The document provides tips for building a successful podcast with little money by creating buzz and contagion through conversations and relationships. It recommends laying groundwork like making subscriptions, comments, and contact easy. It also suggests connecting on social media, finding influencers, sharing content widely, and doing unexpected things to spark conversations. The key is focusing on relationships, listening to audiences, and having passion to execute a strategy for creating buzz.

1. BUILD A BUZZING PODCAST
WITH LITTLE OR NO MONEY !!
Thursday, August 14, 2008
BUZZ
Mark Linder
mb@bsmkl.com
BUZZ

2. About the Presenter…
Mark Linder
Entrepreneur, Foreign Currency Trader, Investor and
former Fortune 500 executive. Early Podcaster featured
on PodShow/Mevio since their beta days. Speaker at
2008 SXSW and last years New Media Expo.
Independent producer of podcasts for a variety of
organizations. Has worked on a many New Media
projects one of which included heading the team which
brought Barack Obama to Second Life. Based in Dallas,
Texas, he currently produces three podcasts for Mevio,
operates Internet Radio Stations and has a soon to be
released in print, audio book.
email me at mb@bsmkl.com
mbl on Twitter and Pownce
e2kplanet on Skype

3. Buzz?
Buzz
Creating positive comments and impressions
about your podcast which drive growth,
increased subscribers. Executing strategies that
provide a vehicle for contagion.
Infectious Chatter, What’s Hot, What’s Attractive

4. Ok…now what is CONTAGION ?
Contagion is the essence of Creating
Buzz. Contagion is people talking to
one another…any way possible.
In a perfect world, the effect is viral.
Contagion IS the Conversation, the
Conversation IS the Contagion.

5. Am I Too Late to the Party?
As of July 11, 2008…on Feedburner alone
Number of podcast and videocast feeds:
249,728
Source: Feedburner website July 16, 2008
- http://www.feedburner.com/fb/a/about#stats

6. Although Awareness Has Stabilized…
“The Podcast Consumer Revealed 2008” - The Arbitron/Edison Internet and Multimedia Study by
Tom Webster - Vice President, Strategy and Marketing - Edison Media Research - April, 2008

7. There is still room in the space…

8. Growth Will Go to the Select Few…
• Those with quality content
• Those who listen to the audience
• Those who “converse” with the audience
• Those who are truthful with the audience
• Those with passion
• Those with a strategy
• Those that execute at a high level

9. What Does Buzz Have to Do With All That?
• Creating Buzz focuses you on your
audience and the leverage they possess
• Focuses your limited time, energy and
limited resources on the new R.O.I.
(Return on Relationships*)
• Having a plan and strategy to create Buzz
causes activities that bring you closer to
your audience, build listeners/watchers &
loyal followers (subscribers) and true
evangelists for your content
*Special thanks to Chris Brogan and Julien Smith for the term taken from
their manifest “Trust Economies”

10. But…First Things First “Lay Some Groundwork”
• Make it easy to subscribe
• iTunes
“iTunes accounts for 75% of all podcast downloads, according
to Podtrac” Podcast User Demographics, May 7, 2007 – eMarketer
• Turn on the comments, you want and need feedback
• Voice Mail “Hot Lines”
– http://www.skype.com
– http://www.k7.net
• Chicklets

11. More…First Things First
• Make it easy to hear you, or see you

12. And Finally…Make it Easy to Find You
• Have a home and a few “vacation” properties
• Get in various Podcast Directories, find extensive list at below link
http://www.podcast411.com/page2.html

13. LINKS WITH OTHERS SPREAD BUZZ
AND PROVIDE CONTAGION
CONNECT
LINKS 1 LINKS 2
TRUSTED LINK

14. Buzz Starts With Relationships
and our Consumers are Social!
“The Podcast Consumer Revealed 2008” - The Arbitron/Edison Internet and Multimedia Study by
Tom Webster - Vice President, Strategy and Marketing - Edison Media Research - April, 2008

15. Social Media
Social media describes the online technologies and practices that people use to share opinions, insights,
experiences, perspectives and media itself. Social media can take many different forms, including text,
images, audio, and video. These sites typically use technologies such as blogs, message boards,
podcasts, wikis, and vlogs to allow users to interact. Source: Wikipedia

16. LINKS WITH OTHERS SPREAD BUZZ
AND PROVIDE CONTAGION
CONNECT
LINKS 1 LINKS 2
TRUSTED LINK

17. The “Trusted Link”
Not So Tall Tales…
• How 7 People Became 350 Million
10,000 People
7 People
1 Person
350 Million People

18. Your “Trusted Link”
Critical Execution of Your Strategy
• If you don’t have the trust, you can’t get the
trust…
“The power of the Internet makes it easier for people to fall in love with you faster.
But beware—it also makes it easier for them to fall out of love with you faster.”
The New Rules of Viral Marketing: How Word-of-Mouse Spreads Your Ideas for Free
David Meerman Scott – April 4, 2008
• Where do I start?
– Start with Family, then Friends
– Move on to Business Relationships
– Find people of Influence in the Space
– Build Relationships
– Take a Chance…

19. The Next Steps…
• Get on the Social Mainstream & Start Building
Relationships
• Twitter & Pownce (and others…)
Start talking to people, let them get to know you
• Second Life
Get to know people in an unconventional environment
• Digg, del.ico.us
Get feedback and give feedback
• Don’t forget “old school” Social Media
• Yahoo Groups
• Craigslist

