PodMatch As Automatic Interview Matching For Podcast Guests: Is It Worth It?

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Hey everyone. Welcome to Feed you'd Brand. I'm Tracy Hazzard and we are going entering guesting month, I'm going to call it. We're going to do four episodes in a row on guesting, and the reason we're doing that is because it's such an uncritical factor whether you're a podcaster or not yet. And it's a way to use other people's audiences to grow your own. But remember, it's like for like, if you're guesting on a podcast, there are already podcast listeners there. So it's really easy to get them to come to your show. If you're doing a podcasting swap. That's what we call it when we guest on other people's shows and we already have a show. So if we invite someone on our show and we go on their show, we're doing a podcast swap. Pat Flynn and I did that way back. It was actually really good for both of us. We were able to get listeners to come to each other's shows. It's a really great way to do that because there are already listeners out there. But finding the right show can be challenging. And I've tested out a ton of different podcast matching programs and I'm going to say that there were some that were not anywhere close to having a good selection of guests, and there were others that were just being, I'm going to say it, completely overrun by PR agents and other things. So it wasn't really even the person who was guesting on there. And then there are others that work in a completely different way. And I have come to my favorite one and we have struck a partnership and we're going to be featuring them this month with Pod Match. Alex Sanfilippo, one of my favorite people. I absolutely love to listen to him. I love his perspective on podcasting. He's got a really big heart, but he's got some amazing tools. So there's a binge factor episode that I just did recently where I interviewed him that's going to be linked in the blog post for this episode on Feed you'd brand and make sure to go listen to it, hear what he's all about, hear why he created Pod Match and a podcast SOP and some other tools that he's created in his toolbox. And he's got a mastermind and all kinds of things. Amazing, amazing guy.

But I want to share podmatch today. My goal is to show you how I'm using it, because it's the process by which you use these tools that make it more useful. Now, this is a better tool than others, and that's what I want to point out is the tool is working for you and doing a lot of the heavy lifting, so you don't have to do as much search and sorting and all kinds of things like that. But I'm going to demo it in the way that I use it so that you can fully understand how to maximize the value you're going to get from this tool. Now, keep in mind, this is a really inexpensive tool. I want to say it's like 12 bucks a month or something like that. It's so incredibly cheap. So I'm not giving you a tool that is going to cost you hundreds of dollars. I'm giving you a tool that's inexpensive to use. But because it's inexpensive, I want to make sure that you're using it to its full advantage. So I'm going to share my screen. And so for those of you who are not watching the video, you may want to go to the website, check out some of the screenshots for this. So go to the FeedYourBrand co or go to potatoes.com feed your brand and check this out. So this is the Pod Match website, and this is where you would start if you didn't already have an account. I, of course, have an account, and I'm going to demo that for you. But this is where you would start and you would say, I'm a podcast host or I'm a podcast guest or I'm both. That's a really wonderful thing. So if you're going to click I'm both, you're going to start to set up an account and you enter in your information and you can say where you're referred by someone, please say us. It doesn't matter. It's like in the scope of things, we're not getting any kickbacks here. We don't believe in that, really. We just want you to be able to have the tools that you need to be able to get where you're going. So this is very important. The Enter the email. Whether you're doing this as a podcast host, the email address must match your podcast RSS feed. So for me, that's not my normal email address. It is an email address that my company is associated with, but somebody else receives that email. So in order to do this properly, you have to make sure you have access to that email. So if you're using a producer and you're not in control of your RSS feed, you must get control of it temporarily or have them forward you the email. Otherwise, you cannot make this registration work for you. So this is a critical factor, something that you might need to get ahead of time or work on it ahead of time. I'm going to go back a menu because I'm just going to log in and show you what it looks like. So there we go. I am now logged into my back end of this and I am looking at what is. I'm going to call it the dashboard section, right? So I just clicked on that to show you again. It's going to give me any messages about the things that I might need to do in the system. And so I have a to do list over here which is giving me people. These guest interviews require dates and times. So this is giving me a to do list of everything that I might do. So I have interviews, I have two unscheduled, I have one upcoming, I have six completed. This is what I've done in the last couple of months. Now, I'm not on a heavy interview process because I only do four episodes a month. I was just testing this out and I only wanted to do two a week from POD Match because I already had a list of people that I was working with and already have guests