If you want to make your institution’s content accessible in ways other than on-site visits, and thus broaden your audience, creating your own podcast could be a good solution.
And contrary to what you might think, it’s not that complicated! We’ll explain:
- Define your editorial line
Your goal is to create audio content that is accessible and engaging, and that adds value to the listener’s listening experience.
The first step is, therefore, to define the editorial line, the angle of approach of your podcast. Think about choosing a common theme, according to your target audience: general knowledge, news, focus on personalities, ecology, etc.
- Structure the format
After determining the content, structure the form! You have to think about listening strategy and put yourself in the shoes of the listener. Several choices arise:
- Number of episodes
- The length of your episodes: keep in mind that the average listening time is 26 minutes, but it all depends on your editorial line
- The frequency of publication: daily, weekly, monthly… This will also depend on the length of your episodes and your editorial line, but one watchword: regularity!
- Take care of the sound design
To illustrate your point or simply to stimulate the listener’s attention, don’t neglect the impact of good sound design: sound effects, sound bites, leitmotifs, musical backgrounds will set the tone and identity of your podcast.
Little tip: to reduce your costs, think about royalty-free music! Epidemic Sound or Pond 5 are some examples of platforms.
- Use the right tools
To produce your podcast, you will have to go through two steps: recording and editing.
For the recording phase, you can book a studio if you have the budget. But the most affordable option remains to invest in a microphone – the entry level being around €50.
To edit the podcast, that is to say, to carry out the editing and the mixing, turn to free and easy-to-use software to start with: Audacity or GarageBand for Mac are some good examples.
- Diversify your distribution channels
Finally, once your podcast is edited, mixed and polished, all you have to do is distribute it so that it reaches the ears of your listeners! It’s time to choose your distribution channels.
A recommendation: think about multi-platforms – such as Acast or Ausha – which will reach a wider and more diverse audience.