A few weeks ago, I decided to create my very own podcast, and it has been such a fun experience! Just so you know, I am a second semester senior with a lot (and I mean a lot) of free time on my hands. So I thought it would be a good idea to do something creative and productive with my time. I’ve always known that I absolutely love tv and movies and talking about my favorite storylines, characters, moments, and fun facts about cast members; which is why I created a platform where I can share these with others.
Now, I’m not too sure how many people are actually listening to me as I rant. But while part of it is so others can hear, a bigger part is about my own experience–I wanted a place where I can share my own ideas for fun while also establishing a creative project that shows my personality and uniqueness which I can actually now put in my portfolio. So with that being said, I thought I would share some tips for how to start your very own podcast!
-
Topic – As I mentioned, I’ve always been super passionate about tv and movies and have even annoyed my family and friends with how much I talk about it. So, do some introspection and find out what your niche is (tip, everyone has one!) and then make it your own. It should be something you could talk about for hours!
-
Prep and Style – For my podcast, thinking about how to prep and style each episode had a lot to do with my target audience and my goal for the podcast. I established that most of my listeners would be people like me (young women), and my goal was to give people tv show suggestions and also share fun facts about shows they already love. This then guided how I organized each episode, and I ultimately decided on doing two episodes for each tv series: one that people would listen to before seeing the show (the suggestive episode) and one that people would listen to after seeing the show (the fan episode). So, my advice is to figure out the goal for your podcast, and then prep notes about what you want to say in your episodes to achieve this goal!
-
Name – Coming up with a name can be equally fun and tricky. Obviously you don’t want the name to be too long, that way people can easily remember it and reference it. Having a clever and original name is the goal; so think about what your podcast is discussing and how your personality comes through. For example, as I’ve said my podcast is about tv shows. Now, because of my personality and who I am, the shows I talk about are not these incredible critically acclaimed shows winning awards. Thus, the name of my podcast is Not So Critically Acclaimed.
-
Equipment and Software – This was the scary part for me. I knew I had all these ideas and potential to create something great, but I had no idea how to actually make it. After getting some tips from others, I learned that you need two things: a microphone and an audio recording software. As for the microphone, an IPhone mic will do just fine as long as you speak directly into it, but if you want a bit better quality you can use a real professional microphone. Now, I know you don’t want to spend any money (neither did I). So, I looked into the resources offered at my school. and sure enough the library had an audio and music recording studio equipped with professional mics and software. After a quick training session with a pro at the library, I was able to easily record my podcast, add a theme song (thanks to my talented best friend) and edit anything I needed (I didn’t edit anything lol).
-
Promotion – The final step; I’ve put in all this creative work, recorded it, but how do I share it? There are several options but I’ll share the FREE way. There is a great site called Anchor, and they believe in allowing creators to share their work without any payments or limits to how much content they can upload. I created an account, added my episodes, and they do the rest. Within a few weeks, my podcast was streaming on all the major platforms (Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, etc.). The last thing I did was make a Creator Instagram account to promote the podcast. This type of account is public and acts similar to a business account where I can track how many people have interacted with my posts and learn all about my account’s activity.
So, now you have all the tools necessary to go out and create your very own podcast. Also, if you’re not already, please go follow my podcast, No So Critically Acclaimed, on Instagram (@notsocriticallyacclaimed) and listen to my episodes!!