Header Image: Radio love by r2hox tm :CC BY-SA 2.0
Apple says that there are over 525,000 podcasts registered with Apple Podcasts (Locker 2018), formerly part of Itunes, and let me tell you the Apple Podcast registration can be a pain in the neck. There may be many who are just publishing to RSS feeds that haven’t jump through the necessary hoops for Apple Podcast listing.
So if you are one in those 525,000 how do you get people to listen?
And if you are new to podcasting how do you navigate the technical stuff without being sold something you really don’t need?
Creator communities are a great way to crowdsource the information needed to get started on a creative endeavour. There is a multitude of podcast communities designed to not only help by trading promos but also to share advice and collaborate.
Lady Pod Squad was started by Hannah from the Boozy Movies Podcast and it remains volunteer managed and no one directly profits from the squad, although some of the Lady Pod Squad members receive payment of some kind through their own podcast in the form of advertisement, merchandise and donations.
Lady Pod Squad functions as a Facebook Group, Twitter account, cross platform hashtag #ladypodsquad, Google drive and Slack channel.
Below is a tweet that includes #ladypodsquad in a promotion for an episode that features me and another member of the Lady Pod Squad. This hashtag can be tracked so that other Lady Pod Squad members can retweet. However, the easiest way to find other podcasts new episodes to share is on the Slack. The Slack is a workspace that makes it easier to track what new episodes other members have released so that it is easy to share the right ones on Twitter.
Here is another tweet of mine in which we credit the Lady Pod Squad drive for the promo we were able to run for 6 Degrees of Wiki. The promo drive is a great resource for sharing promos that you can download very simply and insert into your show and upload your own for similar inclusion in other people’s shows.
So why do these communities work?
How can they be sustainable when theoretically every podcast is competing for listenership on an increasingly competitive media platform?
The use of the creator communities on social media can be used to “accumulate group experience and knowledge through social interaction and information exchange behaviours.” (Wu, Li & Chang 2016). The exchange of experience, information and ideas result in a net positive for the group. Not only is there an informal skill exchange, but also the exchange of content and marketing between podcasters. The benefits of the creative networking for the individual are manyfold and include not only an improvement in the quality of their own work but also emotional support in the case of the Lady Pod Squad. Users of the Lady Pod Squad attest to the benefits of the creator community:
Female singer by Orion 8 and tatewaki • Public domain • modified by Morgan Pinder
Check out the podcast for more personal experiences with the Lady Pod Squad.
In addition to this Wu, Li & Chang assert that the use of social media to engage in creative producer communities build “individual habits of social learning within various groups; this helps to enhance the users’ creative performance.” (Wu, Li & Chang 2016).
The use of the Lady Pod Squad across media platforms to create collaborative content such as interviews, crossover episodes and content sharing is usually carried out in a reciprocal and mutually beneficial fashion. This is in line with Kaplan & Haelein’s ideas surrounding collaborative projects as a form of social media:
“The main idea underlying collaborative projects is that the joint effort of many actors leads to a better outcome than any actor could achieve individually” (Kaplan & Haenlein, 2010)
The Lady Pod Squad is just one example of a creative community that exists as a symbiotic network fostering creativity and assisting with social media marketing. No matter what you are creating there is sure to be a network of people out there sharing information and ideas…
Or make one yourself like Hannah did…
‘I guess my unique perspective is that I started this community when I noticed there was a lack of safe space & support for women in podcasting. I found amazing women who felt the same way and together we grew this group into a community. it’s really been an incredible journey and we’ve only been around a little over a year.’
~ Hannah from Boozy Movies Podcast and creator of Lady Pod Squad.
References
- Kaplan, AM & Haenlein, M 2010, ‘Users of the world, unite! The challenges and opportunities of Social Media.’ Business Horizons, vol. 53 no. 1, pp.59-68.
- Locker, M 2018, ‘Apple’s podcasts just topped 50 billion all-time downloads and streams’, Fast Company, 21st April 2018, retrieved 18th August 2018,
<https://www.fastcompany.com/40563318/apples-podcasts-just-topped-50-billion-all-time-downloads-and-streams>
- Wu, Y., Li, E.Y. & Chang, W. 2016, “Nurturing user creative performance in social media networks”, Internet Research, vol. 26, no. 4, pp. 869-900
Images
With thanks to the following podcasts:
6 Degrees of Wiki
Amanda’s Picture Show a Go Go
Bygones
Boozy Movies
Pups n Pop culture
Vibrant visionaries
Podcast
Music: Kelli’s Number by U.S. Army Blues is licensed under a Public Domain Mark 1.0 License
<http://freemusicarchive.org/music/US_Army_Blues/Live_At_Blues_Alley/0_-_08_-_The_US_Army_Blues_-_Kellis_Number>
Image: Megaphone, Elegant Themes, GPL, modified by Morgan Pinder
<https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Circle-icons-megaphone2.svg#mw-jump-to-license>
The FrankenPod 
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