143 Connected Conversations: Navigating Social Networking for Podcasters with Reena Friedman Watts

[00:00:00] On the very last episode I told you all the great wonderful benefits of doing solo episodes.

[00:00:07] But today I'm going to tell you how to build community through interviews with none other than a legend

[00:00:16] who is a master at building networking and community.

[00:00:20] And because it's podcast movement week, I've got a very special surprise in line for you.

[00:00:30] Sound matters. Be heard. Welcome to the podcast where you get exclusive behind the scenes tips to make your own show sound truly spectacular.

[00:00:43] This is Podtastic Audio.

[00:00:47] Hey, what's happening? How are you doing today?

[00:00:51] Thank you so much for being here. I am Chris and I'm from the original Chris and Christine Show Podt Ask.

[00:00:59] You know, you can find out every single thing about that show, including new episodes like we just did last weekend at Chris and Christine Show dot com.

[00:01:09] Link to it in the show notes of this very episode. You scroll on down and there it is. Ta-da. Hey, but you know what? Not about me. Hey, how are you doing?

[00:01:19] How is your podcast coming along? Do you have a podcast? Well, maybe you do, and maybe you don't.

[00:01:26] I would think you probably do if you're listening to this show right here. And by the time I release this episode, I will be at podcast movement in Los Angeles.

[00:01:37] It'll be my first time going to any kind of event like this in the industry.

[00:01:42] I have pretty much been a podcast hermit for the most, uh, most of all my podcasting career for the most part. So I'm very excited to get up to go up to Los Angeles, which really is only like a two hour drive away from here.

[00:01:55] And I'm going up there. I'm staying for a few nights in a hotel near the event and I'm going there for like, I think three or four days at the actual podcast event.

[00:02:05] I cannot wait to meet people up there, see people in the industry, people that I've met virtually through the podcasting space meet them face to face is super exciting.

[00:02:15] And while I'm up there, I plan to do something really cool for you. So I had this idea the other night. I'm thinking, you know what?

[00:02:22] When I travel to places, I always bring my little MacBook Pro computer laptop with me and I usually don't do any kind of real podcasting stuff because it's mainly I just take it just to have it

[00:02:34] and maybe do a little work on or whatever I'm up there. But I thought, you know what? This is a big event I'm going to be at and every single night after the event I'm going to have all these cool things to talk about.

[00:02:46] So then like a light bulb went off and I got this idea why not after each day of going to the event and checking out all the cool things and talking to all the cool people and seeing all the things.

[00:02:58] Why not when it's all over and I'm back at my hotel room that same night? Why not from the hotel room?

[00:03:05] Host a live stream video directly to YouTube recapping the entire day. Then I will take that very same audio, save it. And then for the very next episode, I will package it all together as a recap episode of everything I did at podcast movement.

[00:03:25] If you want to catch the live stream, it will happen live right after I get back into the hotel after the event each day I'm there. I will live stream it directly to my YouTube channel.

[00:03:37] If you do not know my YouTube channel, link to that YouTube channel will be in the show notes of this very episode. Please subscribe to my YouTube channel so you have access to the live stream event.

[00:03:49] I'm going to see if I can do Q&A or comments or all that kind of stuff live while it's happening each night right after podcast movement.

[00:03:58] Now I'm really hoping that the Wi-Fi in the hotel really holds up but usually it does. I have not had too many difficulties using Wi-Fi at hotel properties, but we're talking about a live stream here with video and audio.

[00:04:15] So we just don't know until they give it a shot, but that is the plan. Oh, and I almost forgot if you happen to not make the physical live stream of me talking about all the great wonderful podcast movement stuff, don't you worry?

[00:04:29] That very same video of me live streaming will be on my YouTube channel permanently after it's been uploaded.

[00:04:37] So if you happen to catch this episode after it already happened, like maybe two weeks or a month later after we do this event, don't you worry? On my YouTube channel, my videos of all the things will be right there ready to go.

[00:04:52] And if you want to still listen on the very next episode, I will play the audio from the videos. They will be in the very next episode that way everybody has an opportunity to hear everything that I'm talking about when it comes to podcast movement this week and to pull the curtain back.

[00:05:12] You're wondering how am I making this happen? What is the magic behind all this live streaming stuff? I decided to dust off my old StreamYard account. I thought StreamYard for a while now, and I never really used it.

[00:05:27] And I just started playing with it last week. I'm like, well, let me play with this thing. Let's make it happen. Let's see what it can do.

[00:05:34] And I'm only using the free version as of right now, which allows me to stream my video content, my thing, streaming to only one platform at a time.

[00:05:46] So right now, I've been trying to stream directly to Instagram, which I found out is a little more trickier than it makes it seem to be YouTube seems to be pretty easy.

[00:05:57] Twitter X seems pretty easy to stream to. It's pretty straightforward, but with Instagram, it's like a two-step verification process.

[00:06:06] You got to click two different things and then there's like a big delay. It kind of threw me off. And it really threw me off when I had scheduled a interview with Rina Friedman Watts.

[00:06:18] She is from the Better Call Daddy podcast, and I had this grand idea due to this great live stream recording directly to Instagram live, both of us having a conversation all about media marketing because Rina is like a media marketing expert.

[00:06:35] She is a solid professional when it comes to marketing and building community and building networks. She is a master at that stuff.

[00:06:44] So I said, why not have her on live doing a live stream and recording the whole thing for you later to play back in another podcast episode?

[00:06:53] But unfortunately, for some reason, I could not get the live stream part to work on Instagram live.

[00:07:01] But luckily for me, I was able to record the entire conversation on my Roadcaster Pro with one click of a button. That's a beauty of having something like a Roadcaster Pro 2 or maybe even a Zoom pod track P4, something like that physical device that you should always be recording on no matter what especially doing some kind of live stream event like I was trying to pull off.

[00:07:28] But it's all good anyways because we had an amazing conversation talking about marketing and promoting your podcast and all the great wonderful things that you need to know about when you create a podcast.

[00:07:42] So please enjoy my conversation with the one and only Rina Friedman Watts.

[00:07:49] I try to gauge where I'm getting the most engagement and spend my time there and maximize there.

[00:07:56] I do believe that if you're a content creator or small business owner that you really kind of need to have an account on each platform, but I don't post as frequently from all of the same places.

