Episodes

  • 2024 Podcast Mixtape
    May 1 2024

    We're back with another selection of podcast picks from our current portfolio of projects.

    You'll hear extracts from these shows: YAWN The Podcast On The Mark Snack - Season 2: Queensland Positive People Strength In Numbers Deep Resilience Snack - Season 3: Ethnic Communities Council Of Queensland Bloodlines To Country Tech Mirror This Week In Digital Trust

    Podcast produced by Martin Franklin / East Coast Studio

    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    Show More Show Less
    6 mins
  • Growing A Community
    Dec 1 2022
    Everyone will tell you that your life will change when you have a baby. But for most people, this doesn't include gaining a Facebook community with half a million members. For Camille Jaramis and Phil Chester, that's exactly what happened when their Baby Sleep Training Tips & Help group hit the sweet spot for parents all over the world. As their group grew and evolved they found that they were providing a real time support for thousands of desperate parents around the world, with a team of professionals providing free advice. Finding a way through the mass of information in the posts and comments presents a problem for navigation and filtering. A problem, that can be solved by the friendly, linear format of a podcast. We caught up to speak about their experience in building and running the group and their next project: Yawn, the baby sleep training podcast. Outline We talked about: How did the Facebook group start? Camille’s strategy for getting more people to join the group. How the growth of the Facebook group exploded and the need for additional moderators to manage the group. How professionals in the group answer the 'what', but are not giving the 'how'. The geography of the group members has changed at each stage of growth. An anonymous post that validated that we’d done the right thing first. How they are going to kickstart the podcast and leverage the audience on Facebook. LINKS Yawn - The Baby Sleep Training Podcast Baby Sleep Training, Tips & Help (Facebook) Transcription MF 1:03 I was trying to find sort of a clever way into it, but I couldn't. So so the obvious thing is you have a Facebook group with 552.9 thousand people in it. I checked today PC 1:16 We do. Yeah. MF 1:17 And it says it was created a year ago. CJ 1:20 That's right. Phil 1:21 Yeah. Have we started? We have? Yeah. Oh, my God. Okay. We're cool. Yeah, sorry. MF 1:31 That seems pretty phenomenal. So can you? Can you tell me like, how did it start? CJ 1:37 So the reason why we started the Facebook group was, Phil and I both had our kids during lockdown. And in Australia, you get a mother's group, which is a really fantastics concept, which means that you get connected with a bunch of other new parents, usually new moms. Now it's got a parent group, I think, but largely, it's called a mother's group. And you get connected to a bunch of new parents who are in the trenches with you and kind of going through the same experience at the same time as you and it's really helpful way to create a community, I found out that doesn't exist internationally, in a lot of countries. In the UK, you often have to pay for membership to a group like that. And I don't know about the US, but it sounded either incredibly uncommon or not existent at all. And so that was the point of creating an online community because we are so not alone in the experience of being in those trenches. PC 2:31 Absolutely. And I think, you know, COVID kind of enhanced that for so many people as well. But that feeling of being alone and not feeling like you had that support network. So I think it was just the perfect time, the perfect storm of just what all these new parents were looking for. What would I need, what would other people need? MF 2:51 That's amazing. So you just kind of identified that need, really and thought, I know, let's let's try and make a sort of open group on on Facebook to see if other people share the same interest CJ 3:04 100% I just gone through a certification to become an internationally certified baby sleep consultant, not because I want to change careers, but because I wanted to understand what was what I was in store for for the next couple of years with my own child. And now I have two kids. So it was definitely worth the money to become certified. But that was the catalyst essentially that's why babies sleep and that's why it was a tips and help Facebook group was because I just done the certification and therefore was able to add that layer. And Phil comes from a background where he works in marketing, so he understands how to bring people together in a community. PC3:38 Yeah, it's a really it's an interesting topic to have a Facebook group about an hour podcast and stuff because it's, it can get quite opinionated it can get quiet, you know, everyone has their way of doing things everyone thinks they know what's best and every baby is different. And I think that when you look at the metrics of will matter now. You know, one of the things we get flagged the most by meta is just people offhandedly saying, oh my god, I could kill my husband because he can sleep through the night. My metaphor to us and goes this is against our terms violence and Yeah, exactly. So you have this this what's become this hugely supportive group that can potentially get shut down if we don't monitor it carefully. So So MF 4:21 Camille was it was your training in the baby's sleep just to kind of something that preceded the group would you already had that idea ...
