your voice over time. And just like writing books, you have to find your voice in podcasting. You find your stride in that audience comes around, and your unique perspective resonates with them and you’re off to the races.

Becky: So thinking about my own experience, Carey, that we started our podcast, I think it was last year. We’re about 50 episodes in, maybe a few more than that by the time this episode airs, and it definitely took me a while to find my stride. When you and I first met, we had talked about me doing short podcast episodes, like five minutes long, where I’d give some book marketing tips, and I hated it. I hated recording my own voice, my own ideas, and it really opened up for me when we began to bring guests onto the show. So that advice really resonates with me, because you definitely can’t record one or two podcasts and decide it’s not for you.

Carey: Yeah, and that’s the beautiful thing about podcasting, is podcast listeners are kind of used to creators iterating as they go, and getting better as they go. And so often, you’re able to make a transition if you need to make a transition without much effect on your audience, except that they’re served better.

Becky: Any other considerations? I’d be curious for you to share with our listeners about the time commitment that may be required from starting a podcast.

Carey: Yeah, well, this definitely depends on the person, because some people are able to organize their thoughts more quickly than others and put together a plan for each episode. But I would say, on average, you’re going to need at least an hour to two per episode, just for the creation of an outline that you’re going to follow. Reaching out to any guests that you may want to have on the show, compiling resources that you need in order to speak about a topic. I mean, there are all kinds of things that could go into that preparation. Then depending on the length of the episode, you’re going to need recording time as well. So all of those things put together can be one to two hours. And then if you’re going to do the editing yourself, you’re going to do show notes or blog posts to go along with it, promotional materials, all of those kinds of things that go out on social media, those will require extra time as well. So those are the things to consider when it comes to time commitment. I do know some people who just turn on their podcast app and record and shoot it off to the world. And to me, those kinds of podcasts are not what we described at the beginning, where they’re enjoyable and helpful. They usually are just kind of rambling in or not really that beneficial to anyone.

Becky: So what do you think about the scripted podcast compared to the unscripted podcast? And when I say scripted, I mean, you actually write out the words on a script, you read them off, it’s planned, possibly rehearsed. I know that I’ve listened to some very highly produced podcasts and I assume there must be a script somewhere, even if it seems like the person is speaking extemporaneously. So how much formality is required to get great content?

Carey: Well, I think a script can be one of two things. It can be either an outline that liberates you to not have to think of where you’re going as you’re speaking, but rather to be able to come back to a page that routes you in that direction, or it can be a set of handcuffs, that makes you feel just totally constrained and you don’t feel like you can be yourself. And that really is a personality issue. So scripting, I think, is something if you know how to read a script in a way that is able to sound extemporaneous, then all the better. You’re able to write out a script to get it exactly like you want and present a very good episode that’s impacting, just like writing can be impacting when the right words are chosen. But if you’re not able to do that, and you feel like you always sound like it’s canned, you may want to try just a bullet point outline and speak from the heart based on the outline and see what comes about that way.

Do you speak from the heart or from an outline? 

Becky: So I know you have a short daily podcast, Carey, where you have devotions. Is that a scripted podcast? Are you speaking from the heart or from an outline?

Carey: Yeah, great question. That particular podcast, it’s six minutes long, and it is all just straight from the heart, and that all comes from just 20 years worth of teaching every week from the Scripture. I’m able to open up passages and apply the principles I learned in seminary and all that kind of thing, and speak from the heart. But if you’re not that well versed in your topic, obviously it takes more preparation than that.

What outside support might be needed?

Becky: Thanks, Carey. So you spoke about possible ways a person might need some outside support to get a podcast going, could you go through those in a bit more detail?

Carey: Yeah, absolutely. There are a lot of different ways that professionals in the industry can serve you if you’re looking to get a podcast started. Everything from strategy calls, just to think through your ideas and plan a way forward that you feel fits you, and fits the audience that you’re trying to reach, to behind the scenes editing of the audio, creating blog posts to go with it, creating of social media elements to help you publish your episodes, all of those things can be provided by service providers. 

How much of that you actually need? Well, it depends mainly on your bandwidth, timewise, and your desire to learn audio editing, and those kinds of things. I personally don’t think decent audio editing is hard to learn. I just think it’s time-consuming to learn and many people just really don’t have the inclination or the interest in doing that. And so that’s why people like us exist.

What is a typical budget for podcasting?

Becky: So, if our listeners are considering embarking on a podcast journey to start a podcast to promote their book or their business, what might be a typical budget, if a person is more leaning toward done for you, rather than DIY podcasting?

Carey: Great question. The budget could be anywhere from $50 per episode to $300 per episode, depending on the amount of work that you’re wanting to be done. On the lower end of the scale, you’re going to receive kind of what you would expect for the lower end of a scale in anything, it’s going to be lower quality, it’s not going to be done as professionally, it’s perhaps even going to have errors in the work. And that’s not to smear any other services, it’s just you get what you pay for in this kind of service. So what I would expect your listeners are really looking for is something that reflects their brand in a professional way and that’s gonna run probably somewhere from $120 to $300 per episode, depending on services.

What equipment might be needed/helpful?

Becky: Thanks for sharing that. So what equipment might a podcaster need to get set up? And before we started recording, I was confessing that I invested in equipment and now I just use my everyday equipment. And so obviously, anyone who has a zoom account and a headset and a laptop might not necessarily have to have equipment, but what do you typically recommend?

Carey: Well like you’re saying the equipment that you’re using is definitely fine to get started, and even to continue a podcast if your content is good enough, many times the content quality will overcome the audio quality deficiencies. But what I typically recommend is some sort of a USB microphone that will plug directly into your computer and get a better sound than the speaker or the microphone rather that’s in your computer by default, and those can cost anywhere from $70 to $100. You can find really good ones within that price range. 

You’re also going to need either earbuds or headphones to prevent the sound that’s coming out of your computer from going back into your microphone, and it can create this kind of a loop of sound that sounds like an echo in the background, and so the earbuds or the headphones prevent that from happening. So you can still hear what you’re recording and speaking to the mic at the same time. Besides that you’ll need some kind of software to edit your final product if you’re going to do the editing, and there’s a great free program out there called Audacity that is a little difficult to learn, but there’s plenty of youtube videos out there teaching you how to use it so that’s definitely what I would recommend.

What are the best ways you see podcasters reaching wider audiences?

Becky: Great, thank you so much. I’m curious from your perspective what are the best ways that you see podcasters reaching wider audiences with their content? What are they doing that’s helping them expand the reach of their content?

Carey: Yeah, well, one approach that I researched this last week, just because I’ve been curious about it personally because I have a couple of fiction books that I would like to promote better. And I’ve had this idea banging around in my head for a while, but also I was researching it because I thought your audience might be interested in this. There is actually an approach that a marketer, Joe Pulizzi is his name, took up when he wrote his own fiction book. And what he did, was he recorded his entire book as podcast episodes, so one chapter per episode, and he put it out for free as a podcast. He did that pre-launch of the print copies of his book, and then what it did was it built up kind of a following that signed up for his email list, wanted to know when the main production of the book was going to go into publication, and so when that happened and he launched, he had a list to launch his book publication to and then he backed off on the podcast for free and left half of the episodes out, so he did the first half took away the second half of his book, and put a call to action episode at the very end if you want to get the audio version, you want to get the print version, etc., go to Joepulizzi.com. It was a huge success and he’s working on his second book now.

Becky: That’s a fun approach and I have had folks email me about that. We primarily promote nonfiction authors so I’m curious about what application for nonfiction there might be and then, beyond that, I’m listening and I’m thinking okay, so Joe created a podcast that created demand for his book, how did he find the audience for the podcast?

Carey: Yeah I think Joe probably had a little bit of a leg up on it because he’s such a famous person. I’m sure he put it out to his list a little bit, so in the realm that you’re talking about I think content ideas for a podcast would be, basically, every chapter of the book would have enough nuggets in it if it’s nonfiction to be able to do a number of episodes from each one. And then the promotion part really is a combination of things. There’s social media, obviously, and we all know that has varying degrees of effectiveness. If you have any kind of email list of course you want to take advantage of that, and then I always encourage people to do what I call, “calling in favors.” Think of the people you know who are very successful and would be willing to share what you’re doing with their audience, if they have one, and ask them for a special favor to you, to help you get the word out about your writing. You’d be surprised how many people are willing to help in a situation like that. 

What else might someone need to consider that we haven’t talked about yet?

Becky: That is great advice. So I’m wondering what else someone who’s really starting from scratch with starting a podcast might need to consider that we haven’t talked about yet?

Carey: I think the first thing I would say is don’t be afraid of it. A lot of people get behind the microphone and get all nervous and all that and that’s one of the beautiful things about podcasting: it’s not live, you can always start again. You can edit. You can make it sound as good as you really want it to sound if you’re just patient with the process. Also, don’t feel like if you recorded it you’ve got to publish it, there’s no law that says that. I know many people who consult for podcasters, like I do, who recommend you record the first three episodes and then throw them away and do them again, because you kind of get your feet under you and you kind of get a rhythm to your speaking after a while, and in those first three just help you kind of work out the kinks, with no pressure on the line.

Becky: That’s really good advice. I wish I would’ve had that when I started. I probably would have thrown out those first three episodes. So if you’re listening today and you were not with us at the beginning of this journey, don’t listen to the first three episodes. 

Action Steps

Carey: I have a gift I’d love to give your listeners who are interested in podcasting. I’ve put together a how-to podcast step-by-step course, that walks you from A to Z all the way through. And it’s normally a $99 thing. But Becky, because it’s you, your audience gets it for free! Check out the link below!

Becky: Wow, that is such an amazing offer. Carey, thank you so much. So Carey, at the end of every podcast we always leave our listeners with a couple of action steps that they can take. And it occurs to me that the first and most important action step from this episode is to get that course for free, that’s normally $99, and really start to walk through the how-to steps that you’ve created. Do you have any other action steps that you’d like to recommend for our listeners today?

