Securing Sponsorship: Winning Advertisers Without Podcast Downloads

Los Angeles continues to welcome our team with new experiences in recording studios, improved times hiking up Runyon Canyon each week and settling into a new apartment. As the pieces begin to fall into place, we’re here to share more content to help you level up on your journey as a creator. This episode of the Creator Hub podcast touches on news around Twitter, Tik Tok, Meta, and offers advice on podcast sponsorship.  In this episode, we cover: Twitter’s decision to remove inactive accounts TikTok’s initiatives to support small businesses and creators of color Meta’s approach to paying creators How to secure sponsors with zero podcast downloads Twitter: The Purge Elon Musk declared that the platform is eliminating inactive accounts, which potentially frees up some @handles from people that haven’t posted since like, 2004. The handle of your dreams may finally be available for the taking. While Elon’s notion to move forward with this project isn’t groundbreaking, it is a little random but overall could be good. Will any of the iconic tweets or threads from these deleted accounts be archived? We’re unsure. And for the creators who never made their move onto the platform, now may be the perfect time. With fewer voices and clutter, yours can stand out even more.  TikTok’s Small Business Initiatives The company launched workshops for small business owners to improve their promotional strategies on the platform, with a focus on using TikTok ads and influencer marketing to reach target audiences. Happening every Wednesday for the month of April, small business owners can attend the webinars by registering online. TikTok’s push to solidify itself as an integral part of the US economy is a continued effort in preventing a ban, and ultimately helps small creators grow their brand through the app. Additional initiatives include a new fund for long-form creators and podcasters, a $2 million pledge in funding Black and Hispanic entrepreneurs, and potentially more creative programs. Meta, Revamped The company made changes to its “ads on Reels” monetization, to payout creators based on content performance. The amount of time a viewer watches a video will determine the payout rate to the creator, versus someone just clicking on the video itself. Hopefully, Meta continues to move in the right direction in supporting creators and monetization opportunities. Securing Sponsors When You’re Just Starting Out In 2018, Lloyd started a podcast to share the stories of immigrant innovators in America. Inspired by the fact that 50% of companies valued at a billion dollars or more have at least one immigrant founder, the podcast aimed to bring visibility to more unicorn startups led by immigrants. So when it started, he reached out to organizations and communities that advocated for immigrants and diversity for (sponsorship) support for the upcoming release of his first season. By leveraging his popular interviewees/guests and their mass of followers, as well as the value (both financial and personal) of the industry the show focused on, Lloyd secured 3 sponsorships from organizations and brands. Thousands of dollars were gained by reaching out, highlighting what made himself and his content unique, and in exchange adding their logo to the podcast. Just focus on your niche, be confident in your content and quality of work, and don’t overlook the local organizations, businesses, and companies that might actually love to work with you. And if you need some help curating those initial requests, chat GBT is a great resource.