June 5, 2025 • 33 mins
Significant trends reshaping the podcasting landscape! Listen for actionable advice, supported by industry statistics and examples on how established podcasters can implement these trends successfully and remain competitive.
- Microcasts: why you should start making shorter podcast episodes
- Niche content: how to leverage podcast SEO and organic search for discoverability
- YouTube: ways you can add video to your podcast without learning new tech
- Practical tips, trend analysis and advice on maintaining high completion rates
🎙️Join the Pod Squad's Next Call (group coaching + community for podcasters)
Podcast Tools & Tech:Â
1. LucidLink for fast, streamlined file sharing and collaboration (one free month)
2. Riverside for podcast recording (use this link + code 'whatsyourfree' for 20% off)
3. Descript for editing audio and video podcasts (use this link for free trial)
4. Canva for creating YouTube thumbnails
5. Sam's course: how to edit audio and video with Descript
About the show:
Sam Laliberte -Â entrepreneur, digital nomad and freedom seeker, hosts the Freedom Lifestyle Podcast to expose people to the many ways you can design your dream life and unlock your own version of the freedom lifestyle.
Her podcast features celebrity guests and globally recognized brand sponsors (WeWork, Fiverr, Bumble). She's also a freelance host and podcast producer who has helped over 1000 aspiring podcaster launch, scale and monetize their podcasts.Â
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Sam Laliberte (00:03):
Welcome back to another episode of the Freedom
Lifestyle Podcast.
Today we are changing things up.
We are unpacking strategies andshifts that are shaping the
future of podcasting.
So if you are an establishedpodcaster who's been putting out
solid content, but maybe you'relooking for your next edge,
maybe every time you post,you're like, oh, I just know
(00:24):
this could be a little bitbetter, or, I don't even know
really what my strategy isanymore.
This is kind of feeling like ahobby.
This podcast is going to talkabout growth monetization and
how you can level up creativity.
If that sounds like it's foryou, you are in the right place.
So why should you listen to me?
My name is Sam.
(00:46):
I was early in the podcastinggame.
I launched my show in 2017, theFreedom Lifestyle.
I've had celebrity guests on theshow.
I've had household name brandsponsors.
I'm on my seventh season.
I have created.
Thousands of podcast episodesfor my own show, for my clients.
Helped thousands of contentcreators launch their shows.
(01:06):
Market Monetize.
I am a hand selected Fiverr Propodcast consultant with only.
Five star perfect reviews, and Ihave a group mastermind program
called the Pod Squad, which ifyou're not already in it, this
could be your new favorite placeon the internet to hang out.
It's a six month program forpodcasters who are also
(01:29):
entrepreneurs people buildingfreedom-based businesses and
looking to align their podcastcontent with that bigger vision.
So everyone gets to come to oneof our group calls for free.
Go to whatyourfree.com/podsquadto learn more.
Apply to participate in some.
I got you.
Podcasting has been my worldsince 2017.
(01:53):
I do this every day so that youdon't have to do all the
research today there are threebig trends that I wanted to
focus on.
Trend number one, micro casts.
By now, we all know the strategyof long to short, Taking longer
podcast episodes.
And cutting them into multipleshorter pieces of content that
(02:15):
we can use as Instagram reels,as YouTube shorts, as tweets for
x.
Posts for LinkedIn graphic quotecards.
Great.
If you're already doing that,amazing.
We've been doing that for yearsnow.
Okay.
The new thing on the horizon, ifyou wanna be cutting edge is
actually micro casts where weare creating super short form
(02:39):
podcasts.
These are podcasts, typicallytwo to 10 minutes long, and I
think the real reason why we'veactually gone back to shorter
content is platforms likeYouTube and TikTok exploding,
right?
They've completely conditionedaudiences to expect high value,
low time commitment content.
(03:01):
Even if it's just audio form.
we're all busy and listenerswant insight on the go.
Since launching my YouTubechannel, the number one piece of
advice I've received is, Hey,maybe you should try to make
them a little bit shorter, eventhough they're 30 minutes in jam
packed with value, it's still anask for a lot of people, and
when we think about thealgorithms, completion rates, so
(03:24):
how much of an episode someoneactually listens to and Finishes
are significantly higher onepisodes that are under 10
minutes.
This is an important factor forpodcast algorithms, is whether
someone actually listens to yourepisode.
podcasts that are under 10minutes have over 80% completion
rate compared to podcasts thatare around the 30 minute mark
(03:47):
typically now only have a 50%completion rate.
Okay.
Another stat is that dailypodcast listeners are growing,
so people who are listening topodcasts every single day, that
number is increasing, but ourattention spans are shrinking.
the average attention span nowis 8.25 seconds which means
(04:09):
these micro casts are such agreat way to respond to these
trends.
They can show your listener,Hey, I respect your time.
I'm going to create somethinghigh value that's easy for you
to commit to.
And when I think about whattypes of formats do really well
for micro casts, I find thesecan be, I.
Podcasts that really appeal tobusy professionals, younger
(04:32):
audiences who really wannaconsume content on the go.
I can see these being great foranyone in the mindfulness
wellness space, motivational,empowering.
I can see like three minutemeditations.
daily mindset resets, little peptalks.
To get you through the day, getyou through the week.
If you're a thought leader, Ican see content around tools of
(04:55):
the day where maybe every dayyou just have a really short
episode of one of your favoritetools, how to use it.
Bonus points if you give them areferral or affiliate link.
maybe you are into copywritingand you want to give them a
writing prompt, for someone whoreally likes to journal and you
give them something to writeeach day.
There's so many different ideasthat you can do for this.
(05:17):
Again, study other people.
Success leaves clues.
There's a lot of podcastersahead on this trend and tapping
into micro casts.
Some examples is planet moneyhas the indicator.
They do eight minute episodesand they are just daily doses of
economic insights that don'twaste your time.
(05:39):
There's another one calledBefore Breakfast.
That's about five minutes.
It's daily productivity advicedesigned to be consumed before
you even finish your morningcoffee.
Okay.
My favorite Taylor Swift.
Today, these are eight minuteepisodes that are highlighting
the breaking news stories andheadlines about Taylor Swift
from the past week.
(05:59):
As a super fan of Taylor Swift,I don't wanna miss anything
important about her, but I alsodon't really have the time and
the desire to constantly scrollsocial media and uncover all of
the millions of Easter eggs sheis putting out in all of the fan
theories.
So I listen to Taylor Swifttoday, every single week, and in
those.
Eight minutes.
I feel like I got a summaryabout all things Taylor Swift
(06:22):
and someone did all of thatdigging for me.
So that's been super valuable.
if you're gonna tap into thetrend of micro casts, make sure
you go straight to the point.
You don't wanna have longintros, you don't wanna have
fluffy banter.
You gotta hook the listener inthe first 10 seconds of your
episode.
You gotta also use strong titlesthat make it very clear that
(06:46):
this podcast episode is going tobe valuable.
There's gonna be a cleartakeaway.
You are going to leave smarter,more entertained, more inspired.
There's something concrete andspecific about this episode.
