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(By Andrew Allman) It’s a scary world out there. We’re going through something we’ve never gone through before. People are anxious at the same time they are stuck at home. They need someone to talk to but the coronavirus is keeping them from meeting up for coffee or dinner.
Radio and podcasts are the perfect media for connecting and learning, and they are the perfect media for this unprecedented time. For a time we need to talk things out. Soothe our anxieties. Find comfort in discussions.
I’ve seen this first hand operating PodcastGuests.com. 20,000 people use the service to connect podcasts with experts that come on their shows as guests. Over the past two weeks, I’ve seen a surge in requests for many types of guests:
Doctors who can explain what a coronavirus is, how to prevent getting it, and how to take care of yourself if you are unlucky enough to catch the novel coronavirus.
- Meditation experts walk people through how to meditate to reduce their anxiety.
- Nutritionists to explain how people can eat healthy
- Exercise experts who can help people stay moving while confined to their homes
- Financial advisors to put the market plunge in perspective and help people understand what’s next
- Work-from-home pros to explain how to manage the stressful change from a corporate office to juggling kids while working from home
As people hunker down worldwide, spoken-word media will play a bigger part in our daily lives. More people want to consume it and more people want to be part of it.
And for podcasters, inviting relevant guests on your show delivers benefits:
- Your audience can learn directly from the experts
- You’ll grow your show’s audience. The experts you have as guests will help you promote your show by sharing the episode on social media and to their own audience. These new listeners, if they like your show, will subscribe to future episodes.
In addition to inviting individual experts on a podcast, podcasters should consider holding group discussions. People are social creatures and they’re yearning to replace group meetings. Group chats recorded as podcasts can be informative to listeners and valuable to the guests as well.
There are a lot of podcasters and experts who are suddenly sitting and home trying to figure out how to adapt. The opportunity is ripe for podcasts to share knowledge and comfort in these anxious times.
Andrew Allman created Podcastguests.com. He can be reached at andrew@podcastguests.com