362 - Which Social Platform Wins for Podcasters?

0:04 Good morning podcasting Morning Chat. Today is Tuesday, September 2nd, 2025 and today we're mixing things up with a pick one style chat where tough choices meet podcasting strategy and bring out insights on what really works and why. So if you're listening live on Clubhouse, hit the share button, bottom left hand side of the screen and share it However Clubhouse lets you. And if you're listening via podcast, please share this episode with a fellow podcaster. And now give me about 30 seconds and we'll get things rolling. Thanks for being here.

1:20 Good morning again podcasting morning chat. Happy Tuesday, hope a good Labor Day weekend. I am your host Mark Ronik and currently on stage with me, my Co hosts Nick Naulback, Dr. Fey, producer Ashley Feller and Sid Meadows up and also Matt Bliss just joined us as well. And thank you to Dan who's here bright and early this morning, currently in the audience. Dan, you're always welcome to join the conversation. I'll explain more about the conversation here in just a minute. First, I've got some housekeeping for you. Friday will be episode 365 S. Now, our audience could technically listen to an episode a day for an entire year.

2:07 And of course, we've done more than 365 episodes in our lifetime at the podcasting morning chat since we were just a live screen screen a live stream prior to making it a podcast too. So pretty cool. And I don't know, I'll try to think of something, maybe something special maybe we can do for Friday in honor of 365. Pretty crazy. Also, I had two clips I wanted to play for everyone. One of them actually Dr. Found for me. The other I knew about going in, but I wanted to play it for you here.

2:48 So the Empowered Podcasting Conference is coming up at the end of September, the 26th through the 28th, and now some people are starting to talk about it and I thought I'd play it for you first. This is the one that I said I knew coming in because Pod Fest, I'm sorry, Pod News is a partner and so is Podfest, but I'm referring to Pod News right now. They're a partner of the Empowered Podcasting Conference. So I knew they were going to talk about this on Friday's edition of Pod News on the podcast and of course, in their newsletter. Let's listen to James Cridlin share a little bit. If you fancy going to the Empowered Podcasting conference in Charlotte in North Carolina towards the end of September, then we have a special code for you which you'll find in our newsletter today.

3:37 You can use it before the end of next Friday and get the tickets for half price. There you go. Thank you James Cridland, appreciate James giving us that shout out. I'll give that coupon code and tell you a little bit more about it in just a second. Now let's hear from Hall of Famer Dave Jackson on his weekend show, Ask the Podcast Expert. Is that what it's called? Dr. Ask the podcast coach. Ask the podcast coach, right? And I do tune into it. It's just I forgot the name of it and I didn't tune into this most recent one. So let's listen to Dave talk a little bit about it. Dr. Thanks for that, super. Chat that you. Holy cow. Wait, what? Super chat.

4:18 She did say the Empowered Podcasting event in Charlotte right now at the. End of the month 262728 it is on the weekend so if you were complaining about Dave. If you were complaining about podcast movement being during the week, this is 1 on the weekend. The code. EPC LD50 will get you 50% off EPC LD50 get you 50% off until it's a Labor Day weekend sale. So most of our live folks and maybe will you. Publish this by the. Yes, this this will be out today and it went out yesterday in the pod page newsletter. I, I've been I, I'm really looking forward to this event. And so I promoted it on LinkedIn, on Twitter, on blue I even on blue sky. I never log into blue sky, but there's blue sky and threads and Mark is a great guy, Mark Ronik.

5:06 And I'm looking forward to me. I kind of go this, this smells like early pod fest. Yeah. And that was the best. And so this is a great sale if you're thinking of going bucks off basically, right, It's $200. Yeah. Bucks off and the hotel isn't super. It's not. It's not the Gaylord, but what is? It's not a Red Roof Inn, but that's kind of a good thing. And but it's sounds like it's going to be a good event. Yeah, if you it's in Charlotte, NC, but it's going to, for me, it just, you know, we got a lot of indie podcasters there. You can connect, you can learn and crow, you can collaborate. And there you go, Dave Jackson sharing a little bit. And yes, it's not a Red Roof Inn, nor is it the Gaylord.

5:51 And it's a really nice hotel. It's the Hyatt set. Centric Hyatts are no slouches when it comes to hotels and also got to teach Dave how to pronounce my last name. I know, I'm sorry. It's OK. I'm just limited to the chat. Occasionally you can go on that particular show because that's live on YouTube. And occasionally I, you know, go backstage and there's a link that I have that I can go on, But I was not looking very good Saturday morning. And I guess that was you based on that clip that we played, you had kind of prompted that reminder about the conference, is that right?

6:36 I gave a $20 donation and that's what a super chat is. I see. So you basically paid to say that and then they talked about it. Is that well? Kind of. But you know what, every time, every Saturday that I'm there and I used to do every single Saturday and I don't do that now, but I give money because he's giving out a free education for me. That's it's an education for like an hour and a half of nothing but really good podcasting education. And so if I throw him some shekels, you know, $10 here, $20 there, well worth it for me, really. Yeah, very cool.