lined up for the next couple of months. I don't want to get too far ahead on my feet, so I'm being really cautious and careful here. So it'll say the average reviews, average response time, you get commissions sometimes from referring people in or doing things. And so I can also prioritize the matches so I can match for podcast guests or podcast hosts. You can do it either way, right? And I'm looking for guests on my particular show, so I would leave it at podcast guests. But if I was looking to guest on other people's shows, I would prioritize it to podcast host because I want to be able to host on their show. So that's it. But what I want to do is show you what my profile looks like. So view, edit, podcast page, because I'm going to start there. So this is what my podcast page looks like. This is the podcast that I chose to put into the system. So I have the binge factor here. Here on Feed your Brand, we don't really take interviews. So it wouldn't make sense for me to register a show here that I'm not taking interviews on. This is my ideal guest criteria. I said, they must be a podcast host or I will not take them on my show. This is a really critical factor. What you identify as criteria must be a podcaster, podcast host, 25 episodes. Podcasters, these are things that I selected in their onboarding process so that it refines and get me the right people. So it means no one really should be being suggested to me that doesn't already meet these four pieces of criteria or these four categorization. And so I also put a note here which says I only interview podcast hosts who would like more publicity for their show. They must post consistently and constantly, at least one time per week and have at least 25 episodes already published. That's my minimum criteria. I really probably interview People with 100 episodes or more commonly. Here's a description. This auto fills straight from the description of my RSS feed. So if you don't have a good podcast description, you only have a little paragraph, yours will be a lot smaller than mine then. I want to learn more about this podcast. I've linked my podcast website. I've linked the Apple feed. That's what hooks there. They automatically do that. I've got all my social media in one place. This is so wonderful for you if you're going to vet a show. Because if I go to that guest and I want to check out their podcast website, I can. So this is actually a critical factor for me when I'm looking at somebody else. And I'll show you that when I go to vet someone for my show, but everything that they need to check me out is all here. And it also says down here, by my name, it says this host is also a podcast guest. So now if I click that, I go to my guest profile. Now this one, you have to do a little bit more heavy lifting in terms of inserting information because it's not auto filling from your RSS feed. So I had to put guest tags for the kinds of things I talk about. I put a pitch video in here. There's my image, and I have some other approved images that they can use. Here's my guest website. Now that's my tracyhazard.com website where they can go and they can get even More information. And here's all my personal social posts, where the other ones on the other side of what I just showed you on the binge factor, all of binge factors, social media handles. These are my personal LinkedIn, my Instagram, my Twitter. So all of those are all here. And so again, it links back and you can click on and go back to my podcast. And so I've got a bio here, which is the short bio. I've got a call to Action, which just basically tells them how to go to my podcast so that they can subscribe to my podcast. I kept my call to action really simple. You can have downloads here. You can have all kinds of things so that they're aware when they invite you on their show, what downloads you might have, what calls to action you might take. And then I have ideas for episode titles. I put those in. I'm questions I'm always ready to answer. It's prompting you to ask this and fill this out. Do a good job of filling it out. It makes everybody's job easier on choosing you because they see things that really resonate for them. And then I put noteworthy podcast episodes I've been on. Now, the idea here is I put these episodes that I picked because I think they're really interesting. And I think that if someone clicked on this and listened to this, that they would get a good sense of how I'm different on every show, what kinds of topics I can talk about, they can vet me really quickly. And I didn't put my own show here, I put the other shows. And so, of course, I also have here my Getting Interviewed feed, which we'll talk about towards the end of the month when we talk about repurposing guest interviews. That's going to be a part of what we're talking about this month and our guest spots. But getting interviewed is actually an entire feed of about 50 episodes I've been on on other people's shows. So it has all of the information in one place. So if they didn't just love this one or they didn't want to hear about the key to building a team of pure genius, and then they could go here and they could get just about any episode that resonates with them. Now, Pod Match reviews. Some people put a review of me already, so I didn't even know this. I haven't seen this recently. So the host of CMO Stories, but Tracy is such an amazing guest, so knowledgeable and easygoing. I feel honored to have her on my CMO Stories podcast. That's so wonderful that they did a review. I try to do a review. It's one of the things in the to do list. I try to remember to do a review every time I've been on somebody's show. And so that's something that you can do for them as well.

