Tim Reid | The Overall Process for Running a World Class Podcast

Step 1: Pre-Interview research.

• Define the objective of the podcast

• Identifying and research guests that help to meet the podcast objective

• Reach out to potential guest – call, email or via social media

Step 2: Setup the project in a project management tool and folders in a file-sharing tool.

• Create a master checklist within your project management tool that can be duplicated per episode.
  • Add guest and episode details, links and due dates.

• Create a master template folder structure that can be duplicated for each podcast episode.
  • For example, you could use the following folders: Notes, Raw Audio, Guest Assets, Completed Audio, Website Details.
  • Tip: Google Drive, Dropbox or Box are all great services for sharing files.

Step 3: Prepare for the interview.

• Add researched guest information like specific questions, relevant URLs and social media details into the notes folder and/or project management tool.

• Create a script for the interview covering off any additional sections within the episode.

• A couple of days before the interview, remind the interviewee about the interview – time and location.

Step 4: Conduct the actual interview.

• Conduct the interview either in person or via Skype, Zoom or GoToMeeting.

• Record additional episode sections where needed. For example, the intro of guests, takeaways, what’s coming up next week or any other relevant sections depending on the format.

• Save your raw materials like videos and/or audio files, images of the guests and any links or resources from the guest to the folders in your Google Drive.

Step 5: Post-production of the interview.

• Hire someone to do the audio editing for you and share your raw files from the recording.
  • Make sure you lay down the segments in chronological order to avoid confusion. Either by doing a recording and talking them through or creating a detailed written document.
  • Include edit points with exact times if there’s anything inside the interview that needs to be edited out.
  • If you have particular segments that you want to add to production, make sure to create a separate folder in Google Drive for these.

• Upload completed/produced mp3 back into the “Completed” folder.

• Add any other information like photos, website, social media or other details supplied by the guest that needs to be included in the show notes to the “Guest Asset” folder.

• Upload the complete media file to tools such as Omny Studio as a host and all in one management solution.

Step 6: Create and upload show notes to the website.

• Prepare episode notes: Add copy, links, resources, SEO metadata and social media details.

• Upload the show notes to your website – transcripts, resources and images.
  • Add the podcast episode from Omny Studios to your website via the Media Player.
  • Perform basic SEO to help your content/podcast gain visibility within Google.

Step 7: Share the podcast episode on various social media platforms.

• Share the podcast episode on Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Instagram and Soundcloud.
  • Tip! You can use a social media management tool like Hootsuite or Buffer to help to share automation.

• Create an email newsletter to send out weekly or when you have a new podcast episode to share.

• Send an email to the guest once the podcast goes live and ask them to share it with their audience.