Carey: Yeah, I would say, kind of assess your own bandwidth. As we mentioned, podcasting has some time commitments involved. And so you need to know is that something I’m going to be able to commit to long term, because podcasting grows through momentum and through inertia. And so as you do more episodes of good content, you build an audience. But if you’re inconsistent, that communicates to your audience that you’re not really in it, and therefore possibly not trustworthy. And that’s not something you want to communicate, so assess your time. And if now’s not the time, that’s okay. You can always do it later.

Becky: So what would be the minimum number of episodes that someone should commit to when they’re getting started? And I know I’m throwing more questions in when we were about to wrap it up, but you know, you have so much value to offer. I want to make sure that we learn from you.

Carey: Yeah, no problem. I feel like everybody who says I’m going to do a podcast should commit to at least a year. I think it’s a year before you see any sort of inclination of what kind of audience you’re able to build, how successful it is, and whether you really like podcasting or not. Some people like it, and some people hate it. And that’s okay. We shouldn’t all be doing the same things anyway.

Becky: So a year of weekly episodes, is that what you’re recommending?

Carey: Yeah, weekly or bi-weekly. Maybe bi-weekly is half the content, obviously, but it’s still a good rhythm, and enables you to know if it’s a good fit for you. 

ResourcesLearn more about Carey and his company Podcast Fast Track, here. Connect with Podcast Fast Track on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.Connect with Carey Green on Twitter and LinkedIn. Listen to Carey’s podcast, Podcastification. If you’re looking for an audio editing software, check out Audacity. You can reach out to Carey, here. Check out Carey’s podcast step-by-step course, which walks you from A to Z all the way through, ($99 value) free for our listeners. 

If you found value in today’s episode, we hope you’ll take a moment to share it with someone else who might benefit from it. If you have any questions or topics you’d like us to cover, please email Becky Robinson here.

Click here for our free resources. 

If you enjoyed this episode, please leave us a review. 

Click here to tweet about this episode!

The post Episode 49: What to consider before starting a podcast appeared first on Weaving Influence.

Episode 48: a DIY approach to pitching podcasts

Photo by olegdudko / 123rf.com

Click here to listen on your device and subscribe! 

Welcome to Season 2 of The Book Marketing Action Podcast with Becky Robinson, where we give you information that you can immediately implement to increase your influence and market your books more successfully. This month, we are focusing on the topic of podcasts. In this episode we are joined by Case Lane, a writer, podcaster, and entrepreneur. 

About Case Lane

Becky: As we dive in today, I hope you’ll take a moment to tell our listeners about your work in the world and what you’re most passionate about in your work.

Case: Absolutely. I’m a writer, a podcaster, an entrepreneur, and I prepare aspiring entrepreneurs to get started in this exciting world of online business. And in doing that, as a writer, I started guest podcasting and realized that there were not a lot of really good resources on how to do it yourself. You could always hire an agency, but how do you actually do it yourself with so many, now 2 million podcasts that are out there, and just so many topics you could talk about. So I started, I taught myself how to do it, had started guest podcasting, and that built the tools and resources for other people to do it as well. I think it’s just such an outstanding way to get your message out there, to connect, to build your own network, and to really use this new exciting communication medium to launch whatever you’ve decided to do with what you’re doing in the world as well.

What value have you found in being a podcast guest?

Becky: Wonderful. Well, that’s what we’re going to talk about today. I’d love for you to start by talking to our listeners about the value that you found and that your clients have found in being podcast guests?

Case: Yeah, absolutely. This is an opportunity to really state your message. You could be a writer and so you have your book you’ve written about a particular subject, could be fiction, and this is your chance to tell the audience about it in this listening form. Podcasts have grown so much recently, the last few years especially, so people enjoy just being able to listen in on conversations that they couldn’t hear before and to get some insightful information. If you’re a writer, you’re telling different stories about it. You’re telling me maybe about your research process that led you to the particular subject or the inspiration for your fiction or something like that. So it’s a chance to reach a bigger audience. The podcasts are working together to add value because it’s for their listeners, and hopefully their listeners become your listeners in a way that is through the podcast as well. And, if you’re an entrepreneur, you’re promoting your product, maybe you’re just a subject matter expert on something new. So you can also get that out there. So for people, even if you’re afraid of public speaking, they go nope, it’s too nerve-wracking, but podcasting is a comfortable way to get into public speaking because it’s your podcast or having that conversation. Sure, millions of people hear it later, but for now it’s just the two of you and it’s a recording that you could keep pointing back to. It’s an asset that sits out there. You can tell other people about it, which we hope you do. You know that you could also, let’s say somebody wants to bring you on as a speaker somewhere, you can say, “Oh, well, I did a podcast interview, you can listen here.” So it has a long shelf life. Right now, podcasts are basically lasting forever, because there’s no reason to take them down, because somebody paid for the hosting. So that’s something that you have, and you could just keep using it and go back to it all the time.

What is a guest star?

Becky: I love that. So before recording with you, I did read an article that you wrote about this idea of being a guest on podcasts, and you called this the guest star. So talk to us about what you mean by being a guest star and the value that creates?

Case: Oh, thank you for checking out my blog. The analogy there is what do you think about when you’re watching a TV show or it says special guest star, special guest appearance? That person is bringing a little something extra to the normal routine of the show, especially if it’s a big name. As an audience, everyone has a little bit of anticipation, like “Oh, there’s something new and exciting going to be happening this time.” There are podcasts that have guests on all the time and there are a lot of listeners who will look at the podcast episode descriptions and that’s what they’re looking for, like, “Oh, I want to hear what this person has to say about this.” So they’ll listen to that episode because of that particular guest. So that’s the role that you start to play. If you’re doing guest podcasting, you are providing that extra piece of excitement for the show and obviously, you want to be delivering value all the time because the reason that every listener wants to hear you is because you’ve got some value for them. I personally listen to a lot of podcasts, and I personally like the ones that I call “teaching podcasts,” where you actually have to sit there and take some notes because suddenly you realize that the value is something that you really want to go back to. And so you have to either make a note of what show it was or take some notes while you’re doing it. But that’s really what it’s about. It’s being that person who is providing that little extra for that particular episode.

What are the best practices when pitching a podcast host?

Becky: I love that concept. So I’m curious, you talk about training people to do it themselves in terms of seeking these guest podcast opportunities. So I’m hoping that we can spend a few minutes talking about some of the best practices associated with doing that. And I’m wondering what elements you think are essential to include if you are pitching a podcast host because you want to be a guest?

Case: Yeah! Connect what you’re going to say to what that show is about. So do your research, you make sure you read the show description, you’ve listened to some episodes, and you could have seen, for example, that there was a previous guest who talked about the same general subject that you talked about. So you then want to bring your angle to it, make it something different, there’s more to the story, something like that. So you really want to make sure when you’re creating that pitch that you really make it clear to the podcaster that you know what this show is about. 

I don’t care if you’re doing 200 pitches a month, each one you should treat individually, giving its own time of research, where you really do reach out in a very specific way.

So you’ve looked at their show and say, “I realize you’ve not talked about this, or you have spoken about this, but you haven’t spoken about it in this way,” or “Here’s a brand new topic that I think your audience might be interested in, because you did this,” and really show that you can make that connection with the podcaster. I think if you get that into your pitch email, that’s really helpful because if you’re a podcaster, if you’re on the other side of it, as you’re receiving pitches, and sometimes they don’t even put the show name in and you can just tell it’s a template, you don’t know why you have to if you’re forcing the podcaster to think about who you are and what value and all that kind of stuff. Now, you just have to put that into the pitch right upfront. Save the podcaster the time and the effort by doing all their questions for them ahead of time. And then you’ve really set yourself up, even though you still might not get a response. But at least you’ve done a good job in presenting what your particular subject could be.

Becky: Yeah, I love that and I keep thinking about this pitch that I received where the person pitching said, so and so was a fan and has listened to your show, and then proceeded to offer a pitch that had nothing to do with what we talked about. 

So is there anything else that you think podcasts are looking for, that people can keep in mind to help them set themselves apart when they’re going out to seek these opportunities?

Case: Yeah, when you’re doing the show, you want to think about how is that show going to be promoted? So there’s a lot that goes on. A lot of podcasters talk about this: how do we get the show promoted? Because obviously, there’s the big podcasts, top 100. But there are 2 million podcasts and there are people who are talking about so many different subjects. So you want to be able to present to the podcaster a way that makes them stand out in whatever the particular industry or genre is. You want to help them think about a way that they have a specific angle or can also reach maybe even new people, and it could be hashtags or something like that, like a way that you can really draw attention to that particular episode and why it means so much more and why it’s different and how you could help them promote it. I think it’s something to watch out for, it’s going to get more and more sophisticated because the big shows are getting a lot of attention and money and so on. So the other shows are looking at how they could differentiate themselves, what could be some of the subjects that they could be talking about, how they could do more exciting things with promotion, and what I’m trying to do is go back to shows as well and point out, okay, I spoke about something on this show or something on that show, and then tie that into things like my blogs and other things. So I think that’s what you want to keep in mind. How can you help make sure that that episode gets out there and people are listening and are finding it, because podcast discovery is mostly word of mouth, right?

A DIY podcast approach to discovering and pitching podcasts 

Becky: Definitely. So you mentioned, Case, how many podcasts there are out there right now. So as someone who’s looking to take a DIY approach to discover shows that might be a fit for their topics and then to pitch those podcasts, what tools or tactics do you recommend to people to find the right podcast to even pitch?

Case: Yeah, so what you’re going to be doing is using the podcast directories. Now, the directories are the places where all the podcasts are listed. And there are some big ones like Apple and Amazon Music, and so on. And then there are all sorts of other ones that you might not have even heard of, that are either tied to apps, or they’re just websites. Now I’ve looked at a lot of directories. I’ve looked at more than 80, and there is not one that gives you all the information you need right upfront, so you have to play with it a bit. There’s a couple of things you really want to look for. 