7:24 Well, thank you for doing that. That was cool of you for doing that. And I see Dan responding in the chat to something that they Dave was just talking about. The Gaylord isn't his favorite. It's overly priced and and overly. Oh, overly played and overly priced. Yeah. I mean, the Gaylord is a beautiful place and it's expensive. Sid was telling us about that last week. I mean, even eating there is really expensive. We tried to pick a place that wasn't going to be, wasn't going to break the bank for everybody. What? What were you saying, Dr. And big miles. You have to walk for miles and miles and miles. Yes.

8:05 Fine when I could walk for miles and miles, but now that I'm a little bit more challenged in that area, holy cow. I mean, man. Yeah. And so if you were listening carefully, they actually gave all of the information about the Labor Day week sale that we're doing this week, only 50% off tickets. And as pointed out, that's just 100 bucks. And what is that going to get you? It's going to get you a full weekend of workshops, presentations, networking with some of the most credible podcasters and experts in this business.

8:47 These are the same people that are speaking and presenting and hosting workshops that you'll actually get to talk to after. These are the same people that were just at Podcast Movement. Almost all of these speakers spoke at Podcast Movement, a lot of them speaking on some different topics, this time at Empowered Podcasting. But you're getting a heck of a deal considering what you'd have to pay at Podcast Movement and not just the Gaylord. Even those tickets were probably at least 6-7 times. Well, now with the sale, even more what it costs to come to Empowered Podcasting. So come and think about that. I should say come, don't think about it, just come empoweredpodcasting.com go check it out. And lastly, anyone playing Powerball? I heard that the Powerball no one won again last night, which means now it's probably around 1.41 point $5 billion. Did anyone play here on stage?

9:51 No one. No, I understand that a lot of money has to go to the people who are buying the tickets. But here in Tennessee, I believe that the reason that they put the lottery here in Tennessee was for to go towards education and our schools are not. I mean, the higher education, sure, we have Vanderbilt, we have lots of great universities, but the lower education is what my concern is. And I just don't think that a whole lot of money is going to that lower education. And so that's my biggest gripe with the Lotto. Interesting and fairer and valid point. I did play.

10:36 I played actually a lot of you know, I'm a big sleep away camp guy. Grew up going to sleep away camp, married somebody. I went to camp with my best friend. I went to camp with my Co host of my very long time running podcast, also from camp and we all, I think about a dozen of us went in on this last drawing that happened Sunday night. I think we won a whopping $8. We hit the Powerball number twice, but no other numbers. We didn't hit any other numbers. So we're going in on it again and we have a whole, we had a whole legal thing, not official, but we had all the legalese shared before we dove in and gave our 10 bucks so that everybody is well aware of all the expectations, guidelines, etcetera.

11:25 So my question, what's I didn't lead the charge, somebody else did. And I am 99% certain he had ChatGPT lay it all out for him. And so I want to ask before we get into the main topic today, I'm curious, even though we don't, none of you played Powerball, which is shocking to me. If you won, would you double down on your podcast with some of your winnings? Would you keep it as is, not do a thing, not change a thing with your podcast or stop podcasting altogether? You know, we hear when people say I'm going to win the lottery, I'm going to quit my job. Would that be what you do with your podcasting as well? Go ahead, DRI. Would double, triple down on my podcasting business and maybe set up a scholarship, like a podcasting scholarship, maybe go into those lower grades that I was talking about and instill like a podcasting course curriculum, something like that. Yeah, that's what I would do.

12:28 I like that. Anyone else? I'd like to hear from our other Co hosts. What would you do, Sid, if you won the lottery? What would you do with your podcast if you won the lottery? It's a really good question and it's early in the morning to be answering on the spot like that. But as Dr. was talking, one of the things that crossed my mind is I would actually fund a podcast network because I believe that networks should actually pay the host. So I would fund through more than just ad revenue, right? I would fund a network to be able to get more voices in the office furniture industry on the Airways and be able to pay them and get them excited about creating content. So that's how I would use part of the money. I love that.

13:14 Thank you, Sid. Yeah. I have a question for Sid. OK, go for it. Dr. Sid, once you create a network, are they no longer an independent podcast? That's probably above my pay grade, but I would say that they are still independent podcaster. Yeah. I mean, I think they are. I see Matthew wants to chime in. But I mean, people get into podcasts because they think it's exciting and fun and then 10 episodes and they realize, oh, crap, this is actually a lot of work, right? And so, but in, in specifically in the furniture industry, we need more voices talking about issues and challenges and ways to grow and things of that nature, right? So that's why I want to do it, to get those voices out there and to be able to let people share their thoughts and their ideas.

