If you’re not on the podcast hype yet, where have you been? If you’re a regular listener and your extra time during lockdown has had you thinking about starting your own - you wouldn’t be the only one! We got Sonia, one of our HQ huns, and Laura AKA @soniaflower and @laursco from On Our Plates, a lifestyle and comedy podcast, to share their top tips on how to start your own…
Find Your Niche
Whether you’re doing it alone, with guests or as part of a duo like us, find what makes you different. From the topics you discuss, your humour or even the layout of your podcast. Keep it authentic to you and try not to be influenced too much by podcasts you regularly listen to. People want to hear YOU!
See if speaking into a microphone comes naturally to you. Even if it’s just a voice memo on your phone. It can feel weird at first (as can listening back for the first time) and it might cringe you out but the more you do it, the easier and more normal it will get. We recorded our first episode as test run with no intention of anyone else hearing it but ended up publishing it!
Learn How To Edit
We use GarageBand to edit and chop out all those umms and ahhs, which is a free platform but there are loads out there. It takes some getting used to for technophobes like us, but after watching a few YouTube tutorials and having a play around you’ll soon get to grips with it. If you’re part of a duo and one of you (Laura) is more computer literate than the other (Sonia), let them do the hard work… (Love you Laura).
Once we had regular listeners and knew we had a good thing going, we decided it was time to invest in a better mic. We started off just using the microphone in our laptop and it does the trick, but we eventually levelled up with the Blue Yeti USB Mic. And trust us, it’s made a world of difference - it’s the one that a lot of the ASMR stars use so if that’s your thing, it might just be the one for you.
Upload To Multiple Platforms
We upload all episodes to Anchor, a free podcasting platform which automatically distributes your podcast to Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Overcast and more. You can also upload to SoundCloud and if you’re not camera shy, you could film your podcast and upload it to YouTube for more exposure! We like recording in our slobs so that isn’t an option for us…
Figure out a schedule and then try to stick to it. We like to upload weekly but we do have breaks when we feel like it, just keep your audience up-to-date where you can.
Get Social
Word of mouth is key for promoting your podcast. Share links with friends and family, ask for reviews and shout about it on your personal socials or create a dedicated podcast account.
Most importantly, don’t take it too seriously. If you’re having fun and enjoying the process, your listeners will too.
Search On Our Plates on the mentioned platforms to tune into the girls!