[00:08:09] So I have noticed that threads has really good engagement.

[00:08:14] Yeah, I really think so. I first people are kind of turned off by threads. I'm myself included because I heard just another freaking want to be Twitter thing come into the market with just another thing, you know.

[00:08:25] And so I kind of set an account there put a few things there but I didn't really like use it just to use it just kind of through stuff on it like throwing us the wall is to stick.

[00:08:34] But I didn't really do any kind of engagement on there until recently.

[00:08:38] I started going in there really hardcore getting a lot of engagement and talking to people and trying to like build community on there that my threads started going blowing up a little bit have you noticed anything with yours too.

[00:08:50] I mean, it's much easier to get connections there and get engagement there than TikTok know why you just say that.

[00:08:58] I mean, maybe just the way that I'm using it but you can't just post clips of your podcast on TikTok and get much engagement from that.

[00:09:10] But if you come up with a line or two and ask a question to your audience and post a clip on threads, I feel like it's getting further reach and people are responding to them.

[00:09:22] Yeah, I think so too. I think also I heard that because the algorithm set up for threads is still in the early development stages it hasn't you know my guest developed or whatever I see I don't know this stuff at all.

[00:09:33] I just I just know that we put it on there and he gets somebody riding back or like responding to something you put on there.

[00:09:39] Like I a higher chance of something happening maybe on threads of a response than maybe something like a TikTok.

[00:09:44] I don't say I don't have TikTok but I just imagine that that TikTok is for the kids really in the dance videos and the quick hits of stuff like that.

[00:09:53] I watched a video on YouTube about how like that whole format is starting to die off and that people are getting just tired of all this to quick just flashy light videos and just all that stuff and it's becoming kind of a drain on the brain.

[00:10:07] You ever notice that too well I just feel like my videos on TikTok that do the best or as if I throw on a filter and yeah do something silly with my kid or like use a TikTok audio and like lips and get so.

[00:10:22] But really need to be doing that I mean it gives people glimpsen to my personality in a little bit more about my personal life but that's not really what I want to focus on.

[00:10:33] No I don't like well I guess it also depends on your your in your games going to be for the stuff like where do you want to take the people because people are trying to like I get like you know 10,000 views on some stupid TikTok video I made whatever that's great what does it do for you exactly.

[00:10:49] I don't know if I can name is money but you know I yesterday I hosted an event with Bobby Omar who I met in real life at an event that I was part of the media junk it for I had book sponsorships for this event Gary V event six years ago called hasten hustle and it was in Toronto and Bobby was one of the speakers.

[00:11:16] And I was like oh hey I think we're connected on LinkedIn and it was like a quick passing by of like hey I think we know each other.

[00:11:23] And then you know we connected on social media and then his assistant had like seen some of my podcasting clips on LinkedIn and she reached out to me six years later.

[00:11:34] Wow.

[00:11:35] And he was like hey I have a membership community.

[00:11:40] First she reached out to me then he followed up once I was like oh hey I met him in person and yeah I spoke to a group of like 50 people yesterday that all wanted to know like how to be a bit a good podcast guest how to get on podcasts what are the do's and don'ts what are the best and worst guests that you've had and

[00:11:56] I want to share that kind of information on my social media because I feel like it could be useful but also it helps you connect with people and it shows people a bit of what I'm doing.

[00:12:08] That's amazing stuff so going to your show mainly is in a guest interview style show you would say right yeah yes.

[00:12:16] What are some good tips on how to host a good interview with a guest that you may not be too familiar with.

[00:12:24] Well I think that research needs to happen on both sides.

[00:12:29] I think that the host needs to spend time researching the gas like their social media try to find them on every platform.

[00:12:37] What are they posting about what did they most recently post about what are they going through what do they like to speak on and then for my show I'm always like hey tell me about your relationship with your dad I like to know that first.

[00:12:49] Yeah well your show is called better called daddy so I think that the first off what came in you come with the idea better called daddy.

[00:12:57] I live better called daddy I call him every day whether we recorded or not and so that it was just he's always who I reach out to he's my number one fan my biggest supporter and I thought that he had a lot of wisdom that helps me in my own life

[00:13:16] and I wanted to share that with the world truthfully and what's interesting is I thought I was going to be sharing my dad's wisdom with the world but what's really happened is other people start sharing their wisdom with us.

[00:13:26] And then it's allowed us to up our wisdom rating.

[00:13:30] Oh nice yeah I mean I think people sometimes they'll like live in the real bubble of the world and have a grown way of thinking and they'll think this is my way is the only way

[00:13:39] you think works is the way it all works but then you bring other perspectives into your world like well maybe that is not always the way things work or maybe that's how that goes

[00:13:48] or what do you think of this and I think building different ideas you know bringing those ideas into your little world does help you as a better

[00:13:55] as a person to and I think that you're doing an amazing job with that and your show is just going bonkers it's amazing and it's a it's a wonder it's like a machine you are a machine you're amazing.

[00:14:05] Okay see what you did right there you like you synthesized all my thoughts you added your thoughts to it and you brought excitement to the conversation that is like a pro host right there.

[00:14:16] Oh well thank you I just pulled out of my butt so that's what I do and if guests can do that too then it makes a really nice back and forth sometimes even guests can synthesize what the host says and then

[00:14:27] and then tie a story in that relates to what the host just shared and when there's that beautiful back and forth that makes an awesome guest and I was even talking to

[00:14:37] the interdisciplinary and last night that I met on threads she has home home roomed is her podcast she had posted on threads that you know she's new

[00:14:46] to sharing her story and she's a new mom and she's talks about like the gap in education and how the education system is flawed and she was like I would love to guest host on other

[00:14:57] podcasts and I was like I don't really think I've had too many guest hosts I've had people interview me on their shows but yeah I'd be open to that and she listened to like four

[00:15:05] episodes of my show and she prepared questions and I was like it's a 50 50 on whether my dad's going to show up so right if you need to write it out

[00:15:14] and script it to be more comfortable like just plan on addressing the questions to me and like maybe my dad will answer after but my dad showed up and she

[00:15:22] like pivoted quick on her feet and asked some of the questions that she had in mind when she originally reached out and it was such a beautiful idea that then I was like hey you

[00:15:33] know if you have trouble sharing your story like if you're new to doing that find ways that you can connect a host that are good at