13:57 But Matthew, are we still independent if we're part of a network? I think independence of a podcaster is either associated with a brand or an organization. I think an independent podcaster is someone who's doing it either for themselves, for something, or a thing that they own. But if someone was podcasting for, say, Coca-Cola, or if they were doing it for another organization where they're just a personality, but they wouldn't say that they are the podcast. I think that's probably how I define independent. But if we start to attach independence to money, then we start going settling towards that corporate money argument that is being had a lot more these days and I'm not sure if we really want to tackle that today.

14:46 Fair enough. Matt. And I, I mean, I would say that you can be an independent podcaster and be part of a network at the same time. I think it just depends on the network, what the expectations, obligations, responsibilities are. But ultimately, if you're an independent podcaster on a network, I think you're still one for sure. What would change you as going from an independent podcaster to what, a corporate podcaster? I'm not quite sure. Go ahead, Dan. An independent podcaster is simple. It's a simple definition. It's produced and managed by an individual or small team and they don't have any direct controller influenced by major media companies. So just because you're an affiliate of a network or part of a network?

15:38 As long as. The. Corporate message isn't what your driving message is. Let's take Coca-Cola as your example. If Coca-Cola is the major message that you, as part of a network, are sending out, you're no longer an independent podcaster. But as long as the message is your own, and it's primarily produced and run by you, and it's your message, you're an independent podcaster. Thank you, Dan. I appreciate you giving the official definition of independent podcaster. And yeah, I I knew what it was. I just didn't know how we would define it if you then were under a network. But you clearly explained it and I think that makes a lot of sense. OK, who else?

16:18 Before we get into our main topic today, if you won the big Powerball, what would you do with your podcast? Would you double down on it? Would you keep it just as is or would you stop altogether? I want to hear from more people. How about you, Nick? Haven't heard from you yet this morning. I don't know. I'd probably I'd have. Some loose ends that I need to clean up. That's not obvious. I I promise I'd I'd. Have some stuff that I got set up first and then I'd probably just go back to mostly just independent. I basically set myself up to where I just had time to create and have fun with it again and just see what happens. Well, listen, Slurge a little bit here and there. But yeah.

17:02 And you've had, since we've been talking with you, since you've been a part of this, you've had two podcasts, you've had 95 Freedom and you've had the AI briefing. Would one, would you bring one of them back or would you start from scratch? That's a good question. I probably, I probably start from scratch, but I would probably learn more towards a similar show to the 95 podcast, interviewing entrepreneurs, business owners, things like that. I I really enjoyed having those conversations and talking with all those business owners. And it's something that I'd I'd like to do again, but I'd be a lot more thoughtful this time around.

17:45 OK, that's fair. Yeah, absolutely. And I want to hear from Ashley. Ashley, I saw you had your hand up earlier. Did you want to share what you would do if you won the lottery specifically with your podcast? So specifically with Sunshine State Showcase, one of the challenges I have is traveling to the different venues to record. I guess in person. So I would buy an RV and it would have the be the kind that has like a toy hauler in the back and I would build some sort of a studio in the back of that toy hauler. And then I would hire a production assistant to just run the whole thing while I get to just interview people. That would be the dream. I love that it would really change for me how I podcast, right, because look, I I obviously in well, maybe it's not obviously, but I think it's obvious that I love helping people with podcasting.

18:40 It's why I do almost Daily Show talking about it. And I'm also doing it as a business. And I think if I had won the lottery, had all the money in the world to play with, the whole idea of running it as a business or as part of my business, I feel like goes out the window. Now I'm just doing it 100% just to serve. I would probably not do it every day, if I'm being honest with you, but I would do it consistently and I'd probably do it more than once a week. I say that now, but I'm wondering if I had all this cash, would I actually do it more than once a week? I probably would because I'd have a lot of time on my hands, don't have to work anymore. It's a tough one really when you start to think about it, but a problem I'm I welcome something I'll I'll take any day. So yeah, I will be playing again with that same group of campers that I went to sleep away camp with many years ago. So maybe in just a couple days I'll be sharing with you that there are some format changes going to happen here with the podcasting morning chat.

19:50 OK, let's dive in to the main conversation of the morning, shall we? I want to try something a little different and it's not terribly different, but I want to do a pick one style conversation. The idea is to it's really designed to get us thinking about the choices that we make as podcasters. So here's how it'll work. I'll pose a question where you'll need to pick between a few options. For example, our first question if you could only promote your podcast on a social media platform. Like Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn as examples for the next year, which would you choose and why?

20:33 Now the examples I gave like Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn, those are just to get us started. You're not limited to just the examples I list. I'm listing them to get your mind moving. So if your real answer is something else entirely, share that instead. The goal here isn't just to pick AB or C, It's to spark a conversation about why you make the choices that you do and what you've learned from them. And that's really the whole point here, because I believe that this will be valuable for podcasters because we'll get to hear a lot of different perspectives. We can potentially hear about new tools or strategies that we haven't considered yet. And obviously, I think we can learn from what's working, what's not working for others.