So we talked about, yes, there are 2 billion podcasts, but podcasts last forever. So they’re not all active and as somebody who wants to be interviewed, you absolutely want to know, what was the last day of the last episode after the upload date? When was the last time the show was uploaded? Because sometimes you look oh, it’s a great description, it’s perfect for your topic, it’s awesome for your book, and then you realize, oh, they haven’t done a show in a year. And the thing is, most podcasters, don’t do a final episode. So there’s no way to sort of glance at it and realize it’s over. Also for some podcasters it’s not over, they’re just taking a break. I actually give it a six-month window, if I see a show was posted in the last six months, and everything else looks good, I will reach out to the podcaster to say, “Hey, are you still doing your show?” and tell them the pitch. So you want to watch for that. Then you want to look at the episode descriptions. I mentioned before, make sure that you’re looking at a show that does interviews, look at episode duration. If every episode is two to five minutes, maybe it’s just tips of the day and it’s not an interview show. So everything I get from the descriptions podcasters are writing themselves. Descriptions could be anything from one or two lines to five paragraphs telling you everything that they need to. So that’s another use, you have to listen to the show because sometimes the episode descriptions are all the same. If you are unsure, you listen to the show. Make sure that if you’re going to use the podcast directories, the first thing you want to do is get your keywords together, and that’s based on whatever your subject is. Pick a broad range of keywords, because most of the directories there, they’re not sophisticated search engines like Google or Amazon, so they’re only looking at show titles. So I always use this example, if you speak about tulips, you find there are 42 tulip podcasts. But you also want to look up flowers, you’re going to search for gardening, search for fragrance. So you’re going to be searching by keyword in these podcast directories. So create your keyword list first. And then when you go into the directories start searching, and you see the results come back. You check the last episode, upload date, make sure it’s an active show. And then if it looks active, begin your research, check the show description, the episode descriptions, the episode duration, listen to the show, then you want to go out to the website, see if there’s a show website, a host website, that’s where you’re going to find the contact information most of the time. When you’re on the website, you have a chance to take a look at the host bio, see if there’s any connection there. So again, you could put that into your pitch like, “Oh, I noticed you worked at such and such a place.” And that’s the process. 

So it’s a process of taking the time to go through everything. But in my opinion, when you do it yourself, you give yourself a lot more chances to interview. Because I’ve seen some of the agencies and I don’t know them all, obviously, but some of the ones I’ve looked at, maybe for what they’re charging, might give you one or two interviews a month. But if you’re doing your own research, you could probably come up with dozens of interviews a month. And not only that, when you’re reaching out directly to the podcaster, you’re actually building your network at the same time, because you’re reaching out to people who are talking about what you’re interested in talking about. So these are people you might come across later at conferences, or you could collaborate with them, or all these things. You don’t get that back and forth if you are just talking to your agency that is sending anonymous emails out to podcasters. You don’t even know what they say. So I go through the process, you put as much time into it every day or once a week or as often as you like, based on how many shows you really want to interview on. There are a lot of shows to go through. So if you’ve set a target for yourself, but you want to do 100 interviews, as you go through this process, you’ll get to 100 interviews.

Becky: Wonderful! That is so rich. I’m learning lots from you as well, and I agree it makes sense that if I got a pitch that was well researched, as I did from you, then chances are I’m going to reach back out and want to find out more. So you getting on this podcast is a great example of your own process and approach working really, really well.

Case: Yeah, I mean, I should say we hadn’t met before and that’s what’s happened throughout this entire process. I’ve had an opportunity now with different podcasters. I mentioned doing collaborations and so on, I’ve actually gone on and done different projects with people that I’ve met just through this podcast process. So think of it more as a broader approach to everything that you’re doing, your writing, and your business, as opposed to just a one-off type of interview.

How can you drive traffic to get the most value out of being a guest?

Becky: That’s really helpful. So one last question today, Case. I’m curious, once you’ve landed a show, once you’ve recorded the episode, what you can do after the show, that increases the value to that podcast host, and drives traffic to that episode to make sure that you get the value out of being a guest?

Case: Yeah, absolutely have a plan about how you plan to promote. So based on, for example, social media, of course, is the most popular way. So depending on which social sites that you’re on, have set up, even create templates for yourself. It’s okay to do that, we talked about really personalizing with the podcast, what you could do is personalize every single post as well, but have a template ready so that you can go through it quickly. 

You’re really organized, Becky, but not everybody is. So a lot of podcasters suddenly, one day you receive an email that says, “Hey, your show’s live”, and you’re like, “Oh, I had 100 things to do today, I’m not gonna be able to promote right away.” But again, have a plan. As soon as I receive an email that the show is live, I will schedule on my calendar within the next whatever, 72 hours or something like that, I will post all of the promos. Get your work organized because some hosts do not send any graphics or images and so on. So have templates for that, also have one for Instagram size, Twitter size, all the different ones have it all set up ahead of time. You can even ask the podcaster, let’s say, the links, some podcasters send you the links for their website. I think that’s the preferred way to promote that way you drive people to their website, but if they don’t, go and grab the link off of Apple podcasts, you can find those very easily. So just put that plan in place. 

And then if you have an email list, include promotions to your email list as well. And as I mentioned before, you can also go back to those episodes all the time, that’s a lasting asset that you have out there. So if somebody says, two months from now or 10 months from now, “When were you speaking about guest podcasting and provided a summary,” I said, “Oh, I did that on this show,” and then you can go back and you can have them all organized on your website, app graphics of the show with a little write up about what they’re about, and just point people back there. So you could always go do that. So obviously, set up your plan about how you plan to promote, create your template, so you’re not thinking it through every time, like I don’t know what to say, and then have a process also for putting something on your website to point people back to the show.

Action Steps

Becky: Perfect. Well, this episode has been full of possible actions that authors may want to take to become podcast guests as a means of marketing their books. But I’m wondering if you could pull out two favorites, Case, because we always, at the end of every episode, want to give people things they can implement today.

Case: Yeah, absolutely. 

So I’ll go back to selecting your keywords. I think that’s really, really important because as I mentioned, the podcast directories just don’t have good search engines. And if you put in a keyword for your subject, you might miss a whole bunch of shows that don’t use that specific word in their title. So really think broadly, spend some time thinking through what are all the types of keywords that a podcaster could be using to talk about this subject. As for guest podcasting, I reached out to marketing, podcast, brand podcast strategy, influencing, oh, you know, all these different things, because I try to think broadly about who might be talking about that subject. And then the other thing, so you do that, and then there’s a different podcast directory I mentioned. So you’ll go into the one and what I like to do first is just make a long list of potential shows before I start researching one by one. So I have a chart that I track everything, it’s a good idea to track everything because a lot of shows have similar names. So you want to make sure you’re not looking at the same one all the time. A good directory to do that, for example, is Listen Notes. Listen Notes provides about one or two lines of description the first time you’re searching. So you could just make a quick list of say, 100 shows, and then go in and search each one, one by one, to find the information to do that longer search that I talked about. So I think that’s a more efficient way to do it. Instead of giving yourself a list so you can have a sense of how many shows you might be able to get to. And again, you’re not going to find all the information for all of them. It’s not all there, even contact information. Sometimes it’s hard to find but it is the approach. I always say, keep going on to the next one. If you don’t find the information, move on to the next one, because there are so many shows that you could be looking at.ResourcesLearn more about Case and the work she does here. Follow Guest Podcasting on Facebook.Connect with Case Lane on Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube. Use this free checklist to find the perfect podcasts for a conversation with you.

If you found value in today’s episode, we hope you’ll take a moment to share it with someone else who might benefit from it. If you have any questions or topics you’d like us to cover, please email Becky Robinson here.

Click here for our free resources. 

If you enjoyed this episode, please leave us a review. 

Click here to tweet about this episode!

The post Episode 48: a DIY approach to pitching podcasts appeared first on Weaving Influence.

Episode 48: A DIY approach to podcasting

Photo by olegdudko / 123rf.com

Click here to listen on your device and subscribe! 

Welcome to Season 2 of The Book Marketing Action Podcast with Becky Robinson, where we give you information that you can immediately implement to increase your influence and market your books more successfully. This month, we are focusing on the topic of podcasts. In this episode we are joined by Case Lane, a writer, podcaster, and entrepreneur. 

About Case Lane

Becky: As we dive in today, I hope you’ll take a moment to tell our listeners about your work in the world and what you’re most passionate about in your work.

Case: Absolutely. I’m a writer, a podcaster, an entrepreneur, and I prepare aspiring entrepreneurs to get started in this exciting world of online business. And in doing that, as a writer, I started guest podcasting and realized that there were not a lot of really good resources on how to do it yourself. You could always hire an agency, but how do you actually do it yourself with so many, now 2 million podcasts that are out there, and just so many topics you could talk about. So I started, I taught myself how to do it, had started guest podcasting, and that built the tools and resources for other people to do it as well. I think it’s just such an outstanding way to get your message out there, to connect, to build your own network, and to really use this new exciting communication medium to launch whatever you’ve decided to do with what you’re doing in the world as well.

What value have you found in being a podcast guest?

Becky: Wonderful. Well, that’s what we’re going to talk about today. I’d love for you to start by talking to our listeners about the value that you found and that your clients have found in being podcast guests?

