Artwork for podcast Podcast Pontifications
When Pointless Podcasting Processes Pay Off
Episode 2730th August 2021 • Podcast Pontifications • Evo Terra
00:00:00 00:13:24

Share Episode

Transcripts

Evo Terra:

Following podcasting best practices is always smart, but it

Evo Terra:

doesn't leave much room for creativity.

Evo Terra:

Sometimes success is serendipitous and what seems to be a pointless thing

Evo Terra:

may have an unexpected future upside.

Evo Terra:

Today's episode is brought to you by the Advancing Podcasting

Evo Terra:

community at advancingpodcasting.xyz.

Evo Terra:

Because why would I do anything normal?

Evo Terra:

It's a special community just for listeners and readers of

Evo Terra:

Podcast Pontifications and it's populated by like-minded working

Evo Terra:

podcasters just like you who also want to make podcasting better.

Evo Terra:

You're already listening to the show.

Evo Terra:

So why not extend the conversation and your influence

Evo Terra:

on the future of podcasting?

Evo Terra:

Join us today at advancingpodcasting.xyz.

Evo Terra:

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

Evo Terra:

Productivity, prioritization, and podcasting.

Evo Terra:

I say this not because I like alliteration, although I really

Evo Terra:

do like alliteration, but because it's what we hear all the time.

Evo Terra:

And, generally speaking, I tend to agree with that.

Evo Terra:

There are lots of things that you can waste your time on as a podcaster, and

Evo Terra:

there's no shortage of Top 10 Things to Improve, Grow/Blow Up Your Podcast.

Evo Terra:

And you may not be doing all of those things, and, in fact, you're probably

Evo Terra:

not doing most of those things.

Evo Terra:

Also, you only have a limited amount of time every single day or week, or month

Evo Terra:

to invest in your podcast when you're not actually podcasting, which already

Evo Terra:

takes up a whole lot of your time.

Evo Terra:

So yeah, prioritize because your productivity needs to be well-versed.

Evo Terra:

However, all of those things being true, I'm a big fan of doing pointless things.

Evo Terra:

Or, rather, I should say things that seem pointless, and if not

Evo Terra:

pointless by themselves, then things that don't have an immediate,

Evo Terra:

measurable payoff for your podcast.

Evo Terra:

I'm just going to give you one example, and then we'll talk about

Evo Terra:

this through the process of my singular example, and that is a thing

Evo Terra:

that I call my Minute of Pod Zen.

Evo Terra:

Or actually, I call it your Minute of Pod Zen.

Evo Terra:

If you listen to Sounds Profitable, Podnews, or even the Ear Brain Heart

Evo Terra:

podcast, you might've heard this little episode that I put together.

Evo Terra:

That assumes that you listened all the way to the end of an episode of those shows

Evo Terra:

that have included that little snippet.

Evo Terra:

And by the way, the vast majority of people who listen to those shows do

Evo Terra:

not listen all the way to the end, so they never hear your Minute of Pod Zen.

Evo Terra:

Also, an extremely small number of people have added Minute of Pod

Evo Terra:

Zen to their Amazon smart speaker.

Evo Terra:

Very small, like single digit, like not even approaching double digits.

Evo Terra:

Now, in case you're unfamiliar with it, this is not a pitch for it, but Minute

Evo Terra:

of Pod Zen is an extremely abbreviated version of Podcast Pontifications, which

Evo Terra:

I do write and record every single day.

Evo Terra:

Just like today, I will write and record a Minute of Pod Zen after I've

Evo Terra:

done all the production work for this episode of Podcast Pontifications, it's

Evo Terra:

this thing that you are listening to.

Evo Terra:

Now, when I started it, I was playing with the notion that syndication

Evo Terra:

beyond just, you know, RSS syndication, but truly syndicating content was

Evo Terra:

going to be kind of a good idea.

Evo Terra:

It might be something, this short little piece, might be something other podcasters

Evo Terra:

who have podcasts about podcasting might want to incorporate into their show.

Evo Terra:

And yes, I am thrilled to death that Bryan and James and Mark have

Evo Terra:

decided to take me up on that offer and are incorporating the content.

Evo Terra:

I really appreciate it, but let's face it, the general idea of

Evo Terra:

syndication is that it's picked up and redistributed in lots of different

Evo Terra:

places by lots of different publishers.

Evo Terra:

Three is not lots.

Evo Terra:

So the general idea of, "Hey, let's syndicate this" hasn't really panned out.

Evo Terra:

However, it's far from a failure.

Evo Terra:

The words that I condense and rewrite into a Minute of Pod Zen, which I'm going to

Evo Terra:

do here in just a little bit, those words have found a new purpose, which you've

Evo Terra:

probably seen if you're following me on Twitter or other social media properties,

Evo Terra:

which is mostly just Twitter for me.

Evo Terra:

You see the script of Minute of Pod Zen.

Evo Terra:

That pointless thing I've been doing has suddenly become the base of what I share

Evo Terra:

out as a Twitter thread for each episode.

Evo Terra:

You might've seen that happen over the last couple of weeks when

Evo Terra:

I switched to this new format.

