Episode 174. Creating a Successful Podcast Content Strategy: 4 Things I’m Doing This Year

This episode touches on solo podcasting tips to help you get more podcast listeners and create a successful podcast.

As podcasters, we’re constantly thinking of ways to improve the content of our show, how we can further enhance the audience’s experience of the show, and also how to get our work out to more of the right audience.

In this episode, I want to share what I’m working on from a content strategy perspective and from a distribution strategy perspective so that I, too, am growing as a podcaster.

In This Episode:

The podcast content strategies I’ll be focusing more on as a podcaster
- Learning to explain my thought process and rationale behind my ideas or key points
- Learning to acknowledge the gaps or limitations in what you know
The podcast distribution strategies I’ll be continuing to double down on
- SEO optimizing my show so it shows up when listeners search certain keywords on podcast platforms
- Having a audio podcast, but also a video version and a written version of the podcast

Listen on Apple Podcast | Spotify | YouTube | Any Player

Getting more podcast listeners and creating a successful podcast

Prefer to listen to this episode on YouTube?

For those of you watching the YouTube version of this podcast, you may notice that our setup is different today! And that’s because I’m currently recording at a podcast studio for the very, very first time.

I am currently exploring ways to improve the video experience for our podcast audience, especially for those of you who enjoy the show on YouTube.

So let’s see how the recording goes and we’ll find out whether it’s something that works for me! If so, you’ll definitely be seeing more of me in the studio moving forward.

With that, let’s dive into the conversation for today.

The podcast content strategies I’ll be focusing more on as a podcaster

For the past 3+ years, I’ve learned to develop a point of view within my subject matter, which has been tremendously helpful in terms of adding value to my podcast audience.

To start, I would argue that it is non-negotiable to have a point of view if you want to be a good podcaster. I think It goes without saying that your point of view and unique perspectives is what distinguishes you from everyone else who does similar work as you or who has similar professional experiences as you.

That’s said, to take it up a step and stretch my skills and capacity as a podcaster, I now have to start being more clear on what specific problems I want to address within my area of expertise, put myself in rooms or learning environments where my own assumptions and hypotheses about my subject matter are stretched or challenged, and ultimately to continuously form new ideas or update my existing ideas about my work.

This is the work that I, too, am starting to embrace, so I’d love to share how I plan to level up myself as a podcaster. The following are areas that I will be making more time to think about, explore, or practice more of.

We podcasters do important work, and I hope we will all commit to our growth as podcasters together. With that, let’s dive into the first skill/area I want to sharpen moving forward.

Learning to explain my thought process and rationale behind my ideas or key points

Oftentimes, creators will have an intuitive feeling about something. For example, maybe a podcaster who speaks on entrepreneurship might say that you should share your story to build connection with your audience or ideal clients.

But the thing is, if you just stop there, it’s not necessarily the most compelling. Because you’re simply stating an opinion. But how does the audience understand this statement, which is based primarily on your intuition? How will they assess whether this is a legit or credible statement?

This is why I personally think that we’ve got to learn how to explain our rationale and thought process behind why we’re making a certain statement or suggestion.

Perhaps put another way, critical thinking is the underlying skill that will help us learn to better present our ideas in a way that is both well reasoned and well supported.

Because when you’re thinking critically about what you’re writing or creating, you’re then able to look closer and identify gaps in your explanations, identify areas for improvement , and make any necessary edits or revisions before posting.

I suppose this is why there’s a difference between descriptive writing vs critical writing.

Descriptive writing simply states what happened or explains what happened. Or, it simply lists out ideas or key points provided from other expertise.

On the other hand, critical writing involves analyzing information to understand a problem or topic from different perspectives, connecting the dots between different ideas and also adding your own perspective based on personal experiences, observations and evidence. It might also look like questioning existing perspectives and exploring alternative viewpoints.

