In the second episode of their series with ASOM Pod Co-Host John Roman, hosts Sadaf Beynon and Matt Edmundson explore how the relationship between podcast hosts and the character and rapport they develop can help to connect you with your audience.

Key Takeaways:

1. The Importance of Chemistry and Selection in Co-Hosting: John Roman highlights that having a natural chemistry with co-hosts is crucial for a successful podcast. The selection process is key to ensuring that each co-host brings unique perspectives and can contribute meaningfully to discussions. This avoids groupthink and keeps the content engaging and diverse.
2. Balancing Information and Entertainment: Both John and the hosts emphasise the need for podcasts to be both informative and entertaining. Injecting humour and banter helps keep the content relatable and enjoyable for listeners. This balance is essential to maintain listener engagement and make the podcast appealing to a broader audience.
3. Relevance and Relatability to the Audience: Being relatable and discussing topics that matter to the audience is critical for building a loyal listener base. Authenticity is key; hosts need to be themselves and talk about issues that are relevant and interesting to their audience. This helps in establishing a strong connection with listeners and encourages them to keep coming back for more.

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John Roman | How to Engage Your Audience

Sadaf Beynon: Welcome to Podjunction Podcasts, a show that helps podcasters who are using their podcast to grow their business.

Matt Edmundson: Yes. Welcome. I just thought you were going to say more than that.

So for those of you who don't know, my name is Matt Edmundson. Beside me is the semi professional Sadaf Beynon.

Who

Matt Edmundson: said to me before we hit the record button on the intro thing, because if you were regular to the show, you'll notice that we've changed the intro around slightly. There used to be a pre recorded clip.

We don't do that anymore. We just come straight into this and say hello. And Sadaf's like, I'm totally going to nail the intro this time.

Sadaf Beynon: I was trying until Matt interrupted.

Matt Edmundson: Oh, so it's my fault. Yeah. So that was a deliberate pause.

Yes?

Uh, we sponsor our own podcast. What's that all about? We're just a, an agency, a podcast agency that helps businesses set up and run their own podcast to grow their own business. Uh, and we have some unique ways to do that. If that's you, if you're kind of thinking, well, I could set up a podcast and need some help, check out podjunction.

com. We'd love to see you in there. Yes, we would. Plug over sponsorship section now ended.

Sadaf Beynon: Excellent. All right, so moving on. Back to me.

Matt Edmundson: Back to you. Yeah, because we've rehearsed this.

Sadaf Beynon: All right. So in this, in this episode, we are continuing with insights from John Roman.

Matt Edmundson: John Roman, part two.

Sadaf Beynon: Yes, that's right.

Matt Edmundson: listen in for that. Yes,

Sadaf Beynon: we

Matt Edmundson: should. We can do some

Sadaf Beynon: tips. The importance of topic selection and how to blend information and entertainment.

Matt Edmundson: We're definitely going to need some help. Yeah. I'm looking forward to this then. Uh, John Roman, the legend. That is John Roman. Uh, are we going to roll VT now? We are. And then, uh, just so you know, if you're new to the show, by the way, a warm welcome to anyone that's new to the Podjunction podcast, uh, what happens is we play the video and then you and I chat about what the guest has talked about and figure out what we can learn from that.

So, uh, here is the video, then Sadaf and I will be back after this. Here we go.

John Roman: Sure. So I, you know, I think honestly it was, it was us selecting who the four of us are. Mm-Hmm. .

Um,

John Roman: and because of that, it, it, it's not, it's not an issue, right. We have, we have four people that are very opinionated. Um, some more reserved than others.

Mm-Hmm. .

John Roman: And you know, one that loves to love to chat. So it's, I think it was the selection process of the four of us.

Sadaf Beynon: Yeah.

John Roman: It's, it's not an issue, right? Like all four of us will keep talking. Um, if anything, it's more of a challenge for the editing, making sure we, we can get it down to digestible with everybody's viewpoint coming. Yeah. And. And to be fair, there's, there's some points where, you know, I might be a little bit louder and I might lead that conversation.

Uh, a conversation, so it gets better actually, because it took a little bit to like understand each other and understand flow. So I think we'll just get better as it, as it keeps going.

Sadaf Beynon: Absolutely. Yeah. Um, so actually you said that you recorded four in one go, right? In one sitting. So how did you manage to keep the energy levels up?

Cause it can be draining, right? Like.

