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(By Troy Price) In the 2015 Kentucky gubernatorial race, we had three people running for governor that could not have been more different. We had a staunch Republican, an entrenched Democrat, and an Internet millionaire third-party candidate (Fark.com’s Drew Curtis if you are curious).
Their differences were most clear when, during a televised debate, each of the candidates shared their prepared answer to the question, “When you seek advice, where do you turn?” Two of the answers were what you would expect, but Drew looked up from the podium and said simply, “Social media."
Historically, that was a cool moment to watch and I think since 2015 social media more frequently is the first place people go to get questions answered. With that in mind, I have a bit of advice for people just getting into podcasting.
STOP USING SOCIAL MEDIA AS THE FIRST PLACE YOU GO TO GET YOUR QUESTIONS ANSWERED.
Type your question into Google and find a much more thoughtful, complete answer much more quickly than Facebook.
Before writing this, I reviewed the podcasting groups on Facebook that I enjoy. A large portion of my page was taken up with questions like: - I just read I can’t use music in my podcast, Why?!?!? - I just submitted my podcast to Apple Podcasts. How long does it take them to include my show? - Who else has a sports podcast? and, - How long does it take for my podcast to show up in iTunes?
I love the people in these podcasting communities. No one publicly replied to any of those posts saying what I am saying now. But please, just Google that.
Seriously, other podcast experts have taken great pains to create free online resources for your podcasting questions. Their webpages often answer direct questions you have now and even answer questions that you don’t even know you have now. Google is the place to go when a question about podcasting pops into your head. Google first.
I am not saying that you should not be in a podcasting community on social media if you have podcasting questions. You could become a valued member of the community and start some real discussions, if you were to share the results of any of your Google searching.
Think about it. If you posted, “I was looking into how to share my RSS on Soundcloud and found this resource. Does anyone else do this or do you use something else?” I can imagine the comments and affirmation you would receive if you shared that. It would be something like… - Thanks for sharing that resource! I was looking for something like that myself. Or, - I never even thought of adding my podcast to Soundcloud. Thanks for the tip.
That post and all those responses add to the podcast community. And that is what we should strive to do. We should strive to contribute to our online communities. Popping in to get a question answered with a later comment of “thx” is not a contribution, it only clutters the page.
Don’t clutter. Contribute.
_Troy Price is the co-founder of _Front Porch Studios_ in Berea, Kentucky. He’s been involved with podcasting for over a decade. Reach Troy by email at _Troy@frontporchstudios.com.