    Show More Show Less
    26 mins
  • What Does A Podcast Producer Do?
    Oct 10 2022
    A Producer + an Editor = A Preditor. Two discrete roles got combined through circumstance and technology into one efficient super-being working alongside its predecessors. But don't be afraid, there is another new skills hybrid emerging to enter the battle for podcast production supremacy. We hunted, and bagged some of these different species and got their views on what they do best - and what's coming over the hill. On behalf of creators becoming potential clients, we asked 'Which combination of skills do you need in your producer? What are they ? and how to work with the right person'. In this episode we cover: What does a producer do? What does the client bring as a starting point for a podcast? What should potential clients expect from their podcast producer, and what’s their remit? Lead Producer, Martin Franklin from East Coast Studio gets some quality Zoom-time with fellow producers, Courtney Carthy, Nick McCorriston, and Louise Poole to explore the different dimensions of production on Planet Pod. Links Courtney Carthy (Linkedin) Nick McCorriston (Linkedin) Louise Poole (Linkedin) Independent Music Podcast (Apple Podcasts) State 51 (WWW) Transcription Martin Franklin Hi, Welcome back to Metapod. This is Martin Franklin from East Coast Studio. And we are still deep diving into the world of podcasting and finding our things tick. So my question for this episode, what does a producer actually do? I noticed that there's quite a variety of approaches to production within the podcasting world. And I was kind of curious about how different people do it. I wanted to produce some sort of guidance for people who are perhaps thinking about producing a podcast or appointing a producer to produce their podcast, so that we just had a little bit of an overview of what what could you expect and the different approaches that different people take to, to do that work. Once again, I canvassed, the Australian Podcasters group, and I had three sterling individuals step forward, willing to talk to me and just share their thoughts in a conversation. So in this episode, I'm talking to Courtney Carthy, from Nearly Media, Nick McCorriston from Sound Boy Audio, and Louise Poole, from Welcome Change Media. And I'm really happy with the conversations that we had, because each of them takes a slightly different approach to the craft of being a producer, which is shaped by their background and their particular aptitude and take on what they what they do best. So we get into what's next for podcasting, music, copyrights, content strategy, and a whole load of other stuff, which, honestly, I hadn't expected to talk about before I hit record on the conversations. Courtney Carthy - Hearing the Potential Martin Franklin 2:07 So let's jump into the first conversation I had, which was with Courtney Carthy from Nearly Media, he's got a really strong radio background, spending almost a decade as a producer for ABC, he very kindly squeezed this interview into his journey from one place to the other in his car. So you will hear the sound of the car in the background. And I did think I could spend a bit of time cleaning up the audio and removing the various traffic noises that are in the background. But actually, I kind of like how it, how it sounds, he's in the car, and he's talking to me through his Airpods. And this is what it sounds like: Radio Production Martin Franklin 2:50 I know your background is originally as a reporter, and then producing in radio, I wonder if you could just give me your take on what's involved in the producer role for for radio. Courtney Carthy 3:04 It's basically everything but speaking on air, is how I used to think of it. So I didn't sort of get myself boxed in about, you know, what was or wasn't part of my job. I think before I worked in radio, I really didn't appreciate or media, you know, Southern first media sort of, like, role that I had was student radio. But I never appreciated how much work there was outside of the final product. And whenever I hear producer, I just think, you know, like, the person that does everything that knows what's going on everywhere. You know, that can that can yell at someone, not that I yell at people, but you know, that can identify, can see the end but knows where to start? Martin Franklin 4:02 Yeah. So in terms of the shows that you worked on, could you just kind of go into what's involved in from a production point of view? Courtney Carthy 4:14 Yes. The bulk of my time at ABC Radio, and, you know, radio in general, was as a live radio producer. So that would be like, you know, finding stories briefing, the host briefing the talent, deciding how we were going to cover a story. So, you know, effectively acting like a bit of an editor you know, sort of more like a newspaper editor, not an audio editor. And then, you know, pushing the boundaries of, you know, what, sort of, you know, angle we might take or, you know, how we respond to something or what the audience might...