Actually, being able to evaluate and review our work with a critical lens is a core part of the work we do inside my program COWORK & CHILL with Cheryl, which is where I co-work with clients to write content. Most clients inside CCC are using our sessions to create long form content pieces such as LinkedIn newsletters or podcast episode scripts.

One thing we do on the call is we will scan the client’s work, in real time, to identify where we can offer a different perspective to the audience, where we need to do a better job of connecting the dots between different ideas, and also where can the client offer their own point of view or share a personal story to supplement certain points they’re making.

For example, one client was writing about her experience of being stuck in a corporate job that felt stagnant and stifling in terms of personal and professional growth. There was one part of her podcast script where she wrote, “You feel that it’s just a vicious cycle of working hard, feeling unfulfilled and looking forward to your annual 2-week vacation to escape this feeling of stress and discomfort.”

I then asked her, “Your audience likely knows or recognizes that this is happening. But WHY is it so hard for them to break out of this vicious cycle?” And this one question alone sparked a whole slew of fresh new angles that my client then weaved into her podcast episode script.

On top of that, by asking my client to re-visit the statement she was making in her podcast script, we were also able to explain the statement with more depth.

Overall, when you’re able to share your thought processes with more specificity and hence confidence, it helps the audience feel more assured in the statements you’re making.

Now, on the other hand, I think It’s also important to learn to acknowledge the limitations of what you know. This leads to the second area I want to unpack today.

Learning to acknowledge the gaps or limitations in what you know

I think this is where your choice of language will play a big role. Meaning, be mindful of using words that reflect how certain you are in what you’re saying.

For example, saying “Demonstrating thought leadership as a solopreneur will grow your business” versus “Demonstrating thought leadership as a solopreneur tends to contribute to business growth” – very different levels of confidence /certainty in the statement.

The former is basically saying “Yes, this is a guarantee.” whereas the latter acknowledges that there may be limitations or variations in how the results will pan out.

A concern I’ve heard from folks is that they would argue that if they phrase their ideas in a way that doesn’t make them seem confident in what they’re saying, then that would detract from their overall perceived credibility.

But you know what, one thing I’ve learned from my time in academia is that if you’re overpromising and overstating the certainty of things, that makes you look foolish to your academic colleagues.

But if you’re able to explain your rationale AND identify the limitations in your ideas, that actually in turn builds trust and increases your perceived credibility.

Looking at this from a theoretical lens, source credibility theory is a concept proposed way back in 1952 by Hovland and colleagues. This idea essentially outlines what supposedly makes a communicator influential.

The factors that can affect the receiver’s or listener’s acceptance of the speaker’s message will depend on 1) source expertise and 2) source trustworthiness.

Source expertise is whether someone is knowledgeable about the subject, while source trustworthiness refers to a person’s honesty, sincerity, and believability.

In the context of podcasters, I’m suggesting that by being someone who is open and transparent about the limitations of your arguments or points, you’re actually building your “source trustworthiness”.

If anything, we can also look to academia and scientific research where it is literally common practice and EXPECTED among academics and researchers to literally have a section in their research papers and publications dedicated to the limitations of their findings.

In a research context, acknowledgement of your study’s limitations is supposed to help the readers understand the compromises that might have had to happen when you were conducting the study. It also helps to more accurately represent the reality of what actually went down during the study.

As podcasters, being able to share our own perspectives and story matters. 100%.

But sometimes, we also need to be open minded about looking at our sharings and insights with a critical lens and being able to think critically about what you know and what you don’t know.

And one more thought. Even if you feel very beginner in your subject matter or don’t feel qualified enough or successful enough in your industry, the skill of being able to support your thought process or perspectives is critical because it positions you as someone who is reliable and credible, even if you do in fact have less experience or might still be a work in progress in some ways.

If you’re able to learn to support your arguments, that, in my opinion, evens out the playing field for you because now your ideas are going to be taken much more seriously.