Examples, rather than justsaying something like a quick
thought on branding.
Eight minute episode on the onebranding mistake that's costing
(07:09):
you clients get it.
I'm already going into itknowing I'm gonna learn one
thing.
I only gotta spend eight minuteswith this woman, and she is
going to teach me the mistakethat is costing me clients.
Why wouldn't you want to domicro casts?
Right?
What is the pushback here?
I feel like sometimes I thinkthat is anyone gonna really take
(07:29):
me seriously?
If my show is that short?
How much value can I reallyprovide in an eight minute
episode?
That is such a commonhesitation, but the truth is
people do not need more content.
They need more clarity.
A five minute insight thatsticks.
Give someone an aha is way morepowerful than a 45 minute rant
(07:51):
and ramble that they don't evenfinish, that they don't even get
to the end, which is typicallywhen your call to action for the
episode is going to be.
So you want them to get therefor the algorithm's sake and for
your sake in terms of the wholepoint of the episode at the end,
you wanna invite them to dosomething with you.
(08:12):
This week's episode is broughtto you by Lucid Link.
You know that feeling whenyou're on a roll.
Creative juices are flowing,ideas are firing, and then boom.
All of a sudden you're lookingat a loading bar on your
computer.
Again, I have always longed fortechnology that can move as fast
as I can for a tech solutionthat works at the speed of my
(08:35):
own creativity.
That's as fast as my brain canoperate when I'm really on,
especially now.
That I've become a vlogger andI've been bringing my podcast on
YouTube.
I'm now working with massivevideo files, and it's brutal.
My computer is constantly full.
I waste so much time having toupload and download all the
(08:57):
different versions I'm workingwith as I have freelancers and
assistants and audio editors,and I'm losing hours to that
spinny wheel of death that allMacBook users know For the first
time maybe ever, my Aura Ringactually gave me a notification
saying I was having too muchinactive time.
Okay.
(09:17):
Editing these videos that wasthe final straw and wake up call
for me, that something needed tochange.
If I wanted to keep this videoseries going, enter Lucid Link.
LucidLink is the solution foranybody working with big files.
Video, audio, creative assets,whatever.
(09:37):
Also, if you're collaboratingwith clients who are remote team
members who are not in the samelocation as you, instead of
having to always be uploadingand downloading and waiting, you
can just stream the latestversion of any file instantly.
It acts just like a file on yourlocal drive.
Imagine opening a file on yourcomputer.
(09:59):
How quick it is, how easy it is.
It's that exact same feelingexcept everything is in the
cloud magically appearing likeit's on your computer.
So when you value your time,your personal freedom, as much
as I do, I know you do Freedomseeker, every second counts.
So instead of waiting for all ofyour files to load.
You could be frolicking innature, you could be going on
(10:21):
adventures, you could begiggling with your favorite
people.
What would you do with an extrafive hours a week?
I have included my referral linkto Lucid Link in the show notes,
and that's gonna give you yourfirst month free.
Okay.
Major podcast trend number twois niche content.
This is probably one of the mostpowerful trends shaping podcast
(10:42):
growth right now.
If you take nothing else fromthis episode, let it be this.
Do not go broader, go deeper.
Talk to fewer people, moremeaningfully.
We have entered an era where themost successful podcasts are not
necessarily the ones casting thewidest net.
They're the ones that have thesharpest focus.
(11:02):
Think about a therapist whomakes episodes just for
millennial women with ADHD Okay.
Incredibly targeted, incrediblyvaluable for the right person,
or maybe a business coach whoonly speaks to Etsy shop owners
or one of my clients from thepod squad will.
(11:25):
He runs a podcast that is justfor private practice owners who
want to leverage virtualassistants and AI to free up
their time That kind ofprecision turns a podcast from
something that's like a nice tolisten to, to, oh my gosh, I
need this in my life right now.
So the number one perk.
To going niche is marketing anddiscoverability, right?
(11:49):
You're gonna win in search.
Whether somebody is searchingfor a podcast episode on
Spotify, YouTube, Google, itdoesn't matter where they're
searching.
niche shows stand out becausethey match specific keywords
with specific intent which is awhole new era of using the
(12:10):
internet, is what is the intentbehind somebody's search and
what are they actually lookingto get out of this?
So let's workshop a few moreexamples.
You might be thinking ofcreating an episode that's
called Confidence Hacks thatwork.
Okay, I'm going to give that aB, but what if you made an
episode called OvercomingImposter Syndrome as a first
(12:33):
time tech founder?
Okay.
That's like an a plus in termsof precision, so you're using
keywords.
In the title, you're making surethat the keywords are niche.
They're in the title, they're inthe description, they're in your
show notes, and ideally, you'refront loading them at the
beginning of titles, show notes,and descriptions.
(12:53):
You're getting more specificabout who this episode is
actually for, so you benefitfrom search.
It also makes it a lot easierfor you to monetize your podcast
on both ends.
When we think about monetizingour podcast, the first thing you
wanna ask yourself is, do Iwanna make money from people
listening to my podcast?
(13:14):
Or do I wanna make money frompeople who want to talk to the
people who listen to my podcast?
Right.
Typically, sponsors typicallybrand deals.
If you want to make money frompeople who listen to your
podcast, well guess what?
Listeners are two to three timesmore likely to become paying
supporters or paying customersof a show when they feel the
(13:36):
content is tailored to them.
First is general audiencecontent, and this is advice that
I really need to take and I'mgoing to come back to this in a
moment.
The same goes for sponsorsthough, when you know exactly
who you are talking to, it isway easier to pitch relevant
products, relevant services, orrelevant sponsors.
(13:57):
So when I have a client thatwants to get their first brand
sponsor, the first thing I sayto them is, well, where do your
listeners currently spend theirmoney?
Where should they be spendingtheir money and really getting
specific on that type ofconsumer behavior.
At the end of the day, we livein a capitalist society and it's
all about buying shit.
(14:18):
Maybe we need, maybe we don'tneed, but that is what we're
doing when we're monetizingthrough brand sponsors.
Okay.
It is so much easier to monetizea small, tailored niche audience
than a general audience.
That could be anybody.
I was able to monetize mypodcast in the first five
(14:39):
episodes when I had a verymodest audience size, because at
the very beginning of my podcastjourney, I was the most
specific.
When I was launching the FreedomLifestyle, it was all about how.
Do you build a freelancebusiness on the internet that
you can do from anywhere that'sa service-based freelance
(15:00):
business as well.
Okay, so now we're talking tonot just entrepreneurs, but it
was service-based entrepreneursand not just service-based
entrepreneurs, service-basedentrepreneurs who wanted to work
on the internet, and not justremote workers, but digital
nomad workers who wanted to betraveling and working on the
internet.
So it was lifestyleaspirational.
And they also wanted to befreelance, so they didn't wanna
(15:23):
just have one client.
They wanted to be tapping intothe gig economy.
Okay.
That is so hyper specific interms of who my show was for
that when I reached out toFiverr, the world's largest
freelancing marketplace that.
Literally has an entire missionaround helping people have the
dream life and the dream job.