20. More Next Steps…
• Turn on Social Bookmarking, make it easy
for others to share your content

21. Learning Lessons from YouTube*
• YouTube was designed and build with
community as its founding principle.
• YouTube made sharing content easy.
• YouTube encouraged its users to personalize
their public profile pages.
• YouTube’s user Interface was restrained and
simple.
• YouTube’s search functionality, although not its
strongest point, consistently bested Google
Video’s functionality.
*from Citizen Marketers by Ben McConnell and Jackie Huba, 2007

22. Turning Lessons Into Action
• Community? Is your space worthy of a community? If so, create
one...
http://www.ning.com/
http://www.facebook.com
Is your content easy to share? Are you functional?
• Is it easy to find you? Easy to hear and see you? (If not, go back to
“First Things First”)
• Is it easy to “converse” with you? (If not, turn on your “Comments”
and get on the Social Media mainstream and build some
relationships)
• Is it simple to hear/watch your content? (If not, go back to “First
Things First”)

23. Action You MUST Do!
• Tell everyone about your podcast
• Target and locate people most likely to identify
with your podcast, your content
• Provide tools to make it easier to share
information (YouTube lessons and “First Things
First”)
• Study how, where and when your audience
opinions are being shared
• Listening and responding to supporters,
detractors, and neutral

24. You, Your Podcast, Your Brand
You are a Brand, Your Podcast is a Brand &
Collectively Both are a Brand
Brand building of “you” (Social) is in many ways
different than the brand building of the podcast.

25. So is Social Media Enough?
• Not no, but hell no…
– Find high profile entertainment or news to talk
about your Podcast
– Brand Marketing (Logo, website appeal)
– Referral Marketing (trade promo’s with others)
– Word of Mouth (ok, this is Social Marketing)
– Press Releases http://www.prweb.com
– Facebook Ads (can be low cost and reach
hundreds of thousands of people)

26. Facebook Ad – One Ad Case Study (May 2008)
One Month One Ad (5/8 to 6/8)
Total Spent $51.80
Impressions 600,494
Episode Request Increase for 5/08 +119%

27. Press Release – One Press Release Case Study
Cost of Press Release $60
1244 Reads/Downloads by Influentials
62 Appearances in Various Blogs*
192 Appearances on News Feeds/Pages*
68,060 Total Headline Impressions
*Tracked by Google Alerts

28. Now for Something Completely Different*
Isn’t that is what Buzz is all about?
• Google “Lively”
http://www.lively.com/html/landing.html
Create a space to build relationships.
• Second Life http://secondlife.com/
Explore and find enthusiasts.
• Eco-Safe http://www.eco-safe.com/
Be “green” and make your work
sustainable.
*after Monty Python

29. Now for Something Completely Different*
Isn’t that is what Buzz is all about?
• Bitstrips
http://www.bitstrips.com
Have some fun and tap a new network.
• Friendfeed
http://www.friendfeed.com
Open a “room” for like minded people.

30. The Building Buzz To-Do List
• Always improve your Quality • Join or build a community then
• Go back and review “First participate, listen and learn
Things First” (easy to from these relationships
subscribe, easy to watch/listen, • Do something completely
easy to find, in iTunes, different
comment and feedback system • If something is “news worthy”
in place, voice mail) then do a press release
• Get your podcast in podcast • Use Twitter/Pownce to let new
directories relationships know you have
• Get Social start building something new out there.
relationships • Get in a virtual world
• Turn on Social Bookmarks • Try an inexpensive Facebook
• Find evangelists for your ad and measure effectiveness
podcast • Tap into new networks like
• Trade show promos with those Bitstrips…
with similar audience • Tell everyone

31. Questions?

32. Credits
Feedburner http://www.feedburner.com Facebook http://www.facebook.com
Tom Webster , VP Strategy and Marketing, Podcast 411 http://www.podcast411.com
Edison Media Research Twitter http://www.twitter.com
eMarketer http://wwwpe.emarketer.com Digg http://digg.com
Chris Brogan “The Trust Economy” Hi5 http://hi5.com
Julien Smith “The Trust Economy” Del.icio.us
ITunes http://www.apple.com Flickr http://flickr.com
mySpace http://www.myspace.com Second Life http://www.secondlife.com
Google http://www.google.com Photobucket
Skype http://www.skype.com Utterz http://www.utterz.com
K7 Communications http://www.k7.net LinkedIn http://www.linkedin.com
Feedplayer http://www.feedplayer.com Orkut
Podcast Pickle http://www.podcastpickle.com Slideshare
PuPu Player http://pupuplayer.com Pownce http://www.pownce.com
Wordpress http://www.wordpress.com Dave Meerman Scott “The New Rules of Viral
Blubrry Network http://www.blubrry.com Marketing”
Typepad http://www.typepad.com Craigslist
Mevio http://www.mevio.com YouTube http://www.youtube.com
Blogger http://www.blogger.com Ben McConnel “Citizen Marketers”
CC Chapman http://ccchapman.com Jackie Huba “Citizen Marketers”
Accident Hash http://www.accidenthash.com Ning http://www.ning.com
Bitstrips http://www.bitstrips.com PrWeb http://www.prweb.com
Friendfeed http://www.friendfeed.com EcoSafe http://www.eco-safe.com
Bedtime Stories My Kids Love
http://bedtimestoriesmykidslove.com