    Show More Show Less
    27 mins
  • What, Why and How to Podcast: The Live Q&A
    Sep 14 2022
    How long does it take to plan a podcast ? What is better, fun or educational topics ? Should I add my podcast to YouTube ? Top 3 things a successful podcast should have ? These questions, and more followed my talk for Hub Australia on 31 August 2022. Connecting from co-working locations in Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide the attendees watched a 45 minute lunch-and-learn presentation that I called "Podcasting - What, Why and How". This was intended to be an overview which covered some basic technical points, case studies of how some podcasters use their show in their marketing mix, plus practical pointers on how to start podcasting. The Q&A, led by Hub Australia Brisbane's Customer Experience lead, Val Dubishkina followed the presentation. We uncovered some really informed, useful questions from the audience and these are the sections that I decided to capture for this podcast. • Download the "Podcasting - What, Why and How" Slide Deck Transcript Speakers: Val Dubishkina (Hub Australia), Martin Franklin (East Coast Studio) 0:15 VAL: All right, let's start. First of all, I would like to say that Hub Australia acknowledges the traditional custodians of the land in which we live and work. We recognise the continued connection to land, water and community and pay respects to elder's past, present and emerging. I'd like to introduce you to our wonderful presenter today, Martin Franklin, who launched his first podcast in 2006, eventually bring in his own show to become a weekly broadcast on radio. His business is CO studio and produces top 10 podcasts and support podcasters to launch from a simple idea to successful seasons. First of all, I would also like to remind you that if you would like to speak, you can raise your hand. Also, please make sure that you make use of our q&a box and utilise the chat function. So Martin can answer all of your questions. And just the friendly reminders about that today's session will be recorded. So if you miss something, you'll be able to go back and watch it again. And it's all over to you, Martin. 1:18 Thanks, Val. Thanks, everybody for joining today. You can ask me some difficult questions, if you'd like to now over to hit me with some questions. VAL: Hey, Martin, we already have one question and keep an eye box if he wants to open it up, but I'll read it out loud. What are the average and good podcast targets to set per episode? Yeah, the super popular question. I read something while I was researching for this talk, which was a blog article by a podcast hosting platform that basically said, if you're getting 50 listens to a podcast episode, you're already in the top 50% of podcasts that they carry on their platform. I think we hear a lot about big, big numbers. And people quote, quoting 10s and hundreds of 1000s of listens. But those people are a super tiny minority. And actually, when we evaluate whether our 50 listens, is adequate or not, if you were to think about those as real people in a room, and you know, I'm talking to 20 your view now. But you know, you're 20 real people, and you'd be you'd be a room full if you were in my house. And I'd be really happy about that. So if I had 20 listens to my podcast episode, that's 20. That's 20 people. So that's what I gotta say about listens. VAL: And we have another question in the chat box: producers, what are the standard rates when it comes to costings What kind of rates? Yeah, we're kind of in a space where there's not really a standard rate as such, I think you could probably make a parallel with, say, graphic designers or, you know, individuals who, who price their services, depending on what, what they want, how much money they want to make. But you know, the quality that they feel they they offer. So it's very hard to, to answer that. But I price projects by the project or by the season. So I don't charge myself out on an hourly basis. But I think a good way to think about it is what do you earn per hour. Add a little bit extra on top of that, because you're probably working with a sole trader. And that that could be the sort of price, you might multiply that hour by three hours to produce an episode. And that would give you a kind of incremental costs that you could expand out through a through a season. Yeah, tricky to say. VAL: Awesome. Two more questions: the first one is "What's your preferred hosting space to distribute online?" People seem to get very enthusiastic about podcast hosting, but it's a very, it's a very technical requirement, really. And it's fundamentally simple. You're just putting files on a server, and the server just has to stay switched on, and do you know and give you some kind of nice interface and access to analytics. So there's not a lot to distinguish podcast hosts and I think this is an issue which podcast host businesses are finding now. How do they differentiate? The things that you might look out for the podcast hosts would provide are transcription, some of them have a ...
