Posted by admin on October 5, 2009 under Jeffs Blog, RoneyZone Radio | 
Listen Now
I have lots of friends, followers and connections on various Social Networking sites. Too many? Well, I’ll let the Social Media gurus tell me that. I like keeping up with people. Seeing where they have been, what they done, seen, etc. I like hearing what people have learned, tried and failed at. To me, Social Media is a way to extend a group of friends/acquaintances far beyond my town, business or vacation trip locations, etc. I value my Twitter, Facebook and other peeps, except for “those people”. #fb
“Which people?” you ask.
Oh, you know, “those people”. The people that post that one topic, over and over again. It may be a great topic, like their business, political or religious beliefs, famous quotes from famous people, etc. One topic, posted by “those people,” over and over again.
We’ve all met “those people,” in real life, too. The person who only talks about 1 topic the entire time. You try to change the subject, but somehow, they find a way to bend the subject change back to the topic they were on, and it continues, for all time. Being passionate about something is great. It drives us to better ourselves, our families, and sometimes our planet. However, there is balance.
Balance. Not too far “this way,” or too far “that way”. Balance.
Getting back to my Social Networking connections. I can give people a few infractions of “Buy my stuff!” “Listen to my show!” or “Never sit with your back to the door. Abraham Lincoln”. I use Social Networking sites to promote my projects, as well as my friend’s projects, so I know I hug and cross the line at times, but I try to keep it balanced. Be yourself first, then express your passion, second.
I love to catch up with friends. They tell me how they are doing; their job, family, pets, almost winning the lottery, etc, etc, then they mention a new venture they are involved in. That’s great. A full picture approach. I’m always interested in the person. Sometimes mundane information about the child that put raisins up their nose, the dog that barks the Love Boat theme, the long overtime hours someone is working. I like it. That helps me connect with the person. I know them better now. A person sharing their life (even mundane) information, helps me connect on an emotional level. I care at that point. When I care, I let my guard down to listen completely to more. That “more” is their passion.
When someone walks up and asks you for money, you normally pull back. “I don’t know this person,” “What will they do with the money,” etc, are the things that cause us to be wary. Becoming emotionally connected (even reconnecting) makes us more interested in someone’s passion. When we emotionally connect, we now trust, then we listen and care, too.
I have blocked some Social Networking folks for the business posts, over and over again. Perhaps they don’t feel that their life (even the small segment they feel comfortable sharing with the Social Networking group) isn’t interesting. I have news for them – it is.
Your life matters, and is important and is interesting to me and others.
You, are not just your beliefs, business, or political thoughts. You are the day to day events in your life. The grumbling at traffic. The wandering to find where your car was parked. The dinner you created from “what’s in the cupboard”. The laughing so hard it hurt, after you realized that singing the songs from the commercials with your children might bother the neighbors. The good, the bad, and the ordinary, because what’s ordinary to you, may be a dream for someone else.
Blog You. Post You. Tweet You. You will see people start to connect with you on deeper levels that aren’t just about your business or beliefs, but about you.
Once they know you, they will gladly hear what else you have to say.
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Posted by admin on August 18, 2009 under Jeffs Blog |
We’ve all done it as podcasters. You rush to record, edit, mix and post your podcasts. We say a quick prayer to the podcaster god above, then go to http://feedburner.com and check our subscriber number. Then, most have a reality check and go out and kick the cactus, the curb, the moose, whatever. We hear people with surnames of LaPorte, Sigler, etc with thousands of subscribers, but why not us? I bring good news, my podcaster friend. Subscription is only one “life” of a podcast, but there are many more. So dry your tears, pull out the cactus needles out of your shoes, and read on.
Lives of a Podcast;
1. Subscribers. Yep, uh huh. Got it. Let’s move on…
2. One Show at a Time. The concept of a Subscriber is a long-term relationship, like a marriage to a podcast. Forsaking all others, this person betroths themselves to you, your dulcet tones, ideas and podcast. They really, really love you. However, there are others (lots of others) who like you, maybe a lot, but they aren’t ready to hop in a car, bound for Vegas and “make it legal”. They basically want to “hang out” with you, then “see where it goes”. It’s easy to think of your podcast as a chapter in a very important novel, but some people treat podcasts like those little booklets you see at the grocery store checkout, “Healing Foods of the Bible,” or “Change Your Life By Reading Fortune Cookie Fortunes,” etc. People want to “try before they buy,” and they may try different bites now and then, and walk away. With that in mind, you have to look at each podcast as an opportunity to wow someone inside that 30 minutes or so. Think of it like, “American (or insert your country here) Podcast Idol,” and its your audition. Edit down the fluff, make sure it sounds good, put in great promos (that fit with your theme), and make em want more. The sad truth is that most people will only listen to one of your podcasts, so make it count, and they *might* come back.