21:23 Dr. Do you have a question? Oh no, I was going to answer it. Oh, wow. OK, so with that then let's start with that first question. And again, that question is, if you could only promote your podcast on one social media platform, something like Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn for the next year, which would you choose and why? Oh, you know what? I'm sorry. I was walking back to the office when you actually asked it and I didn't hear social media. Well, now you got to pick. Pick a social media platform, OK? Threads I red. I have seen you on threads more lately I. Know I'm trying so hard.

22:04 I joined a challenge that I did not finish because I got busy at the last moment and so yeah, OK. So yeah, so Dr. Clearly is somebody who struggles a bit with finding a platform that's just comfortable posting on regularly. Social, just social period I'm not a huge fan of unless, unless I'm reading about a cat that's lost, I'm not a huge fan of it. All right, well then we'll I'll let you think a little bit more on that and I'm going to go to, if you don't mind, Sid. Well, I'm going to come to you in a second. I'll give you a minute to think about your answer because Ashley eagerly, I say eagerly raised her hand.

22:48 So, Ashley, what's that one social media platform you'd pick to promote your podcast and why? I would pick sub stack and the reason for that is I consider myself at the root of everything a writer and that's where writers hang out. Number two is it is a great link to your e-mail address and I tend to think of like I'm with Dr. I'm not big on social either. I think of e-mail as owned property and social media as rented property. So if there's a social platform that'll, you know, make somewhat of a straight line between, you know, my website and my e-mail and you know that platform, then I'm all for it.

23:30 I love that one sub stack one I I. Forgot about sub stack. That's my answer. That's my answer. OK, Dr. I'll give you that one and a great one. I mean, it was one that I, I'm very aware of and it hadn't crossed my mind when I put that question together. So thank you for bringing that up, 'cause I think that's a good one. And yeah, I appreciate you saying that you you're going to gravitate to the platform where you feel most like you, right? You said you're a writer first and foremost, and so you're picking a platform where that speaks to you. So I appreciate that answer and I'm going to check in with Sid now. Sid, if you had to pick one social media platform to promote your podcast, which would it be and why? All right, So I have two answers to this question. I'm going to reframe your question. Sure.

24:22 If I had to pick one platform, not social platform or one platform to promote, I would actually choose e-mail because we get a really big lift on Tuesdays when we send out our podcast e-mail. That's the only e-mail that I actually send out is the podcast e-mail on Tuesdays. Today it'll go tomorrow, it'll go out tomorrow because of the holiday. But we get a really big uptick in downloads when we send an e-mail out. So that's what I would choose. If you just said platform, if you said social platform, I would say LinkedIn, obviously, because it's a business related podcast and business people tend to hang out a lot on LinkedIn. I'm really comfortable with the platform. So I would actually say LinkedIn as my preferred social platform. Thank you, Sid, and I see Ashley started a poll here. I have another follow up question for you in a second, Sid.

25:11 I see Ashley started a poll here with today's first question. And so far, 50% say other. So I listed Instagram, TikTok and LinkedIn. 50% of the crowd is saying other, 17% saying Instagram, 34 saying LinkedIn. Now Sid a question for you about LinkedIn in your personal experience with it, what kind of content is working best for you on LinkedIn? Because I've seen you post somewhat of a variety. I've seen you post straight text style posts. I've seen you post text with photos, I've seen you more lately posting some video, and I know you've posted video to LinkedIn in the past as well. Curious what's working best for you? Do you know?

25:57 Yeah, I do know it's a really great question to you right now. Video works best on LinkedIn for lots of different reasons. It creates stronger connection with the people. LinkedIn is really pushing out video to get to be more competitive with apps like Instagram and TikTok and their video feed. So they're really pushing video. So video right now works the best, but you know, that's a the type of content as it relates to the messaging of the content, right? When I look at what's working best there, I will tell you is hands down anything personal related. If I can tie a story into something personal related, my personal posts just skyrocket on LinkedIn. And I think that has a lot to do with the fact that people want connection, people long for connection, people want to do business with people.

26:49 So anytime I share something personal, whether it's in video, texts or images or whatever, it does really, really well. I mean, five times greater than any other posts that I do. But so if I combine personal and video together, then it would do really, really well. Hope that answers your question Mark. Yeah, it does. And I'm with you, Sid. I definitely noticed that and granted I don't post a lot of personal on LinkedIn because for a long time I just didn't think anybody on LinkedIn would care, but personal does still seem to get the most attention for me when I post. The other thing I notice is when I post something personal with a photo.

27:30 Not a video in my case with a photo or two or three, but with photos. I noticed that those do particularly well for me on LinkedIn. I am struggling with video on LinkedIn. Whenever I post anything I I noticed that in most cases, not every but in most cases, I find that the video just doesn't get as much many views as anywhere else. I think, Mark, nothing's wrong with what your content is and how you're doing your content. But this is my personal opinion. Have 0 facts to base this basis on, right? But I believe that your videos are too curated for LinkedIn, right? And I think that LinkedIn is, again, this is my opinion is rewarding people who just grab the camera and or grab the whatever device and start recording and not so not so curated because I do believe that this is again, these are my opinions.