(15:44):
Traveling around the world,running a business and
leveraging freelance talentglobally.
It was an, oh my God, yes, forboth of us.
That was so much easier than itcan sometimes be for me now, now
that I've really broadened.
I'm no longer just talking aboutfreedom in the sense of
freelance.
and when I'm now monetizing mypodcast, it actually requires
(16:05):
more effort.
I can feel it.
When it comes to themonetization piece, so I need to
take my own advice, a couplemore examples of how this could
work, right?
Instead of having a show aboutwellness.
Can we make it gut health forbusy moms over 40?
Okay.
Instead of career advice, can itbe a show for laid off tech
(16:27):
workers who are pivoting tofreelance?
These titles are all clear,they're all searchable, and they
all speak to somebody's actuallife experience with an intent
they have of a change they wannamake for themselves, right?
Improving their gut health,getting a new job.
There's an action there thatsomebody wants to take, and now
I get it.
(16:47):
Niching down can feel scary.
You might be thinking, but whatif I exclude people or isn't
that gonna limit my growth ifI'm just too focused?
That is the biggest pushback Iget during my one-on-one
consults with my clients whenI'm bringing my group together
for Pod Squad.
People are so hesitant to dothis, and I just said that I
(17:07):
fall victim to this too becauseover time my interests have
broadened as a content creator,I'm curious and passionate about
various different things,however.
When it comes to beinghyper-focused with your podcast,
you're using it actually as amarketing funnel for your
business.
Your podcast is not just ahobby.
It serves a real purpose in yourbusiness, and you can track the
(17:31):
results of that.
This isn't just a passionproject.
Your personal interestsshouldn't take priority over
actually serving your customers.
and that requires shifting yourthinking instead of being scared
of smaller audiences.
Thinking about creating moredevoted ones.
Okay.
(17:51):
Audiences that engaged, thatshare, that buy all, because the
content that you share, it feelslike it was made just for them.
Okay.
When we try to speak toeverybody, you actually end up
resonating with nobody.
So don't try to go viral, try togo valuable.
The third and final trend that Ireally wanna share with you
(18:12):
today is YouTube.
I hesitated for so long gettinginto video.
I loved that podcasting was amultitasking medium, right?
I loved that podcasts werereally for those busy people,
people who could learn and beentertained while doing
something else.
I loved going for long walkswhile listening to my favorite
(18:35):
creators and.
Even still, I have to admit, Ihave started really enjoying
watching some of my favoriteshows.
Call Her Daddy is my number onefavorite video podcast, and I'm
still watching her show whilemultitasking.
I love to prepare a big meal inthe kitchen and have some.
(18:57):
Spotify on the TV and watch herepisodes, or maybe I'm at the
gym and it's cardio day and I'mon the bike or the StairMaster
and I got my phone out and I'mwatching her videos.
I've really gotten on board withthe YouTube thing, and trends
are showing this shift as well.
Industry reports are showingthat YouTube is now surpassing.
(19:20):
Traditional audio platforms likeSpotify and Apple Podcast as the
most popular way people arediscovering new podcasts,
Especially with youngerdemographics, over 50% of
YouTube podcast consumers areunder the age of 35.
So if your show targets ayounger or more digitally native
(19:42):
audience, YouTube should be oneof your core.
Distribution channels, maybeeven more so than Spotify or
Apple, if I dare say it.
YouTube also does such a greatjob at recommending clips and
full episodes based on your userbehavior.
So I think what YouTube reallyexcels at is helping people
(20:02):
discover your show.
It really is that gateway,right, where someone might
stumble on your podcast based ona clip that you share from the
episode as a short or even afull episode gets recommended to
them.
People on YouTube aren'tnecessarily identifying as
podcast.
Viewers and consumers, whenthey're on the platform, they
(20:25):
have more of a scrollingbehavior, and so before you know
it, you've just tapped into thiswhole new top of funnel
opportunity where your contentcould be somebody's first ever
podcast exposure and definitelytheir first time hearing about
you.
So if you're gonna get into theYouTube game, which I'm highly
recommending you should, youneed to create actual videos,
(20:48):
both long form videos and shortform.
So before we could kind of getaway with just uploading the
audio of our podcast episodesand putting a static image over
top.
Now that's not gonna cut it.
We wanna see you on camera.
You.
You and the guest, maybe someimagery overlaying it throughout
(21:09):
the episode when it makes sense.
But don't just do the staticimage.
This does not mean you need afull studio to start showing up
on camera.
Okay, A ring light.
Sitting in front of some greatlighting in front of a window,
which I'm doing right now, evenusing your phone, the cameras on
our phones are shooting in 4Kthese days.
(21:32):
That can go a long way, so don'toverthink the equipment.
If you're already podcasting,you have a mic, it's still most
important that people can hearwhat you're saying.
Clearly, it's still the mostimportant thing that you don't
have distracting backgroundnoises like noisy kitchen fans
or dogs and cats barking ortraffic from outside the window.
(21:55):
You really want people beingable to clearly hear what you're
saying, but when it comes to thevisual.
Honestly, just focus on somereally great lighting.
Maybe a clear background orsomething that's super on brand,
but you definitely don't need torush out and rent out a studio.
In terms of the tools you alsodon't need to learn a ton of new
(22:16):
things.
If you're already podcasting,I'm guessing you're already
using a tool like Riverside.
This is where I've recordedtoday's episode.
I recorded the audio and thevideo at the exact same time,
and then I brought the entirefile into Descrip.
Descrip is the tool that I use.
To edit both my audio and myvideo.
(22:38):
I have discount codes at all ofthe tools that I'm gonna mention
to you today.
They're all gonna be in the shownotes, so don't panic.
You don't need to be taking aton of notes but I love that
Descrip specifically Allows meto edit the audio and the video
of my content at the exact sametime.
If I had to sit there and do theentire audio episode for Spotify
(23:00):
and Apple and then restart theprocess for YouTube and for
video platforms.
We just wouldn't do it, right?
that's a lot of time Scriptallows you to edit them at the
exact same time.
So just imagine everythingyou've just now said in your
episode, whether it's a solo oran interview, it transcribes it
(23:21):
immediately in front of you.
It's almost like you're workingwith a blog post or a Google doc
and to the right, you see.
Your video and then below yousee the soundbars for the audio.
Every time you are deletingsomething, moving something
around, it's happening in boththe audio and the video, so that
makes it so, so, so easy.
(23:43):
If you really want to add anedge to your YouTube videos, you
can create something moredynamic where instead of adjust
being you talking to the cameraor you and the guest, you can
start to add layers in theepisode with other images that
you wanna reference or videoclips.
A really great example is whatI've done with my latest vlog
(24:03):
series.
I just got back from a threemonth sabbatical and trip in New
Zealand where I had a ton ofcontent, and so you'll see how
I've done it.
It's still a traditionalinterview-based podcast episode
where it's me and my guest.
We're talking.
But then every once in a whileI'm referencing a hike.
a location on the map.
the van that we rented, and I'lllayer.
(24:25):
An image or a video that goesover the screen, over us
talking.