John Roman: Yeah. I mean, it was, it was, uh. You know, roughly we were, we got there at 9 a. m. into the studio. We started recording at 10 and, and we were done right at about 5. And that includes a little bit of a lunch break.

Yeah.

John Roman: I took everybody to a, to my favorite pizza place here in Atlanta.

so

John Roman: it's interesting, right? It's not like we're just sitting there in a panel on a topic we don't care about.

We were very selective with the four of us, but also, um, this go around, Jimmy did it, but he spent time on it, finding topics, so each episode we have one main topic, and finding topics that he knew. Um, all of us were passionate about all of us could speak to one of us, at least one of us has some hot take or unpopular opinion on, um, so, so topic selection I think is paramount and key.

Sadaf Beynon: Yeah. And who, are you all involved in that?

Maybe we'll, we find out that, you know, that's just where he excels and maybe he's the, the, the, the brainchild for topics.

I think,

John Roman: I think TBD he's, he has shown a propensity at this point that he is really good at that. Um,

so

John Roman: that might be, You know, something that he owns moving

Sadaf Beynon: forward.

John Roman: Um, yeah, I think we're still trying to figure it out.

Sadaf Beynon: Yeah. Yeah. Exciting.

John Roman: I think so.

Sadaf Beynon: Yeah. So again, going back to the fact that you've guessed it on so many podcasts before. Are there some key takeaways or best practices that you have, you know, adopted for your own show?

is

John Roman: because you tip a lot of times on some podcasts, you really get in a group think, and they're just talking to merchants and merchants obviously have a very, um, you know, pointed view on, on certain topics because they're not looking at the big picture.

And, um, That was, so that was something we wanted to address. We wanted to pick topics where there's, there's, Not everybody's in groupthink.

People,

John Roman: people are looking at these problems with different solutions. So that was absolutely a piece. We did want to also, um, and we're going to probably, um, start to incorporate guests later on.

Okay.

Um, but you look at, um, you know, the, the golden children of, of the space, like all in podcasts, for example, you know, they have the, the, the, the mainstay, the main people that are always on, and then they, sometimes they have a guest, sometimes they don't. I think we'll go, go with that model. And, um, The last piece is we, we, we want to have the entertainment value.

Right?

It might just be a trend in general. So the other three guys, um, are all iPhone users and I'm an Android user. And I despise, dislike Apple, like to a fault. So that's existed in the pod so far is that if three Apple users and they're, uh, what seems like constantly chastising me for, for using an Android, um, but that's, uh, you know, that's a relatable, very real thing.

If you're, if you're an iPhone user, at some point you've, you've watched and you've seen someone get chastised for not being an iPhone user, and if you're an Android user, you would certainly have, have, have been, been attacked

for having,

John Roman: having, you know, green text.

Yeah, yeah.

John Roman: So I think, I think that human, human, human element is, is kind of key.

And in an entertainment kind of proposition.

Yeah, and I

John Roman: think we'll, I think we'll find, find them, right? Like, we have, we, we have an idea, um, with certainty, you know, Brian is very, he, he's definitely the, the, the funniest of, of the group, um, and has a very strong personality. You have, uh, a mayor who, um, is the agency owner and he's very, um, I would say all four of us have great moral fiber and great ethics and we always do the right thing.

Um, Amir is even a step above that. Like, he is very deliberate, um, and, and probably a little bit more reserved.

Um,

So I think it's exactly that, right? Um, It's, it's not necessarily even character development with us, cause it's just really us. But I think we'll find what, what works, um, and what flows best in the group.

Sadaf Beynon: If that got you curious and you want to catch the full episode, be sure to subscribe to the show. We've got plenty more great conversations coming up.

Matt Edmundson: Welcome back Sadaf. Uh, following on, this was part two, uh, so if you've missed part one, uh, which we probably should have said at the beginning, uh, but we neglected to do, uh, John hosts ASOM podcasts. If you've not picked it up, there's actually four of them, there's four co hosts, uh, and so he's talking about this from, from that sort of perspective.

hmm.

Matt Edmundson: Such a legend. So picking up on it straight away iPhone or Android?

Sadaf Beynon: Well, actually I'm kind of in in the middle right now. So Converter. Well, I'm not sure I'm quite there yet Matt.

Matt Edmundson: In the process thereof.

Sadaf Beynon: It might take a long time. I Do love my Android and that yeah Yeah, I do.