[00:15:41] sharing their story and things that you relate to that the host shares and then share parts of your story alongside with the host is

[00:15:48] revealed. Yeah definitely I think I think some people feel like they're kind of like they don't want to share too much you know they're afraid

[00:15:55] they're just afraid of this whole thing afraid of being you know maybe found out a fraud maybe who knows and that's a

[00:16:01] thing to some of these hosts or somebody's podcasters not throwing him any out but some of them hide behind like a wall that they

[00:16:09] don't want to share any other personal stories they just want to just go out there and just you know ask the generic questions to the

[00:16:18] guest you know and and effect those on a show once and it was horrible they never released it for as I know because they

[00:16:25] have totally released it and they were reading a list of questions like one after the other and then they like got to the

[00:16:31] list and I don't what happened maybe because I was just having conversation they lost track of their

[00:16:36] questions they asked the same question twice right off the list. I was like I was like you already asked that

[00:16:42] question but I'll answer it again okay do that it was so unprofessional but maybe it's just nervous I maybe

[00:16:48] just nerves people get very nervous when the or on a show usually as a guest have you found a lot of guests come on

[00:16:55] your show that are like really really nervous you can tell. I think she was even a little bit nervous but I

[00:17:01] think that's okay and it reminds me actually of my time at the Jerry Springer show like it's one thing telling your

[00:17:08] story to a producer it's another thing and telling your story when you're being recorded or when it's lights camera

[00:17:15] action or if you're in a studio and there's like somebody behind a big camera or multiple cameras or a

[00:17:21] live studio audience. That's why the more you do it the more you practice the better at it you get I have people

[00:17:30] out to me I literally yesterday I had a guy and he's very successful a multi-million dollar company entrepreneur

[00:17:37] you know has worked with many celebrities and he was like hey how do you get me to Joe Rogan I was like have you

[00:17:43] ever been on a podcast before. Do you own a microphone. That's over there. You know you're talking points because let me

[00:17:50] tell you I had a girl Riley Barker Riley gains on my show over a year ago she's now been on Joe Rogan

[00:17:59] the way that she articulates her story now versus how she was on my show a year year and a half ago is night

[00:18:08] and day. You can't just never be on a podcast and then land on Joe Rogan unless you're like a keynote speaker

[00:18:15] and you're used to presenting your story. Right yeah yeah so what do you think we think change for her like

[00:18:23] you know she's been doing something that made her just more practice with the podcasting is more stuff.

[00:18:28] I think that she's kind of been thrown into the limelight I think that she didn't even realize that she was

[00:18:34] going to become a speaker but you know she was an Olympian level athlete that tied a trans.

[00:18:44] I saw that video I did say that video on Instagram I mean he was a male now he's a female I don't even

[00:18:51] want to say because she said she tied and then gave the trophy to the other dude.

[00:18:57] Thomas yeah yeah yeah she's pissed about that and she was like the whistleblower that came out

[00:19:02] and and all of that so that's crazy thing the whole the whole concept is pretty crazy but going back

[00:19:07] to the whole media marketing thing and you being a complete master at it what I see you do on Instagram

[00:19:13] and social media and Twitter or X what do we call it now what I've seen you do is you really

[00:19:17] get involved with different members of the community whether it's podcasters youtubers whatever they want to

[00:19:23] call themselves content creators you really get involved with them and you really help them out you are

[00:19:28] constantly messaging people you're constantly retweeting stuff you're constantly commenting on stuff

[00:19:33] you are like a total machine what drives you to do that.

[00:19:37] I mean just like we're having this conversation right now I share that with the other people

[00:19:44] who I know are my people that are engaging with me on all channels it's just kind of like

[00:19:49] documenting your life with the people who are actively in it.

[00:19:53] So if I'm like today I talk to Jeff DeVoskin he's a podcaster and he also is a startup founder

[00:20:03] and he is working on this tool called Stampede Social and now that I'm shouting him out

[00:20:09] in this live I'll tell him about that and I'll send him the episode so you know he has this

[00:20:15] tool where on Instagram if you're sharing a clip of your podcast on Instagram you can't

[00:20:23] put in the comments like a link to the full episode.

[00:20:27] Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[00:20:28] Through his Stampede Social you can create a campaign where you're like hey if you want

[00:20:36] to listen to today's episode about a girl leaving Scientology and freedom from a

[00:20:41] cult type freedom in the comment and whoever types hashtag freedom you can associate

[00:20:48] hashtag freedom with the link to the episode via Stampede Social.

[00:20:53] Nice.

[00:20:54] And it works in an Instagram story and it works in an Instagram post.

[00:21:02] Okay, so what you're trying to do is try to steer the potential listener of your

[00:21:10] to the thing you're trying to steer them through hashtags.

[00:21:14] Yeah exactly, exactly and an Instagram wants to keep you on their page so they don't make

[00:21:20] anything applicable.

[00:21:21] That's the whole YouTube you have to like figure out how to make everything clickable by adding the

[00:21:25] hashtag to the website.

[00:21:26] And you can find it on Instagram or Instagram or anything in the description.

[00:21:32] They don't make it easy for you to click on something from a description and yeah so it's

[00:21:37] like if I'm learning new tools or if I'm connecting with new podcasters I try to talk about

[00:21:42] those things another tool that I love is the braided app, the founder Michael Abramowitz

[00:21:47] is super down to earth and just very reachable and anybody that I introduce him to he personally

[00:21:53] connects with.

[00:21:54] I think if you're learning useful tips, if you're learning useful information, if you're

[00:22:00] trying new tools that you actually like share that information to the community.

[00:22:04] Yeah, why do people all see?

[00:22:05] I mean it doesn't do anybody any good you know.

[00:22:09] So yeah exactly and I used cast I use cast magic that saves me a ton of time.

[00:22:16] Now cast magic what does that do?

[00:22:18] You can drag an MP3 or an MP4 over or short from YouTube.

[00:22:23] It's integrated with Vimeo and YouTube or you can just directly upload your show.

[00:22:29] And I think it's kind of like swell AI.

[00:22:32] I mean there's a lot of these AI tools but you can get a summary, you can get a transcript,

[00:22:37] you can get chapter markers.

[00:22:40] It gives you ideas for reels.