Case: Yeah, absolutely. This is an opportunity to really state your message. You could be a writer and so you have your book you’ve written about a particular subject, could be fiction, and this is your chance to tell the audience about it in this listening form. Podcasts have grown so much recently, the last few years especially, so people enjoy just being able to listen in on conversations that they couldn’t hear before and to get some insightful information. If you’re a writer, you’re telling different stories about it. You’re telling me maybe about your research process that led you to the particular subject or the inspiration for your fiction or something like that. So it’s a chance to reach a bigger audience. The podcasts are working together to add value because it’s for their listeners, and hopefully their listeners become your listeners in a way that is through the podcast as well. And, if you’re an entrepreneur, you’re promoting your product, maybe you’re just a subject matter expert on something new. So you can also get that out there. So for people, even if you’re afraid of public speaking, they go nope, it’s too nerve-wracking, but podcasting is a comfortable way to get into public speaking because it’s your podcast or having that conversation. Sure, millions of people hear it later, but for now it’s just the two of you and it’s a recording that you could keep pointing back to. It’s an asset that sits out there. You can tell other people about it, which we hope you do. You know that you could also, let’s say somebody wants to bring you on as a speaker somewhere, you can say, “Oh, well, I did a podcast interview, you can listen here.” So it has a long shelf life. Right now, podcasts are basically lasting forever, because there’s no reason to take them down, because somebody paid for the hosting. So that’s something that you have, and you could just keep using it and go back to it all the time.

What is a guest star?

Becky: I love that. So before recording with you, I did read an article that you wrote about this idea of being a guest on podcasts, and you called this the guest star. So talk to us about what you mean by being a guest star and the value that creates?

Case: Oh, thank you for checking out my blog. The analogy there is what do you think about when you’re watching a TV show or it says special guest star, special guest appearance? That person is bringing a little something extra to the normal routine of the show, especially if it’s a big name. As an audience, everyone has a little bit of anticipation, like “Oh, there’s something new and exciting going to be happening this time.” There are podcasts that have guests on all the time and there are a lot of listeners who will look at the podcast episode descriptions and that’s what they’re looking for, like, “Oh, I want to hear what this person has to say about this.” So they’ll listen to that episode because of that particular guest. So that’s the role that you start to play. If you’re doing guest podcasting, you are providing that extra piece of excitement for the show and obviously, you want to be delivering value all the time because the reason that every listener wants to hear you is because you’ve got some value for them. I personally listen to a lot of podcasts, and I personally like the ones that I call “teaching podcasts,” where you actually have to sit there and take some notes because suddenly you realize that the value is something that you really want to go back to. And so you have to either make a note of what show it was or take some notes while you’re doing it. But that’s really what it’s about. It’s being that person who is providing that little extra for that particular episode.

What are the best practices when pitching a podcast host?

Becky: I love that concept. So I’m curious, you talk about training people to do it themselves in terms of seeking these guest podcast opportunities. So I’m hoping that we can spend a few minutes talking about some of the best practices associated with doing that. And I’m wondering what elements you think are essential to include if you are pitching a podcast host because you want to be a guest?

Case: Yeah! Connect what you’re going to say to what that show is about. So do your research, you make sure you read the show description, you’ve listened to some episodes, and you could have seen, for example, that there was a previous guest who talked about the same general subject that you talked about. So you then want to bring your angle to it, make it something different, there’s more to the story, something like that. So you really want to make sure when you’re creating that pitch that you really make it clear to the podcaster that you know what this show is about. 

I don’t care if you’re doing 200 pitches a month, each one you should treat individually, giving its own time of research, where you really do reach out in a very specific way.

So you’ve looked at their show and say, “I realize you’ve not talked about this, or you have spoken about this, but you haven’t spoken about it in this way,” or “Here’s a brand new topic that I think your audience might be interested in, because you did this,” and really show that you can make that connection with the podcaster. I think if you get that into your pitch email, that’s really helpful because if you’re a podcaster, if you’re on the other side of it, as you’re receiving pitches, and sometimes they don’t even put the show name in and you can just tell it’s a template, you don’t know why you have to if you’re forcing the podcaster to think about who you are and what value and all that kind of stuff. Now, you just have to put that into the pitch right upfront. Save the podcaster the time and the effort by doing all their questions for them ahead of time. And then you’ve really set yourself up, even though you still might not get a response. But at least you’ve done a good job in presenting what your particular subject could be.

Becky: Yeah, I love that and I keep thinking about this pitch that I received where the person pitching said, so and so was a fan and has listened to your show, and then proceeded to offer a pitch that had nothing to do with what we talked about. 

So is there anything else that you think podcasts are looking for, that people can keep in mind to help them set themselves apart when they’re going out to seek these opportunities?

Case: Yeah, when you’re doing the show, you want to think about how is that show going to be promoted? So there’s a lot that goes on. A lot of podcasters talk about this: how do we get the show promoted? Because obviously, there’s the big podcasts, top 100. But there are 2 million podcasts and there are people who are talking about so many different subjects. So you want to be able to present to the podcaster a way that makes them stand out in whatever the particular industry or genre is. You want to help them think about a way that they have a specific angle or can also reach maybe even new people, and it could be hashtags or something like that, like a way that you can really draw attention to that particular episode and why it means so much more and why it’s different and how you could help them promote it. I think it’s something to watch out for, it’s going to get more and more sophisticated because the big shows are getting a lot of attention and money and so on. So the other shows are looking at how they could differentiate themselves, what could be some of the subjects that they could be talking about, how they could do more exciting things with promotion, and what I’m trying to do is go back to shows as well and point out, okay, I spoke about something on this show or something on that show, and then tie that into things like my blogs and other things. So I think that’s what you want to keep in mind. How can you help make sure that that episode gets out there and people are listening and are finding it, because podcast discovery is mostly word of mouth, right?

A DIY podcast approach to discovering and pitching podcasts 

Becky: Definitely. So you mentioned, Case, how many podcasts there are out there right now. So as someone who’s looking to take a DIY approach to discover shows that might be a fit for their topics and then to pitch those podcasts, what tools or tactics do you recommend to people to find the right podcast to even pitch?

Case: Yeah, so what you’re going to be doing is using the podcast directories. Now, the directories are the places where all the podcasts are listed. And there are some big ones like Apple and Amazon Music, and so on. And then there are all sorts of other ones that you might not have even heard of, that are either tied to apps, or they’re just websites. Now I’ve looked at a lot of directories. I’ve looked at more than 80, and there is not one that gives you all the information you need right upfront, so you have to play with it a bit. There’s a couple of things you really want to look for. 

So we talked about, yes, there are 2 billion podcasts, but podcasts last forever. So they’re not all active and as somebody who wants to be interviewed, you absolutely want to know, what was the last day of the last episode after the upload date? When was the last time the show was uploaded? Because sometimes you look oh, it’s a great description, it’s perfect for your topic, it’s awesome for your book, and then you realize, oh, they haven’t done a show in a year. And the thing is, most podcasters, don’t do a final episode. So there’s no way to sort of glance at it and realize it’s over. Also for some podcasters it’s not over, they’re just taking a break. I actually give it a six-month window, if I see a show was posted in the last six months, and everything else looks good, I will reach out to the podcaster to say, “Hey, are you still doing your show?” and tell them the pitch. So you want to watch for that. Then you want to look at the episode descriptions. I mentioned before, make sure that you’re looking at a show that does interviews, look at episode duration. If every episode is two to five minutes, maybe it’s just tips of the day and it’s not an interview show. So everything I get from the descriptions podcasters are writing themselves. Descriptions could be anything from one or two lines to five paragraphs telling you everything that they need to. So that’s another use, you have to listen to the show because sometimes the episode descriptions are all the same. If you are unsure, you listen to the show. Make sure that if you’re going to use the podcast directories, the first thing you want to do is get your keywords together, and that’s based on whatever your subject is. Pick a broad range of keywords, because most of the directories there, they’re not sophisticated search engines like Google or Amazon, so they’re only looking at show titles. So I always use this example, if you speak about tulips, you find there are 42 tulip podcasts. But you also want to look up flowers, you’re going to search for gardening, search for fragrance. So you’re going to be searching by keyword in these podcast directories. So create your keyword list first. And then when you go into the directories start searching, and you see the results come back. You check the last episode, upload date, make sure it’s an active show. And then if it looks active, begin your research, check the show description, the episode descriptions, the episode duration, listen to the show, then you want to go out to the website, see if there’s a show website, a host website, that’s where you’re going to find the contact information most of the time. When you’re on the website, you have a chance to take a look at the host bio, see if there’s any connection there. So again, you could put that into your pitch like, “Oh, I noticed you worked at such and such a place.” And that’s the process. 

So it’s a process of taking the time to go through everything. But in my opinion, when you do it yourself, you give yourself a lot more chances to interview. Because I’ve seen some of the agencies and I don’t know them all, obviously, but some of the ones I’ve looked at, maybe for what they’re charging, might give you one or two interviews a month. But if you’re doing your own research, you could probably come up with dozens of interviews a month. And not only that, when you’re reaching out directly to the podcaster, you’re actually building your network at the same time, because you’re reaching out to people who are talking about what you’re interested in talking about. So these are people you might come across later at conferences, or you could collaborate with them, or all these things. You don’t get that back and forth if you are just talking to your agency that is sending anonymous emails out to podcasters. You don’t even know what they say. So I go through the process, you put as much time into it every day or once a week or as often as you like, based on how many shows you really want to interview on. There are a lot of shows to go through. So if you’ve set a target for yourself, but you want to do 100 interviews, as you go through this process, you’ll get to 100 interviews.

Becky: Wonderful! That is so rich. I’m learning lots from you as well, and I agree it makes sense that if I got a pitch that was well researched, as I did from you, then chances are I’m going to reach back out and want to find out more. So you getting on this podcast is a great example of your own process and approach working really, really well.

Case: Yeah, I mean, I should say we hadn’t met before and that’s what’s happened throughout this entire process. I’ve had an opportunity now with different podcasters. I mentioned doing collaborations and so on, I’ve actually gone on and done different projects with people that I’ve met just through this podcast process. So think of it more as a broader approach to everything that you’re doing, your writing, and your business, as opposed to just a one-off type of interview.

How can you drive traffic to get the most value out of being a guest?

Becky: That’s really helpful. So one last question today, Case. I’m curious, once you’ve landed a show, once you’ve recorded the episode, what you can do after the show, that increases the value to that podcast host, and drives traffic to that episode to make sure that you get the value out of being a guest?