You do not need to be aprofessional video editor to do
this.
This is truly something you canbe doing yourself with a tool
like script, which makes it soeasy to just with a little bit
more effort, you can really nowget into video, but also just be
(24:46):
a few steps ahead of where videois going.
So step one.
Let's get you on there talkingto the camera.
If you wanna have an edge.
See if you can layer dynamicaspects into your videos.
Heck, throw a gif here and thereas a layer.
Anything to just keep people'sattention as it's now a watching
experience.
(25:07):
YouTube also has their versionof Instagram reels, which by now
you know by now I'm sure youknow the strategy of taking.
Parts of your podcast episodeand creating audiograms for
social media for Instagramreels.
Well, now you can also do thison YouTube.
They have a section calledYouTube shorts, where then you
(25:28):
wanna take 30 to 62nd shorterclips from your YouTube episodes
and putting them as shorts onthe platform as well.
A really great example of apodcast that does this well is
the Goop Podcast with GwynethPaltrow.
I love her content.
One of her latest episodes iswith the comedian Nikki Glazer,
(25:49):
I'm familiar with who she is andher work, and I think she's
hilarious.
So when Goop put out a podcastepisode.
With just Nikki's name in thetitle.
That got my attention.
That hooked me into watching the45 minute episode.
But then they also created afive minute episode and it was
called Non-Monogamy.
(26:09):
It had something like that inthe title.
Right?
Really hooking you in where I'mnot.
I'm personally not annon-monogamous, but maybe I'm
curious about this topic, ormaybe I identify as somebody
who's interested in this topicand I don't know who Nikki is.
That for sure is going to get myattention as I'm searching that
topic in YouTube, it's likely tosuggest that short video to me,
(26:32):
and all of a sudden I'm watchingpart of the Goop podcast.
Maybe it's my first time evenknowing that Gwyneth has a
podcast, definitely my firsttime being exposed to Nikki, and
before you know it, I'm nowgoing and looking at the rest of
their content and ideallybecoming a subscriber.
So never forget that YouTube isactually the second largest
search engine after Google.
(26:54):
This is a place where people aregoing to find new content, So
leverage this platform.
Find other creators who havealready brought their podcasts
on YouTube and study whatthey're doing.
You can get inspired for yourown show, see what they're
doing.
That's really capturing yourattention.
then the other unique thingabout YouTube is that you do
(27:15):
require thumbnail images, sokind of like a cover photo to
your video.
As podcasters, we've kind ofgotten away for a long time with
just having that one image.
Our square artwork that wedesigned really well once and
most likely, every episode thatyou put out, it has that same
artwork.
(27:35):
That's been what I'verecommended forever and I still
would.
Now that we're on YouTubethough, we actually need unique
images for every single episode,and you kind of want them to be
quite, I'm going to use the worddramatic.
You really wanna hook somebodyin with bold titles, compelling
(27:55):
imagery, that if you were justscrolling through YouTube much
more scrolling through images,it's going to grab your
attention.
And you might actuallyexperiment with changing the
titles of your episodesspecifically for YouTube.
So for example, one of theepisodes I came out with
recently was an honest review ofmy time in New Zealand.
(28:16):
That's what I put out as thetitle for the podcast players.
But then for YouTube, I'm like.
People don't really know me yeton YouTube.
I'm going after a cold, brandnew audience.
Do they really care about myhonest review of New Zealand
when they don't even know who Iam?
So with YouTube, I went withwhat you won't like about New
(28:38):
Zealand, right?
Keeping it more.
Attractive to a stranger whomight find that intriguing, kind
of giving you the sense, oh, I'mabout to hear something kind of
raw and unfiltered, maybesomething controversial, things
that you won't like about NewZealand.
so experiment with the titles,but definitely make sure that
you have imagery to go with it.
(28:58):
That's going to be prettycaptivating.
I like to copy the layout thatcall her Daddy uses.
Again, if you look up herpodcast, you can see the still
cover image thumbnails that sheuses.
It's usually her and the guest,and they have very tense facial
expressions that really pull youin.
People looking shocked orlaughing or crying.
(29:22):
You feel the emotion.
That is being conveyed in theepisode just by looking at the
image.
Another great example is myfriend who runs the YouTube
channel, portable professional.
Her thumbnails are always superdramatic and you just can't help
but click on them.
Feel free to look at my YouTubechannel and see how I'm doing
(29:43):
this.
The tool that I use to actuallycreate these images is Canva.
I'm sure you're familiar withCanva now, but when you log into
Canva, you can actually searchYouTube thumbnail and it'll pull
up all these different layoutswhere you can just pick one that
looks good for you, add yourbrand colors, add your images,
change the fonts to make italigned with your brand.
(30:06):
but again, a lot of these toolswill do a lot of the heavy
lifting for you.
My final tip when it comes tobeing on YouTube and starting to
take advantage of this majoropportunity to have someone
discover you and your contentfor the first time is to
leverage YouTube ads.
So maybe you have tried boostinga piece of content on Instagram
(30:29):
or Facebook in the past.
You can actually do this withYouTube videos.
I have been experimenting withit.
I've only done two vlogs onYouTube now.
I started with basically anaudience of zero, and so I
really wanted to get my contentin front of people.
I was putting a lot of effortinto it, and I wasn't sure if
(30:49):
I'd be able to convert my Appleand Spotify listeners over to
YouTube.
So I started boosting my contentand very quickly I got my first
150 subscribers.
And when I look at my stats interms of how much I've.
Spent.
It's been about$1 Canadian inadvertising spend for every new
subscriber that I've been ableto acquire.
(31:11):
These numbers are so promisingand amazing.
If you think about theadvertising opportunities we had
as podcasters in the past.
Really, the only thing I've everbeen able to recommend to my
clients is Overcast.
You can see what they're doingif you go to Overcast fm slash
(31:32):
ads, and essentially they offeryou to buy push notifications
within a podcast category.
So let's say I'm listening to apodcast that's in the business
category, someone can pay forwhile I'm listening, a
text-based ad to pop up on myscreen with a short call to
(31:52):
action about their show.
That's about business.
What I really liked about thattool was one, it worked.
You can actually track in thestats how many new subscribers
you got from the ad, but that itwas more specific.
If someone is listening to abusiness podcast, they're likely
gonna be more interested in mybusiness.
Podcast.
Right?
The catch.
(32:13):
They have very high minimums.
at the time of me looking ontheir website right now, to buy
an ad in the business category,it's 1600 US dollars versus
YouTube.
You can boost one of yourepisodes for.
$5, for example.
So very low barrier to entrythat it's kind of like a
no-brainer not to try putting asmall amount of ad spend to
(32:38):
boost your videos, especially ifyou're just starting out with
YouTube as a podcaster or Idon't know.
Are we vloggers now?
We might be rebranding.
I still don't know.
so those are my three tips onthe biggest podcast trends that
are happening right now.
If you're an establishedpodcaster, I really hope you
realize that these trends maybeare not just upcoming.
(33:00):
They've already started toreshape the game.
and you, my friend, you'realready ahead of the curve just
by tuning in today.