If anything, this is how up and coming folks in any industry are able to climb the ranks much quicker than their colleagues who haven’t yet mastered this skill.

Not only will you, yourself feel more confident in your ideas because you’re able to back your claims and explain your thought process and honestly acknowledge what the gaps are, but most importantly, your audience are able to actually consider your ideas and evaluate whether they’re on board with what you’re saying.

Because honestly, they’re no longer spending time lowkey doubting you or secretly thinking, “Hmmm… I don’t know how sound their argument is.”

To summarize, two skills I’m being more mindful about practicing are:

1) Explaining my thought process and rationale behind my ideas or key points.

2) Acknowledging the gaps or limitations in what you know.

The podcast distribution strategies I’ll be continuing to double down on

Now, let’s talk about how I would like to do better in terms of the distribution of my podcast content.

Because while having solid podcast content is critical, it’s also equally important to make dedicated efforts to get your podcast content out to the listeners who would genuinely enjoy and find value from your work.

For some context, my podcast audience primarily are from: 1) USA 2) Singapore 3) Canada 4) UK – When I started my podcast in late 2020, I was based in Hong Kong.

Now, I am based in Singapore. So needless to say, the fact that I’m reaching places like the US, Canada, and UK, despite being based in Asia, suggests that making efforts to distribute your podcast DOES matter.

With that, I want to share what has been working for me and therefore would like to double down on further.

SEO optimizing my show so it shows up when listeners search certain keywords on podcast platforms

As a quick intro to SEO (search engine optimization) for podcasting, SEO means optimizing your content so that it shows up higher in search results on search engines.

Because in this day and age, when we search for something, we don’t scroll too much.

For example, on Google, we only look at the first page of results, maybe the first two pages. That’s why it’s helpful to rank higher up on these search results.

My show was originally named the Side Hustle Club Podcast. The term “side hustle” was definitely a popular keyword that a lot of my particular listeners were typing into podcast platforms such as Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

A lot of my listeners actually told me directly that the way they found me was literally through typing the word “side hustle” into the search function of Spotify.

Since then, I’ve decided to rename and rebrand my show to the Thought Leader Club podcast. Honestly, I knew that “thought leader” isn’t as popular of a search term. So, I’ve intentionally added additional search terms to my podcast name.

So technically, my show’s name is “The Thought Leader Club | Content Creation & Personal Brand Strategy For Side Hustles and Entrepreneurs”. This is the official name that shows up on platforms like Spotify and Apple Podcasts.

The reason I did this is to capitalize on more popular search terms to increase the chances of my show showing up when people are using the search function to look for new shows to listen to.

After I retitled my podcast to be more SEO optimized, I decided to relook at my podcast episode titles as well.

What I recently did was rename the episodes starting from Episode 143 onwards, so that they are now more SEO friendly.

I started with Episode 143 onwards because Episode 143 is the first episode after the podcast rebranded from Side Hustle Club to Thought Leader Club.

Let me share some examples:

Episode 143 was originally called “Podcast Rebrand! (Your 1-3 Year Dreams)”. The current episode name is : “Building Thought Leadership: A Behind-the-Scenes of My Podcast Rebrand”
Episode 144 was originally called “The Audacity to Believe and Sparkle”. The new name is now: “The Audacity to Believe and Sparkle: The First Step to Becoming a Successful Content Creator”
Episode 145 was originally called “I Don’t Want to Work on My Podcast”. Now, it is called “Consistent Podcasting: What to Do When You Don’t Feel Motivated to Create Content”

Overall, there are many ways that we can optimize the SEO for our podcast.

For myself, one of the action items I’m not being a lot more mindful about moving forward is to choose keywords for every episode before I write my script and definitely before I record them, so I actually include the keywords in the episode.

That way, for all my written content associated with that episode such as blog posts or LinkedIn newsletter articles, those written items will contain those keywords. And that is what’s going to get picked up by SEO in the long run.