Evo Terra:

I'm also using that text that I write in the Minute of Pod Zen to

Evo Terra:

share on LinkedIn and on Facebook as the episode is published.

Evo Terra:

You see, I'm no longer just sharing a quick blurb and a link

Evo Terra:

to the episodes detail page on my website, on social media.

Evo Terra:

That's relatively low effort.

Evo Terra:

It's also, as we know, not the greatest when it comes to success.

Evo Terra:

Better than nothing?

Evo Terra:

Absolutely.

Evo Terra:

However, using this new longer form content is working much better.

Evo Terra:

I can tell you that since implementing these new longer form posts - again,

Evo Terra:

that all started life as the script for a Minute of Pod Zen, that thing that,

Evo Terra:

statistically speaking, extremely few of you have ever listened to - is making a

Evo Terra:

really big difference when I post things.

Evo Terra:

Not just in engagement, social engagement, you know how I feel

Evo Terra:

about social engagement, you can't eat engagement, right?

Evo Terra:

But it's also delivering lots more traffic over to

Evo Terra:

podcastpontifications.com, my website.

Evo Terra:

I'm seeing more people engage on content now in the Advancing Podcasting

Evo Terra:

community brought in there because of this new longer form content I'm

Evo Terra:

able to share socially all because of that thing that no one statistically

Evo Terra:

listens to called Minute of Pod Zen.

Evo Terra:

It's going from pointless to powerful, trying to keep

Evo Terra:

the alliteration going here.

Evo Terra:

I'm not ready to cut it out because I'm finding a new life for it.

Evo Terra:

What about you?

Evo Terra:

Are there things you've always wanted to try?

Evo Terra:

Try with your podcast to see, "Hey, this feels right.

Evo Terra:

Maybe I should do it."

Evo Terra:

Well, give it a shot.

Evo Terra:

You have no idea how or even if it's going to pay off later on.

Evo Terra:

Don't kill it too early.

Evo Terra:

Let it develop.

Evo Terra:

It took me over fifty episodes of Minute of Pod Zen until I figured

Evo Terra:

out its real value, and now it has become a staple of what I do.

Evo Terra:

There are some times, like last week, when I will do all of the work to

Evo Terra:

create the Minute of Pod Zen, don't actually record the Minute of Pod

Evo Terra:

Zen, but I still use the words as my social shares every single time.

Evo Terra:

So those things that you might think are pointless may not be pointless.

Evo Terra:

Do the things that don't matter because sometimes they wind up mattering

Evo Terra:

big time for you and your show.

Evo Terra:

Now let's enter the Boostagram Corner.

Evo Terra:

Now it's time for the boost-the boost-the boost- Boostagram C orner.

Evo Terra:

Boostagram Corner.

Evo Terra:

I don't know a thing about crypto.

Evo Terra:

I want to thank Kyrin from the Mere Mortals podcast they used Podfriend

Evo Terra:

to send about 1200 sats along with the message of, "Hey Evo, I heard your

Evo Terra:

podcast mentioned somewhere in the 2.0 community," - yeah, I'm semi-active

Evo Terra:

over there - "and wanted to come here to check out what you're up to."

Evo Terra:

Aw, how nice.

Evo Terra:

"Lots of handy advice."

Evo Terra:

Thank you.

Evo Terra:

"And will definitely check in every now and then to find out some small

Evo Terra:

snippets to make me a better podcaster.

Evo Terra:

Just about to go listen to you on Podland as well.

Evo Terra:

GO PODCASTING!"

Evo Terra:

Thank you very much, Kyrin.

Evo Terra:

I appreciate you staying here and checking out what's going on.

Evo Terra:

If you figured out how to send boosts in your new podcast, listening app, feel

Evo Terra:

free to do so along with the message much like that, but if that's too complicated,

Evo Terra:

Let's face it, it's pretty distinct.

Evo Terra:

And the complicated, there are always the option there for you to

Evo Terra:

go to buy me a coffee.com/evo Terra, which is what Josh Lipton did.

Evo Terra:

Along with virtual coffee.

Evo Terra:

They said one of my favorite shows about our medium, the

Evo Terra:

discussions are thought provoking.

Evo Terra:

It's the entertainment value ever.

Evo Terra:

That keeps me listening.

Evo Terra:

Well, thank you very much for listening, Josh.

Evo Terra:

I do appreciate that.

Evo Terra:

And with all of that, I'll say that's it.

Evo Terra:

And I shall be back tomorrow with yet another Podcast Pontifications.

Evo Terra:

Cheers!

Evo Terra:

Podcast Pontifications is written and narrated by Evo Terra.

Evo Terra:

He's on a mission to make podcasting better.

Evo Terra:

Links to everything mentioned in today's episode are in the notes

Evo Terra:

section of your podcast listening app.

Evo Terra:

A written-to-be-read article based on today's episode is available at

Evo Terra:

podcastpontifications.com where you'll also find a video version and a corrected

Evo Terra:

transcript, both created by Allie Press.

Evo Terra:

Podcast Pontifications is a production of Simpler Media.