[00:22:43] I mean look all of this AI stuff still needs tweaking but it gives me you know 10 title

[00:22:48] suggestions and they're 90% there.

[00:22:51] You know it gives you an idea from the audio that you've recorded and actually pulls from

[00:22:55] your interview and it gives you title suggestions SEO optimized title suggestions based upon

[00:23:03] your interview and it gives you ideas for newsletter ideas for a LinkedIn post and it has

[00:23:08] like a magic chat feature where you can say hey from this interview create me a 200 word

[00:23:14] blog post.

[00:23:16] So it's integrated with chat GPT, it's great.

[00:23:19] And I've big time saver what it is really you're paying for your time.

[00:23:24] You're paying for the save time and all that stuff because do the sealed fashion way

[00:23:27] would take you probably a few days.

[00:23:29] Everything you just said there.

[00:23:30] Thank you a few days to figure all that stuff out even if you're fast at it a couple

[00:23:33] days for the work and this stuff saves you time.

[00:23:36] I like using chat GPT myself.

[00:23:38] I'm a chat GPT or myself because I I use it all the time for titles and descriptions

[00:23:44] and mainly for like I'm a horrible writer so like mainly for any of that kind of stuff

[00:23:49] I have to write stuff out like for my show notes on the podcast.

[00:23:52] I just I'll run the ideas in there in chat GPT spit go and then it like it brings it up

[00:23:58] and it's pretty close.

[00:23:59] It's good enough for me.

[00:24:00] So I think about podcast show notes is that I don't know how many people actually look

[00:24:06] at them.

[00:24:07] I don't think I think of every year show you physically listen to on like Apple podcasts

[00:24:11] or whatever player you use think of every every show you listen to do you ever look at

[00:24:15] the show notes.

[00:24:16] I mean unless there's a link if there's no links, you're not looking.

[00:24:21] I mean no one really no one's really looking at stuff so now they have this whole like

[00:24:24] transcript thing you're doing now an Apple podcast.

[00:24:27] I don't have the chance to look at it yet.

[00:24:28] It looks great.

[00:24:29] I love them.

[00:24:30] They looks really good.

[00:24:31] It's written out like a book versus like like some of the transcripts like you look

[00:24:37] at the YouTube transcripts they have like the line like different lines and stuff.

[00:24:40] They actually have written down like a paragraph format, you know?

[00:24:44] And so looks nice, you know and stuff although it does not break up speakers.

[00:24:48] It's all written down one line after the other but the cool thing is I found out too.

[00:24:52] If you mention you talk about mentioning a link.

[00:24:55] If you mention a link in your episode like www.

[00:24:59] or go to potasticaudio.com in the transcript, it'll physically put in potasticaudio.com and

[00:25:07] the link to it right there touch it.

[00:25:09] You're good to go in the transcript.

[00:25:10] I don't know if other tools do that but that's a kind of neat deep nifty thing but I don't

[00:25:16] have any actually looking at that.

[00:25:17] Maybe they are maybe they're not.

[00:25:18] I don't know.

[00:25:19] I mean it's another cool tool we can use to help get our message out to more people.

[00:25:24] That's really what it's about.

[00:25:25] But anyways, about your marketing, your media marketing stuff that you do, you have built

[00:25:31] quite a community on a lot of the platforms.

[00:25:34] Which of the platforms do you think you like to work the best?

[00:25:37] Like you are preferring to go on more often?

[00:25:39] Yeah, great question.

[00:25:41] I have a Facebook group that I started around the same time that I started my podcast and

[00:25:47] I truthfully got that idea from Kathy Heller.

[00:25:50] She had amazing engagement in her podcast and community.

[00:25:54] And I was like, I don't even name it the same thing as my podcast.

[00:25:58] I was just like business laughs and LinkedIn because LinkedIn was the first platform where

[00:26:04] I became super active because I had corporate roles where it was my job to reach out to

[00:26:09] people on LinkedIn all day.

[00:26:10] So I got really good at that.

[00:26:11] But yeah.

[00:26:12] This is a job that makes you play on LinkedIn all day?

[00:26:16] Pretty much.

[00:26:17] Yeah, I did it at a couple different companies.

[00:26:19] One was a financial firm and he just wanted me to connect with like CPAs and financial

[00:26:22] advisors.

[00:26:23] And then we were doing like lunch and learn events and it was my job to connect with those

[00:26:27] people and get them to come to our events and market the events.

[00:26:32] And so I am connected with hundreds of financial advisors.

[00:26:37] Wow.

[00:26:38] Interesting.

[00:26:39] Have any of them on your shows as a guest?

[00:26:42] I have had a few on my show, yes.

[00:26:44] They work at the work in the angles.

[00:26:45] I love it.

[00:26:46] Facebook, not on Facebook.

[00:26:47] And the Facebook group, the Facebook groups are here where it's worth that.

[00:26:51] We have a Facebook group is where you can really build me.

[00:26:53] Engagement there is amazing.

[00:26:55] I have close to 800 people in there and they have literally for the most part all been

[00:27:01] with me.

[00:27:02] But yeah, it's hey, if you've been on my podcast or if I've met you at an event or

[00:27:06] if I like you on LinkedIn, I also have a private Facebook group where I bounce ideas

[00:27:11] off my audience to see what topics they engage with the most.

[00:27:16] So I'm constantly posting in there, like three to five times a week.

[00:27:20] And every Friday I have promote anything Friday where authors can promote their books or

[00:27:26] podcasters can promote their podcast and people know that it's like a Friday thing.

[00:27:30] So they really don't spam the group and post their stuff the rest of the time.

[00:27:34] And the rest of the time is like, hey, you know, what's a question that you wish people

[00:27:39] would ask you?

[00:27:40] Or what's a topic that you would like me to cover?

[00:27:43] Or what should I do a solo episode on?

[00:27:45] Or hey, you know, I have a friend that just was diagnosed with diabetes.

[00:27:49] Does anybody know a diabetes influencer?

[00:27:52] So I'm constantly engaging with my audience there and I get great engagement.

[00:27:58] Sometimes I've gotten like 100 comments out of 800 people.

[00:28:01] I mean, that's insane.

[00:28:02] Wow.

[00:28:03] That's what I noticed too is the social media.

[00:28:05] You can't just go on there and just drop off your new thing.

[00:28:07] Like hey, new episode out here you go, boom, there it is.