28:26 I believe that too much curation of video is a mute button to a degree, right? People turn turn off too much curation of video. So I think, and that may be one of the reasons mine do so well as mine are all very natural. I'm walking and in my yard and my office and literally I just hit the record button and I record usually within one or two takes. I can get what I want to say in it, I add the captions to it. I don't put any other animations or anything else into it. It's just raw me talking and I think that's one of the reasons why my videos do so well. Maybe just me, but that's my opinion. I think too much cure, too many curated things people tend to get a little tone deaf on. I even feel that way sometimes on other platforms, not just LinkedIn.

29:11 I'm starting to feel like some of the really produced, curated content. I feel like people, it's becoming kind of a scroll stopper. I'm with you there. And I don't have a lot of evidence yet to prove that. But that's just an observation of mine that I'm with you there, Sid. Big like if you take something that you're doing, like something we talked about in the morning chat, right? And you go and you create a video about it and you have some animations come in, you have some emojis come in, the stuff that you do to make your videos through rated, right? If you were to take the same type of content and just hit record and talk about like, hey, this morning on the podcasting morning chat had a really great conversation about XY and Z where I learned boom, boom, boom, or we're so and so shared boom, boom and boom, which was a game changer for the people in the in that listen today. Be sure you check it out on the on the actual podcast or you can listen on the podcast, something like that, right? That probably you should test it, like do an AB test and see if it works better or differently for you than one of the curated ones that you're doing. Not that curation is bad, and I don't mean it to sound like it's bad, by the way.

30:23 Yeah. It's just what works on some platforms, or I know we don't have the full evidence to say so, but going with it for a second, yeah, what works on some platforms may not work on others. And I think that's why we hear from a lot of gurus that encourage us to make different content for the different platforms. I get that can be challenging. It it is for me to have to make multiple pieces of content, but that if the more you can make content for that specific platform, I think the more advantageous it is for you. Matt, did you want to chime in? The thing that I always go back to when I hear feedback like you're talking about Mark, is something that I heard from a 2023 Lectro that I'm fairly certain I've linked here before from the, can't remember the name of it now, but it was Aza Raskin and Tristan Harris talking about the future of AI, how it relates to social media and the race to the bottom of the brainstem.

31:25 The idea that content like Sid is talking about works better on a platform indicate doesn't indicate to me that authenticity is what people want. To me, it indicates that people don't want something that's been created and have an expected response. They're looking for that intermittent, intermittent schedule reward, unexpected gamble, like the Powerball that you get when you're watching a YouTube video that you're stuck to, like dash Cam footage, for example. Facebook is throwing so much dash Cam footage at me at the moment because you never know what's going to happen. You have to wait to see what's going to happen. And you know from your experience of car accidents that it could be anything.

32:18 The same with authentic videos of someone walking in the park. They could be talking about something. It's clearly not scripted, so maybe they don't know what they're going to say. And that small dopamogenic response that you get from the randomness and the whimsy is rewarded on platforms because people stick around to see it. And then the retention goes up, and then numbers go up, and then the number feeds back into a loop of what keeps getting described as authenticity. But we know it's not. It's just the simple neurochemical responses we get from the way that content is structured that then sits in a algorithmic feedback loop on platforms that eventually destroy them. Like I think Instagram is starting to pop again, but it the amount of content I get delivered on there now, I can't even talk about it.

33:11 Like it's so bad. And I think LinkedIn has been on an incredibly slow decline over the last few years. It used to be the professional place where you are social medially, like dressed up in a suit with your best hat and going look at me my ways, I am so popular and professional. But now it's starting to make that backslide into what the rest of social media is doing. And it's all about the neurochemical reactions. It's all about stopping the scroll. It's all about making people get that. Yes, Nicholas, my wares. Look at my snake oil over here. This special medicament that will give you more sales. It's all chemical reactions in our brain that are being manipulated in platforms that eventually die because people figure them out or someone creates another one just to keep the ball rolling.

34:07 Now that is full conspiratorial, very personal opinion on that front, and it doesn't answer the question that we kind of we need a way to promote stuff, to discover more audiences. Whether social media is good for that, it's hard to say. Objectively, I would be in DRS camp and say that it's not. But the ultimate human good isn't something we can always respect when we're trying to do something for ourselves. If we win Powerball we can, but otherwise we can't. Thank you, Matt. So yeah, I mean, that is a whole other topic too, right? It's that whole idea of is it really authentic if we are creating content that is specific for that platform? Ultimately, I think that it still can be because if it's your message, if it's your opinion, your expertise that you're sharing, just in a different way because of the platform, I think that there is still some authenticity to that. Go ahead, Matt.

