Building pipeline for an advice podcast
October 24, 2017 8:48 AM Subscribe
Looking for ways to get more people to write in to our advice show.
I've been co-hosting an advice podcast for a year or so and struggling to build a significant backlog of questions and problems to answer. We get enough to do a show roughly every week, but it's difficult to build up a buffer and we tend to record as many shows as we get write-ins for all in one go. It would be nice to have enough of a buffer to know we can definitely run a show a week and not have to scrape for questions and hope for the best each time.
We're struggling as it is to extend our reach beyond colleagues/friends/people who listened to our previous podcast about comics, so a lot of the questions tend to come from people we know, and those people only have so many problems to be solved.
Is this a problem other advice-givers find? Has anyone written about how to build this kind of pipeline and get your name out there when you're people who are taking agony column-style questions? Facebook advertising has been a bust so far but we're open to trying other ideas. General "hey here is a place to go to tell people about your podcast" advice is also welcome.
I've been co-hosting an advice podcast for a year or so and struggling to build a significant backlog of questions and problems to answer. We get enough to do a show roughly every week, but it's difficult to build up a buffer and we tend to record as many shows as we get write-ins for all in one go. It would be nice to have enough of a buffer to know we can definitely run a show a week and not have to scrape for questions and hope for the best each time.
We're struggling as it is to extend our reach beyond colleagues/friends/people who listened to our previous podcast about comics, so a lot of the questions tend to come from people we know, and those people only have so many problems to be solved.
Is this a problem other advice-givers find? Has anyone written about how to build this kind of pipeline and get your name out there when you're people who are taking agony column-style questions? Facebook advertising has been a bust so far but we're open to trying other ideas. General "hey here is a place to go to tell people about your podcast" advice is also welcome.
I thought of Mefi Projects as well-- that's a great way to let this community know what you're doing.
Other thoughts:
- What other online communities or social networks are you a part of? If it doesn't break community rules, let people know about the podcast and specifically let them know you're looking for questions.
- Could you afford to advertise on other advice podcasts or websites? E.g., Dear Sugar, Captain Awkward, Dear Prudence, etc. (And maybe ask them for advice on building a following.)
- Maybe another advice-giver would be willing to do a guest appearance on your podcast where you all discuss a problem. Or you could do a short interview with them about the advice-giving gig. Worst they can do is say no.
- Write a piece for Medium or other content provider (HuffPo?) about the podcast or the process doing the podcast.
- Buy a "featured podcast" spot on iTunes (or other podcast subscriber site) It might not be too expensive.
I hope you do post in Projects because I love this kind of podcast!
posted by tuesdayschild at 9:30 AM on October 24, 2017 [1 favorite]
Other thoughts:
- What other online communities or social networks are you a part of? If it doesn't break community rules, let people know about the podcast and specifically let them know you're looking for questions.
- Could you afford to advertise on other advice podcasts or websites? E.g., Dear Sugar, Captain Awkward, Dear Prudence, etc. (And maybe ask them for advice on building a following.)
- Maybe another advice-giver would be willing to do a guest appearance on your podcast where you all discuss a problem. Or you could do a short interview with them about the advice-giving gig. Worst they can do is say no.
- Write a piece for Medium or other content provider (HuffPo?) about the podcast or the process doing the podcast.
- Buy a "featured podcast" spot on iTunes (or other podcast subscriber site) It might not be too expensive.
I hope you do post in Projects because I love this kind of podcast!
posted by tuesdayschild at 9:30 AM on October 24, 2017 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: If anyone wants to find the show it is the top entry under Projects on my profile (I am mainly here for the advice rather than to advertise the show).
posted by terretu at 9:32 AM on October 24, 2017
posted by terretu at 9:32 AM on October 24, 2017
I think it'd be a neat thing if you went on /r/relationships or /r/relationship_advice or /r/advice the day of the show, then posted your podcast link with a timestamp as a comment. I'm sure the writers would appreciate the answer!
posted by bbqturtle at 9:37 AM on October 24, 2017 [2 favorites]
posted by bbqturtle at 9:37 AM on October 24, 2017 [2 favorites]
As far as I know, the best way to advertise podcasts is by having other podcasts run a sample with a link in the description!
posted by bbqturtle at 9:38 AM on October 24, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by bbqturtle at 9:38 AM on October 24, 2017 [1 favorite]
I'm part of a group podcast that is improv comedy disguised as a talk show. Once in a while, we do correspondence from listeners, and we A) fake up some letters/tweets/facebook msgs and B) steal questions from things like Yahoo Answers.