[00:28:10] You have to really be quite engaging.

[00:28:12] I think probably the, what do you think the formula is?

[00:28:15] How many like you go on there to really engage versus the, I'm going to drop off on the

[00:28:20] episode kind of thing?

[00:28:21] What's the formula for that?

[00:28:23] I would say 10% of the time should be you posting your crap and 90% of the time should

[00:28:30] be you engaging your people.

[00:28:32] 90% that so wow, that's a good, that's a good ratio.

[00:28:36] Most of the old don't do that, you know?

[00:28:38] Now they post a lot of their nonsense on there and then the ones that really kind

[00:28:43] of like irritate me to death, the really are the ones where people are posting things

[00:28:47] that are so out of the box that you're like why are you even posting that?

[00:28:52] Like why are you even throwing that in my feed?

[00:28:55] It's like almost like I came thinking how crazy the stupid stuff people will post on

[00:29:01] there.

[00:29:02] And you know social media is supposed to post whatever they want, you know?

[00:29:04] They just post the stupidest things and then of course they'll post like their show

[00:29:09] or their YouTube channel or whatever they're pushing and things like that.

[00:29:13] All you see them push, that's all they do and they never ever interact on social media

[00:29:18] at all.

[00:29:19] They never comment.

[00:29:20] They never repost other people's stuff with comments.

[00:29:23] They never ask engaging questions.

[00:29:25] Like the questions are like, have you checked out my show?

[00:29:29] It's the question.

[00:29:30] You know, like who cares?

[00:29:31] You know?

[00:29:32] So I think you're right about, you have to be really interactive on social media and

[00:29:36] you have to be, it's more about, I guess being social on social media versus using

[00:29:43] as a billboard for all your stuff.

[00:29:45] Yeah, it's actually caring about people and knowing who actually cares about you.

[00:29:51] Like I did an IG live catch up with this guy Tim Baisteagle.

[00:29:56] He was a guest on my show.

[00:29:57] I noticed that he had recently become a grandfather for the first time and that he was doing

[00:30:02] a nonprofit.

[00:30:06] He was supporting Pancan for a pancreatic cancer.

[00:30:10] And there was like four guests that he was doing a YouTube live with.

[00:30:16] They were all from Star Trek.

[00:30:17] I think they had been guests on his show.

[00:30:19] And one of the ladies was like a 20 year pancreatic cancer survivor and you know Jerry

[00:30:26] Springer passed away from pancreatic cancer and his publicist mom passed away from pancreatic

[00:30:31] cancer.

[00:30:32] And even though I had already given to the organization, I was like, oh wow, you know

[00:30:35] this stuff definitely touched my life.

[00:30:36] And I would love to catch up with him as a new grandfather.

[00:30:39] And yeah, it gives you a reason to reprimote the episode but it also like gives you another

[00:30:46] way in which you can interact.

[00:30:47] So I did an Instagram live with him.

[00:30:49] I set a goal for like 100 bucks.

[00:30:51] I didn't even reach it.

[00:30:52] But I raised him like an additional like 25 bucks.

[00:30:54] I said, hey, just skip a coffee this week or donate a cheeseburger.

[00:30:57] You know like five bucks.

[00:30:58] That's it.

[00:30:59] And it gives your audience a way to interact with you in a new way and like talk about giving

[00:31:02] and talk about causes that you support.

[00:31:06] And if you're not going to give to this, just give to something else and let me know what

[00:31:10] cause your passionate about it.

[00:31:12] So I think doing that is really cool.

[00:31:14] And then somebody from my audience was like, hey, I'm a giver.

[00:31:18] I love that you did this with one of your audience members.

[00:31:20] Let's do a live too.

[00:31:21] I'll try to help your campaign.

[00:31:23] Did it raise anything more or no, more?

[00:31:24] No, but it allowed me to interact with her in any way.

[00:31:28] That's great.

[00:31:29] I love that.

[00:31:30] That whole whole thing you just said was amazing.

[00:31:33] It's about supporting other people about, you know, and also it also kind of trickles

[00:31:37] in a little bit to your brand too because you know, these people see what you're doing

[00:31:40] and they kind of like like what you're doing.

[00:31:41] Like how much check you out and do stuff like that too.

[00:31:44] I think a lot of the podcasters and YouTubers and content creators that I see is where they

[00:31:49] kind of miss the boat is about it's also at helping other people too.

[00:31:53] And you want to be able to support other people and give back to other people and try

[00:31:58] to, that's what I was trying to do too.

[00:32:00] If I see like a post on social media, some kind and they say, I just see my first milestone

[00:32:05] of 100 downloads or whatever.

[00:32:07] I always say congratulations when I share it out and I try to boost them up and things

[00:32:11] like that would help them out too.

[00:32:13] It's about, you know, cause some other shows might be like, only 100 downloads but a loser

[00:32:18] know.

[00:32:19] And where I'm just the opposite, I'm like, let me help you out.

[00:32:20] Let me try to, you know, share you out with my audience, my audience is massive but

[00:32:25] it might be bigger than your audience so it's just going to help each other out and that's

[00:32:28] what I think.

[00:32:29] As I said, I'm trying to do out here.

[00:32:30] I've tried to help everybody out the best way.

[00:32:32] I can't that's why I even started this show in the first place was to help people out.

[00:32:35] It wasn't to look at me.

[00:32:37] This is not a look at me show.

[00:32:38] This is like, let me help you out kind of a show.

[00:32:41] So that's why I do it in the first place.

[00:32:42] I want to tell you something funny alongside that though.

[00:32:45] Like occasionally I just test ideas.

[00:32:48] I mean, a lot.

[00:32:49] I do that and I just in like one of my statuses was like big spike in listens.

[00:32:55] I mean, I did have that last week but this week not yet.

[00:33:00] And so by posting big spike in listens, that's literally all I wrote.

[00:33:05] I had like 10 messages of people congratulating me in the DMs and how I responded to that though

[00:33:13] was like, hey, so nice to hear from you.

[00:33:15] Thank you for cheering me on.

[00:33:17] Tell me something good in your life.

[00:33:18] So glad us Friday.

[00:33:20] So yeah.

[00:33:21] It's interesting who responds to big spike in listens versus, hey, I just recorded a new

[00:33:28] song with another podcaster.

