Talking about the Podcast

Chapter 10

Safko, The Social Media Bible

On page 192 Safko says podcasting – recording digital audio files and distributing them via the internet – “is fun and fairly simple because everthing you need to be able to podcast is either built into your computer (hardware) or free to download (software).” Assuming that the would-be podcaster can learn to use Audacity to record audio (and that’s a safer assumption for younger people and techno-geeks than for most senior citizens – I agree with Safko that it’s not hard to get into podcasting.

 But in my opinion he underestimates the importance of using a microphone of acceptable quality. Many built-in computer microphones are much lower in quality than USB microphones costing as little as $30 or $40. I would put  more emphasis on using a quality microphone than does Safko, if you want to build an audience. As the author says, it’s good not too sound too polished and professional, because people will wonder how much your message cost and who’s paying for it. But your message will not attract much of an audience if it doesn’t meet some minimum standards for well-recorded audio.

Safko and I are on the same page, however, when he asserts the importance of including a WIIFM message in podcasts, and the Expert Insight interview subject also notes that “content is king.”

For businesses, the value of a podcast is mainly building a local following and conveying to that audience that you are an expert. This should improve profits indirectly, rather than directly.

For Extension, the area in which I work, podcasting is a natural medium to adopt. Extension is full of experts, sometimes people who are the most knowledgeable in their field, so strong content is a given. Sometimes the podcaster needs to remember to make the content clear and simple enough to be understood by a lay audience, concise enough to not drive away potential audience, and always include the What’s In It for Me message.

Safko’s step-by-step instructions for planning, recording, editing and publishing podcasts were helpful. Finding one’s audience and making it grow could be difficult, though, and this places a lot of importance on factors like search engine optimization and using other social media (e-mail campaigns, Facebook, RSS, etc.) to make potential audiences aware of what you are offering.