    Show More Show Less
    25 mins
  • 2022 Mixtape - Podcast Picks
    Aug 10 2022

    Here's a short pick-and-mix of some of the podcast projects that have featured in our production portfolio over the most recent period.

    We've covered business challenges, motivation, mental health, law and property industry, coaching, parenting and rural matters. We have a real cross-section of contemporary topics. And while the topics may be diverse, they're all meaningful content made by creators with deep knowledge and worthwhile missions to make an impact in their respective industries. Load up this mix and you'll hear extracts from these fine podcasts: Troubleshooters The Messy Middle Meet Q The Callover REIQ Property Brief Society of Construction Law Australia INSEAD In Conversation with... Co-Parenting Kids Land Life Women In Cybersecurity Parents In Tech

    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    Show More Show Less
    4 mins
  • How to Start a Podcast You Love
    Jul 20 2022
    Set your goals and motivations before getting into any other areas of starting a podcast. Once you "find your why" for the podcast, you're set to tackle the work of recording, producing, distributing and growing your podcast. Once you begin planning your content, understanding your audience is a key advantage. Doing something that you love is a great way to guide your thoughts. Is the listener like you? Do you share a common interest ? Why are they listening? If you can get to the heart of that topic, then you will be getting off on a good footing. This podcast episode is the audio companion to the blog article "How To Start A Podcast: Goals, Topics and Motivation" Episode Transcription 0:14 This episode is the audio companion to a blog piece called How To Start A Podcast goes topics and motivation. I have to admit, I blatantly wrote this blog post in response to search queries, which were coming in and drawing people to my website. So I thought, Okay, if that's what people are searching for the "How To Start A Podcast" bit, I'll share what I think about how you should start a podcast. DIY 1976 I always have two kind of competing drivers when I'm writing these sorts of things. So the first one is a little bit historic; it's the punk rock era where there was a saying, and an illustration, "here's three chords, now form a band" It sort of got latched on to, in retrospect, to something which really typifies that kind of punk rock era of - here's some building blocks now go off and do something even bigger. There's probably lots of parallels around that now. But that was like 1976, or there abouts. And it I think it really resonates like, let's do the show here. You know, just however, you can do it, if you've got something to say, find a way to say it. So, I have that point of view, which kind of says, Alright, if the best you can you can muster is a recording on Zoom, then go for your life. But on the other hand, I've got my sort of audio snob point of view of going? "Well, of course, you could do that. However, your audio would really be communicating a sort of lower view of your brand." Which you probably would but at the end of the day, the basic choice is do it or don't do it. So doing it wins every time. Love Your Topic Here's my take on getting into some of the nitty gritty about it. Love your topic, before you get into any of the sort of technical stuff about how you're going to record it, how will it be produced? How are you distributed and promoted and grow the audience? We need to identify at the core, what is your content. Now I've seen a lot of advice from internet experts about researching niches and approaching the the topic of your podcast from a strategic point of view. And of course, there's nothing wrong with doing research. But my view of podcasting as a medium is that it excels at authenticity. So whatever it is that you talk about, you should love that topic. Because that will come through in your voice. It might be that through researching, you can discover a niche that has less competition or a commonly searched problem that needs to be solved. But there's not really a practical way that you could jump on that and sound like that, that you really have a passion in in that area. And it's another sort of feature of podcasting because generally speaking, people who are hosting and speaking on podcasts are not trained broadcasters, but they've got their finger on the pulse of a community, or they have an enthusiasm about a certain topic, or they're an authority on a certain topic. And that's where the real juice is, in podcasting. It's actually people who are letting their passion speak. So you may have used Google Trends to find something that's a popular kind of SEO Term of the day. But I don't recommend that that is your guiding light. So if we were to condense it down, it would be choose a topic you love. And ask yourself, How can you be useful to the listeners who share the interest in that topic. And I think that second point, be useful to your listener is key in in lots of respects. So keeping the listening audience in mind in in all of your decisions will be a really valuable guide as you build your show. Knowing what it is that you're offering them will guide your choice of topic and of guests and the line of questions that you take and the whole general sort of vibe of the show. So coming back down to something which anyone who's had any business mentoring, as I have recently gets asked is "What's your why?", why are you doing this, this thing and what does it give you and what does it give the people who you're hoping to offer it to? Motivation I sort of break down my clients into a couple of different areas when I sort of tried to work out, what's their why, so that I can offer them a better, better service that that caters for their why. So it usually breaks down into reputation building for them, or their, or their business, engagement and promotion of those same ...
