Your podcast has to become a real platform if you want to make the most from it. Serious podcasting is the only way you can make things profitable.
Why You Need a Platform
A platform is what separates you from all the other podcasters. Is your show just like the others? Well what makes it different?
When you have a platform it gives you the most important thing in the world today: leverage. Leverage allows you to build relationships, ask for more, creates opportunities and a lot more. So there are certain aspects to having a platform that you just won’t get anywhere else. Let’s talk about it.
Choose Your Assets
Assets equal value. The more assets you have for your brand, the more valuable your brand will be. Let me explain what a brand asset is.
A brand asset brings value to the empire that you’re building. The best brand assets in 2021 are YouTube channels, blogs and newsletters. These are the assets that you control, for the most part. You get to control the content your audience sees, when they can access it and the message that you deliver.
Brand assets help the brand evolve and generate revenue. You don’t have to focus on making money. In fact, I’d argue that you should focus on making an impact. I know that’s cliche and thats why it has some truth to it.
Understand that your assets have to be built. Setting up your blog tonight won’t make it an asset. But if you can get 1,000 visits per week, that is now an asset. Your newsletter isn’t truly an asset until you’ve reached 2,500 subscribers.
Be patient with building your assets. Give yourself three months of focus to build each asset, one at a time. Then your podcast will have a massive brand to support the show.
A Basic Website
We talked about the website a bit in terms of assets which focuses more on the blog. A website can drastically improve your presentation. You need the ability to present your brand in a professional way.
Some creators argue against having websites. They say its a waste of time. I can agree depending on your status. If you already have multiple brand assets online, a website probably isn’t important. Photographers with thousands of followers don’t really need a website because the social accounts do the work for them.
But if you haven’t built multiple assets that can show the power of your brand, you probably need a website. This will serve as your home base, somewhere you can send all of your traffic. It should be easy to opt in and you can have social proof on display.
The Social Aspect
Social media accounts are amazing assets for your brand. I hate to mention these because most podcasters only rely on these to build an audience. Yes, it’s valuable to have a big Instagram following or a massive community on Twitter. But if you aren’t getting anything from those followers, it becomes useless.
Also, remember that social accounts can be lost at a moment’s notice. We’ve seen the president lose his social media account which is proof that it can happen to literally anything and there is nothing you can o about it.
I don’t believe social media accounts are the best assets but they’re valuable. You can’t only commit to have these accounts. At the same time, the type of account you have is very important.
Instagram is very valuable. Even people that don’t post use Instagram consistently. I like to look at Instagram as digital people watching. It’s the equivalent of watching people walk through a mall as you work a terrible retail job.
Behind Instagram, Twitter is the most valuable social media platform for podcasters. Mainly because of the ability to connect with the world. Twitter moves quickly and its one of the few platforms where it’s still easy to go viral. A celebrity could see your tweet and randomly decide to show you love. It’s happened to me.
I know most won’t agree with me but LinkedIn is 3rd place. Mainly because of the connection opportunities. Obviously if your podcast is about music or pop culture, you won’t get a ton of listeners from LinkedIn. But what you will get is a massive amount of connections. The relationships you build from LinkedIn are truly unprecedented.
Start Building
Get started on your assets. Focus on the assets that will be valuable for you long term. In the next two years, your assets should still be useful for your brand. Remember to focus on at least one for three months. Build a foundation and you’ll be successful in no time.