So I'm going to go back to my main page. I'm going to go back to the dashboard again and I'm going to start showing you how you find matches. Okay. This keeps alerting me to the education videos I didn't watch because I got a personal tour from Alex Sanfilippo so I didn't really need it. But each day I get six new matches. So I'm getting constant matches that are already being made and I also have messages and I didn't clear them this week for you guys specifically, but normally I clear them on the first day of the week but I waited till today so that they would be here. So I actually don't go in on a daily basis. But that's your choice. It depends on how many guests you want to do. And I look at the matches that are here and make a decision about maybe later. Pass. Previously interviewed. So I'm looking at that and really making a decision. And sometimes I pin them and I will tag Cody or a member of my social media team and say, hey, can you check them out a little further? I think they're right. But I would love for your view on that. Do you think this is going to be a good episode so I can get a second opinion by pinning them and then having a member of my team check them out for me? So that's also something that I do. So what I do is right here is I'll say, okay, so it says a 58% match. That might not be as strong as I would like. I usually like to see it well over 65%, something like that. I kind of like to see that 65 to 80% match. But that doesn't mean it's wrong. It just means maybe they're just not quite there yet. And so it gives me some details, gives me that they've got a five star. It gives me the age matches. Your criteria. I didn't really have criteria for age. So it's broad availability times. Okay, that's going to work because they do have some times in Pacific time zone and they've given some basic information. So it's follower count is what they're giving you here. But this is a follower count on pod match. So when somebody starts out, it's not really accurate. So even though it's giving him maybe some negative points there, it's not something that I would critically look at because maybe he's new to Pod Match and that has nothing to do with anything. So he's got some tags here. I look at that. Okay. And he's got podcaster in there. Looks good. I'm going to look at the topics because we're going to really talk about his podcast. We're not really going to talk about him as much on the show. So I'm like, okay, so he's got a lot of information here. I can click and listen, which I would do, mind you. I will listen here. Okay. But I'm not going to do that right this minute because I'm not going to take the time and I might look at the stories of what shows. So he's been on a finance show, a masterclass. Okay, great. You can view more. You can view all seven of his reviews. But what I'm really going to do is I'm going to go check this out. I'm going to go check his podcast page, because that matters the most to mine. So I'm going to check his podcast website, and I'm going to click that and it's going to pop me out to his website page. So now I'm going to look at this and I'm going to say, oh, okay, he has a podcast website page. I can listen to his episodes here. It was super easy. He's made it really easy for me to do that. He's got blogs, which is something that I absolutely love. He's published as recently as September 6th, so I know he's got a recent one. I'm going to click this one. I'm going to go check out his blog, and I'm going to see how he's doing with his blogs, because this matters if someone's blogging something, even if it's a short blog, and this is a short blog, but that's perfectly okay. But he's got connections to his guests. He's got an about. He's got his hundredth episode. So I've hit on the fact that he's done a hundred episodes, and I'm here about what they're talking about. So this gives me a good sense of he's taking podcasting pretty seriously. So that makes him a good match for me. So again, I'm looking at all of this. I would absolutely listen to the podcast. I would take the time to do that. But what I'M also going to do is I'm also going to check his social media because I want to make sure that he has a decent social media. So he has 1357 followers, 500 plus connections. We have some mutual connections in place together. I'm checking this. I will check his activity. Oh, he posted 23 hours ago, four days ago. He's sharing his podcast on social media. So this is what I know. I know that he's active here and if he's active here, he's going to be actively sharing my show. So this makes him a good match for me. So now I'm going to go back and I would go up here and I'd say, let's message. That's what I do. I'm going to say, okay, yeah, let's message. And I'm going to say, hey Dwight, love to have you on the binge factor. I should have like pre saved this for you. Let's set that up. And then I would send him the link. Okay. And that's what I would do here. I'm not going to do this right now because I want to send them the link and make a little more personal message, but I'm going to do that. So I would do that and then I would go on to the next match. Right. And so what you do is once you message, it'll move you onto the next match and the next match and the next match and that's how I would go about doing that. So I'm completely vetting that. What did it take me about five minutes to look through all of this and it might take you and you can of course listen on double speed, whatever you want to do. But all I really have to do is listen to the first five minutes of an episode with him and I'm going to know if he's right or not. Does he have the right energy? Does he talk clearly? Is he getting to his points? Is he striking a conversation easily? Is he going to make an attractive message at the end of the day? Is he going to be a good guest that's going to attract me other listeners. That's what I'm listening for. I'm going to really go for that. So if I save him, it's going to go on to the next one? I believe so now I go on to the next one. And so she's running in a 58%. So same idea and same ways to go about it. Check out our guest website. She's also a podcaster and I'm going to go check out her podcast, do the same thing. Okay, this is ours. I'm going to say it's a no right now, because, look, it's all about her. Amanda's world. That's not what we're about on the binge