    Show More Show Less
    15 mins
  • Amplifying your Content
    Jun 21 2022
    Leveraging your podcast to supercharge a content strategy and get the maximum efficiency for your messages. Each individual podcast episode can be used to create a whole wave of content. This can be pushed out across all of your channels. Then, it’s not just the immediate audio listener-ship that generates the value for you. All of the subsequent readers and viewers who are touched by your content across all platforms will benefit. Think of it like a theme - whatever you're discussing in your podcast becomes the theme that you share in your other messaging. If you think of it systematically, you could consider what values you want to represent. How you want audiences to see you? What topics do you want to highlight? This podcast episode is an audio companion to the blog article "Extending the Content Conversation" Episode Transcription 0:21 Hi, this is Martin Franklin. Welcome to Metapod. This episode is an audio companion piece to run alongside a blog article I wrote called Extending the Content Conversation. There's often a sense that podcasts are separate entities that sit outside of an organization's wide communications or content strategy. Viewing your podcast as an integral part, if not, the actual hub of your messaging, will let you maximize the potential to bring your key topics to life for your audience. We're going to look at a few examples of using a single podcast to create the audio content, or blog piece, or pre episode social post or post episode social post, a transcription and a video. 1:03 So the real watchword for this way of thinking is economy, you can make the effort that goes into producing your audio episode, work that much harder and traveled that much farther, with only a small amount of extra resourcing. So each individual episode can be used to create a whole wave of content that can be pushed out across your channels. Ducks In A Row 1:25 When I talk to people about more kind of broader digital strategies, I often use this idea of identifying each month, what are the key topics they want to talk about. And it's usually connected with a product or a new new announcement that they're making. And so that makes it easy. So if they've got a new course coming out, or a new book coming out, or any sort of key event like that, then it's easy to say, Okay, this month, that's what you talk about, you don't talk about anything else. It's about your core piece of content, and anything that sort of surrounds that. So in the same way, you can be using a podcast to expound different kinds of details about something which is either a value use support, or a feature that is connected with one of the products that you roll out, or something which is sort of connected with brand new, or any of those sort of distinguishing things, and you just pick one, and then decide - okay, this month, we're going to have a number of responsive slots where we can sort of interact with things that are going on around us and maybe comment on those. But then in terms of our actual content that we're pushing out, it's going to be about this and there'll be a podcast, and then we'll do a video version of that podcast. And we'll do a blog article that quotes from that podcast. And then we'll pick out a few headlines. And we'll spin those out as as graphic tiles. Audiograms So right away, the popular short audiogram videos give you a new piece of content for your social channels. This can either announce the new episode, or feature a little bit of that episode in there, along with some eye catching visuals, super common, I know. But it's just saying this is a thing that you could be doing, which uses the same piece of podcast content, but takes a little headline out of it and a little tantalizing grab. 3:17 Here's a couple of recent ones that we produced here. First one is from the REIQ's Property Brief, hosted by Rob Dorey. "G'day I'm Rob Dorey. Join me this week for the latest episode of the REIQ Property Brief podcast. I went to Butterfield Street, Hurston which is a CBD location, one or one and a half k's out of the city. It was pitch black and literally it felt third world I didn't even recognize the street, a street that I've kind of lived around for years. Most of those streets are still without power. A lot of people have been eating canned food for the week because they don't have power. They don't have a car. And yet just because the street looks clean and clear again, we forget that there's still trauma there."Sarah Butler, REIQ Property Brief This show's actually paused at the moment, but I still love it. It's the Fintalking podcast. The accumulation phase whilst it's pretty new, it's pretty robust, but the D cumulation phase yeah is a is a bit more challenging. And she had likened it to a half built car, and then sort of saying what we're asking people to do then is to then finish building it. Here's the spanner here's the wrench Go Go sorted out that really resonated with it. I heard this ...
