Join Sadaf Beynon and Matt Edmundson on the Podjunction podcast as they explore the power of community building with Kendall Breitman from Riverside FM. In this final episode of a two-part series with Breitman, discover why creating a community around your podcast fosters loyalty and how to leverage FOMO to boost participation.

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Timestamps:

0:00 Intro

4:24 Building Community Connections for Podcast Growth

11:42 The Power of Consistency on LinkedIn

12:00 Consistent Engagement Over Time

20:40 Motivating Community Members

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Key Takeaways:

1. Build a Community for Loyalty and Feedback: Kendall emphasises the importance of creating a community around your podcast. This not only fosters loyalty among listeners but also provides valuable feedback. By engaging with your audience, you can better understand their preferences, which in turn helps you become a more effective host.

2. Engage with Existing Communities: Before building your own community, Kendall suggests joining existing groups related to your podcast's niche. Actively participate by contributing to discussions and answering questions. This involvement helps you understand what potential listeners care about and can inspire new episode ideas. Engaging with these communities also allows you to connect with potential guests who are already active and influential within the niche.

3. Create FoMO to Encourage Participation: Kendall highlights the power of creating a sense of FoMO (Fear of Missing Out) to drive engagement. By showcasing exclusive content or discussions happening within your community, you can entice listeners to join and participate. Mentioning interesting interactions or comments from community members in your podcast can make others feel like they're missing out, prompting them to become more involved.

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Sadaf Beynon [0:06 - 0:13]: Welcome back to Podjunction podcast, where podcasters learn to grow their business. I'm Sadaf Beynon, and beside me is Matt Edmundson.

Matt Edmundson [0:13 - 0:14]: G'day.

Sadaf Beynon [0:14 - 0:15]: Hello.

Matt Edmundson [0:15 - 0:19]: How you doing? Give us a wave with the other hand.

Sadaf Beynon [0:19 - 0:20]: No.

Matt Edmundson [0:23 - 0:30]: So what you can't see is Sadaf is desperately hiding her hand under the table because. What was it?

Sadaf Beynon [0:30 - 0:32]: Fooshdeen.

Matt Edmundson [0:32 - 0:33]: You had a foosh?

Sadaf Beynon [0:34 - 0:35]: I fooshed it.

Matt Edmundson [0:36 - 0:37]: Okay.

Sadaf Beynon [0:37 - 0:40]: Apparently it's a medical term I think.

Matt Edmundson [0:40 - 0:41]: The doctors rather laugh with.

Sadaf Beynon [0:41 - 0:44]: No, I googled it to make sure it's there. It's actually there.

Matt Edmundson [0:45 - 0:48]: There's a serious medical term called fooshed. I fooshed my wrist.

Sadaf Beynon [0:48 - 0:51]: I fooshed my wrist. Yeah, I fell over.

Matt Edmundson [0:52 - 0:53]: So tat. What does fooshed mean?

Sadaf Beynon [0:53 - 0:57]: So it stands for fall on outstretched hand.

Matt Edmundson [0:58 - 1:04]: Arm. Hand fooshed full on outstretched hand. Foosh.

Sadaf Beynon [1:04 - 1:08]: Mm hmm. Yeah. So I'm in a splint for a while.

Matt Edmundson [1:08 - 1:23]: Yeah, she's knackered. Her wrist, basically is what's happened. And so what that means is I have no idea what we're talking about today because the whiteboard in front of me looks like it was written by a three year old or a doctor.

Sadaf Beynon [1:23 - 1:24]: I'll go with doctor.

Matt Edmundson [1:26 - 1:28]: So as long as you can read those notes, we're good.

Sadaf Beynon [1:28 - 1:29]: Yeah, we'll be okay.

Matt Edmundson [1:29 - 1:31]: Good. So what are we doing today?

Sadaf Beynon [1:31 - 1:51]: So we are talking with Kendall Breitman again, the community manager from Riverside FM, and we are going to be learning two things in this episode. Yeah. Why building a community creates loyalty. And secondly, how to create FOMO and encourage your community to participate.

Matt Edmundson [1:51 - 1:53]: Okay. So why only two?

Sadaf Beynon [1:54 - 1:58]: Because I thought that it was. What we talked about was. Could be distilled to two.

Matt Edmundson [1:59 - 2:02]: I like it. We're not trying to shoehorn three in. I like it.

Sadaf Beynon [2:02 - 2:02]: Yeah.

Matt Edmundson [2:02 - 2:07]: Yeah. Good. So two things that we're going to learn today and set up for reminders what they are.

Sadaf Beynon [2:07 - 2:07]: Yeah.

Matt Edmundson [2:07 - 2:17]: Because I still can't read them. I can read why building a community creates loyalty. I can read that. And how to create FoMo. So, yeah, that's enough.

Sadaf Beynon [2:17 - 2:18]: That's all you need to know.

Matt Edmundson [2:18 - 2:27]: That's all I need to know. That's all I need to know. So that's what we're going to look at today. So without further ado, here is the clip from Kendall, and we will be back after this.

Sadaf Beynon [2:28 - 2:36]: Speaking of Instagram and audience, why do you think building a community is so important for the success of a podcast?