This segues nicely to the next distribution strategy I want to talk about.

Having a audio podcast, but also a video version and a written version of the podcast

In late 2020, my podcast started out as an audio-only show.

Then, in mid-2022, I started recording video AND audio (Episode 87 was the very first episode that is also available on YouTube, on top of Apple Podcasts, Spotify, etc).

In early 2023, I started working with my friend Esther to repurpose my podcast transcripts into blog posts and LinkedIn articles (i.e. text content).

Sure, I initially started to offer multiple mediums to consume my podcast because I thought it would help me reach a wider audience.

But what I realized to be even more important was that in different seasons, we may have different capacities for content consumption

For example, some of my peeps love listening to the show on Spotify
Some peeps are avid YouTube consumers
Some might only be following my LinkedIn newsletter (which offers *almost* a full transcript of the episode)
Others read my LinkedIn newsletter IN ADDITION to listening to the episode on Apple Podcasts
And you know what’s awesome? I also had a peep tell me that they DOWNLOADED my episode, transcribed it, and read the transcript lol.
Then we got the peeps who listened to my podcast for a few months, but stopped. But they still decided to join one of my programs such as COWORK & CHILL with Cheryl.

This just goes to show that even if our peeps genuinely support and enjoy our work, they may be in a season of their life where consuming certain types of content is simply out of what they have the capacity for.

To really illustrate this point about capacity as a consumer of content, let me share a personal example:

Squid Game? I didn’t watch it. But I did read every single episode recap. Queen of Tears? I didn’t watch it. But I did read every single episode recap. Popular films like Everything Everywhere All at Once? I didn’t watch it. But I did read the movie recap.

You see, I rarely, rarely watch shows or movies. As someone who gets highly anxious during films and shows, I’ve learned to be highly attuned to what my body and mental state have the capacity for. More often than not, I will honor what my nervous system (or doesn’t need).

Action movies or shows with moderate amounts of suspense are usually a no. Horror? Yeah, no. But shows like Luxe Listings (Toronto), Love Island, or Physical 100, LOL yes I can definitely handle (and fully enjoy) those.

That said, I still want to be able to stay somewhat aware of popular cultural phenomena. Reading episode or movie recaps on the Internet are able to fill in that exact gap for me. It has allowed me to consume content pieces in a way that is in line with what my mental capacity allows for (and hey, if anything, it saves me hours of time too!).

We as consumers like to enjoy content differently. Sometimes, it’s because of time constraints. Other times, it may be due to mental capacity constraints. For some, it could also just be a personal preference. And that’s okay. Your body of work will be there whenever they’re ready to dive back in, right?

This is also where we, the creators, need to stay committed to building our body of work and not be discouraged by “low engagement” during certain seasons.

There will be times when, for whatever reason, you find your content getting less likes, less reach, less listens/views, etc. And while it’s easy to divert blame to “Oh, it’s the algorithm”. The question to ask yourself is, “What body of work do I want to create STARTING NOW, so that by the time my reach or engagement is “high”, my peeps will have a brilliant body of work to dive into?”

In other words, even if your engagement sucks right now, stay committed to showing up and building your body of work. Do it so that 12 months from now, you can clearly see the compounding benefits of your efforts and hard work.

Also, do it so that your peeps will also be able to thoroughly gain value from the perspectives that you’ve been sharing in the past 12 months.

All in all, it matters to me as a podcaster to have the show available in different forms so my audience can consume them in the way that matches their current capacity.

To summarize the two distribution strategies I will continue to implement: 1) focusing on the SEO of my show 2) Having a podcast, a video, and also a written version of my podcast

As podcasters, I know that we care deeply about continuously improving the quality of our work, and I cannot wait to see what amazingness we will create for the rest of this year.

This is literally just the beginning for us.

Thank you so much for tuning into this episode, and I’ll see you all in the next one.

Sounds good? Awesome. Let’s get to work.