Why Are There SO MANY Podcast Myths?

Why are there so many podcast myths? It's the podcast report, episode 166. Show notes, links, conversation, and more. Thepodcastreport.com 166 Last night, I recorded an episode of the Podcasters Roundtable. This particular roundtable had Evo Terra, Ray Ortega, Dave Jackson, and myself. The idea was that we would handle some of the many podcasting myths. You've heard me chat about them on previous episodes. I. And I'm not going to go into the specific myths on this one, you can head back to the episode, either head right out to that website, look up the podcast, or if you go to the podcastreport.com166, I will send you to the YouTube video that was the result of the Google hangout. The idea was let's hit the myth. Let's hit them once and for all and maybe do something kind of fancy, fancy, fancy, fancy. Like tell people, when they say a myth, send them to. Yeah, if you go to minute six, you know, minutes and 15 seconds of the video, we handle this one, and 12 minutes, we handle this one, and 14 minutes, we handle this one. That kind of idea, that was it. I would love to hear from you if you think we were effective in that. All the social networks are there. The podcastreport.com Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, all those are there. We'd love to hear. That was the attempt. But what's interesting is I have spent the last almost 24 hours, actually, we just started recording this almost exactly 24 hours ago, wondering why there are so many, many podcasting myths. We need to be honest about something. Podcasting is incredibly easy. You can pick up the anchor app, you can have a podcast in a matter of seconds. Strategically, whole nother story. You can use dial talk done to make that happen. You can get a book, you can take a look at a YouTube video. You can record things on your phone. Getting a podcast up is not that hard. And I'll be honest with you, there are some people where, who have something inside of them that if something isn't hard, they. They feel guilty and they try to create something hard about that. And sometimes myth is. Is myths come from there. You know, they don't want it to be as easy as it is because then anybody could do it. But the thing about podcasting is it is as easy as it is and anybody can do it. And that's one of the things that makes podcasting so cool. I think what happens in the myth space is people want to differentiate. People want to separate themselves. People want to Be, you know, different. And if it' stinking easy, then they're not different. They're not special. Obviously. This is bunk. You are different. You are special not because of podcasting, but because of the message that you put out by podcasting. This is really important. Podcasting is easy. It really is. Four steps my stupid book didn't need. I couldn't give it more than 50 pages of content because it's just not that complicated. And this should not stir people away. This should not steer people into going, why, why? Why? This should enable people to go, oh, my goodness. If this is easy, I can now work on my communication. And that's the key, friends. You have to work on your communication. Anybody listening to the podcast report the last couple episodes? It's obvious that I've been riffing lately, and the outlines that I usually have and the length that I usually have isn't part of this. We're doing a number of things. I'm testing out my new Rodecaster Pro, sort of a recording to tape type of concept. Also taking a look at some automation software for the podcast and even some special sauce that hopefully we'll be releasing to the world at Podcast Movement this year. And it's been incredibly easy for me to get this episode out now. Yes, I didn't outline this episode, but there is 15 years of experience that comes from this. And there is the ability to just flip on this thing, click the record button and publish it. That makes it it possible for me to get the word out. If this was an article I was trying to write, I'll be honest with you. I will not write this article. There have been some things that have gone out in my name that has been content that I produced on a podcast that we've given over to a ghostwriter. But even that would take a great amount of time. I'm closing this up on a Friday afternoon because I want to explore this issue. Podcasting is easy. Don't feel guilty about it. Just leverage that ease to practice to get your message out. One of the popular myths is the whole climbing of the charts, and I've chatted about this in future episodes. Fact of the matter is, to this date, the only way to get yourself up the charts at itunes is to have people click the subscribe button. And the majority of your score comes from how many people have clicked subscribe in the last 24 hours. That has not changed since we started charting runnings up the chart. And this has been over a decade of experience. Now, Apple could move this at any point. Apple could change this at any point. There might be definitely reasons for them to do that. But the fact of the matter is, right now Apple is running a system where Apple is giving the score to a something really easy to track. Because, remember, Apple owns podcasting. Basically, they don't know the term, they don't know the tech, but they own the industry. They have not put much into the back end of podcasting. That's changing and more is coming. But this is a simple formula. Can be hacked. We've chat about that on separate episodes. But in the grand scheme of it, it's not necessarily that bad of an idea because, well, people who click subscribe are people who are using their devices and Apple makes their money in the use of devices. So let's go back to the myth. The fact is true, you can't deny it. I've seen it so many times. We've done it so many times. The myth comes from, I think, in many ways, this desire for it to be something bigger than it is, something more complex than it is. Some idea that maybe quality rises to the top. Well, here's the thing. Quality doesn't rise up to the top in the charts, but it does rise up to the top in other places. You don't listen to a podcast just because it went up to the top of the charts. You listen to a podcast because it's good. And this is kind of the thought behind these myths on so many levels, because we have to handle the simple fact that it may not be what we want it to be, but it is what it is and we need to respond to it. Let's take another one of the popular myths, this idea that reviews and downloads bring you up the charts. Why? Because we want it to be based on quality initially. We want to gauge it. The fact of the matter is it is based on quality. The longevity, the future. The audience of a podcast is based on the content, but not the charts. Let's take a look at another one. This idea that if you launch with 10 episodes, it's so easy to launch with one episode that I think a lot of us are thinking, well, if it's easy to launch with one, maybe I'll work on 10 or that kind of thing. Again, trying to give the tech side of this, maybe more attention, maybe more focus, maybe more gravitas than it. I don't know if deserves is the right word, but if it needs, it's just easy to get a podcast out the door. And that's a really good thing. As I think of the Myths. There are, and I kind of hinted this on the show, there are tinfoil hat moments where you could blame some of these myths on people who sell podcast glasses or consultants who want to bump up their hourly wage or that kind of thing. But I think it really comes down to this core issue that it is so stinking easy that it's a bit unsettling. I want you to flip that fact that it is so easy that is a bit unsettling and realize that you can grab a mic, you can grab an account, and you can get your message out to the world. We have not had a technology as easy as this before. Yes, blogging, yes, web, yes, email, yes, social. But the fact of the matter is, if I tried to wr this article take me weeks, and the fact of the matter is, I would never write this article by me going live to tape or live to the Rodecaster and presenting this thing on a position where I can get this thing out the door. It really wouldn't happen any other way. There are a lot of podcasts that could not happen any other format because just pulling the microphone down from the boom, hitting the record button, and publishing it is incredibly powerful, incredibly fast, and that gives us an opportunity. So here's the thing I do. I would stop worrying about the myths. I'd start worrying about, I hear this, I hear this, I hear this. I want you to do one thing. I want you to simply start creating content. If your podcast is coming out once a week, maybe you want to look at twice a week. If your podcast is once a month, maybe twice a month. Whatever Frank Kern, current client, chatted about in a previous episode is now going seven days a week because of the impact that can have. It's not complicated. There's no gray mystical force behind it. It is an open form of communication that has enriched my life tremendously and has enriched your life tremendously. And I want you to get past the myths. I want to get past what you've heard. I want you to get to the creation of content because that is what makes podcasting so powerful. Ignore the myths. Start recording. We'll chat next time by.