3. Social Networking web. I remember when Facebook was new, and free of applications that bug you with announcements all the time, but I digress. Social Networking now gives you an opportunity to “share” your podcast when it releases to your friends, followers, and spammer hanger’s on alike. You can set up http://twitterfeed.com to post a blurb of your podcast post every time you release one to Twitter. Add that to the Facebook app that will pull said Twitter post to Facebook. Now you can spread your world-changing podcast to multiple platforms without you having to log into multiple site. Very neat-o. Yes, you can figure http://ping.fm into the mix, as well, but you get the idea. Note: If you never add new friends/followers to your platforms, you will bug those that have put up with your “I’m hungry,” and “Is such and such site down” messages, so enlarge your circle of friends/followers so more new people can here your shows, kay? Cool.
4. Subdomains and Signature Lines. So, you want Mom, Grandma, or people remember life before answering machines to enjoy your podcasts? Cool. I have an easy way to do it – signature lines and subdomains. Sig and Sub, what Jeff? Hold on, let’s take this one thing at a time.
Subdomains, first. Do you own a domain name? Something like http://jeffsrockingblog.com (Not real, as far as I know). See, your domain host (godaddy, or wherever you host your domain) will allow a certain number of subdomains for you to add to your domain. Jeff, I’m still confused. Okay, hold on. See, sometimes its too much trouble to tell someone to search for something on a site, so a subdomain can take the time and trouble out of making someone search for one episode of your podcast. For instance, let’s say you are lucky enough to interview Paris Hilton (I don’t know what you’d talk about, but anyway, work with me.). You could create a subdomain of “paris.jeffsrockingblog.com”, and when people typed that url into an address bar, they would go directly to that page that you enter at your domain host (I did a video tutorial about this (See, watch this): http://subdomain.roneyzone.com . See, it works.). It works for alot of things. I think you get the concept now, right? Cool.
Signature Lines, now. Every place you create an email there is a signature line. Most of us put pithy quotes or sayings there when we first started playing with emails, but signature lines can be a great way to share cool episodes of you podcast for those, “podcast-challenged” peeps you send emails, too. See, in your email signature line, you can type in, “I interviewed Paris Hilton (without Night Vision). Check it out: (Type in your subdomain of that episode). See, easy cheesy, right? Oh, and every messageboard you post your views on how Twilight changed your sun tanning habits, or whatever, they have profiles, which include – wait for it – signature lines. Signature Lines are your friend. Know where to find them, use them, and love them.
5. Search Engines. Yes, there are thousands of “SEO Experts” around, so I won’t belabor the point. Yes, people will find your blogposts by keywords. Uh huh, right, let’s move along.
6. The Web Searches Itself For You, and Posts Your Posts on Search Engines, All This – For Free. One of the coolest ways to see how your podcast posts find its way around the internet is to use Google Alerts to see where your show pops up. It’s like a little internet borthday card (Okay, that’s stretching it a bit, but its still cool. So, in setting one up for my sow, I find sites like http://mefeedia.com , http://everyzing.com and others comb the internet and sort content (Like podcasts, for example) into keyword buckets, which then are posted on Google (and othe Search Engines I would imagine, as well). So, its like the internet is giving you extra links, but you just playing nice with leywords. Thanks internet! You are really swell. I think you’ll be around awhile. 
So, Subscriber numbers aren’t the only way that a podcast can line. There are so many ways that you can, with little or no work from you give it extra life among the unsubscribed listeners. Did I miss any other ways? I probably did, so please let me know. Thanks, Jeff
Tags: everyzing, facebook, feedburner, fm, laporte, mefeedia, ping, podcast, roneyzone, search engines, sigler, signature line, social networking, subdomain, twitter
#fb
