Sharing Your Storytelling Podcasts
Stories are meant to be shared. Balladeers, minstrels, shamans, bards; all shared their culture & history through myths, legends & folk tales. They were the story tellers of their age. In the 21st century they are the equivalent of today’s “Google” search engine . If you are have worked through, writing your podcast & making your podcasts your next step as story teller is to find an audience. One way to draw your audience in, is to make a podcast teaser!
Story Tellers Who Share
Story tellers come in all shapes & sizes. Their differences lie in how they choose to share their stories. Even those who add, “for my eyes only” to the first page of their journal know that one day it will be read by someone unless they eventually consign it to a shredder. Others may choose to soft “publish” via blogging rather than run the risk of their life times work receiving a rejection slip.
The new kid on the block for story tellers is podcasting. Because the finished podcast relies on listeners rather than readers there are a few new tricks to master. You can read more about these in writing a podcast transcript There are two attributes each of these “sharing” options have. Firstly, they need an audience and secondly they need to be written with passion.
Podcast Teaser
In Story Telling Podcasts I wrote about how to make a simple podcast using basic computer skills. This post began with the idea of sharing your storytelling via the medium of podcasting. In a way it was an example of a podcast teaser. The idea was to encourage you to imagine a future where your podcast was finished and ready to be shared. I’ll let you into a secret. My storytelling podcast is not finished. But, I have finished the “hook” which I hope will tempt a few family historians into listening to the whole story of what happened “When Great Grandad Went To Town” Here is the first podcast teaser I used in the post.
In my defense, my focus for this podcast teaser was entirely on ending up with something audible! As an attention grabbing hook it fails miserably. My second attempt was still only 22 seconds long but this time I focused on the words. This time I had my writing hat on!
Connecting with your audience begins with you connecting with your own words. A good story teller feels connected to their story. A captivating story teller believes in their story.
What Every Good Podcast Teaser Needs
- The subject must have personality that can be heard
- The story line should link to a back history that hints at something more than the story line being told.
- The words provide a setting in time and place so that the listener has a place for their imagination to take them to.
- The podcast teaser, just like a paragraph or chapter in a written piece, should finish with a cliffhanger (Always leave them wanting more)
Publishing A Podcast
As I wrote in my post, Story Telling Podcasts I am a “Non Techy Tech” I look for the easiest way to achieve my goal with “Free” being my bottom line. In this instance I wanted to add my podcast teaser to my Facebook page. I already knew how to add an audio file to my blog which made me pretty confident that this particular task should be relatively straight forward (I say “relatively” due to past experiences!). In only a few minutes I realised that Facebook inhabited it’s own galaxy. Directly adding an audio file was not “allowed”. It had to be done via a third party which did not include my Grandson! The easiest option proved to be “Soundcloud”.
Publishing Podcast Via Soundcloud
If this is your first introduction to Soundcloud then looking at the steps below in isolation from being on the actual site may look daunting. However, once you open the Soundcloud site the actual process moves you along seamlessly. I more or less just followed the dots so if the steps below are putting you off trying may I suggest you try this method yourself. What’s the worst that can happen? It may be a cliche but, “if I can do it, anyone can!”
(I should add that I do not have any affiliation with any product mentioned in this post. I only write about what works for me!)
Uploading Your Podcast
- Save your audio file from your Audacity program. Read more
- Open link to “Soundcloud“ home page
- Click on “Upload”
- Upload your audio file
- Upload an image (I used a pre-made Canva image to add a title & my blog link but any photo you have saved will do
- Give a title that will entice your readers. Be mindful of SEO (Search Engine Optimization & Keywords) if this is your thing
- Fill in the description box
- Click on the share button. My first share was to Facebook.
- Check the Facebook link works I then click on the “embed” icon to add it to this post.
- The “embed” icon also has the option to enable automatic playing which I used.
- Copy the wordpress code & insert into the space provided.
What Is A Podcast Teaser Worth?
Soundcloud has a basic entry level that is FREE for 3 hours of audio. This teaser was only 22 seconds in length which means my storytelling podcast teasers will remain free for quite some time. When it comes time to publishing the full storytelling podcast I will probably use You Tube unless I find something better. More of that later! If cost is not a factor there is a “Pro Soundcloud” option giving unlimited uploads, (isn’t there always) which is $12.08 (AU) a month. But, wait for it, if you sign up now (March 2020) there is a 50% discount. If you miss out on this offer I would keep checking as I’m pretty sure it is not a “one time only” deal.
Is podcasting for you? I would like to know how you got on especially if you are a “first timer!
Just Vicki
Warts And All 
I am new in here, because I have an assignment on IT. Would you mind hitting a like and following? PLeaseeeeee! :))
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Greetings, I believe the focus of your assignment was connecting with your reader? Do you feel we connected when the focus of my post was podcasting? Good luck with your studies.
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Thanks!
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