35:08 Just very quickly I should say I've said that authenticity is just chemical reactions in the brain. The two things aren't mutually exclusive or they are like you can have someone be authentically who they are but also be manipulating neurochemicals. Same for not having one or the other or neither. Like it's, I think they're two different questions, but in the context of social media, the neurochemical reactions are what motivates a lot of what we see as impressions and and numbers and stuff. Yeah, I'm tracking with you there, Matt. Absolutely. And Dr. did you want to chime in? Yeah #1 Matthew, thank you so much for the word of the day and Dopamagenetics. Yes, I I that caught my ear too.

35:57 Wow, that is awesome. As a matter of fact, just like an hour before I just put in a prompt with the words what dopamine, Dopamine enticing or something like that. So yeah, dopamine is on the brain today. So about LinkedIn, you know, I've always had this push pull kind of thing with LinkedIn because I'm a creator and I color outside the box and I think of LinkedIn as this very, you know, green polyester jacket.

36:38 Would you like to see the house that I have for sale kind of kind of place? And I don't see it as a creative hub kind of thing. And so that's, that's the tug of war that I have inside my brain. So it basically is it even worth it using LinkedIn because you don't see it really playing to the creative side? Yeah. But the tug of war is is that I do have a business and that I I do have to play that side of the playground as well, but it's still difficult. Can I chime in? Sure, Stacy, welcome back to the stage.

37:20 It's been a minute. Yes, good morning. So I can't say enough. Do not give up on LinkedIn. There's so much to say. You could tell my brains moving too fast. If you have a business, you need to be on LinkedIn. You the way that I got to be a top voice and it took a very long time to get that notoriety from LinkedIn to have that top voice badge or whatever it is very long time is teach and I'm sure that's kind of the all social media, but LinkedIn teach, educate.

38:00 So even if I'm going to post something about me on stage speaking because I want to get more speaking gigs and I want to be seen for what I want to be hired for. Even when I do that, I will share like tactics that help the reader do something, learn something. So whereas I see others just post about, hey, I'm speaking today in New York City, you know, check reach out to me. Like there's a very big difference. There is a right way to do LinkedIn in wrong way. But I would just say to you that it's done really well for me and I can't help everybody individually, but I do believe it is the best branding, branding play.

38:52 If you are in a business, there's so much to say, don't give up on it. OK, there you go. And Congrats by the way, for becoming a top voice of LinkedIn. And I know you've done lots of different things with LinkedIn. I know you've got a one or two courses, Stacy, I can't remember. Yes, I have two courses that are related to my field of customer service and experience. But I guess let me leave you a tip cause rather than just say all that, oh, besides commenting on other people's posts with that shows that you're giving value. You're not just saying, hey, that's a great idea like give value even in the comments because it shows people that you are a smart person and they'll want to get to know you. So how you comment is more than just AI like that. The second thing is start a group on LinkedIn like it rewards you for engaging and doing things that that drive conversation.

40:01 So you can get very creative on there. Don't don't limit it to just Instagram as an example. Show you show your zone a genius in your comments, in groups and in your posts. Thanks. Yeah. Thank you, Stacy. And I think that's there's some advice in there for any social media platform, and I know it's been shared before, and that's if they've got different bells and whistles, try to take advantage of those, especially if they are new bells and whistles that have just been rolled out. These platforms, social media platforms tend to reward creators for taking advantage of all the different features, especially the new ones. So yeah, I think that's great advice and one that I'll have to take because I haven't really gotten into the whole groups thing over on LinkedIn and probably should. So I'm going to look into that.

40:52 I appreciate that. Yeah, might be a webinar I do, it's a good topic. For sure. Yeah, sure. And by the way, we should mention how Zach in the chat, Zach had mentioned his social media platform that he would pick if he only had one was YouTube, which I'm surprised that one hadn't been mentioned yet, but here we are. So yeah, YouTube. I that one, especially as a podcaster, that one would be hard for me to ignore. Like, I was gonna probably go with something like Instagram. But now that I've seen Zach's answer in the chat, I think you're on to something there, Zach. I think as a podcaster, I'd rather be on YouTube because it also gives me variety.

41:38 I can post short form content just as much as I can post long form content. And there's some new features that we're going to be talking about that YouTube is rolling out later this week. That makes it even more collaborative. I think that that's probably where I would go for sure. And by the way, our poll here, in case you're not here live with us, that poll I mentioned earlier, we've got 30% of the audience here and participants saying Instagram, 30% LinkedIn and 40% other. So it's a mixed bag. And let's go to DJ Rez before we wrap up this part of the conversation and go to our next pick. One question, Rez, another person that it's been a minute since we've had on stage.

42:24 Welcome back. And what did you want to add? Hey, Mark. Yeah, long time, no talk. I keep missing this because I I don't wake up in time, but I don't know, I, I just want to say I think Instagram is becoming or has definitely become the standard when it comes to brand promotion for me. Like LinkedIn is kind of like Facebook. It's a little outdated at this point, but that's just my opinion. Thank you. Yeah, thank you. I'm glad Instagram's working for you. And that's, that's the big key here is that it's going to work. These platforms are going to work differently for different people for different reasons, depends on your topics, what you're talking about, who you're talking to, etcetera.

