BCM241

Finding Podcast Success in a World Full of Millennials

Transcript

An introduction

Hi everyone, and welcome to my podcast, ‘Finding podcast success in a world full of millennials’ based off my autoethnographic research! As I’m sure you are all extremely aware, the generation of millennials particularly love a good podcast, including myself. There are just so many out there, spreading into a number of different genres, from crime podcasts, to gamer podcast, to book club podcasts…the list goes on and on.

So, how do successful podcasters get to the top of their genres?

When initially thinking about this question in my mind, I was thinking in relation to my own podcast ‘Synonyms for Fine’. Yes, I know, it was a classic lockdown moment of what am I doing with my life, where is my purpose…let’s start a podcast with my best friend.

I love it. I love my podcast and it is something I have true passion for. However, having started only a couple of months ago, although it has an alright following on Instagram, I was wondering how it could grow to be better. How could I engage and grow my audience? What did I need to do? Personally, I had no idea whatsoever, which is when I started my autoethnographic research.

Autoethnography, for those of you who don’t know, is essentially a qualitative inquiry using field notes and observational research methods on a particular topic or based on individual experience. This can be useful when developing research on a particular niche area of study such as podcasts. Obviously don’t take it as bible because it is based on personal experience, however, hopefully my insights and observations help you to grow your audiences, as much as it has helped me with my own podcast audience!

So, I went and checked out a new podcast starting out, Extraordinary outback stories Instagram and had a lightbulb moment to follow the first weeks of their podcast and make observations. I wanted to focus my autoethnographic research on this podcast because it related to the style of my own podcast really well, two young Australian female podcasters just starting out, trying to build listenership.

The build-up to the release, and the actual release of the podcast occurred during my research, so I was able to track all the ways they expanded their listenership. So, this podcast will look into their methods and my observations during this period.

Before continuing, make sure you have a look at my previous blog posts and my pitch video, it’ll give you a bit more background into the podcast and the field site. You can find those on my blog under University Work -> Third Year -> BCM241.

The Promotion

So, to get started Extra Ordinary Outback Stories had already gained 1000 followers when I began to record my research and observations. So, from the 27th of July 2020 to the 2nd of August they had any exponential increase of 1000 followers.

How did they do it you may ask? Well, they had a tonne of build-up and promotion of their podcasts release.

Essentially, they launched an account on every platform, including Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and their website. They then began to pour promotional content on all of these. To break it down I will take you through my observations of all of these and how they approached each.

To start off their website, was accessible through all of their accounts and initially was put in all of their bios before the actual launch of the podcast content. This could be accessed both by phone and laptop however, you do need internet to access these. The website was professionally curated with their brand logo and used a particular colour palette and fonts, which were followed across all of their media platforms. This creates brand aesthetic, which in turn creates familiarity and consistency for audience viewers. As a first-time visitor to the page, I went through each tab to understand what they had this website.

As you’ll see, they had several different tabs you could go to such as an about, a homepage, a contact us page and a newsletter page. Also, at the bottom had FAQs, which had general questions that were answered straight away so you didn’t have to ask them, and then they also had their privacy policy, which I thought was really important for ethical reasons.

Overall the website was extremely useful to understand the background to the podcast. It was highly clear and concise with a clear vision as to the purpose of the podcast, to be a voice for rural people living in Australia. The about page was really useful to learn about the both Lucy Samuels and Lucy Taylor as individuals and gave them character and personality to relate to and engage with, rather than being just voices on a podcast. At this point the listen to the podcast just had a ‘Coming soon’ sign and the various platforms it would be on, which did stay in the back of my mind when the podcast was relist. Although the podcast not being launched yet, they had sneak peak profiles of the types of people that were going to be interviewed on their podcast, which afforded me the opportunity to read up and build my excitement. For me as an audience member the ‘Contact Us’ tab was of particular interest. Titled ‘We’d love to hear from you’ it felt like an extremely inviting way of creating audience participation to gain feedback, ideas for extraordinary stories and media inquiries.

When observing their YouTube in the early days, there wasn’t too much traction, nor a lot of content. They had a promotional video, which I assume was to be used in a link on their website because thereafter they haven’t posted any other videos on their YouTube, so I don’t think it was as successful as gaining an audience base. I think they probably could’ve used their YouTube a bit more, but I understand their content was audio and image based.