So if you want support inapplying any of these trends to
your show, I really wanna inviteyou to come check out Pod Squad.
This is my new group program forestablished podcasters.
Everyone gets to crash.
One of the group calls for free.
Let's you feel it out, see ifit's your vibe.
(33:21):
I've included links in the shownotes.
What's your free.com/pod squad?
You can apply to have your showinvited to the next group call,
and we can chat about some waysthat I can help you one-on-one.
So until next time, keep showingup.
Keep sharing your voice, keepshaping the future of
podcasting.
And if you love this episode,please share it with even just
one other podcaster in yourcircle.
(33:44):
That is how we all growtogether.
Bye.
Welcome back to another episode of the Freedom
Lifestyle Podcast.
Today we are changing things up.
We are unpacking strategies andshifts that are shaping the
future of podcasting.
So if you are an establishedpodcaster who's been putting out
solid content, but maybe you'relooking for your next edge,
maybe every time you post,you're like, oh, I just know
(00:24):
this could be a little bitbetter, or, I don't even know
really what my strategy isanymore.
This is kind of feeling like ahobby.
This podcast is going to talkabout growth monetization and
how you can level up creativity.
If that sounds like it's foryou, you are in the right place.
So why should you listen to me?
My name is Sam.
(00:46):
I was early in the podcastinggame.
I launched my show in 2017, theFreedom Lifestyle.
I've had celebrity guests on theshow.
I've had household name brandsponsors.
I'm on my seventh season.
I have created.
Thousands of podcast episodesfor my own show, for my clients.
Helped thousands of contentcreators launch their shows.
(01:06):
Market Monetize.
I am a hand selected Fiverr Propodcast consultant with only.
Five star perfect reviews, and Ihave a group mastermind program
called the Pod Squad, which ifyou're not already in it, this
could be your new favorite placeon the internet to hang out.
It's a six month program forpodcasters who are also
(01:29):
entrepreneurs people buildingfreedom-based businesses and
looking to align their podcastcontent with that bigger vision.
So everyone gets to come to oneof our group calls for free.
Go to whatyourfree.com/podsquadto learn more.
Apply to participate in some.
I got you.
Podcasting has been my worldsince 2017.
(01:53):
I do this every day so that youdon't have to do all the
research today there are threebig trends that I wanted to
focus on.
Trend number one, micro casts.
By now, we all know the strategyof long to short, Taking longer
podcast episodes.
And cutting them into multipleshorter pieces of content that
(02:15):
we can use as Instagram reels,as YouTube shorts, as tweets for
x.
Posts for LinkedIn graphic quotecards.
Great.
If you're already doing that,amazing.
We've been doing that for yearsnow.
Okay.
The new thing on the horizon, ifyou wanna be cutting edge is
actually micro casts where weare creating super short form
(02:39):
podcasts.
These are podcasts, typicallytwo to 10 minutes long, and I
think the real reason why we'veactually gone back to shorter
content is platforms likeYouTube and TikTok exploding,
right?
They've completely conditionedaudiences to expect high value,
low time commitment content.
(03:01):
Even if it's just audio form.
we're all busy and listenerswant insight on the go.
Since launching my YouTubechannel, the number one piece of
advice I've received is, Hey,maybe you should try to make
them a little bit shorter, eventhough they're 30 minutes in jam
packed with value, it's still anask for a lot of people, and
when we think about thealgorithms, completion rates, so
(03:24):
how much of an episode someoneactually listens to and Finishes
are significantly higher onepisodes that are under 10
minutes.
This is an important factor forpodcast algorithms, is whether
someone actually listens to yourepisode.
podcasts that are under 10minutes have over 80% completion
rate compared to podcasts thatare around the 30 minute mark
(03:47):
typically now only have a 50%completion rate.
Okay.
Another stat is that dailypodcast listeners are growing,
so people who are listening topodcasts every single day, that
number is increasing, but ourattention spans are shrinking.
the average attention span nowis 8.25 seconds which means
(04:09):
these micro casts are such agreat way to respond to these
trends.
They can show your listener,Hey, I respect your time.
I'm going to create somethinghigh value that's easy for you
to commit to.
And when I think about whattypes of formats do really well
for micro casts, I find thesecan be, I.
Podcasts that really appeal tobusy professionals, younger
(04:32):
audiences who really wannaconsume content on the go.
I can see these being great foranyone in the mindfulness
wellness space, motivational,empowering.
I can see like three minutemeditations.
daily mindset resets, little peptalks.
To get you through the day, getyou through the week.
If you're a thought leader, Ican see content around tools of
(04:55):
the day where maybe every dayyou just have a really short
episode of one of your favoritetools, how to use it.
Bonus points if you give them areferral or affiliate link.
maybe you are into copywritingand you want to give them a
writing prompt, for someone whoreally likes to journal and you
give them something to writeeach day.
There's so many different ideasthat you can do for this.
(05:17):
Again, study other people.
Success leaves clues.
There's a lot of podcastersahead on this trend and tapping
into micro casts.
Some examples is planet moneyhas the indicator.
They do eight minute episodesand they are just daily doses of
economic insights that don'twaste your time.
(05:39):
There's another one calledBefore Breakfast.
That's about five minutes.
It's daily productivity advicedesigned to be consumed before
you even finish your morningcoffee.
Okay.
My favorite Taylor Swift.
Today, these are eight minuteepisodes that are highlighting
the breaking news stories andheadlines about Taylor Swift
from the past week.
(05:59):
As a super fan of Taylor Swift,I don't wanna miss anything
important about her, but I alsodon't really have the time and
the desire to constantly scrollsocial media and uncover all of
the millions of Easter eggs sheis putting out in all of the fan
theories.
So I listen to Taylor Swifttoday, every single week, and in
those.
Eight minutes.
I feel like I got a summaryabout all things Taylor Swift
(06:22):
and someone did all of thatdigging for me.
So that's been super valuable.
if you're gonna tap into thetrend of micro casts, make sure
you go straight to the point.
You don't wanna have longintros, you don't wanna have
fluffy banter.
You gotta hook the listener inthe first 10 seconds of your
episode.
You gotta also use strong titlesthat make it very clear that
(06:46):
this podcast episode is going tobe valuable.
There's gonna be a cleartakeaway.
You are going to leave smarter,more entertained, more inspired.
There's something concrete andspecific about this episode.
Examples, rather than justsaying something like a quick
thought on branding.
Eight minute episode on the onebranding mistake that's costing
(07:09):
you clients get it.
I'm already going into itknowing I'm gonna learn one
thing.
I only gotta spend eight minuteswith this woman, and she is
going to teach me the mistakethat is costing me clients.
Why wouldn't you want to domicro casts?
Right?
What is the pushback here?
I feel like sometimes I thinkthat is anyone gonna really take
(07:29):
me seriously?
If my show is that short?
How much value can I reallyprovide in an eight minute
episode?
That is such a commonhesitation, but the truth is
people do not need more content.
They need more clarity.
A five minute insight thatsticks.