So, my advice is to stretch what you have by adding filler. It's always an option; whether you disclose it or not, that's your call.
posted by Sunburnt at 10:16 AM on October 24, 2017
So, my advice is to stretch what you have by adding filler. It's always an option; whether you disclose it or not, that's your call.
posted by Sunburnt at 10:16 AM on October 24, 2017
I like Sunburnt's advice to repurpose other questions, especially if your advice differs from the cited material. You could make it a segment and call it Second Opinions, or something like that.
posted by jennypower at 10:38 AM on October 24, 2017 [5 favorites]
posted by jennypower at 10:38 AM on October 24, 2017 [5 favorites]
Are you cross promoting at all? Edit some single questions and post them as teasers to your Twitter and/or Instagram with a pointer to the show site.
posted by rhizome at 12:11 PM on October 24, 2017
posted by rhizome at 12:11 PM on October 24, 2017
Most people aren't going to submit questions to some random podcast they've never heard of, so I think you should focus on building an audience in general. That's no simple task either but at least there are plenty of resources out there on how to do that.
posted by acidic at 12:57 PM on October 24, 2017 [3 favorites]
posted by acidic at 12:57 PM on October 24, 2017 [3 favorites]
Looking at the website - the "cry for help" is off-putting (who are you, and why should I ask you for help?), and the "submit a problem" in the top menu is an email link; nowhere on the website does it indicate what you do. Maybe that's covered at Facebook; I don't do Facebook so I wouldn't think of looking there for additional info.
There's nothing to indicate, "we cover X range of questions and give advice on our weekly podcasts." There's no sense of what topics you cover. (And, okay, maybe it's "anything" - but you need to say that!)
Definitely, nothing on the website indicates, "we WANT your questions," as opposed to, "you could contact us if you like."
posted by ErisLordFreedom at 1:42 PM on October 24, 2017 [1 favorite]
There's nothing to indicate, "we cover X range of questions and give advice on our weekly podcasts." There's no sense of what topics you cover. (And, okay, maybe it's "anything" - but you need to say that!)
Definitely, nothing on the website indicates, "we WANT your questions," as opposed to, "you could contact us if you like."
posted by ErisLordFreedom at 1:42 PM on October 24, 2017 [1 favorite]
Yeah I’ll echo repurposing. I was going to say something similar earlier but it was awfully close to being a MBMBAM rip-off. There’s a big difference between Yahoo Answers and other advice venues though.
I’d be interested in a segment where you disagree with advice given in another column etc. My wife and I briefly thought of it, that discussing advice givers (and sometimes their obvious biases) is sometimes more interesting than giving advice!
posted by supercres at 4:46 PM on October 24, 2017
I’d be interested in a segment where you disagree with advice given in another column etc. My wife and I briefly thought of it, that discussing advice givers (and sometimes their obvious biases) is sometimes more interesting than giving advice!
posted by supercres at 4:46 PM on October 24, 2017
Has anyone written about how to build this kind of pipeline and get your name out there when you're people who are taking agony column-style questions? Facebook advertising has been a bust so far but we're open to trying other ideas.
A family member was an advice columnist for a while, and I can affirmatively tell you that she wrote to herself for advice on a regular basis, and strong-armed friends and family to write to her, too. Fabrication was encouraged and fact-checking was not performed. She ran at least one letter based on a fanfic. This was always supposed to be "until more letters start coming in" but I don't think the flood ever appeared.
posted by Snarl Furillo at 6:51 PM on October 24, 2017
A family member was an advice columnist for a while, and I can affirmatively tell you that she wrote to herself for advice on a regular basis, and strong-armed friends and family to write to her, too. Fabrication was encouraged and fact-checking was not performed. She ran at least one letter based on a fanfic. This was always supposed to be "until more letters start coming in" but I don't think the flood ever appeared.
posted by Snarl Furillo at 6:51 PM on October 24, 2017
« Older Visa options for romantic partner of US citizen? | How does one choose a snowblower? Newer »
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by fairlynearlyready at 9:04 AM on October 24, 2017 [1 favorite]