Case: Yeah, absolutely have a plan about how you plan to promote. So based on, for example, social media, of course, is the most popular way. So depending on which social sites that you’re on, have set up, even create templates for yourself. It’s okay to do that, we talked about really personalizing with the podcast, what you could do is personalize every single post as well, but have a template ready so that you can go through it quickly. 

You’re really organized, Becky, but not everybody is. So a lot of podcasters suddenly, one day you receive an email that says, “Hey, your show’s live”, and you’re like, “Oh, I had 100 things to do today, I’m not gonna be able to promote right away.” But again, have a plan. As soon as I receive an email that the show is live, I will schedule on my calendar within the next whatever, 72 hours or something like that, I will post all of the promos. Get your work organized because some hosts do not send any graphics or images and so on. So have templates for that, also have one for Instagram size, Twitter size, all the different ones have it all set up ahead of time. You can even ask the podcaster, let’s say, the links, some podcasters send you the links for their website. I think that’s the preferred way to promote that way you drive people to their website, but if they don’t, go and grab the link off of Apple podcasts, you can find those very easily. So just put that plan in place. 

And then if you have an email list, include promotions to your email list as well. And as I mentioned before, you can also go back to those episodes all the time, that’s a lasting asset that you have out there. So if somebody says, two months from now or 10 months from now, “When were you speaking about guest podcasting and provided a summary,” I said, “Oh, I did that on this show,” and then you can go back and you can have them all organized on your website, app graphics of the show with a little write up about what they’re about, and just point people back there. So you could always go do that. So obviously, set up your plan about how you plan to promote, create your template, so you’re not thinking it through every time, like I don’t know what to say, and then have a process also for putting something on your website to point people back to the show.

Action Steps

Becky: Perfect. Well, this episode has been full of possible actions that authors may want to take to become podcast guests as a means of marketing their books. But I’m wondering if you could pull out two favorites, Case, because we always, at the end of every episode, want to give people things they can implement today.

Case: Yeah, absolutely. 

So I’ll go back to selecting your keywords. I think that’s really, really important because as I mentioned, the podcast directories just don’t have good search engines. And if you put in a keyword for your subject, you might miss a whole bunch of shows that don’t use that specific word in their title. So really think broadly, spend some time thinking through what are all the types of keywords that a podcaster could be using to talk about this subject. As for guest podcasting, I reached out to marketing, podcast, brand podcast strategy, influencing, oh, you know, all these different things, because I try to think broadly about who might be talking about that subject. And then the other thing, so you do that, and then there’s a different podcast directory I mentioned. So you’ll go into the one and what I like to do first is just make a long list of potential shows before I start researching one by one. So I have a chart that I track everything, it’s a good idea to track everything because a lot of shows have similar names. So you want to make sure you’re not looking at the same one all the time. A good directory to do that, for example, is Listen Notes. Listen Notes provides about one or two lines of description the first time you’re searching. So you could just make a quick list of say, 100 shows, and then go in and search each one, one by one, to find the information to do that longer search that I talked about. So I think that’s a more efficient way to do it. Instead of giving yourself a list so you can have a sense of how many shows you might be able to get to. And again, you’re not going to find all the information for all of them. It’s not all there, even contact information. Sometimes it’s hard to find but it is the approach. I always say, keep going on to the next one. If you don’t find the information, move on to the next one, because there are so many shows that you could be looking at.ResourcesLearn more about Case and the work she does here. Follow Guest Podcasting on Facebook.Connect with Case Lane on Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube. Use this free checklist to find the perfect podcasts for a conversation with you.

If you found value in today’s episode, we hope you’ll take a moment to share it with someone else who might benefit from it. If you have any questions or topics you’d like us to cover, please email Becky Robinson here.

Click here for our free resources. 

If you enjoyed this episode, please leave us a review. 

Click here to tweet about this episode!

The post Episode 48: A DIY approach to podcasting appeared first on Weaving Influence.

Episode 47: The Value of Social Media for Authors from Publishing to Marketing

Photo by maverickinfanta / 123rf.com

Click here to listen on your device and subscribe! 

Welcome to Season 2 of The Book Marketing Action Podcast with Becky Robinson, where we give you information that you can immediately implement to increase your influence and market your books more successfully. This month, we are focusing on the topic of social media. In this episode, we are joined by Maggie Smith, author of Good Bones, The Well Speaks of Its Own Poison, Lamp of the Body, and the national bestseller Keep Moving: Notes on Loss, Creativity, and Change.

About Maggie Smith 

Becky: Before we get started today, I have to tell you that I’ve been having a bit of a fangirl moment because I’ve been following Maggie Smith Poet on social media for a while. When her most recent book came out, I’m pretty sure I bought it the first week and so not only do I think that Maggie Smith has a lot to add, in terms of some learning for authors and aspiring authors about how to leverage social media effectively, I just think it is so fun that I get to have a conversation with her. 

So Maggie, welcome. Can you tell us a little bit about you and your work?

Maggie: My first three books are collections of poems, the most recent of which was Good Bones, published in 2017. And my most recent book is called Keep Moving: Notes on Loss, Creativity, and Change, and that came out with One Signal, Simon and Schuster, in October of 2020. And it’s a collection of essays and quotes, so a departure from poetry for me. 

Becky: But very poetic!

Maggie: Yeah, you can’t really take the poetry out of the poet. That’s the thing.

Keep Moving began as a set of daily tweets. Would you share that story?

Becky: It’s beautiful. So the latest book, Keep Moving began as a set of daily tweets, would you be willing to share that story with us?

Maggie: Yeah, so I started writing this book, before I knew it was a book, I didn’t intend to write a book. That happened really organically. I was going through a really terrible time. I was getting divorced and I started writing these daily notes, little self pep talks to myself every day, first thing in the morning, usually before I even made my coffee, just to kind of get myself into a brighter mindset for the day. I posted them on social media, in part because I’m not really a diary keeper. So if I write something, it’s to share, and it felt important to me because so much of social media is curated. We’re showing our best selves, and our cleanest houses and our most well-behaved kid days, and not the sink full of dirty dishes and the inbox of 1000 not replied emails and our hair when we wake up in the morning, and so often, I think we think that other people have it all together, because that’s what they’re projecting on social media. And so it felt important to me to sort of align my social media self with the person who was actually living day to day in this house and the way I could do that was by coming clean and being honest about going through a hard time without sharing details, but just coming clean in that way. And so I was doing that every day and people really started responding to them and retweeting them and sharing them and saying, “I’m going through something similar and I really needed this today,” or “I wish I had read this when I was going through my own divorce,” or job loss or diagnosis, or whatever the crisis was. And it built a sense of community, really organically online, and people started asking for a book of these, “I wish I had this as a journal or a page, a day calendar, or a book I could give to a neighbor or keep on my bedside table.” And that’s really where the idea to compile these notes into a form that didn’t just live on screen, that’s where the idea came from.

Becky: It’s amazing, and I’m so glad you wrote it, Maggie. I think that I shared that experience that others have shared with you, of reading one of your posts at just the right moment. So thank you. 

Did you have a strong social media following before you started the Keep Moving content?

Becky: I’m curious, Maggie, did you have a strong social media following before you started the Keep Moving content? And how did you develop that?

Maggie: Yeah, I did. I mean, not like it is now. I think I had about 16,000 Twitter followers when I started the posts, and now I have 60,000. So the posts grew my following a lot. But my following was fairly strong for a poet at that point, mostly because of Good Bones going viral in 2016, and then again in 2017. And so social media has been sort of oddly important to my career over the past few years, in a way that I had not anticipated because, obviously, if that poem hadn’t been published online, and then hadn’t happened to come out online, during the same week that the Pulse nightclub shooting happened in Orlando, Florida, it wouldn’t have gone viral, which then, wouldn’t have had this sort of domino effect that it did. So I was already pretty active on Twitter at that point, but the posts, in some ways, reached that poetry audience, but ended up reaching a completely different audience, and expanding my readership in a way also.

Becky: That’s helpful, Maggie. I’m thinking about the importance of timing with all of this. And I know, having watched you on some major media broadcasts, the timing of the Keep Moving book, in the middle of the pandemic, when people needed that nudge to keep moving, was impeccable. And the timing of the poem, it sounds like also was, I’m not sure what word to use here. It also really met the needs that people were feeling at that moment.

Maggie: Yeah, it’s been kind of strange, because I’ve written things. You know, the way publishing works is you write things well ahead of them ever appearing in front of readers, and sometimes it’s months, and sometimes it’s years. And so I wrote Keep Moving a year before the pandemic, and I wrote Good Bones a year before it was published. And so it was sort of prescient, but obviously, I had no idea that any of those things were coming and it didn’t feel fortuitous at first to have a book coming out during 2020. In fact, the publication date was supposed to be May and was bumped to October because of the pandemic. And we were kind of scrambling to see what this would all mean. But I agree, it does feel like it was the right time for this book to come out. Because I wrote it during sort of my worst year, and then it came out during a year that’s been so hard for so many people, it seems like it’s getting to do more of its work in this environment.

Not Making The New York Bestseller’s list

Becky: Well, let’s talk a little bit about that, Maggie, because before we started recording, you and I were talking a little bit. I had thought for sure, based on what I’ve seen about the book, that it had made the New York Times bestseller list. And you mentioned that, for various logistical reasons, it didn’t. But let’s talk about the New York Times bestseller list and your own perspective about that.

Maggie: No, the book didn’t make the list, it came really close and did not for a variety of reasons. I think it’s okay to be bummed out for a few minutes about that, the day that it’s not going to happen. But my feeling was, it was never a goal of mine. It has honestly been so incredible, as a poet, to have written this book that sort of defies genre, in a way, I don’t really know any other book quite like it, and I wasn’t sure how it would be received. And so to have it become even a national bestseller, which it has been incredible. I don’t think of that for me as a miss because it was never something that I felt like was in my grasp, to begin with. 