Matt Edmundson: You do. You do. But you also have an iPhone.

Sadaf Beynon: I also have an iPhone.

Matt Edmundson: And a Mac now.

Sadaf Beynon: And a Mac. Yeah, so very slowly. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Matt Edmundson: You've moved off the PC into the Mac. The dark

Sadaf Beynon: side. Yeah,

Matt Edmundson: have you been chastised for using an Android phone?

Sadaf Beynon: Yes, by you.

Yes, of the mic take there. So, uh, John, listen, dude, get an iPhone. What's wrong with you?

Sadaf Beynon: No, John, don't.

Matt Edmundson: So I thought that was great. So we might need a bit more iPhone Android banter. Yes. Although I am slowly converting you.

Sadaf Beynon: Yeah. So we'll see. Or I might be able to convert you.

Matt Edmundson: To Android. Yeah. Good luck with that.

Sadaf Beynon: I'm not holding my breath. Yeah,

Matt Edmundson: I it's it's not it's funny because a friend of mine's got an Android phone. He needed me to do something on it. And I just could not do it. Like, I felt like, you know, the like my mom, you know, some new technology that sort of comes out. I just don't know. I just don't know.

That's what I felt like I felt like the technological idiot when I picked up the Android. Yeah,

Sadaf Beynon: I get it. I was like that with Apple, too. Um, but I'm, maybe I just pick up on things faster cause,

Sadaf Beynon: I found, I find my, uh, the Samsung so much more intuitive than the Apple, sorry.

Not sorry.

Matt Edmundson: Sorry. Not sorry. I feel like this debate could go on. Anyway, we're not here to talk about it. Just let us know, you know, right into the show, just let us know Android or iPhone. I think that'd be really interesting. Android or Android. Android or Android.

And what's the best put down you have ever heard or given to someone who uses the best, the opposite operating system? Uh, I think that would be a really interesting one to go and research. I'm going to go chat GPT. What's the worst insult I can give to an Android user? I remember those. Anyway, should we, should we talk about what he was talking about?

Sadaf Beynon: You first.

Um, and so I think that I thought was quite smart that actually thinking through who can you do this with? Um, one of their criteria being, obviously there had to be, another word John used was it had to be really passionate. Mm hmm. Um, and so they're all really passionate about what they do, whether it's, um, agency, software service, marketing, whatever it is.

And I think, um, I think that's super, super important. So who can you do this with is an expert in their industry who's going to be passionate about it, but also brings that entertainment value and thinking that through and being super deliberate in that I thought was really super smart.

Sadaf Beynon: Yeah. Yeah. And not just that, also the, the natural chemistry that they have between them as well.

Matt Edmundson: So how do you do that right? How do you, how, if you're going to go down this road, whether you're co hosting, whether it's three of you, four of you, um, think that through, be super selective in terms of who you could do this. With and the kind of the chemistry you can, you can bring to that, I think is super, super.

The way

Sadaf Beynon: they did it, um, from last week's episode was they were already having these conversations weren't they? And they decided to, Oh, let's start recording them and let's bring in other people and the voices. And so I guess it's something that's already naturally happening rather than trying to go out and seek, seek it out and may, it may, may or may not work.

Um, yeah,

Matt Edmundson: yeah. Absolutely. And I think that's, that's good because actually if you're, if you can figure out who from, you could do this with, with conversations you're already having with people, there's already that ability to talk together. Yeah. Whereas I think it would be quite hard if you were starting a podcast with four people, three of whom you'd not really spoken to.

Yeah. Which is maybe why I didn't get the invite.

Matt Edmundson: Well, yeah, there's that too as well. Obviously, I didn't want to also bring them down, bring down the whole tone of the show. Um, but yeah, I think it's, um, really, really smart, really smart thinking on that whole side of things.

Um, and that the, the other thing that John said, which I thought was really interesting was obviously they, they very intentionally want to bring the entertainment value. Yeah. Um And I knew that when we were similar, when we started doing pod junction, we were like, we could do a podcast where you just interview someone like John, which is a traditional way of doing it.

And we just take that interview and we just put the whole thing out there, which we do do. You can listen to the whole interview with John. I think that'll come out after all the four episodes are done. Is that right? Um, and so you can listen to the whole thing, which is how I've done EP. It's how we've done push.

Cause one, I think we've both done those and was like, well, okay, I'm already doing a few of those. It'd be nice to do something a little bit different. And two is the entertainment value, right?