43:04 I like, for example, if you've got a music podcast, it might be, it might be a little bit of a struggle to try to grow it using something like LinkedIn. So also know your audience, know where they are and double down there. One, one thing can I say to that, I want people to also think about the fact that if you want to do music at an event, those event people and hosts have businesses and they're on LinkedIn too. So it depends what you want to do with it. Like as a speaker or performer, event hosts are constantly looking for talent and it you wouldn't think LinkedIn, but it it's there too.

43:50 Thank you, Stacy picked a good day to come join us at least good day for us. Appreciate you being here and all right, let's go to Dr. with the next pick one question. Go ahead, Dr. Yeah, this one was my favorite side of the list. If you had to monetize your podcast using only one approach, like ads or subscriptions or merch or whatever, what's your move and why? And I'll go first. Mine would be newsletters. That's what mine would be because you're creating a community and you have the opportunity to teach in that newsletter.

44:34 You have the opportunity to promote in that newsletter. There's the opportunity for collaborations in that newsletter. So definitely for me, definitely newsletters. Would you charge for those newsletters to make them something that's monetizable, if that's really a word? No, but I would use that newsletter as a lead magnet and it would lead to my business. Do you need a podcast consultant? Do you need, you know, production on your show? Something like that. OK, there you go. So let's let's hear from others as well. Thank you, Dr. If you had to monetize using only one approach, what's your move and why?

45:19 Go ahead, Sid. I would choose a membership slash community and charge a small amount like $27.00 or something to be part of a community that got exclusive content, behind the scenes content place for people to come together and talk and that kind of thing. So I would choose a paid membership slash community. Awesome. And I'll take it a step further Sid and see if you you may not have the answer to this. Do you know what platform you choose to manage that kind of thing? It's very interesting that I am in the process right now of evaluating that very topic for our other business. Which community platform do we want to use where our community can come together and chat with each other and we can share resources?

46:06 And I've looked at Circle, I've looked at Mighty Networks, got a whole conversation about Mighty Networks. And then we'll take a new one called Networked. And then Katie Brinkley mentioned one to me. She's going to do an introduction to me and I forget the name of it, I something and Gordon Firemark was standing right there when Katie was talking to me about it and he said I love that platform. So I am currently evaluating a platform to launch in October for our new business. I'll come back and tell you which one I decided to do. But I will tell you a lesson that I learned through this is when you're the big guy in the space, you can get away with, you know, not talking to people. Like Mighty Networks has no way to contact them on their website, right?

46:57 No phone number. I think they have a form you can fill out, right? But no true way to contact anybody. And so I got an e-mail from them and I asked for a demo on the platform and they told me no. They said you can join for 14 days and explore the platform and start to get to know your know the platform that way if we don't do demos. And I was like, that's really interesting. But anyways, when they're the big guy, they own that space, right? So they can pretty much do whatever they want to do, which is another conversation by itself. Thank you, Sid. And I just texted you so I wouldn't forget. Let me know if you find the name of that platform that Katie was recommending and we'll put it in the show notes today if we can figure it out in time.

47:46 Thank you for that. Sid and I just found it. Sorry, I just found out. Put it in the notes called. It's called high level, HIGH level. Awesome, high level. There you go. So you can check that out. Yes, Matthew, go ahead. Very quickly I got an introduction to high level, previously called Go High Level and it is insane. Yeah, that's it. Host your website, it'll host your e-mail marketing, right, Matt? It does all that stuff. Membership, host education courses, it's a robust CRM, it has linked automations, you can integrate platforms. There's so much you can do with it. And it's like $70.00 a month or something. It's really affordable.

48:32 When you think about, when I looked at it, when you think about all the things that it offers versus what you're paying other places, it does all of this for a small fee. I think it's like $75 or something. Yeah, But the thing to to note is thinking about using Go high level is like if you're planning to build a house or a city, if you're an independent podcaster and you hear this conversation and you say, oh, high level, that sounds great. I think I can afford that much per month. If you're just looking to promote a podcast and create a website, it's probably not the best. But if you're a business and you need to manage client contacts, host your e-mail, get a website, create courses, manage membership, potentially connect with other people in different places and you want to establish in five years time a massive, potentially multi $1,000,000 business, go high level is the way to go. But if you're a podcaster who's like I need a website, then it's probably not the best way to start. So just keep that in mind with all the introductions I've had to it so far.

49:39 Thank you, Matt. Appreciate that. And yeah, good point. I think that that's an example of potentially it could be an example of shiny new object syndrome, right? We hear about this great platform, we hear other podcasters saying how great of a platform it is. So it must be good for us, right? But no, it may not be. And I think that it's important to really focus on what what's going to work for you, what you need now. And of course, sure, you know, will this help me down the road? Can I grow with this thing? And you know, that's an important area to focus on. But ultimately, you don't want to overwhelm yourself. You don't want to pay more for something than you need to if you don't have to.