    Show More Show Less
    18 mins
  • Woo Your Listener - Writing Effective Show Notes
    May 18 2022
    These words need to count, so don’t waste them. Discover my favourite DON'T and your show notes will be better right from the get go. These few simple tips will help you avoid the obvious pitfalls and make the most of the critical text in your podcast show notes. These are the hooks which contribute to wooing listeners to your podcast episodes, so making them count is important. This episode is an audio companion to the blog article "Writing Effective Podcast Show Notes" (https://eastcoaststudio.com.au/how-to-write-podcast-show-notes/). Episode Transcription 0:24 This episode is the first of a short series we'll be doing, which are audio companion pieces to run alongside some blog articles that I've been writing about the world of podcasting. So in this episode, we'll be looking at the topic of how to write effective shownotes. For your podcast, I've got a few simple tips to help you avoid the obvious pitfalls, and make the most of this critical text in your show notes. This text provides the hook which will contribute to wooing listeners to your podcast episode and then hopefully, subscribing and following you for the journey. First of all, let's have a look at the context in which your text will appear. The browsing environment is absolutely critical to understand the user experience is the canvas and also the constraints that we have to work within. So most likely, this canvas will be an app or a mobile phone screen, maybe the desktop app on Mac. The limited space that's available for your text means only a small part of the description that you write is actually visible at all when people are casually scrolling by. These words need to count. 1:36 I'm looking at the Apple Podcasts, desktop app here to illustrate some of the points. But in the article, we've got some good screen grabs from the iOS app that probably is the most useful gauge of the environment that your text will appear in. 1:56 But regardless of that, these same principles apply to any other podcast app, because none of them were showing through your description text in its entirety. Good Example Show Notes 2:06 So first of all, I just started to sort of pick out a few things to use as current illustrations of what I think is really good. And in the article, I've got, like, a little list of importance for each of the items here. So the way I break it down is your title. The title of the episode is really important because that has to communicate to the listener, the what and the why, for that episode, what are they going to get out of it, the first line of your descriptive text will always be there, at least the first, whatever it is, I can't, I'm gonna have to count the number of characters to be able to to tell you accurately. But to me, it's something like first time words is guaranteed, maybe first 20 words, if you're lucky. So that is very important that the following paragraph, I would say is important. But in order to read that subsequent paragraph, your your your reader or your your browser, the person has to actually act, they actually have to sort of click into it in order to be able to access the further information. So really, I think we can sort of discount anything. Beyond that we're looking at good title, really good first line. And that's that's the best shot that we've got. Ted Tech So a couple of examples which I didn't produce. Just just browsing here is the TED Talks always seem to sort of smash every kind of media which they put out there. So savvy, their latest episode of the TED Tech Talk is "Six big ethical questions about the future of AI". Slash Genevieve Bell says everything that you need need to know it's got the topic. It's got the the author who will be presumably guiding you through that topic, and gives you that sort of orientation and motivation... Well yeah, I want to know what the ethical questions are because I want to know what I need to look out for. There's another good one here, let me see was this Q Podcast these are based on my subscription so far, and Apple's just put this in the More To Discover category. Q Podcast So I've got one here, "How Elon Musk can promote free speech without turning Twitter into one big dumpster fire". I really liked that because it's got a little bit of personality in there. The line that follows it, of this is Quillette. Okay. The line that follows it is "veteran technology expert, Jim Ron tells Quillette podcast..." something something so that that first line is failing a little bit really because veteran technology expert, Jim right, okay is establishing the credentials of the guest I guess in this case, he tells Quillette podcast, whatever. Presumably he tells Quillette podcast how Elon Musk can promote free speech without turning Twitter into one big dumpster fire. But but we don't know because the remains of that sentence are under the under the fold. I can't see that unless I click click into it. So, as I'm talking about first line, let me just go back...
    Show More Show Less
    15 mins