Starting a podcast at a small organisation

I must confess that I am by no means an expert on how to start or run a podcast. Our Make Things Better podcast is listened to by 10’s of people, not millions. But, it has provided us with a platform to have a chat with some really incredible people and it has yielded a lot of learnings along the way.

Throughout this blog, I wish to unveil what I have learned from setting up a podcast at Hive IT and hopefully, you can learn from a few of my mistakes!

The benefits of starting a podcast

I believe running a podcast has a number of benefits for small organisations.

Firstly, your organisation has the chance to meet new people which could open up interesting opportunities. Secondly, you can cement and build upon your existing relationships, and finally, you get to share these conversations with your community.

I’ve also learned a lot more about the work that different people at Hive do which has been incredibly useful

I consider podcasts a more personable, human-focused approach to marketing, and meeting many amazing people within the Sheffield community and beyond is undoubtedly the most enjoyable part of my job.

Although the podcast is not a massive success in terms of numbers, I’ve learned a lot since I started it. Here are some of my top tips in case your organisation is considering starting one.

As there is already a plethora of blogs (partly because of affiliate links) out there on what equipment to use, I am going to primarily focus on the journey from finding the right guest to having the right chat with them.

Finding the right guests for your podcast

Prior to starting the Make Things Better podcast, I had read a book called One Million Followers by Brendan Kane. Hooked by the title, I decided to give it a read. The problem with marketing books is that the marketers who write them are really good at marketing their ideas. This can make it hard to distinguish between an effective tip and a tip being presented effectively (plus the effectiveness depends upon a range of factors).

Nevertheless, I was intrigued by one idea in particular. Brendan shared how by collaborating with other people who already had large social followings, he was able to rapidly grow his following. Having received approval from a few of my colleagues at Hive, I went ahead and arranged podcasts with a range of people who had large social followings, were experts in their field, and shared our company’s goal of using technology for good.

I found that these podcasts did lead to an increase in our impressions across social media as they would appear on the feeds of more people (as the guest would share them). However, due to these guests’ audiences not having a clue who we are and often living thousands of miles away — our engagement rate remained low. Although I had the chance to speak to some really interesting people, this strategy of speaking to highly-followed people from all over the world didn’t really work.

After a few podcasts and some valuable suggestions later, I decided it would be better to go more local. We started to chat to more people within our local, Sheffield community. People who were well-known in Sheffield, people we had worked with in the past, and a few of our current clients.

This approach has been better for a number of reasons, mostly because it provides the benefits explained at the start of this blog. Going local also lends itself to chatting with people in person, instead of online. As we started to speak to more people from Sheffield, we decided to start recording our podcasts in our office. I much prefer recording face-to-face because I think it strengthens my connection with guests. For example, I find it easier to pick up on facial expressions and body language in person which paves the path to better communication. Plus, I don’t have to worry about a bad internet connection.

Struggling to choose who to chat to? One strategy could be going through your list of followers and finding people who share similar values to your organisation, are a bit of an expert on a particular subject, and who are already known by your audience.

We certainly don’t limit our guests to these criteria alone as we also love chatting with new people. If there’s a subject you’d like to chat about and would be up for joining us on the Make Things Better podcast, please drop me an email at tom@hiveit.co.uk

Prioritising the comfort of your guests

I think what has been most important about running the podcast has probably been ensuring our guests feel comfortable. I once went on a football podcast where the host asked me a ton of questions I had been unprepared for and I sort of froze. I took something very important away from that experience.

The quality of your podcast will often be determined by the extent to which your guest feels comfortable. This is because you are much more likely to get someone to open up and find flow when they feel relaxed. When your guest feels comfortable, they will better connect their ideas, articulate their thoughts more clearly, and express themselves more authentically.

Something I took away from my recent podcast with Tim Brazier is that inviting someone into your space (like your office) is setting the environment up on unequal terms. The host is an environment they are used to (their office) whilst the guest is in a totally new environment. As much as we always try to make our guests feel relaxed and calm, choosing to go on another person’s podcast for the first time can be a nerve-wracking experience.

In the context of inclusive design processes, Tim shared how there can be a power balance when inviting someone into your space. But, this could also exist when inviting a guest into your office for a podcast.

I wish I could say that I have always followed all of these tips every time I have recorded a podcast, but I know I have not. Anyhow, here are some of my top practical tips for helping your guest feel more comfortable:

• Send podcast questions over to your guest in advance so they feel somewhat prepared
• Let them know the podcast will be edited and that they can pause, reword what they want to say, or even take a break whenever they like
• Offer them a drink before you start (you’ll have to avoid this one if you’re recording it online)
• Ask them if they have any questions before you start
• Ask them if they would like to watch or listen to the podcast before it is published across your watching and listening platforms

Hosting the podcast

As a small organisation, I’d only recommend starting a podcast if there is someone in your organisation who genuinely wants to host it and can be given the time to do so.

If you do have someone in your organisation that fits this description, a place to record, and a decent idea of the conversations you want to have with people — you’ll be all set!

I’ve luckily had a ton of help from Allan, our Head of Creative, to help create our podcast set-up

Below are my top tips on hosting the podcast.

Research

It is amazing how much people know about very specific topics. Make the most of this by researching your guest and then providing them with an opportunity to share their insights on what they are passionate about with the world, via your podcast.

My research usually involves asking people at Hive what they know about the guest and then following that up with a quick stalk on social media (One which LinkedIn will inform my guests of).

Listening to guests

Get clear on if you are going for a more conversational approach or more of an interview-type approach. If you are going for the conversational approach like I tend to, then active listening is your best friend.

Whilst your guest is talking, try your best to really hear them and then make your next question relevant to what they have said. I try my best at this, but I admit that sometimes it can be hard to stay focused, especially when I start thinking about what to ask them next.

Set a time limit

Some very popular podcasts will go on for hours nowadays. But, unless your guest has a huge following and they have a large audience that will listen to them for hours — it is often best to have a cut-off point for your podcast. This will help you stay on topic throughout the recording and will help you squeeze out as much concentrated, valuable information as possible.

Analysing your audience retention time (how long your audience listens for) is a really useful, external indicator as to how long your podcasts should be.

We had a laugh with Simon Scott about our makeshift recording set-up, using a milky bar to hold the camera in place on my faulty tripod (Hive has kindly bought us a new tripod since).

My final tip on setting up a podcast is to enjoy it. Podcasting is fun when you get into it (at least I find it fun) and the more you enjoy it, the more likely it is that your guests and listeners will enjoy it too.

Good luck and if you have any questions at all, get in touch with us.