Sadaf Beynon: Yeah. I think we entertain each other quite a bit.

Matt Edmundson: Yeah. And also I noticed that Jeff writes comments. Yeah,

he does, he's quite entertaining.

And what does that look like? Um, because again, when we were thinking about Podjunction, we laugh and joke a lot, right? So as you can tell, uh, you know, we just laugh and joke a lot. And so we just do that on the show as well. And a lot of the jokes, you'd be like, why are those two laughing? And it's just like, well, it's the way we are.

I was curious though, which one, cause you talked about, um, the, I can't remember who it was, you were right. We had a guest on the show talking about different characters and personas, Skip, that's right. Um, and you said you've got one who's goofy, one who's serious. So which one's goofy? Which one's serious?

You're

Sadaf Beynon: goofy. You're goofy 99 percent of the time. Yeah,

Matt Edmundson: okay. And you're serious.

Sadaf Beynon: Yes.

Matt Edmundson: I feel like this situation has been misread slightly, ladies and gentlemen. Yeah, but I think again, if you're doing that with some friends, I think it's understanding their strengths and weaknesses, where this entertainment is coming from.

I'm going to make fun of somebody. And occasionally I'm going to bring a dad joke and that's what I do. And I think I operate well in those boundaries. Um, and, and that's fine and understanding that I think is important. Um, and this is where it comes back again to what John was saying about doing this with people that you know.

Yeah. Yeah. And then I guess in essence,

Sadaf Beynon: it's, you're the same person behind the camera and in front of the camera, and then you don't really need to put too much thought into it. It's quite natural, isn't it?

Matt Edmundson: Yeah, it is supernatural, super authentic, which is a popular word at the moment, isn't it? We've got to be very authentic.

Very, very, very authentic. And I think actually if you, if you can do that with people that you know, like there's a really good friend of mine, a guy called Tony. Um, he lives down in London, was best man at my wedding. I was best man at his. We've been friends since university, which was a very long time ago.

And you would be sucked in and drawn in and they have, they have that. And so doing that with friends, with people that, you know, what you feel comfortable with, um, I think just all adds to the ability, the ability to be open, right?

And I, I really like that because I think Also part of what you're saying about, you know, the the entertainment value and the chemistry, you need to be relatable to your audience as well. And I think that that also helps your audience stick with you. Yeah. And, and also helps the episode to be better somehow.

Yeah, I think between the co hosts.

Matt Edmundson: Yeah, that's very true. Because I think if you're not relatable, I was talking to Oh, who was I talking to yesterday? It was a podcast I recorded yesterday, Valon, Valon, sorry, Valon from Bahamics yesterday. So I was recording a podcast with him and we were talking about search engine optimization.

And I think relevant to be relatable and to be relevant, um, are so important in a podcast. You know, can people relate to me? Yes or no. Um, and here's what we talk about relevant. Yes or no. And those two key things. I think make all the difference in SEO, but I think they make all the difference in a quality podcast.

Sadaf Beynon: Yeah, absolutely. I think, yeah, the more I think about being relatable, I think the more it makes sense as for a podcast, because to build that audience or that listenership, you have to be relatable to the people who are, who are going to subscribe to the show and go the distance with you.

Matt Edmundson: Yeah, super true.

So how do you do that? How do you build relatability? build relatability? I don't even know if that's a word.

Matt Edmundson: Yeah, that's true. And I think you have to also think about your audience. In the sense of you, you want to know who's going to listen to this and what matters to them. And so relatable content is talking about what matters to them. Right. Um, which also is relevant. Yeah. You know, that, that whole, the, the two things I think sort of coexist side by side in many ways, but, um, yeah, relevancy be relevant, be authentic.

Yeah. Anything else on your list? You took a lot of notes.

Sadaf Beynon: Um, Oh, Topics. You talked about topic selection. One of the things he said was like, um, topics that they all can speak into and some might even have unpopular opinions about.

I like

I think adds to the conversation, adds to the perspective, and it gives the listener food for thought as well. It really does. Yeah, I like that.

Matt Edmundson: Yeah, it really does. I think that's a really interesting point. How do you choose your topics? Because when I think about things like eCommerce Podcast, the topics are chosen by who the guests are.