[00:33:30] You're going to hit people different ways.

[00:33:32] That's why you got to try different things.

[00:33:34] Speaking of trying different things, have you ever yet tried a solo episode, Rita?

[00:33:38] I have it and you know this.

[00:33:40] It is like a sore point for me and I hear other people doing them well.

[00:33:44] You do them well.

[00:33:45] Oh, thank you.

[00:33:46] And I don't know what it is.

[00:33:47] That is not what it was.

[00:33:48] It wasn't easy.

[00:33:49] It was out of my comfort zone too.

[00:33:50] Let me tell you how I did.

[00:33:51] I was so nervous.

[00:33:52] I think what helps is not to have video because you see yourself and you're kind of,

[00:33:58] you know what I mean?

[00:33:59] So it's almost like you try to rehearse something in front of a mirror kind of thing.

[00:34:02] Don't do that.

[00:34:03] I think it kind of throws you off really.

[00:34:05] But what I did or the first episode I did it was so nervous.

[00:34:08] I kind of like, I was kind of rushing through it a little quickly because I think this

[00:34:12] happens when you're doing a solo thing and I had no script either.

[00:34:15] And I rarely script anything out.

[00:34:17] Maybe some highlights and points I do now.

[00:34:19] But for those parts all off the cuff, you know?

[00:34:22] And so what I do when I do solo episodes is that I record directly into my audio editing

[00:34:27] software directly.

[00:34:28] This way allows me to cut and take stuff out as I screw up my words in which happens

[00:34:33] a lot.

[00:34:35] They literally like a 30 minute audio show will take me an hour just recording it because

[00:34:41] I'll be just like stupidly.

[00:34:42] Of course, we cut that out.

[00:34:43] You know?

[00:34:44] And I would go back and cut it and that kind of things.

[00:34:46] And then after a while, I kind of got used to it.

[00:34:49] But I think the thing about the solo shows is what I keep hearing people say is that when

[00:34:53] you do a solo show, at least on the listener side, the listeners are more engaged with

[00:34:59] the solo episodes versus the guest interviews that I've seen, especially even for my own

[00:35:05] listening habits.

[00:35:06] I've noticed that too.

[00:35:07] I listen to a few shows and when they have a guest on, I'll like nah, not really into it.

[00:35:13] Like I'm more into what they have to say because I came for them if that makes any sense.

[00:35:18] It totally makes sense and that's even why I say what makes the good podcast guest

[00:35:22] is getting the host to share something that they don't normally share.

[00:35:26] Right.

[00:35:28] Right.

[00:35:28] Or have something important to really talk about too.

[00:35:30] It also depends on what they're going to be bringing them on about.

[00:35:34] And if they're talking about something that I'm not really into, then I'm not going

[00:35:39] to listen, stick around and listen to it.

[00:35:40] You know, I'm like, well, that's fun and all maybe but I'm just like, eh, I mean,

[00:35:45] what I click on that, if I had a hundred different things of choose today to listen

[00:35:49] to, that would not be the one that I'm saying, you know, of all the things.

[00:35:54] And time is very precious.

[00:35:55] So we don't have time to watch everything.

[00:35:57] It's like you go to Netflix and you flip in through all the things they have available

[00:36:00] to watch.

[00:36:01] I'm not watching that much.

[00:36:02] Oh, mail watch that one.

[00:36:03] You know, so I think also when it comes to marketing a podcast or YouTube channel, I

[00:36:10] know with YouTube, you get the thumbnail that's so freaking important to make the thumbnail

[00:36:13] look amazing and dazzling and almost like but dazzle of thumbnail.

[00:36:17] So it looks like, ooh, I want to watch that one.

[00:36:19] But on an audio podcast, it has to do with like the titles of the episode.

[00:36:23] Now you do a lot of guest interviews, all guest interviews.

[00:36:27] Now do you title your episodes interview with Dr. So-and-so?

[00:36:33] That's it.

[00:36:34] Or do you put something in there like, work on learning about this with Dr. So-and-so?

[00:36:37] Like, how do you do it?

[00:36:38] I have tried to start spelling out better what the episode is going to be about but now

[00:36:45] I don't do like, I do include the guest name just for SEO and so on.

[00:36:49] You should, you should always do that.

[00:36:51] Yeah.

[00:36:52] But like this guy that my one of my most recent episodes, Ferris Alhalu, he talks a lot

[00:36:58] about how being laid off after raising 96 million in capital is a huge pivotal moment for

[00:37:04] him.

[00:37:05] So even though now he's you know, built and sold seven and eight figure businesses, that

[00:37:11] time of being laid off is something that almost brings him to tears.

[00:37:16] So I knew that I needed to use the word laid off in the title.

[00:37:20] Okay.

[00:37:20] So you use that in the description of the episode, right?

[00:37:23] The title of the episode.

[00:37:24] In the title of the episode, I just laid off now what?

[00:37:28] Like we are in layoff season too.

[00:37:30] So I knew that.

[00:37:31] Yeah.

[00:37:32] I heard too is that you got a title with something people are searching for.

[00:37:35] Yep.

[00:37:36] Like basically like almost like if you were to go into Google and type in like that,

[00:37:40] you know, if you go into Google, the Google bar, any type in, how do you, and then like fill

[00:37:45] the rest kind of thing.

[00:37:46] Yeah.

[00:37:47] So I just got to deal with your description of your title and I heard it.

[00:37:52] It's all about getting people to push play because even though they see artwork and even

[00:37:56] though they may see your guest or whatever, but even just more than that, you can have

[00:38:00] to see why am I going to listen to the show?

[00:38:03] Like what is it for me?

[00:38:04] And I think the sad truth is a lot of podcasters don't realize that is that the audience, they

[00:38:11] don't care about your guest.

[00:38:12] They don't care about, they only they care about is any kind of value you're going to give

[00:38:15] them.

[00:38:16] So what is it?

[00:38:17] What is it?

[00:38:18] What are you going to give me, you know, like you don't walk into Starbucks and say I wonder

[00:38:22] what the cat that the cashier is doing later today or whatever.

[00:38:26] I mean, you want to know like, are they going to serve my drink?

[00:38:29] Is it going to be high-ordered at it?

[00:38:32] You know, I actually wonder things about my barista.

[00:38:34] Like one was covered in all kinds of buttons.