And also, like I was saying to you earlier, I think the best way to sort of kill the joy of the book publishing experience is to put a bunch of expectations for what these milestones should be that you want to hit, whether they’re sales numbers, or reviews, or lists or any of that. The fastest way to make yourself feel stressed out instead of grateful is to have expectations. And so going into something and trying not to have expectations and just hope that the book finds its readers, the people who need that book at that moment, I think is a healthier way to approach it. So I’m always trying to do that instead.

What does your work mean to you?

Becky: I just love that. We spoke, I think, also about what the work means to you. Would you be willing to share that?

Maggie: Well for me, writing this book was literal self-help. I wrote this book for me and I think maybe that kind of authenticity comes across in the writing. I think writing is different when it’s done for an audience, versus when we do it for the sake of the work, or even for ourselves. I never thought of this book as a product. I never thought of it as a commodity. I never even thought of it as something that would, really, pay my bills and do anything. And that way I didn’t think I would have the opportunities that I’ve had because of this book. I wrote it literally to get myself through day one, day two, day three, day four, day five, and before it was even published, it did its work. For me, it did its work. And so somebody asked early on, like what was your biggest goal for this book, and I think the trap is, we could find ourselves saying something like, “I want to be a New York Times bestseller,” or “I want to sell this number of copies,” and my answer, which was, and what I would still say, I want someone who felt like I did, in September of 2018, to get this book and not feel so afraid of what the future might hold for them. And if it does that for one other person, or 10, 20, 30, or 1000, that, to me, is the most important thing.

What impact did your use of social media have when you started to shop your proposal to publishers?

Becky: So for authors who may be listening today, I hope that some of Maggie’s ideas are resonating with you as they are with me, the power of our words, to make a difference in someone else’s life experience is huge. So back to the topic that I think that we came into the call with, or that I came into the call with, of social media. I’m wondering Maggie along your journey, what impact your use of social media has had, as it relates to your ability to access traditional publishing?

Maggie: Well, this book wouldn’t exist without Twitter. I mean, just no bones about it, this book wouldn’t exist without Twitter, because it started there. And because that’s where the feedback came from. So when I didn’t have an agent, when I started posting these daily tweets, and enough people were suggesting that it should be a book. I ended up reaching out and having a conversation with my now agent and working on a book proposal. I don’t think that any of that would have happened without social media. So it was a direct line between writing, posting, and then writing the book proposal and selling the book on proposal. 

I see a lot of writers on social media, particularly on Facebook, which I don’t spend a lot of time there. But asking about platforms, like how do I get a platform, I’ve just sold this book, how do I get a platform? And in some ways, I feel like well, if you’ve sold the book, you’re already behind, if you haven’t started on social media, you’re almost kind of behind. If you think of social media, as a room, with people in it, think of it as a party that you’re entering. If you’re already at the party, and you’ve made friends at the party, and then you get a book deal, you can share your book deal with the friends of the party, and everyone’s so excited, and they’re going to be more willing to help you get your book out there, because you didn’t enter the room with the book. Right? You didn’t come into the room, like who wants to hear about my book or buy my book to a bunch of strangers, you already have those connections, and you already had an authentic relationship with them that was not based on you trying to sell or promote anything. And so I think one of my biggest pieces of advice to authors is to, if you’re a writer, whether you’ve published or not, start engaging and be a good literary citizen, and share other people’s work and make connections and make friends in an authentic way so that when your time comes, and you have something that you want to promote or share and you want someone to help you retweet to get preorder sales or whatever the case may be, it’s happening from an authentic space where you already have these people in your life, and you’re not walking into a room like a walking infomercial for yourself, which is a real turnoff, right? I mean, I think people are savvy enough to sense when you come to a space for that reason only.

What do you think is the biggest value for you as an author in using social media to promote your work?

Becky: That is hugely powerful Maggie, and something I have said before as well, so thank you. So Maggie, let’s talk a little bit about the biggest value you yourself have received along this journey of using social media to promote your work.

Maggie: I mean, I think probably the sense of community I built with these posts. It’s hard because, in some ways, Good Bones would be an obvious answer, and Keep Moving in a way as a book does seem kind of like a continuation of that conversation I began with readers with Good Bones, which is really a poem about holding the darkness and the light at the same time. And so people who liked that poem, and who found me because of that poem, and then maybe got to know me personally, and got to know my parenting and my kids via social media because of that poem, it felt like kind of a natural continuation into the posts and into Keep Moving the book.

But as far as having a wider readership and a wider reach, this book is really the biggest sort of gift I think that social media has given me because it, frankly, wouldn’t have happened if followers hadn’t suggested it. It was not something I conceived of as being this kind of project, and that I think speaks to the real community that can be built online, where sometimes we might think of it as a sort of icky self-promotional space, and these are surface-level connections. And that has not been my experience. I think it’s a tool, and like any tool, it can be used for good or evil. We have seen the way that social media can be used for the latter. But I think we’ve also seen the ways that it can be used for the former, and these kinds of real community building. Relationships really are that thing for me.

What would you say to someone who thinks social media takes too much time?

Becky: That’s so powerful. So what about the author who’s listening and says, “Well, Maggie loves social media, it’s obvious. I don’t have that kind of time to spend.” So what would you say to that kind of objection? Well, that sounds like it takes entirely too much time.

Maggie: I don’t think it takes that much time. I’m a full-time single mom working from home with two kids who are doing hybrid school, and 30 different small jobs. So it’s really not that time-consuming. I mean, it really doesn’t take that many minutes out of your day, even if you set 10 minutes in the morning, 10 minutes in the middle of the day, and 10 minutes in the evening, if you picked 30 minutes out of your day, not even in one stretch, and just spent that time, not just posting yourself, maybe post one thing in that 10 minutes. But look for other people that you can signal boost and engage with those people, find people who are writing and publishing stuff you think is really interesting, and share it and thank the person for writing it and tell them that it touched you. And spending 10 minutes three times a day doing that isn’t much. And also if you take a few days off, it’s not a big deal. Also, I’m fairly shy and I’ve gotten over it, but I think it’s the easy way for those of us who are more introverted to be a little more social, because we get to do it from the safety of our own spaces. And we can choose how much to share and how vulnerable we want to be and how personal we want to be. If we want to include stuff about our family, or if it’s just professional, I mean that whatever that balance is, we get to pick. My personal opinion is people like a little bit of both. If it’s all professional stuff, it’s not that interesting. I want to see your dog. I want to know about the hilarious word problem on your second grader’s math worksheet that you could barely figure out this morning. I want to know what your politics are. I want to know what matters to you. I think if we worry too much about bringing ourselves into it that gets in the way of creating those real connections with other people.

What challenges have you faced?

Becky: Thank you. So Maggie, what if any challenges have you faced in using social media to connect and promote your work?

Maggie: I mean, I don’t know that I’ve had a lot of challenges. I’ve had a much easier time than some of my peers. I have not been bullied too much, I have not had to block too many people, though I do without reserve. It really hasn’t been taxing, I will say the key for me is doing things that feel natural. So if I’m in a marketing meeting or something, and someone says, we’d like you to do this kind of video, or we’d like you to do something like this, or a consultant suggests something, I think it’s perfectly fine to take that into consideration and either say, “that just doesn’t feel like me,” or, “you know what, that makes sense, I can see why that would work, but I think I’d rather tweak it and do something a little bit more along these lines because that feels more comfortable to me.” So that’s not really a challenge but just making sure that you’re curating the space yourself and making sure that it reflects you personally, and that you’re not doing things that you might feel uncomfortable doing for the sake of marketing. I think it’s a fine line, but it feels a lot better to be on a side of that line that you feel comfortable in.

Becky: So taking a stand for who you are, and showing up as who you are.

Maggie: Absolutely, because that’s what I mean, ultimately, your readers want you. They want to know who you are like, who you really are. And so, I do think that’s why they want to see a video clip every once in a while and they want to see a selfie and they want to see your dog, and maybe even your messy house. Because I mean, I know as a reader, I want to know about the people I read. And as a listener of music, I want to know about the singer-songwriters I admire, and I want to know about the actors I admire. And so the more sort of three-dimensional that we can make ourselves, I think that’s important. 

The Today Show Pants

Becky: I totally agree. And somehow we’ve gotten through our conversation, but we haven’t talked about The Today Show pants.

Maggie: I’ll tell you about The Today Show pants. So yeah, when I went on The Today Show, it was very early in the morning, and I was doing it live from my office where I am now and I was wearing a sweater. No, I was wearing a blouse that my daughter picked out. And I was wearing my flannel llama print pajama pants, which no one could see. And it wasn’t for any reason other than the fact that I could get away with it. And they were comfortable. I thought I knew I’d be nervous and wanted to be comfortable. But now the great joy of that is that those are my Today Show pants. So when I get them out of my drawer to sleep in them, or you know, lounge around the house in them, they have like a special memory attached and my kids think it’s funny that I call them that.

Becky: I love it. So have your Today Show pants made a cameo on your Instagram yet, Maggie?

Maggie: I have not posted an image of The Today Show pants. I don’t know that anyone really wants to see my ratty llama, pajama pants. But, maybe someday.

Action Steps

Becky: Well, Maggie, thank you so much for this conversation. There have been so many helpful suggestions along the way. And what we want to do now is what we do at the end of every episode of our podcast, which is to identify some action steps that authors might be able to take today, to be able to move forward to reach their readers in a more effective way. So, Maggie, I’m going to ask you from the things you’ve shared, what are one or two things that people could implement today?