Kendall Breitman [2:37 - 4:15]: I think that there's a few aspects of this. So one is that people are more committed to you, more loyal to you, when they feel like they're part of a community. I saw a sketch the other day that was like an x for the host, and then it just all went out in one line, and that's your audience. But then I saw kind of another sketch next to it that was like a point in the middle of a circle, and the circle was your audience, and then you're in the middle, and that's community. So people want to feel like they're a part of something. They're more loyal when they also feel like. Like, I'm in a Facebook group of my favorite podcast, and I love to log on and talk with the people and see what they're talking about because we share a similar interest. I also want to continue to listen to the episodes because I feel like I'm a part of that show in a way. So I think that's part of it. I think another part is that you are going to be a better host if you feel connected to your community, you're going to know what your audience wants to hear. You're going to know what they want as a next episode, what they care about, what makes them laugh, what makes them think. So. I think that it educates you as a host. It's twofold. Educates you as a host, but it also makes your people, your audience feel like they're connected to you and that they're a part of something. And in that way, they're going to be more likely to subscribe to a Patreon, they're going to be more likely to buy your merch. They're going to be more likely to reach out and message you and say, I loved your show, or I have feedback. So I think those are the main benefits of community.

Sadaf Beynon [4:15 - 4:23]: Yeah, those are great. Yeah. How would you say is a good way to build that community?

Kendall Breitman [4:24 - 6:55]: I would say that there are a few things you can do. So one is that I would join other communities first. Like, I would, let's say I'm doing a podcast on the gymnastics olympics are coming up. So that came to my mind. So I'm doing a podcast on gymnastics. I'm gonna first join a bunch of gymnastic enthusiast groups, and I want to hear from them what they're thinking, what they care about. A little trick could be like, hey, do you think that, like, posting, no one wants to see your spam post being like, hey, here's my podcast episode. Listen to it. Like, that's not gonna do anything for you. Instead, like, actually contribute to these groups. If somebody asks a question, answer it. If you're saying, hey, are you watching this competition or this competition? Which one do you care more about? And then have these people comment on your post, giving their ideas, that's an idea for an episode. Or answering people and making yourself a part of these communities, seeing how these other communities work and educating yourself that way. From there, I would also speak with people that are listening to your show. So maybe someone reaches out and says, wow, love this episode, or something. Maybe they post that they were listening. Why not strike up a conversation with them? Hey, what did you love about it? What do you want to hear more of? Is there a favorite episode that you have? How long have you been listening? How are you listening? I'm not saying to quiz them, but more to start a conversation and then have them feel more likely and more free to message you if they have a comment in a later episode, that type of thing. If somebody comments on your posts, interact with them, direct message them. And then my next idea is, just never make assumptions. When I joined Riverside, I assumed everyone wants to join communities because they want to network. And then I realized after speaking with users that, yeah, they want to network, but they want to network because they want to learn how to become better podcasters. So that's become the main driver of our community. Like, make them help them become the best podcasters that they can. So we build webinars around it. We build community events around it. And so, yeah, I would say that if I had gone on the assumption of networking, I don't think that our community would have been as strong. You really want to figure out what actually hits them, what makes them excited and want to experience more.

Sadaf Beynon [6:56 - 7:06]: Yeah, that makes so much sense. So joining other communities, finding those communities, contributing to them, and.

Kendall Breitman [7:08 - 8:13]: Reaching out to people that are reaching out to you. I would also say, once you have your community, another little trick here is to build FoMO. It's really the fear of missing out is a powerful thing. So there's a podcast that I love that they'll talk about. Oh, my God. So and so from our Facebook group had the funniest comment to say about this one moment, and I'm sitting there being like, so and so in the Facebook group. Like, I want to join the Facebook group. I'm missing out on the conversation. Or, yeah, we're going to talk about that more in our Facebook group after this. Like, it doesn't have to be Facebook. I'm just giving that as an example. But, like, make people have a. People are selfish. It's not like no one's going to react on like, I'm so excited to have this group. You want to like make the reason why they should be excited, what they're missing out on, what's exciting that's happening that they want to join onto. So the more you can do that, newsletters that mention my favorite post of this week, like that type of thing could be really powerful in making people feel like they're missing the conversation.

Sadaf Beynon [8:17 - 8:25]: 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 [8:29 - 8:34]: So welcome back. Love that. Love that clip. I feel like I say that after every clip.

Sadaf Beynon [8:34 - 8:36]: Yeah, you do. Tell us why you love it.

Matt Edmundson [8:37 - 9:17]: I just say super practical. Super practical, super helpful. Talking about stuff which we all in theory know about. We all in theory know we should do because it's a good thing. But the reality of it is very few of us do it. And if we do do it, we probably don't do it in our heads at least, we probably don't do it to a standard that we want to. So I feel like it's super practical and I think it's like hitting a key issue that we all face as podcasters. So, yeah, I thought it was. I love listening to her talk and picking her, you picking her brains and things. Quite great. You get some great insight there.

Sadaf Beynon [9:17 - 9:39]: Yeah, yeah, she was good. I liked what she said about so building a community that it doesn't just help you understand your community better, your audience as to what they want and the types of things they're looking for, but also helps you become a better host as a result of it because you suddenly understand what they're wanting and you're able to deliver that.