Give someone an aha is way morepowerful than a 45 minute rant
(07:51):
and ramble that they don't evenfinish, that they don't even get
to the end, which is typicallywhen your call to action for the
episode is going to be.
So you want them to get therefor the algorithm's sake and for
your sake in terms of the wholepoint of the episode at the end,
you wanna invite them to dosomething with you.
(08:12):
This week's episode is broughtto you by Lucid Link.
You know that feeling whenyou're on a roll.
Creative juices are flowing,ideas are firing, and then boom.
All of a sudden you're lookingat a loading bar on your
computer.
Again, I have always longed fortechnology that can move as fast
as I can for a tech solutionthat works at the speed of my
(08:35):
own creativity.
That's as fast as my brain canoperate when I'm really on,
especially now.
That I've become a vlogger andI've been bringing my podcast on
YouTube.
I'm now working with massivevideo files, and it's brutal.
My computer is constantly full.
I waste so much time having toupload and download all the
(08:57):
different versions I'm workingwith as I have freelancers and
assistants and audio editors,and I'm losing hours to that
spinny wheel of death that allMacBook users know For the first
time maybe ever, my Aura Ringactually gave me a notification
saying I was having too muchinactive time.
Okay.
(09:17):
Editing these videos that wasthe final straw and wake up call
for me, that something needed tochange.
If I wanted to keep this videoseries going, enter Lucid Link.
LucidLink is the solution foranybody working with big files.
Video, audio, creative assets,whatever.
(09:37):
Also, if you're collaboratingwith clients who are remote team
members who are not in the samelocation as you, instead of
having to always be uploadingand downloading and waiting, you
can just stream the latestversion of any file instantly.
It acts just like a file on yourlocal drive.
Imagine opening a file on yourcomputer.
(09:59):
How quick it is, how easy it is.
It's that exact same feelingexcept everything is in the
cloud magically appearing likeit's on your computer.
So when you value your time,your personal freedom, as much
as I do, I know you do Freedomseeker, every second counts.
So instead of waiting for all ofyour files to load.
You could be frolicking innature, you could be going on
(10:21):
adventures, you could begiggling with your favorite
people.
What would you do with an extrafive hours a week?
I have included my referral linkto Lucid Link in the show notes,
and that's gonna give you yourfirst month free.
Okay.
Major podcast trend number twois niche content.
This is probably one of the mostpowerful trends shaping podcast
(10:42):
growth right now.
If you take nothing else fromthis episode, let it be this.
Do not go broader, go deeper.
Talk to fewer people, moremeaningfully.
We have entered an era where themost successful podcasts are not
necessarily the ones casting thewidest net.
They're the ones that have thesharpest focus.
(11:02):
Think about a therapist whomakes episodes just for
millennial women with ADHD Okay.
Incredibly targeted, incrediblyvaluable for the right person,
or maybe a business coach whoonly speaks to Etsy shop owners
or one of my clients from thepod squad will.
(11:25):
He runs a podcast that is justfor private practice owners who
want to leverage virtualassistants and AI to free up
their time That kind ofprecision turns a podcast from
something that's like a nice tolisten to, to, oh my gosh, I
need this in my life right now.
So the number one perk.
To going niche is marketing anddiscoverability, right?
(11:49):
You're gonna win in search.
Whether somebody is searchingfor a podcast episode on
Spotify, YouTube, Google, itdoesn't matter where they're
searching.
niche shows stand out becausethey match specific keywords
with specific intent which is awhole new era of using the
(12:10):
internet, is what is the intentbehind somebody's search and
what are they actually lookingto get out of this?
So let's workshop a few moreexamples.
You might be thinking ofcreating an episode that's
called Confidence Hacks thatwork.
Okay, I'm going to give that aB, but what if you made an
episode called OvercomingImposter Syndrome as a first
(12:33):
time tech founder?
Okay.
That's like an a plus in termsof precision, so you're using
keywords.
In the title, you're making surethat the keywords are niche.
They're in the title, they're inthe description, they're in your
show notes, and ideally, you'refront loading them at the
beginning of titles, show notes,and descriptions.
(12:53):
You're getting more specificabout who this episode is
actually for, so you benefitfrom search.
It also makes it a lot easierfor you to monetize your podcast
on both ends.
When we think about monetizingour podcast, the first thing you
wanna ask yourself is, do Iwanna make money from people
listening to my podcast?
(13:14):
Or do I wanna make money frompeople who want to talk to the
people who listen to my podcast?
Right.
Typically, sponsors typicallybrand deals.
If you want to make money frompeople who listen to your
podcast, well guess what?
Listeners are two to three timesmore likely to become paying
supporters or paying customersof a show when they feel the
(13:36):
content is tailored to them.
First is general audiencecontent, and this is advice that
I really need to take and I'mgoing to come back to this in a
moment.
The same goes for sponsorsthough, when you know exactly
who you are talking to, it isway easier to pitch relevant
products, relevant services, orrelevant sponsors.
(13:57):
So when I have a client thatwants to get their first brand
sponsor, the first thing I sayto them is, well, where do your
listeners currently spend theirmoney?
Where should they be spendingtheir money and really getting
specific on that type ofconsumer behavior.
At the end of the day, we livein a capitalist society and it's
all about buying shit.
(14:18):
Maybe we need, maybe we don'tneed, but that is what we're
doing when we're monetizingthrough brand sponsors.
Okay.
It is so much easier to monetizea small, tailored niche audience
than a general audience.
That could be anybody.
I was able to monetize mypodcast in the first five
(14:39):
episodes when I had a verymodest audience size, because at
the very beginning of my podcastjourney, I was the most
specific.
When I was launching the FreedomLifestyle, it was all about how.
Do you build a freelancebusiness on the internet that
you can do from anywhere that'sa service-based freelance
(15:00):
business as well.
Okay, so now we're talking tonot just entrepreneurs, but it
was service-based entrepreneursand not just service-based
entrepreneurs, service-basedentrepreneurs who wanted to work
on the internet, and not justremote workers, but digital
nomad workers who wanted to betraveling and working on the
internet.
So it was lifestyleaspirational.
And they also wanted to befreelance, so they didn't wanna
(15:23):
just have one client.
They wanted to be tapping intothe gig economy.
Okay.
That is so hyper specific interms of who my show was for
that when I reached out toFiverr, the world's largest
freelancing marketplace that.
Literally has an entire missionaround helping people have the
dream life and the dream job.
(15:44):
Traveling around the world,running a business and
leveraging freelance talentglobally.
It was an, oh my God, yes, forboth of us.
That was so much easier than itcan sometimes be for me now, now
that I've really broadened.
I'm no longer just talking aboutfreedom in the sense of
freelance.
and when I'm now monetizing mypodcast, it actually requires
(16:05):
more effort.
I can feel it.
When it comes to themonetization piece, so I need to
take my own advice, a couplemore examples of how this could
work, right?
Instead of having a show aboutwellness.
Can we make it gut health forbusy moms over 40?
Okay.
Instead of career advice, can itbe a show for laid off tech
(16:27):
workers who are pivoting tofreelance?