Maggie:

I think first and foremost is to pull a couple 10 minutes spots out of your day and devote those 10 minutes to doing some social media, either posting or retweeting or reaching out to people who are publishing work you admire. I love getting comments from people saying I love this article you wrote or this meant so much to me. I love that, and I try to spend time every day going through my mentions and responding, actually engaging, not just with the heart, but actually saying, “Hey, thanks for reading this and sharing it,” or “I’m in the trenches with you too. I’m parenting and doing the same thing that you are,” and just being a human being on social media. I would say that the other thing, and I don’t know that this is an action item, but try to sort of keep your perspective on the making of the thing versus on the selling of the thing. Because I think the selling of the thing and the marketing of the thing will be sort of positively impacted if you haven’t devoted all your time obsessing over that. If you spend 90% of your time making the best book you can make and 10% of your time thinking about where you’d like to be reviewed, and whose hands you would like to get that book into, and what dreams you have for it, I think you have a greater chance of getting those things in that 10% because you’ve put the time and effort and heart into the 90%. So I don’t know if that’s a today action item, but I think it’s a big picture action item.

Becky: Thank you, Maggie. That’s really helpful and helpful for me personally to think about. I always do tell people that if you want to have a successful book launch, you have to start with a good book and I think that’s what you’re saying, to focus on the 90% and come up with the best possible offer to the world that you can.

ResourcesConnect with Maggie Smith on Instagram and Twitter. Learn more about Maggie and her work on her website. Check out her books here. To be entered into a chance to win a free copy of Maggie Smith’s book, fill out this form. 

If you found value in today’s episode, we hope you’ll take a moment to share it with someone else who might benefit from it. If you have any questions or topics you’d like us to cover, please email Becky Robinson here.

Click here for our free resources. 

If you enjoyed this episode, please leave us a review. 

Click here to tweet about this episode!

The post Episode 47: The Value of Social Media for Authors from Publishing to Marketing appeared first on Weaving Influence.

Episode 46: Showing up authentically online

Photo by gstockstudio / 123rf.com

Click here to listen on your device and subscribe! 

Welcome to Season 2 of The Book Marketing Action Podcast with Becky Robinson, where we give you information that you can immediately implement to increase your influence and market your books more successfully. This month, we are focusing on the topic of social media. In this episode, we are joined by Jenn Grace CEO and Founder of Publish Your Purpose Press. 

About Jenn Grace

Becky: Today we’re focusing on the topic of social media and authenticity. Welcome, Jenn. Could you tell us about yourself, before we dive into today’s topic?

Jenn: Thank you for having me. I am a publisher. I’m the founder and CEO, as you just said, at Publish Your Purpose Press. I am also a six-time author, myself. I just most recently, within the last couple of months, won an award for my book. So, I’m super excited to now say award-winning author, which is fun. Prior to my book experience, my publishing experience, I ran a consulting company for a number of years starting back in 2006. I’ve been kind of in the space of serving others, kind of in the entrepreneurial space, if you will, for I guess, 15 years now, which is fun to say.

 What channels do you find to be most effective and enjoyable?

Becky: Before we dive into the specific topic of authenticity, as it relates to social media, I’m curious if you could tell our listeners as an author, what channels you found to be most effective for you as an author? And which ones you enjoy the most? 

Jenn: That’s a really good question. For myself personally, and for the authors that we serve, LinkedIn happens to be a really good avenue, just because there are so many B2B opportunities if you are being authentic on that platform. I think there’s a lot of people on LinkedIn that are very sales-y, very inauthentic, and people can figure that out very quickly. But for me personally, LinkedIn is really where I spend a good amount of my time. And then you know, the others, Facebook and Instagram, we have a lot of authors that are really doing really well on each of those platforms individually. So there’s not really a one swooping like, “Hey, everyone’s doing awesome on Instagram,” it’s more of a case-by-case basis.

What does it mean to you to be authentic on social media channels?

Becky: That’s helpful, Jen. So, you’ve already given us a hint, as you referenced, what it looks like on LinkedIn to be inauthentic. So could you talk to me a little bit about what it means to you to be authentic on social media channels? 

Jenn: The best way that I would talk about authenticity is by talking about it both online and offline. Because I think a lot of times we, and we all probably know someone who falls into this, where you meet this person at an event, and they seem so amazing and so dynamic. You’re in a group of people and you’re like, wow, this person is so magnetic. Then you actually catch them in the elevator, just the two of you, or you catch them in the lobby, and they are miserable and grumpy because they’re not putting on the show that they were putting on previously. So, I think to me, that is a little bit of what authenticity is. Are you the same you in all areas where you show up? So how are you the same Becky, that is sitting here? And you and I are having this conversation for others to listen to, versus how were the two of us when the audio wasn’t rolling? Versus how would you interact with your neighbor when you’re bringing your garbage down on garbage day? I think that it’s important to be that same person in all of those interactions. I think why it’s important is because it’s more authentic, it’s more genuine, people really get to kind of feel and know who you are. But I also think, just from a mental health perspective, it’s exhausting trying to be different people and show up differently in different scenarios and different settings, that you end up wasting all sorts of energy on trying to be somebody that you’re not and that’s really unproductive for any area of your life, especially business.

 How do you show up as your real self on social media?

Becky: So, as you’re talking about that, that makes a lot of sense to me. But I know that there is this kind of overall perception people have that social media, just in its essence is inauthentic. So, I’ve heard people say everyone only puts their happiest pictures on Instagram, or they only put their best foot forward when they show up on social media channels. So for some authors that I meet, they’re reluctant to get involved in using social media as a means of sharing their messages, because they feel like the channels themselves lend themselves to the opposite of authenticity. Would you have some tips for people who want to show up as their real selves on social media? And how do you navigate that belief or assumption that people think they can only share what is happy and good in their lives on social media?

Jenn: That’s such a good question. The authors that I work with all own businesses and the majority of them are also public speakers. There’s a couple of outliers that may not be public speaking, but the majority have businesses. And they’re thought leaders in their space, which is a lot of the reason why they wrote their books. So, they can kind of expand their reach, and scale what they’re doing.

There is one author, in particular, and I will not say her name, specifically, but I have known her for a very long time. We have worked together well before working on her book together, and I constantly wanted to strangle her because I was like, nobody knows who you are. Nobody knows the real you and it’s driving me absolutely crazy, because I know the real you. We’re friends, we work together, we have this long history together. I know other people have that same fondness of who you are as a person, but when you’re on social media, you are so washed down and so watered down for who you are, nobody can really connect and relate with you because no one really knows anything about you. It was a multiyear dragging her out of her comfort zone and out of her shell, convincing her that this was the right thing to do. And in doing so, I was able to convince her to start sharing personal details about herself. I was like, I’m not going to really throw you into the deep end and make you really make a 180 and start sharing things that seem so out of your comfort zone. I think it would be a little bit alarming to an audience to have like this very, kind of robotic way and like very impersonal way, and then suddenly, you’re like, oh, wow, they’re sharing information that I don’t know if I should actually know. I really started to coach her and guide her into doing that.

One of the biggest posts that blew up on her platform was, I don’t know if it was an anniversary post, or if it was a Valentine’s Day thing, but it was this love letter that she had written to her spouse that previously she never really talked about. I had to really force her to talk about her spouse and it was beautiful. It had a bunch of photos of the two of them together. They’ve been together for a long time and it was one of the most liked, commented, shared posts, because it was so authentically who she was, and everyone that’s worked with her or worked around her was like, finally, she’s finally showing up as the person that we know her to be. At the same time, that was bringing in other people who were like, “Oh, wow, who is this person? I don’t even realize it’s the same page that I previously liked.” And that was like the foundation because it gave her the validation to say, wow, when I do share something personal, positive engagement occurs. So with that little push got her more comfortable actually sharing details about her life that are not necessarily directly tied to what she does for business and it was like a huge aha lightbulb moment for her.

 What are the benefits of showing up with authenticity?

Becky: What a powerful story, Jen. I appreciate you sharing that. I’ve had a similar experience in partnering with clients, and that idea of showing up is very closely connected to authenticity. It’s stupid and cliche by now, but I often will tell clients the magic happens when you show up. So, let’s talk a little bit more about that. Jen, what do you think are some other benefits of showing up with authenticity? Because of the story you just referenced, when you show up with authenticity, you open this possibility that people can connect with you in a new way or remember you in a new way. What else do you see as a benefit of showing up with authenticity?

Jenn: To me the biggest benefits, in addition to what I had already said about, just the amount of mental energy that you’re draining by not being who you are, where you want to be, is from a Marketing 101 perspective. That we don’t want to reach everybody. We don’t want to capture every possible person. Every possible person on the earth is not a client of mine and they’re not a client of yours. So what we want to do is we want to either attract them or we want to repel them, and by being authentically who you are, you are going to do one of those two things. I think a lot of people are afraid to have a message that repels somebody. At the end of the day, that is absolutely what you want to do. Because you don’t want to be wasting your time, resources, energy, or efforts trying to bring in a client, that is not going to be somebody that you’re going to enjoy serving to begin with. I think from just that standpoint, the more authentic we are, and to me I’m always I’m like, what you see is what you get. Like I said before, how you and I are right now, is exactly how I am with any other interaction I’m going to have today, because it’s easier for me. But also people will either like me, or they won’t. And that’s a beautiful thing because you don’t want to serve everyone. 

From a marketing and messaging standpoint, I have it in my marketing and messaging all over the place that we serve the underrepresented voices most often, which oftentimes are LGBTQ people. They’re people of color, people with disabilities, and that’s very intentional because, as a queer woman myself, I don’t want to work with someone who doesn’t like me based on who I love. So the more I can be outspoken about that, the more I’m going to repel. That audience is not going to want to do business with me. I think when we’re talking about sexual orientation, gender, identity, race, those are like the big things. But there are other things, maybe environmentally conscious, like you don’t want to work with people who don’t have the environment front and center. So, if you are authentically you and the environment is something you’re really passionate about, talking about it, sharing it, being true to who you are in all those areas, it’s going to repel the people who could care less about the environment. So, you see what I’m saying, does that make sense?