factor. It's not even a paragraph long. She's 17, which I'm curious about, but it's just really not enough. And her podcast website, because I can see it in the bottom corner, is going to send me to anchor. Means she's not really serious. She's probably got a free account. She's not really serious about her show. This is not going to make it worth my time and my while to interview her, so I'm not going to do it. And she really didn't take her own profile seriously. So I'm going to hit pass on this one. See how easy that was? A pass is easy. And you just move on and you're on the next one. Oh, and this would be interviewing another Tracy. How interesting is that? So this is kind of how the process works. I can also go into my messages, and I'll see in my messages there are people who we've connected before. I'm continuing the conversation. The growth architect we just set up. She just set up the call. I just saw that she came through, and she's going to be on my show. So, like, I've got ongoing conversations with all these people, and we're in various stages of setting them up or approving them. I've already had Lucy Liu on. I've had Scott d'. Aluzio. Their episodes are going to be airing soon. So all of this is, like, really working for me. And I can look at it from a host view and a guest view. So this is where people are inviting me on their podcast now. Sometimes it's really not a good fit. And I'm a little behind on this because I'm not that serious about guesting on other people's shows. It doesn't matter as much to me. So he says, good morning. Would be an honor to have you on my show. Or she says it, but then I'd need to go check out her details. Right. And so, yep, it's a sheet, so it's interesting. 170 nations. Oh, okay, interesting. Let me look through this. I check out her website. I'd listen to the podcast, and I make a decision. If this is going to be worth my time, is it really going to be ready for me to do that? And is this the right show for me? Because I don't have a ton of time to be a guest. So it's always something that I'm looking for. So I pinned people, as you can see. I've pinned Dwight from before he shows up here. I've got upcoming interviews. This is happening on November 2nd. It's a while away, but that's okay because I only do four interviews a month and I've got episode release dates coming out. Those aren't actually the dates, those are the dates we recorded, but it works still. Right. And so this is actually the date that hers is airing. So we're good on that. And I can always update that and change all of that. So this is simply how podmatch works. So I want to make sure you recap this really quickly. Make sure you create a thorough profile. Double check everything for your podcast. Make sure it's right. Remember, a lot of the information is coming from your RSS feed. So if that's not right, then that's where you need to correct it. It will then flow through and your profile for your podcast will be correct there. Spend extra time really making sure your profile is completely filled out on the guesting side, if that's what you're interested in. Because not filling it out shows that you're not taking the tool seriously. And also because there's an AI running underneath all of this and if it doesn't have enough data to go on, it's not going to make as good a match for you. So that's really important then whether it is guesting on somebody's show or inviting someone to guest on your show. You want to do vetting, use the tool here. You don't have to leave it until you want to go check out their website or listen to their show. But use the tool and you're going to have a good indicator. Is this worth my time? Is this not worth my time? I'm going to do a quick check of their website. I'm going to do a quick listen to their show and make a decision. That's all you got to do. It's already helping you through most of that process. So make sure you absolutely listen, though. I think that's a critical factor. And then let the AI do its work. It's going to get better. When you selected some people, it's going to get better over time. It's going to understand what you're responding. Yes. To make sure you're always saying pass or already interviewed or letting the AI know, because that's a factor that it will take into consideration as it's serving you up the next things. So make sure you're doing that and most importantly, do it regularly. So if you're checking out and using a tool like this, I only do it on a weekly basis. That's my choice to do that. But you might do it on a monthly basis or you might do it on a daily basis, depending on how many episodes you need to bank up. So if you're starting your show and you want to launch with 25 episodes, a tool like this can be ideal. Now, your show is brand new. Make sure you tell them that, make sure you're clear about that and just say, hey, I have a brand new show, but I think we'd be perfect for each other. I think you'd make a great guest on my show. And here's why. If they're a podcaster, they know that some of those early episodes are some of the most trafficked episodes of all time. And they may say, hey, I know what it was like to be a brand new podcaster. And because you reached out personally to me and sent me that personal message, I'm going to gift you my time and I'm going to show up on your show. So Pod Match can work from the very beginning all the way to a seasoned show who's just like, wow, I don't know who to interview. I think I've interviewed everybody in my network. How do I get a new network perfect for that as well?

So just wanted to share with you a tool that I'm really excited about and have been using successfully for about two months now, and I'm going to continue using it. There's no question in my mind I got tremendous value out of it. And every person that I've interviewed from this tool, every person that's been on my show has said the same thing. They said, oh my gosh, we are a perfect match. That AI over at Podmatch is really good. So I wanted you all to know about that and know a process by which you can use this tool to be successful for both choosing guests for your show and guesting on other people's show. So thanks everyone for listening. Don't forget, there's all sorts of details on Podmatch in the blog post for this episode@poditize.com Feedy-Brand thanks everyone.

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