These titles are all clear,they're all searchable, and they
all speak to somebody's actuallife experience with an intent
they have of a change they wannamake for themselves, right?
Improving their gut health,getting a new job.
There's an action there thatsomebody wants to take, and now
I get it.
(16:47):
Niching down can feel scary.
You might be thinking, but whatif I exclude people or isn't
that gonna limit my growth ifI'm just too focused?
That is the biggest pushback Iget during my one-on-one
consults with my clients whenI'm bringing my group together
for Pod Squad.
People are so hesitant to dothis, and I just said that I
(17:07):
fall victim to this too becauseover time my interests have
broadened as a content creator,I'm curious and passionate about
various different things,however.
When it comes to beinghyper-focused with your podcast,
you're using it actually as amarketing funnel for your
business.
Your podcast is not just ahobby.
It serves a real purpose in yourbusiness, and you can track the
(17:31):
results of that.
This isn't just a passionproject.
Your personal interestsshouldn't take priority over
actually serving your customers.
and that requires shifting yourthinking instead of being scared
of smaller audiences.
Thinking about creating moredevoted ones.
Okay.
(17:51):
Audiences that engaged, thatshare, that buy all, because the
content that you share, it feelslike it was made just for them.
Okay.
When we try to speak toeverybody, you actually end up
resonating with nobody.
So don't try to go viral, try togo valuable.
The third and final trend that Ireally wanna share with you
(18:12):
today is YouTube.
I hesitated for so long gettinginto video.
I loved that podcasting was amultitasking medium, right?
I loved that podcasts werereally for those busy people,
people who could learn and beentertained while doing
something else.
I loved going for long walkswhile listening to my favorite
(18:35):
creators and.
Even still, I have to admit, Ihave started really enjoying
watching some of my favoriteshows.
Call Her Daddy is my number onefavorite video podcast, and I'm
still watching her show whilemultitasking.
I love to prepare a big meal inthe kitchen and have some.
(18:57):
Spotify on the TV and watch herepisodes, or maybe I'm at the
gym and it's cardio day and I'mon the bike or the StairMaster
and I got my phone out and I'mwatching her videos.
I've really gotten on board withthe YouTube thing, and trends
are showing this shift as well.
Industry reports are showingthat YouTube is now surpassing.
(19:20):
Traditional audio platforms likeSpotify and Apple Podcast as the
most popular way people arediscovering new podcasts,
Especially with youngerdemographics, over 50% of
YouTube podcast consumers areunder the age of 35.
So if your show targets ayounger or more digitally native
(19:42):
audience, YouTube should be oneof your core.
Distribution channels, maybeeven more so than Spotify or
Apple, if I dare say it.
YouTube also does such a greatjob at recommending clips and
full episodes based on your userbehavior.
So I think what YouTube reallyexcels at is helping people
(20:02):
discover your show.
It really is that gateway,right, where someone might
stumble on your podcast based ona clip that you share from the
episode as a short or even afull episode gets recommended to
them.
People on YouTube aren'tnecessarily identifying as
podcast.
Viewers and consumers, whenthey're on the platform, they
(20:25):
have more of a scrollingbehavior, and so before you know
it, you've just tapped into thiswhole new top of funnel
opportunity where your contentcould be somebody's first ever
podcast exposure and definitelytheir first time hearing about
you.
So if you're gonna get into theYouTube game, which I'm highly
recommending you should, youneed to create actual videos,
(20:48):
both long form videos and shortform.
So before we could kind of getaway with just uploading the
audio of our podcast episodesand putting a static image over
top.
Now that's not gonna cut it.
We wanna see you on camera.
You.
You and the guest, maybe someimagery overlaying it throughout
(21:09):
the episode when it makes sense.
But don't just do the staticimage.
This does not mean you need afull studio to start showing up
on camera.
Okay, A ring light.
Sitting in front of some greatlighting in front of a window,
which I'm doing right now, evenusing your phone, the cameras on
our phones are shooting in 4Kthese days.
(21:32):
That can go a long way, so don'toverthink the equipment.
If you're already podcasting,you have a mic, it's still most
important that people can hearwhat you're saying.
Clearly, it's still the mostimportant thing that you don't
have distracting backgroundnoises like noisy kitchen fans
or dogs and cats barking ortraffic from outside the window.
(21:55):
You really want people beingable to clearly hear what you're
saying, but when it comes to thevisual.
Honestly, just focus on somereally great lighting.
Maybe a clear background orsomething that's super on brand,
but you definitely don't need torush out and rent out a studio.
In terms of the tools you alsodon't need to learn a ton of new
(22:16):
things.
If you're already podcasting,I'm guessing you're already
using a tool like Riverside.
This is where I've recordedtoday's episode.
I recorded the audio and thevideo at the exact same time,
and then I brought the entirefile into Descrip.
Descrip is the tool that I use.
To edit both my audio and myvideo.
(22:38):
I have discount codes at all ofthe tools that I'm gonna mention
to you today.
They're all gonna be in the shownotes, so don't panic.
You don't need to be taking aton of notes but I love that
Descrip specifically Allows meto edit the audio and the video
of my content at the exact sametime.
If I had to sit there and do theentire audio episode for Spotify
(23:00):
and Apple and then restart theprocess for YouTube and for
video platforms.
We just wouldn't do it, right?
that's a lot of time Scriptallows you to edit them at the
exact same time.
So just imagine everythingyou've just now said in your
episode, whether it's a solo oran interview, it transcribes it
(23:21):
immediately in front of you.
It's almost like you're workingwith a blog post or a Google doc
and to the right, you see.
Your video and then below yousee the soundbars for the audio.
Every time you are deletingsomething, moving something
around, it's happening in boththe audio and the video, so that
makes it so, so, so easy.
(23:43):
If you really want to add anedge to your YouTube videos, you
can create something moredynamic where instead of adjust
being you talking to the cameraor you and the guest, you can
start to add layers in theepisode with other images that
you wanna reference or videoclips.
A really great example is whatI've done with my latest vlog
(24:03):
series.
I just got back from a threemonth sabbatical and trip in New
Zealand where I had a ton ofcontent, and so you'll see how
I've done it.
It's still a traditionalinterview-based podcast episode
where it's me and my guest.
We're talking.
But then every once in a whileI'm referencing a hike.
a location on the map.
the van that we rented, and I'lllayer.
(24:25):
An image or a video that goesover the screen, over us
talking.
You do not need to be aprofessional video editor to do
this.
This is truly something you canbe doing yourself with a tool
like script, which makes it soeasy to just with a little bit
more effort, you can really nowget into video, but also just be
(24:46):
a few steps ahead of where videois going.
So step one.
Let's get you on there talkingto the camera.
If you wanna have an edge.
See if you can layer dynamicaspects into your videos.
Heck, throw a gif here and thereas a layer.
Anything to just keep people'sattention as it's now a watching
experience.
(25:07):
YouTube also has their versionof Instagram reels, which by now
you know by now I'm sure youknow the strategy of taking.
Parts of your podcast episodeand creating audiograms for
social media for Instagramreels.