[00:38:37] I was like, how long have you been at Starbucks?

[00:38:39] What do each of those buttons mean?

[00:38:41] Yeah, I guess, I guess from that perspective, I guess you do.

[00:38:45] And you really went in there for a coffee, I would think.

[00:38:47] The first one.

[00:38:48] Are you a podcast listener?

[00:38:49] Oh, that's the other thing too.

[00:38:50] Do you ever meet people in the street and say hey, I have a show.

[00:38:54] Do you ever like have that interaction with them with strangers?

[00:38:57] Oh my God, my dad is like literally an old school walking marketing representative.

[00:39:02] There you go.

[00:39:03] There you go.

[00:39:04] There you go.

[00:39:05] There you go.

[00:39:06] There you go.

[00:39:07] There you go.

[00:39:08] There you go.

[00:39:09] There you go.

[00:39:10] There you go.

[00:39:11] There you go.

[00:39:12] There you go.

[00:39:13] There you go.

[00:39:14] There you go.

[00:39:15] T-shirt is like, oh, don't have that.

[00:39:16] But shit, I should probably have like the car wrap, the T-shirt.

[00:39:19] You can do all that stuff.

[00:39:21] I don't know how much, how well events a lot of money for a lot of stuff.

[00:39:25] I'm going to podcast movement in a few weeks and or next week when everything comes out.

[00:39:30] And I'm going to, I don't get a new shirt made, I don't know or something.

[00:39:34] I don't know.

[00:39:35] But I think is that too much?

[00:39:36] Is that you're staying too much when you go something like that rocking your own swag?

[00:39:40] You know?

[00:39:41] I don't think it's too much.

[00:39:42] If you don't scream that you love your brand, who else is going to do it, right?

[00:39:47] Yeah, I just don't know if it's allowed.

[00:39:49] I just don't know.

[00:39:50] I'd never been one of these things before.

[00:39:51] I didn't know if it's like some of these things are kind of like, you know, like knowing

[00:39:54] you go to Facebook groups and say, you can't post your own stuff.

[00:39:56] You can't do the all these rules and stuff like that.

[00:39:58] I wonder the same thing when you go to a podcasting event like that.

[00:40:02] That's actually funny because when I worked for that financial firm, we went to this event

[00:40:10] that my boss qualified for.

[00:40:12] It was like an Anuities event.

[00:40:15] Anuities wasn't his main focus of his business, but he did enough Anuities to qualify for

[00:40:20] like this golden eagle financial event.

[00:40:24] And he was like, we should get T-shirts made that says, well, I actually came up with

[00:40:28] this idea.

[00:40:29] What happens in Vegas?

[00:40:31] We leverage because his whole strategy was like leveraging other people's money.

[00:40:37] So he and I show up in these T-shirts.

[00:40:41] And he's trying to talk about his life insurance strategy to a bunch of annuity people.

[00:40:46] He almost literally got thrown out of the event.

[00:40:48] It was like an educational, like thought leadership event.

[00:40:52] It was not like go pitch another services event.

[00:40:55] But I'm like, hey, sometimes you just try these things and then you learn it's not appropriate.

[00:41:01] Yeah.

[00:41:02] Well, that's, yeah, that's some afraid of.

[00:41:04] I'm afraid of not doing that.

[00:41:05] I probably should have go up there and just keep it casual.

[00:41:07] And I really want to go up there for the marketing aspect of it all, like the networking

[00:41:11] aspect of it all, like meeting people.

[00:41:13] Like if you were there, for example, me, you face to face, you're not going to LA in a

[00:41:17] few weeks, are you?

[00:41:19] No.

[00:41:20] As a mom of four, I seriously do not travel a lot, but there's so many events in Houston.

[00:41:24] There's a pod Houston which is like a branch of pod SO or pod whatever.

[00:41:31] There's so many of them.

[00:41:32] The big one was in Florida I think a few months ago.

[00:41:36] That what I heard is more for like indie podcasters.

[00:41:39] The one I'm going to in Los Angeles has more of the corporate side of it, but it's the

[00:41:43] closest one to me.

[00:41:44] So I'm going to go check it out and even if I don't like, you know, hobnob with all the

[00:41:50] suits which I probably won't do anyways, also I know people from companies that I've interacted

[00:41:55] with are going to be there from like from Libson.

[00:41:57] They're all going to be there.

[00:41:58] Yeah.

[00:41:59] And I even talked to them and say, hey, if you guys can be there, I want to stop by and say,

[00:42:02] hi, I want to meet you guys because that's my main reason for going in the first place.

[00:42:05] It's actually meet these guys face-to-face and how they can maybe do a selfie shot or something

[00:42:10] I don't know however they do it but we learn a few things too.

[00:42:13] But it's like, it's so funny.

[00:42:15] I actually at work have to pick out my vacation for the entire year in like November or

[00:42:21] the November December is one pick vacation out for the following year.

[00:42:25] And I just so happily luckily I picked a week off that pod cast movement's going on

[00:42:30] the same week.

[00:42:31] So I was like, score, I locked out so when I figured out how to go because usually these

[00:42:35] things happen on a week I'm not available.

[00:42:37] So I'm like, well, I guess I'm not going to go or whatever but this happened to like

[00:42:41] locked out and it's like, you know up the road.

[00:42:44] So it's like easy to get to so like why not?

[00:42:46] You know?

[00:42:47] Yeah, for sure.

[00:42:49] I would even like go on your LinkedIn and search the hashtag of the event and see who

[00:42:56] else is talking about it.

[00:42:57] You have the app.

[00:42:58] They make you get this app.

[00:42:59] Like the email is code to download this app so you can log into the app and on the app

[00:43:04] it shows you like all of the speakers.

[00:43:06] Here's what I did.

[00:43:07] So check us out.

[00:43:08] So not all of them but every speaker they have listed on their app, like all of them

[00:43:12] and their credentials and everything next to them when they're speaking and all this

[00:43:14] stuff.

[00:43:15] And it also shows their social media links.

[00:43:18] Amazing.

[00:43:19] And so what I went in there on the Instagram version, everybody who had an Instagram

[00:43:23] page, I clicked it and followed it on every single speaker.

[00:43:26] It was like 20 speakers, like all of them like a five you know.

[00:43:29] So I went through there and not all had it.