Becky: Well, yes, and it’s a really interesting take on it, Jen, that I’ve never thought of before, that one of the benefits of showing up with authenticity is it helps people figure out if we’re the right fit for them. It sounds a little counterintuitive that we would create an online presence on purpose, to repel the people who aren’t our people, but it’s so brilliant. So the downside is, if we’re not clear about who we are and what we value, then it’s not easy for people to decide whether or not we’re the type of organization that they want to work with?

Jenn: Yeah, and I think that comes down to the products and the services that we offer. It comes down to who we are as people. It comes down to who our team is, as people. And all of those are factors in whether somebody wants to do business with us. I think from just a clarity standpoint, the clearer we are on who we are, who we want to be doing business with, and what we offer, all of those things in conjunction with each other are really what makes somebody say, “Yeah, I want to do business with her” or “Oh, hell, no, I want nothing to do with that.” And either of those scenarios is a good scenario because then you’re not wasting extra kind of time and energy from a business development standpoint on people who just don’t fundamentally like you.

Becky: That is so helpful, Jen. For those of you who are listening, I’d be curious what action steps you can take away from this. So, if you have been in a place where you’ve hesitated to show up authentically, or there’s been a hesitation to share the details of who you are as a person, I hope that this is inspiring you to consider how you might choose to show up with more authenticity.

 What are some tips for increasing authenticity in how we show up online?

Becky: Jen, I want to circle back to an earlier part of the conversation when we were talking about how social media channels, in and of themselves, kind of fuel this pressure to be bigger than we are or better than we are or happier than we are. So, what do you think about sharing the more difficult things in our lives? And how can we be sure that we’re doing that in an authentic way as well? 

Jenn: Another really good question. The people that I know, the people that I follow, and the people that I respect, I personally find that they share a balance of both of those things. I would say it’s probably like a two-thirds situation where two-thirds of the time it’s something positive, uplifting, exciting, some accomplishments they’ve recently received and then there’s that third of the time, where it’s like, I’m having a crap day and here are all the reasons why. I feel like social media has been around for a long time. At this point, I feel like it’s still treated as if it’s like the newest thing. But in reality, it is not the newest thing at all.

There are new platforms, there are new ways of doing things, but the idea of social media is not new, and I think we’re still all operating from that. When it first came out, the standpoint of, “if I post on here, it has to be all of the happy positive things,” like that’s all only what people are looking for. I think there’s a balance because you do have those people who are on social media platforms, and all they do is complain and you just you snooze them because you want nothing, like okay, enough already, you’re having a rough day. But the people who have that balance, where most of the time they’re uplifting and positive, and then occasionally they put a post in there like, listen my business isn’t doing great right now, because this happened and this happened or I had to let go of an employee because of this happening, or this happening, or whatever, those authentic, real-time things have been happening, even if it’s familial issues, talking about those things, a lot of times those posts are the ones that get really really high engagement.

I know for me, personally, I have the Publish Your Purpose pages, and all the different places, and then I have me and all the different places. I will intentionally share just to me, I like to highlight just entertaining stories of my child saying the most ridiculous things to me on a regular basis because he’s smarter than his years. But then he says things, and I’m like, that’s really profound and so there’s like that happy uplifting side of things. But just the other day, he got Student of the Month, which I’m so proud of him for, but in what I was writing about, about him being student of the month, I also address the fact that he has debilitating anxiety, like severe anxiety, where it is an uphill battle every single day of his life to function on a basic level. So my point in sharing that was like, hey, you can still have all of these struggles and you can still work through these struggles, and you can still be recognized for your ability to work through those struggles. And I could have just done what every mom does, and like, “Hey my child’s amazing, they got student of the month,” and let everybody cheer. But I was like, no, this is an opportunity to show up and let people into that struggle that we have on a daily basis around his anxiety. What that does in my world, in someone who’s listening, and to this world, is that when I’m talking to somebody, or maybe they happen to see that post, or maybe they’re listening to this, and they go read the post, they’re going to know something about me that I couldn’t have put in the marketing material. They’re going to know something about me in the sense that I know how to work with people that have mental health challenges of any kind. Because I deal with this on a day to day basis. 

And so that’s the really cool part about being authentic too, is that you’re letting people into the really rough, jagged inside and edges of who you are. But it also shows who you are and what you’re capable of. So if we’re looking at publishing professionals side by side, one person has this polish, “I’m amazing, I don’t do anything wrong” persona, and then you have the other person who’s like, “listen stuff happens and I’m dealing with this mental health crisis at home.” And the person that’s debating like, who do I go with? They’re going to explore the person who has a similar challenge that they have, rather than that person who’s looking perfect. So I think that’s huge.

Becky: So what you’re saying is that when we let people into the struggles that we have, we become more accessible to them. We become more relatable to them because none of us feel like that polished one. 

What are some choices authors or thought leaders have in expressing their authenticity through social media?

Becky: I want to wrap up by talking about the choices that we have, as it relates to showing up with authenticity, because there may be someone listening who says, “That sounds great, but I can’t talk about XYZ on my social media channels as a business person.” So Jen, what would you say to someone who has some areas of their life that they want to wall off from social sharing? Is it still possible to show up with authenticity even when we make choices to keep some topics quiet?

Jenn: I think that’s a tough question. I think without getting into political beliefs, I think the politics of what’s happening right now, in and of themselves, make that really difficult for people because there could be people that you look at, and you’re like, “wow, we’re really aligned, we have all these great things in common,” and then all of a sudden, they post something that’s in opposition to what your political views are. Then suddenly, people make very sweeping decisions about who that person is, without really spending the time on like, “Hey, that was somebody that I really respected and loved prior to knowing this information about them. What is it about knowing this that made me change?” I’m being very neutral about this but I think that’s where it can get really challenging. So I think politics is something that generally speaking, that’s not something that you need to talk about. That’s not something that you need to bring into any of your social media dialogues and I don’t think you’re being inauthentic by not doing that. I think you’re being respectful by not doing that. 

You could also probably put religion into that same category, because regardless of whether you’re spiritual, where you are on any religious spectrum, they’re still going to be people that have a knee-jerk reaction to who you are, what you believe in, etc. So again, I don’t necessarily think unless that’s baked into what you’re writing about, what you’re speaking about, what your business is about, I don’t think that necessarily has to be on social media either. 

I think if I were to say here’s a formula to follow or steps to think about it would be to make a list. So start by making a list of the things that you’re passionate about, it could include that you’re passionate about politics, and it could include that you’re passionate about your religion, but you really just make that list of those areas that you’re passionate about. And then kind of go through with a red pen and cross out the ones that really aren’t going to further your objectives. Many of them might not actually further your objectives, I think you’re always safe sharing about your significant other, I think you’re always safe sharing about pets, sharing about children, like those are very safe. Just sharing about your pets and children alone can really help people get to know who you are on a deeper level and you don’t have to go into any of the political, religious, any of those hot topic issues that are going to get anybody burned by doing it, unless you’ve been doing it all along, then you’re fine. But you don’t want to have all of the things walled off and now you’re like, “Okay, I’m gonna make a beat, I’m gonna put my toe in this pond of sharing a little more about myself,” certainly do not go into the hot topic area, just post a picture of your cat, just start small, and like really work your way into it.

Action Steps

Becky: That’s really helpful advice. So I want to wrap up this episode, the way that we do all of our episodes, because this podcast is called the book marketing action podcast. So I’m wondering, Jen, if you could identify a couple of action steps that authors could take today to increase their authenticity on social media.

Jenn:

I’m going to go back to the thing I had just said, so I would start with a list. I think that’s step one action. Step one is just start with a list of the things that you are already comfortable with talking about, like just do a spreadsheet that has some columns in it, things that you already talked about, you’re comfortable with things that you are super passionate about. Then make that third column, the things that you will actually start to do, and don’t go hog wild and go all in right now. Just one step at a time, say, “All right, this week, I’m just going to post a picture of my animal and just see what happens.” See what people say, and if we’re talking about book marketing, grab your book, put your pets in front of your book, the book behind your pet, do something with your pet. Right? We have an author who wrote a book called What Are You Waiting For?: You Don’t Have 9 Lives! and it’s very much like Who Moved My Cheese? but she’s using her cat as the way to tell the story. And my cat one day just hopped up on my desk and had his head like peeking behind the cover of her book and almost like in the same way that the cat on the book looked. I was like this is like the best photo op and I wasn’t even staging it. Now she uses it in all of her marketing, because it’s a tie in, but even if your book is a business book, you could be like, “Wow, look at who else is enjoying this book today.” You can be really light hearted about it. And it doesn’t have to be this big endeavor, and then just see what happens, see how people are kind of reacting to it, then you can make that decision of like, “Okay, what is my plan from here.” It’s almost like doing an assessment, you kind of assessed what you’re not sharing and what you are sharing, and you’ll decide what you’re comfortable with, and then deciding what platform. So step two to me would be deciding what platforms you’re willing to share personal stuff on, because LinkedIn is not the best place to be sharing personal information. So if you have a Facebook, or an Instagram, that’s where you should be really doing that personal sharing, but doesn’t mean that you can’t share a little bit of personal stuff on LinkedIn here and there. But they’re very different strategies and very different audiences. So then it’s a matter of saying, alright, if I want to start sharing these things, on what platform am I going to do that. And so you can kind of decide from there, I think just starting with those two steps alone can be really, really helpful.

Becky: Those are really great next steps. If you’re listening today, and you decide to try them, I’d love to hear what you come up with. 

ResourcesConnect with Publish Your Purpose Press on Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, and Twitter. Follow Jenn T. Grace on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram.  Learn more about Jenn on her website here. Click here to learn more about Publish Your Purpose Press. Check out Jenn’s memoir, House on Fire, here. 

If you found value in today’s episode, we hope you’ll take a moment to share it with someone else who might benefit from it. If you have any questions or topics you’d like us to cover, please email Becky Robinson here.

Click here for our free resources. 

If you enjoyed this episode, please leave us a review. 

Click here to tweet about this episode!

The post Episode 46: Showing up authentically online appeared first on Weaving Influence.