50:23 I want to be real clear about something to Mark. So even though I said I would do a community is a way to answer D Rs question, right. The evaluation of a platform that we are currently in the process of doing has nothing to do with my podcast. It has to do with our business and our business is peer groups for business leaders in the office furniture industry and this is a community for them to talk to each other in between our meetings and the two in my case that right currently the 2 are not combined. Fairpoint and yeah, important to say so I'm, I'm glad you shared that. Yeah, this wasn't specifically for Sid's podcast. So his answer may, you know, may be different for him, his podcast to this new business that he's that he's building. Fair enough.

51:10 OK, anybody else want to share what's if you had to only pick one monetization method for the next year for your podcast? What would it be and why? Anyone saying anything in the chat or go ahead Stacy and then I'll check the chat. Again, my head and my mouth are moving at different rates. I have been using my podcast to get sponsors by so I have a guest or or I pitch a company like an executive to come on my show and I'm explaining through that not just the show, but the social media and combined is really a brand.

51:55 It's kind of like a little agency to get whatever new product or offer that they want to launch. And so that's really been a good revenue stream of using your podcast as a way to connect with people, have them on your show and then want your promotional channels, if that makes sense. Yeah, it does make sense. Thank you, Stacy. And for lack of time, I just want to keep moving along and it Jonathan, I want to come to you because of something you just shared in the chat. And I assuming playfully you said I'm not playing this game. You need to have multiple things to properly monetize. And I agree with you.

52:38 And the idea of this game is so that we can hear the different methods and what's very valuable to 1 podcaster versus another. It's really just to help other podcasters think about different ways of monetizing different platforms, social media platforms to utilize, etcetera. So I'm going to ask you share what you want as far as that goes. Playing this game now. And then maybe you can share one method that you use to monetize? I am literally just putting it in the chat in jest. I totally get it. However, I still believe that if you're new when you're trying to monetize, you need to try multiple different. Things because you don't know what's going.

53:19 To actually work the best for you. And you know, some people might have success. With. Merchandise because they've got. A really hip. Logo or concept and that's going to drive a huge amount of sales for them. So, you know, I think it's always you got to play in multiple playgrounds to understand what's. Going to work for you. For me, I would probably lean in on. The community building, because that's what I. Personally like to do, yeah, definitely community building and growing in that way and I would utilize social audio. To do some of that community building as well. There you go. Thank you Jonathan, and thank you for playing the game anyway, appreciate it and I'm torn my answer, I am torn.

54:06 I'm not sure what method I would probably, I mean, the, the answer that's most obvious to me is a community building and growing. Well, I guess that's the same thing, a community building platform that I can monetize. That would probably be the most logical for me. And I also know that that can sometimes take some time to, to really establish and make some decent money. So if I was forced to do just one, I'd really have to think about that and and think, you know, OK, if I only had one this year, would that be the one I'd go with? If I'm starting from scratch, I think my answer would be no.

54:47 If I'm starting a brand new podcast, I might try to think of a different method to 1st get that some of that community going before I go all in on monetizing it. So I don't know, I would maybe. And I know this might be controversial for some people, and I'm thinking out loud to take it with a little bit of a grain of salt, but I actually might consider ads. Not to Riddle my show with ads, but if I'm really specific with the niche that I'm targeting, with the content that I'm delivering, I think that I could easily land a couple of sponsors for my show because it's hitting their target audience if I'm picking the right sponsors and that's a value to them. So I might consider that if I'm a brand new podcast, that might be the way I go, even though that kind of goes against former thinking that I've had.

55:41 But you know, as the years go on, my opinions change and I think that's the method I'd go. With. But yeah, exactly. So I'm going to win the lottery though, and then it won't matter and I can just monetize it myself, you know, basically pay myself and put out some more free content for everybody. All right, It is the top of the hour, which means it is time to wrap up and remind you two things. One, the Empowered Podcasting Conference is on sale all week long, 50% off in honor of Labor Day. The code is EPC LD50. Use that code. You get 50% off.

56:21 It's $100 for an entire weekend of podcast networking, podcast, workshops, presentations. It's going to be a weekend that I promise you when you leave, you will feel ready to take on the world with your podcast. You will have new strategies, new ideas, and new people in your network to collaborate with, learn from moving forward. So check that out. And also tomorrow, the other reminder. Tomorrow we cover all the podcasting headlines around the world. The ones that affect you as a content creator. We'll discuss them, comment on them, and share. So join us tomorrow, 7:00 AM Eastern, live on Clubhouse, live on YouTube.

57:04 Remind me tomorrow to also share a little bit about why I haven't been saying Chatter lately. Chatter is the other platform we were simulcasting to, and I do intend to again, but I'll share more tomorrow. So until then, make it a great day everybody, take care.