Well, now you can also do thison YouTube.
They have a section calledYouTube shorts, where then you
(25:28):
wanna take 30 to 62nd shorterclips from your YouTube episodes
and putting them as shorts onthe platform as well.
A really great example of apodcast that does this well is
the Goop Podcast with GwynethPaltrow.
I love her content.
One of her latest episodes iswith the comedian Nikki Glazer,
(25:49):
I'm familiar with who she is andher work, and I think she's
hilarious.
So when Goop put out a podcastepisode.
With just Nikki's name in thetitle.
That got my attention.
That hooked me into watching the45 minute episode.
But then they also created afive minute episode and it was
called Non-Monogamy.
(26:09):
It had something like that inthe title.
Right?
Really hooking you in where I'mnot.
I'm personally not annon-monogamous, but maybe I'm
curious about this topic, ormaybe I identify as somebody
who's interested in this topicand I don't know who Nikki is.
That for sure is going to get myattention as I'm searching that
topic in YouTube, it's likely tosuggest that short video to me,
(26:32):
and all of a sudden I'm watchingpart of the Goop podcast.
Maybe it's my first time evenknowing that Gwyneth has a
podcast, definitely my firsttime being exposed to Nikki, and
before you know it, I'm nowgoing and looking at the rest of
their content and ideallybecoming a subscriber.
So never forget that YouTube isactually the second largest
search engine after Google.
(26:54):
This is a place where people aregoing to find new content, So
leverage this platform.
Find other creators who havealready brought their podcasts
on YouTube and study whatthey're doing.
You can get inspired for yourown show, see what they're
doing.
That's really capturing yourattention.
then the other unique thingabout YouTube is that you do
(27:15):
require thumbnail images, sokind of like a cover photo to
your video.
As podcasters, we've kind ofgotten away for a long time with
just having that one image.
Our square artwork that wedesigned really well once and
most likely, every episode thatyou put out, it has that same
artwork.
(27:35):
That's been what I'verecommended forever and I still
would.
Now that we're on YouTubethough, we actually need unique
images for every single episode,and you kind of want them to be
quite, I'm going to use the worddramatic.
You really wanna hook somebodyin with bold titles, compelling
(27:55):
imagery, that if you were justscrolling through YouTube much
more scrolling through images,it's going to grab your
attention.
And you might actuallyexperiment with changing the
titles of your episodesspecifically for YouTube.
So for example, one of theepisodes I came out with
recently was an honest review ofmy time in New Zealand.
(28:16):
That's what I put out as thetitle for the podcast players.
But then for YouTube, I'm like.
People don't really know me yeton YouTube.
I'm going after a cold, brandnew audience.
Do they really care about myhonest review of New Zealand
when they don't even know who Iam?
So with YouTube, I went withwhat you won't like about New
(28:38):
Zealand, right?
Keeping it more.
Attractive to a stranger whomight find that intriguing, kind
of giving you the sense, oh, I'mabout to hear something kind of
raw and unfiltered, maybesomething controversial, things
that you won't like about NewZealand.
so experiment with the titles,but definitely make sure that
you have imagery to go with it.
(28:58):
That's going to be prettycaptivating.
I like to copy the layout thatcall her Daddy uses.
Again, if you look up herpodcast, you can see the still
cover image thumbnails that sheuses.
It's usually her and the guest,and they have very tense facial
expressions that really pull youin.
People looking shocked orlaughing or crying.
(29:22):
You feel the emotion.
That is being conveyed in theepisode just by looking at the
image.
Another great example is myfriend who runs the YouTube
channel, portable professional.
Her thumbnails are always superdramatic and you just can't help
but click on them.
Feel free to look at my YouTubechannel and see how I'm doing
(29:43):
this.
The tool that I use to actuallycreate these images is Canva.
I'm sure you're familiar withCanva now, but when you log into
Canva, you can actually searchYouTube thumbnail and it'll pull
up all these different layoutswhere you can just pick one that
looks good for you, add yourbrand colors, add your images,
change the fonts to make italigned with your brand.
(30:06):
but again, a lot of these toolswill do a lot of the heavy
lifting for you.
My final tip when it comes tobeing on YouTube and starting to
take advantage of this majoropportunity to have someone
discover you and your contentfor the first time is to
leverage YouTube ads.
So maybe you have tried boostinga piece of content on Instagram
(30:29):
or Facebook in the past.
You can actually do this withYouTube videos.
I have been experimenting withit.
I've only done two vlogs onYouTube now.
I started with basically anaudience of zero, and so I
really wanted to get my contentin front of people.
I was putting a lot of effortinto it, and I wasn't sure if
(30:49):
I'd be able to convert my Appleand Spotify listeners over to
YouTube.
So I started boosting my contentand very quickly I got my first
150 subscribers.
And when I look at my stats interms of how much I've.
Spent.
It's been about$1 Canadian inadvertising spend for every new
subscriber that I've been ableto acquire.
(31:11):
These numbers are so promisingand amazing.
If you think about theadvertising opportunities we had
as podcasters in the past.
Really, the only thing I've everbeen able to recommend to my
clients is Overcast.
You can see what they're doingif you go to Overcast fm slash
(31:32):
ads, and essentially they offeryou to buy push notifications
within a podcast category.
So let's say I'm listening to apodcast that's in the business
category, someone can pay forwhile I'm listening, a
text-based ad to pop up on myscreen with a short call to
(31:52):
action about their show.
That's about business.
What I really liked about thattool was one, it worked.
You can actually track in thestats how many new subscribers
you got from the ad, but that itwas more specific.
If someone is listening to abusiness podcast, they're likely
gonna be more interested in mybusiness.
Podcast.
Right?
The catch.
(32:13):
They have very high minimums.
at the time of me looking ontheir website right now, to buy
an ad in the business category,it's 1600 US dollars versus
YouTube.
You can boost one of yourepisodes for.
$5, for example.
So very low barrier to entrythat it's kind of like a
no-brainer not to try putting asmall amount of ad spend to
(32:38):
boost your videos, especially ifyou're just starting out with
YouTube as a podcaster or Idon't know.
Are we vloggers now?
We might be rebranding.
I still don't know.
so those are my three tips onthe biggest podcast trends that
are happening right now.
If you're an establishedpodcaster, I really hope you
realize that these trends maybeare not just upcoming.
(33:00):
They've already started toreshape the game.
and you, my friend, you'realready ahead of the curve just
by tuning in today.
So if you want support inapplying any of these trends to
your show, I really wanna inviteyou to come check out Pod Squad.
This is my new group program forestablished podcasters.
Everyone gets to crash.
One of the group calls for free.
Let's you feel it out, see ifit's your vibe.
(33:21):
I've included links in the shownotes.
What's your free.com/pod squad?
You can apply to have your showinvited to the next group call,
and we can chat about some waysthat I can help you one-on-one.
So until next time, keep showingup.
Keep sharing your voice, keepshaping the future of
podcasting.
And if you love this episode,please share it with even just
one other podcaster in yourcircle.
(33:44):
That is how we all growtogether.
Bye.
Popular Podcasts
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.