Yeah. Right. Right. So if you because at the moment we have One of our main pillars of content is experts, right? So we have experts come in and they talk about something which matters to them. Yeah. Um, and that's how the topics are chosen. Uh, if you think about how we do pod junction, we, we interview experts and we take snippets from, so I guess in some ways we get to determine the type, cause we get to choose which snippets come out of that interview that we talk about.

I think actually that's a really cool point that they get to set that and they get to think about that agenda pretty well, because I think if it, if I was just doing eCommerce podcasts with me, I think the truth is we would probably talk about different things. Yeah. Not all the time, you know, but, um, I would maybe bring stuff in that some of our guests aren't talking about because of what I see going on at that point in time.

And I think that would just, that would add some kind of value maybe.

Sadaf Beynon: Yeah. Yeah. That's a good point.

Matt Edmundson: So yeah, choosing the topics, I think in some respects can be dictated by your guests. I think the other way I've seen Chloe do this, Chloe Thomas, who's also been on the show. Um, on her podcast, what she does is she'll go right for this month.

Sadaf Beynon: No, we haven't.

Matt Edmundson: No. We haven't done that. Um, maybe we, well, we've kind of started to do it, I suppose, a little bit with eCommerce Cohort, um, sort of eCom mastermind group that we're doing. But I think, yeah, it's one of those where topic choice then becomes quite important. And I wonder actually with EP whether we need to think about what topics we've not covered for a while and then go and find guests to talk about those topics.

They're two quite different topics. But there have been occasions where we've talked about the same topic. Like there was, there seemed to be a spate of talking to people about how to do eCommerce finance. Do you know what I mean? Like how to do, you know, what metrics to measure and how to do a balance sheet and all those kinds of things.

Um, and then we'll go like two or three years and that kind of guest won't come on for a little while. I don't know why, it's a bit like buses. Do you know what I

Sadaf Beynon: mean? All showing up at once.

Matt Edmundson: Yeah. It's like all the experts in this particular area all showing up at once and they want to come on the show and they're all great in their own right.

They all bring something different. Um, but yeah, I, I wonder if we need to do that with EP, where actually we go, we have not talked about this topic for a while. For example, email marketing, we've not talked about that for a while on eCommerce Podcast. So we could go, right, let's go and get some guests that will help us talk about that.

Sadaf Beynon: Yeah, that's a good point.

Matt Edmundson: It is, but then on the other side, that means more work.

Matt Edmundson: why would you not? So topic choice. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Very good. Anything else on your little list?

Sadaf Beynon: Uh, no. I think we've covered it.

Matt Edmundson: Fantastic. Fantastic. Well, do you want to close out the show today?

As I smack the microphone with my watch.

Sadaf Beynon: Um, sure. So, uh,

Matt Edmundson: We didn't plan this. No. And Sadaf is racking her brains very quickly about what to say right now. How's it working out for you?

Sadaf Beynon: So, um, you know, thanks for joining us. And please, stay safe. Please, um, you know, get in touch with us on social media. That's where we are on Instagram and on YouTube and let us know what you think.

If you've got any, um, feedback on what we've said or if you've disagreed with anything we've said, we'd love to hear it.

Matt Edmundson: Yeah. How do we be more relevant?

Sadaf Beynon: Yeah.

Matt Edmundson: That's a good question. Any topics you want us to cover? See what I did there?

Sadaf Beynon: Yeah, I did. In an authentic way with

What's wrong with you?

I think you should finish out the clothes with an English accent.

Sadaf Beynon: No, I can't. Matt, great with accents, me, not so much.

Matt Edmundson: Go on, do it, I dare you. I've never heard your English accent.

Sadaf Beynon: Anyway, yeah, thanks for joining us. Please come back next month, next month, or next month, next week, and, um, yeah.

Matt Edmundson: What else is there?

Just like and subscribe to the show, wherever you get your podcasts from. Big thanks, big shout out to the team that makes this podcast possible. Uh, you're all ASOM. Um, but yeah, do let us know, do check out podjunction. com, uh, for more information about the show. If you want the show notes, transcript, all that sort of stuff is on there.

Unless there's anything else you want to say, ASOM. Have a great week, ladies and gentlemen. We'll see you next time. Bye for now.

Sadaf Beynon: And that brings us to the end of today's episode at Podjunction. If you've enjoyed the insights from this episode and want to hear the full conversation with today's special guest, don't forget to visit podjunction. com where you'll find more information about how you can join Podjunction Cohort.