4 Questions New Podcasters Shouldn't Crowdsource

There are some podcasting questions & advice that you shouldn’t be seeking on social media. Here are 4 questions not to crowdsource on Facebook.

If you’re a beginning podcaster looking for advice and support, online groups and social media threads can look like attractive resources.

What could be better than free help from people who have been in your shoes, who have tried and failed, or—better yet—tried and succeeded? Plus, there’s the speedy response time; post a question, and within the hour you’ve got 72 answers.

As a podcast blogger/reviewer, I’m a member of several podcast-related Facebook groups, and Quora and Twitter threads. I see questions from beginning podcasters all the time, and more often than not, I cringe at what I see.

It’s not that I don’t think that these communities have some valuable information to share with new podcasters. There’s plenty to be gleaned from the experiences of podcasters who have walked before you.

The problem is that what I see most often is a new podcaster posting a random question, without context or intention. The answers that are posted in response are often just as thoughtless.

I don’t think people are trying to be harmful with their answers. It’s that they aren’t personally invested.

The key to getting great advice is asking a great question. One with background information, an explanation about your experience level, and what your goal is (hint: it shouldn’t just be about making money).

The goal of posting a question in an online group shouldn’t be to get as many answers as possible, from whomever can answer the quickest, and may or may not have achieved podcasting success.

The goal should be to get the best answer from the people who know what they’re talking about. Even if it takes them five days to respond.

Also, your question shouldn’t be about the guts of your show. Crowdsourcing recommendations are cool if you’re looking for the best podcast microphone, but asking for random episode ideas means you haven’t put enough thought into your podcast strategy.

Here are four podcasting questions that make me cringe when I see them posted in online communities.

1. “What should I name my podcast?”

This is possibly the most painful question for me to see posted online. It doesn’t display a lack of creativity on the podcaster’s part; instead, I believe it shows a lack of strategy.

I recently sent a private Facebook message to a new podcaster who posted online asking for help naming her mental health podcast. She provided her first and last name, thinking that incorporating her name into the title was a good idea.

The answers she got were childish (think: “Barbara’s Bodacious Brain Break”). Literally dozens of answers like this filled the comments.

My advice to this podcaster was to ditch the cutesy name games, and instead to think about what her ideal listener (someone looking for a mental health podcast) would search for online.

This is where the podcast strategy comes in. You have to know who your ideal listener is in order to put yourself in their shoes. Once you know who they are, you can brainstorm what kinds of things they’ll search for on Google or in their podcast player.

All too often, new podcasters are stuck on the idea that their podcast name has to be “catchy”. WRONG. Your podcast name has to be “discoverable”.

Now, if you want the online community to weigh in on some podcast names you have already come up with, based on your topic and ideal audience, I’m all for posting a poll online and asking people to vote for their favorite. Just be sure to give some context: what your show is about and who you intend to speak to.

2. “How long should my podcast episodes be?”

This is another common question that beginner podcasters often post online, and it makes me worry for them.

The answers from the community are always one of two things: people quoting the average episode length per industry statistics, and everyone else just dropping comments about how long their own episodes are.

Please hear me on this one: the sudden knowledge that Taylor Anonymous—whose podcast you’ve never heard of—publishes episodes that are 23 minutes long will not help you to have a successful podcast.

Yes, it’s true that there are statistics that the average podcast episode is 30-40 minutes long. Statistics also say that the average listening time is about that same (which makes sense, if that’s the length of the average episode).

I’m purposely not quoting the statistics here because they aren’t important.

What’s important is what your ideal podcast listener is going to listen to.

If you’re making a show for new moms who barely have time to sleep or take a shower, you must know that these women do not have time to listen to a 45 minute podcast episode all at once, no matter how relevant or useful the topic is.

On the flip side, if you plan to make a podcast about local issues in your city, and you need to provide details and interviews, editing your show down to 30 minutes just because it’s the “industry average” probably doesn’t serve your listeners well.

Your podcast episode should be as long as it needs to be to explain your point/tell your story.

It’s okay—especially in the beginning of your show—to experiment with different episode lengths. This will give you data on your listeners and how long they are willing to listen. That’s better than any industry statistics.

FREE DOWNLOAD

Podcast Episode Planning Guide

Fill your podcasting calendar with this list of fun & relevant episode ideas!

3. “What is the best time to record a podcast?”

I’m actually shocked by how often I see this question posted on Facebook.

Y’all: the best time to record your podcast episode is when the content is ready, you have the time, and you’re somewhere quiet.

Time of day—or day of the week— doesn’t matter. If all the answers on the interwebs tell you that the best time to record is 7 in the morning, but you aren’t a morning person, the worst thing you can do is record at 7 in the morning!

You should be asking yourself questions like this:

If I record at X time, does that leave me enough days/hours to edit before the episode release day?
Do I want to batch my recordings in order to be more productive/not have to set up my equipment five times for five episodes?
If I’m going to have a guest on, what’s the best time for THEM to be interviewed?

You may find that there’s never a “best” time to record. There’s simply a time when you’re ready, and you do it. So who cares what everyone else is doing? Do what works for you.

4. “Who wants to be a guest on my podcast?”

There are a few different versions of this question online. Another is, “Who wants to trade guest spots?”

Sadly, I see this question most often in groups of random, non-related podcasters. One girl has a show about video games, while a guy who responds to her is podcasting about nature hikes.

The amount of enthusiasm I see in the comments is understandable; the idea of having a podcaster on your own podcast means you can reach their audience, and vice versa.

The problem is that most listeners won’t enjoy an episode that features an interview with someone who isn’t a specialist/expert in the podcast topic.

Forget about your loyal listeners/subscribers for a minute. Pretend that a new listener stumbles upon your show based on the title or description. They aimlessly select an episode, which just happens to be the one in which you interview someone completely unrelated to your podcast’s usual topic.

The chances are slim that this new listener will enjoy the episode, actually finish the episode, and then subscribe. That’s because you accepted a completely random guest spot simply for something to do.

Instead of posting requests for random guests in a group of podcasters, spend 20 minutes doing a Google search for people in your niche. If your podcast is about baking, find other podcasters who bake and ask if they want to come on your show.

You an also reach out to cookbook authors, baking bloggers, and Instagram influencers who post pictures of cakes and cookies. Heck – you could interview the owner of a bakery in your town. This is what your listeners want to hear.

The Moral of the Story

You can learn a TON about podcasting from using the internet and connecting with people online. But you really need to be careful about who you hang out with and which advice you take (that’s true for all things in life, including podcasting).

You don’t need to stop hanging out in the general “all podcasts welcome” groups. But you DO need to ask your questions carefully, and sort through the advice with a fine tooth comb.

And you DO need to widen your circle by finding other online communities that are specific to your niche/podcast topic. You’re more likely to find your ideal listener and feedback that can push you and your podcast forward.

Heads up: I talk a lot more about finding—and appealing to—your ideal listener in my Must-Haves for a Successful Podcast ebook, which you can grab for just $2.99.