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Celebrity podcasts are killing it, and plenty of podcasters
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wonder if there's a secret sauce to podcasting like a celebrity.
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As it turns out, there is!
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But is it relevant to podcasters who aren't celebrities?
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Hello, and welcome to another Podcast Pontifications with me, Evo Terra.
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The great thing about having so many celebrities starting podcasts is that
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it brings more people, the fans of those celebrities, to podcasting.
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The worst thing about having so many celebrities starting podcasts
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is that some of those new podcast listeners think, "Hey, that looks easy.
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I can do that."
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And enter the podcasting space with very unrealistic expectations.
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Some seasoned podcasters are impacted by this, too, listening to these
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low-quality yet highly consumed episodes thinking, why am I spending so much
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effort making this super tight when this celebrity is clearly phoning it in?
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Like perhaps literally phoning it in?
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And sucking all the oxygen out of the room.
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I hear you.
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So today, I'm going to give you five tips on how to podcast like a
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celebrity, only my tongue is going to be planted firmly in my cheek.
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Ready?
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Step number one, tip number one, actually be a celebrity.
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Yeah!
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Because fans of celebrities are here for their crazy, cult-like reasons.
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It's nothing rational.
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And crazy fans of celebrities will forgive a lot.
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One of the things that they will forgive is the quality of the
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episode that the celebrity puts out.
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As long as they, the fan, can still have that weird, parasocial relationship
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with the celebrity, things like equipment, attention to detail, editing,
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whether that's from audio editing or editorial, none of that matters to them.
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The audience of a celebrity is oftentimes there for the banter.
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They, the celebrity's fans, don't see any fat needing to be trimmed.
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But you, the serious podcaster, probably don't have that luxury,
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which means you have to compete for attention by making a high quality show.
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Tip number two to podcast like a celebrity is have a built-in audience
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in the hundreds of thousands, if not millions, before you start your podcast.
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That makes it so much easier to get traction for your podcast.
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You see, fans of celebrities are often connected to other fans, sometimes
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very tightly, sometimes loosely, which allows then a new thing from a
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celebrity to spread through fandom of that celebrity or adjacent celebrities
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to said celebrity very, very quickly.
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They have online communications, online communities.
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They have email lists.
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They have hashtags you can utilize.
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Fans of celebrities are waiting for something, anything, new from a celebrity,
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and as soon as they encounter it, they want to rush to get the word out and
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spread it and be amongst the first to say, "I was listening to it way back when."
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You probably don't have that luxury, serious podcaster, and you
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may find it hard to get word of mouth working for you en masse.
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Tip number three, have lots of disposable income to spend on staff or paid services.
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Now, I'm sure that many celebrities do work hard.
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I don't doubt that at all, but they're often paid very well and can therefore
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afford to get up and running quickly and turn over lots of duties to
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other people like their staff so they can just focus on being the talent.
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You know, the fun part.
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They've got a spare room, probably several of them, that needs to be
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sound treated and a bunch of new equipment added so they can really
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get a good sounding podcast in there.
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Yeah.
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Okay.
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That can be done this weekend.
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They get a quality producer.
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They need a guest booker, a social media manager, a marketing manager,
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somebody running add ops for them.
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They, with their disposable income, can bring those people onboard very quickly
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so the machine is up and running fast.
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You probably don't have that luxury, serious podcaster.
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You have to evaluate every cost balanced against revenue potential.
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Tip number four, be connected to other celebrities that are connected
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to other celebrities, therefore, increasing your network effect quickly.
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There are enough celebrity shows now that a new celebrity podcaster can get booked
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on just about any of the other celebrity podcasts very, very quickly to be a guest.
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Celebrities are used to collaborating with other celebrities so coordinating
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things like episode drops or crossover episodes is a breeze for them.
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Also something probably left to staff members.
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I'll grant you that as well.
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Look, you probably don't have that luxury, serious podcaster.
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So you have to build relationships slowly with other podcasters and find creative
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ways for you and they to work together.
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Tip number five, be able to call any news outlet or have someone call to get
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your show covered in that media format.
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Heck, it might even get picked up for syndication services around the world,
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around the net, everything because that will help then spread the message further.
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Human beings love news and information about celebrities.
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Just look at the magazines at the grocery store aisle, or check the
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trending hashtags on Twitter today.
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There'll be celebrity related stuff in there.
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A podcast is just a show to the media, and then to us actually, and
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the media loves to talk about a new show that a celebrity is creating.
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But you probably don't have that luxury and will find it quite hard
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to get even a local news outlet interested in your podcasting.
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So, in case you didn't catch my subtle undertone, there's very little that
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podcasters like you and me, very serious podcasters, very little we can learn from
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celebrity podcasters unless you, unlike me, happen to be a celebrity already.
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For the rest of us, it's back to fundamentals, just doing the work and
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making the best content we possibly can.
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Now, tomorrow is the penultimate episode of this half season, then a break for
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me for a few weeks so I can recharge and create more content for you, resuming
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episode publishing shortly thereafter.
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So prepare yourself.
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I shall be back tomorrow with yet another Podcast Pontifications.
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Cheers!
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Podcast Pontifications is written and narrated by Evo Terra.
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He's on a mission to make podcasting better.
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Links to everything mentioned in today's episode are in the notes
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section of your podcast listening app.
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A written-to-be-read article based on today's episode is available at
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podcastpontifications.com where you'll also find a video version and a corrected
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transcript, both created by Allie Press.
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Podcast Pontifications is a production of Simpler Media.