[00:43:31] Now the ones that had like smaller following, I noticed like maybe less than 500 followers

[00:43:36] on Instagram.

[00:43:37] I liked it and I wouldn't start liking all of their top like last seven posts or whatever.

[00:43:42] Now the big ones that have like a million or something followers, I followed them but I

[00:43:47] didn't like interact because they won't really see that.

[00:43:49] I don't think if I like all their stuff, they'll notice that.

[00:43:51] But the smaller ones have and they start following back.

[00:43:54] Not all but they did start following back.

[00:43:55] So that's another way to kind of like get maybe new followers, you know.

[00:44:00] It's always about following them and maybe liking their stuff, release commenting on their

[00:44:04] stuff.

[00:44:05] I'm going to try that angle too, especially on Instagram.

[00:44:08] I noticed with Instagram, like you be on there and I don't know how many followers you

[00:44:13] haven't looked but some people have like mega followings on Instagram.

[00:44:16] They're like, how on the hell they have mega followings?

[00:44:18] They're like 500,000 followers, you know, they look like regular people to me.

[00:44:23] But they think, oh, maybe they paid for them.

[00:44:27] Oh yeah.

[00:44:28] I didn't episode on that recently and I found out by the way, do you know how it actually

[00:44:32] works when a one of those podcast promoters promise you X amount of downloads?

[00:44:39] Do you know how they pull that off?

[00:44:41] I don't.

[00:44:42] This is how it works.

[00:44:44] Well, yes, there's an algorithm bot algorithm.

[00:44:46] And this kind of how it works is that they will promise you 10,000 downloads if you pay

[00:44:51] X amount of dollars or whatever that kind of stuff.

[00:44:54] The way it works actually get a download on your actual podcast.

[00:44:57] You really only have physically download a certain portion of the file and that accounts

[00:45:02] as a download to the media host goes back as a download and you see like a download

[00:45:06] great.

[00:45:07] So what it kind of works is that they actually have a team of people that send out these

[00:45:13] like almost kind of very click bait either emails or spam stuff or whatever.

[00:45:20] And the second you click on it, the link in the background of your device, it actually

[00:45:25] downloads the portion of the file which will count as a download.

[00:45:30] And they do they have that system set up to send it out to millions of millions of people.

[00:45:34] So that's kind of how they they trick so the person actually down the file doesn't even

[00:45:38] listen to the show.

[00:45:39] Doesn't even know what a podcast is probably and just gets downloaded in the background

[00:45:43] yet to the actual podcaster.

[00:45:45] It shows as an actual like physical download.

[00:45:48] Oh, I got a download and that's how they operate their business.

[00:45:52] It's all shady McShaderson if you ask me.

[00:45:55] I actually know another more legit way that we can talk about offline or I guess I could

[00:46:03] share a little bit about it.

[00:46:04] I don't know but the headliner app.

[00:46:07] Yeah, I've used that.

[00:46:10] Yeah, like while you upload your show to the headliner app which creates audio grams

[00:46:17] because they have an option where you can listen to other podcasts and discover other

[00:46:22] podcasts.

[00:46:23] So you're actually getting your podcast played by other content creators while you're

[00:46:29] uploading your show.

[00:46:31] Do you have to pay for that feature?

[00:46:33] It is an option.

[00:46:34] Yeah, okay.

[00:46:35] Yeah, the money mixed with around it does always a little feature for stuff like that but

[00:46:39] But that's a better target because you might actually get in front of a podcast or he

[00:46:44] finds your show helpful or interesting or when I connect with you.

[00:46:48] Oh definitely.

[00:46:49] Yeah, podcast listeners listen to podcasts.

[00:46:51] It's just a golden rule to kind of how it usually works.

[00:46:54] Yeah.

[00:46:55] So if you're going to push your show, if you're going to push your show out to anybody,

[00:46:57] I would push your show out to other podcasts.

[00:46:59] That's why going out their shows as a guest or as a host or whatever or even, but yeah,

[00:47:05] I mean, just getting in front of the podcast is the best way to do things and you appreciate

[00:47:09] you ringing this stop by today and sharing your wonderful wisdom.

[00:47:13] So where could everybody find out all about you and all your wonderful stuff?

[00:47:18] Reena Friedman Watts on LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, threads, Twitter, TikTok.

[00:47:26] I tried to have the same photo and name in all of those places, although on Twitter

[00:47:31] it is Reena Reena with two ease but then under that it says Reena Friedman Watts and pretty

[00:47:36] findable that way and then better call daddy dot com.

[00:47:40] Fantastic.

[00:47:41] I want to wish you the best Friday and amazing weekend and you know, wrangling those four

[00:47:46] real kids and have a wonderful time with that.

[00:47:49] Thank you so much for having me.

[00:47:50] This is an awesome conversation.

[00:47:51] Hey, Reena, thank you so much for stopping by today.

[00:47:55] I really do appreciate our conversation.

[00:47:58] It was amazing.

[00:47:59] It was fantastic.

[00:48:00] Hey listen, I'm sorry.

[00:48:01] I couldn't get the live stream thing to work.

[00:48:03] I don't know.

[00:48:04] I text savvy kind of guy sometimes.

[00:48:06] It just doesn't work out that way but our conversation did and that was what really mattered

[00:48:11] in the first place.

[00:48:13] Thank you so much for listening all the way to the end of this very episode.

[00:48:18] If you have learned something new today, if you got any amazing value from the conversation

[00:48:23] I had with Reena, please do me a favor and her a favor and subscribe to her show.

[00:48:30] Link to it in the show notes of this very episode.

[00:48:33] Show notes is where I put all my links, all the good stuff.

[00:48:36] Scroll on down there it is and once again thank you so much for being here.

[00:48:42] I truly do appreciate your time today.

[00:48:45] Time is very precious and I cannot wait to share all the amazing things that I discovered

[00:48:50] at podcast movement this week as it's going on right now and don't forget if you want

[00:48:55] to catch the live stream, subscribe directly to my YouTube channel.

[00:49:00] It's YouTube, podcasting audio.

[00:49:02] I'll put a link to it in the show notes down below, don't you worry but please subscribe

[00:49:07] to my channel.

[00:49:08] That way when I go live you are ready for and we're all good to go and until next time happy

[00:49:15] podcasting.