They also had a Facebook page which I felt had more of their ‘hype’ type content on. I found that a lot of this content would show up on my feed when scrolling through Facebook and not me purposefully going to their page to see the content.  All of their content posted was linked to Instagram so I’ll move on to talking about specific posts with Instagram. 

So, with the Instagram page, as an audience member I felt like the place where I gained most of my access to the podcast and podcast information later on. I also felt this was where most of my intrigue toward the podcast began. When I first clicked the follow button, it also came up with their Instagram pages, which I was able to then go follow. By giving a lot of focus on their individual pages, I felt more of connection to them through observing their personalities and it gave the interviews more background because it wasn’t just a voice. When I was observing how they were building up to the date of the release their posts obviously became more and more frequent. They were sharing news articles about them, pictures of themselves doing the podcast and travelling and sneak peeks of people who were on the show. They used a lot of hashtags as well. This is useful in that it affords the opportunity for non-listeners to join the podcast based off of hashtags they might be interested in, for example, #outback #podcastsofinstagram.  On the week of the release of the show it came up on my feed as a ‘suggested for you’ as an Instagram ad, which is a way Instagram promotes business pages.

On the day the podcast came out they posted on Facebook and Instagram that morning. This was just for the episode previews, which was a short podcast trailer. I noticed a lot of people were responding to this in the comments with positive feedback and ratings on Spotify and Apple. They weren’t doing a lot of interaction with the comments however, still liked all of them. They also put lots of promotion on their story, with where to find it etc. and on their individual pages they both put posts up to promote the podcast launch as well. This all may seem an obvious way to approach promotional content, however, the little details and levels of professionalism are really important when promoting content and a podcast.

The release and content

In the second part of this podcast, I wanted to get into discussing my observations on content created by the podcast.

So, to get started I wanted to share my observations of the podcast itself. They would put out a podcast every week on a Thursday creating regularity in scheduling. They had similar posts on Instagram every week as well, with an introduction to the interviewee and the area of Australia they lived on their stories.

The structure of the actual podcast seemed to stay the same every week including an introduction to the podcast/what they are doing, a jingle, an introduction to the interviewee for that week, an anecdote, and then would jump into the interview questions.

Often the interview questions were quite simple and direct to start off but once the interview got underway the questions flowed creating a more conversational tone. This worked really well as I found that I would not really have to focus on listening rather it just came naturally as a podcast should. Having a shorter 20-minute episode every week also meant that I could slot it naturally into what I was doing for example, cooking or going for a walk. It also meant it kept within my attention span, so I think short 20-30 minute is good for a podcast length. The interview questions also were ethical in that it didn’t probe for emotional details rather they took a highly empathetic way of dealing with harder topics.

The originality of the niche they picked for their podcast, meant the interviews were highly interesting and something new for listenership. It is so important to pick a niche for your podcast, particularly as there are so many out there.


The expansion

So on to part 3, the expansion of the podcast. When I say ‘expansion’ I kind of mean what they did after the release in order continue to grow their audience.

Firstly, they created their own newsletter titled ‘The Bush Herald’. This could be subscribed to be emailed every week. This would include an overview of the podcast and other articles they themselves had written. This could also be accessed by their website.

Secondly, they began doing other weekly specials. ‘What’s cooking good looking’ was an outback recipe that would come out every Wednesday from either a listener or the interviewee. This increased audience engagement and involvement as they were now able to give something for the audience to look forward to.

In addition to this, they began doing the Book of the Week every Tuesday, which was often a recommendation from the interviewees. Toward the end of my ethnographic research they began doing giveaways of these, which also generates listener excitement and involvement.

Finally, I noticed them interacting with the audience a lot more as well with comment replies and also story reactions for example questions that audiences could answer and reactions sliders. This makes listeners feel included and makes the relationship between audience and podcaster stronger.

Just on the Instagram really quick, they tidied this up a bit by making story highlights under each of the interviewees, places they had been and the podcast in general, this means the content is saved for newcomers to watch the stories.

Conclusion

Overall the way they did the promotion, content and expansion of their podcast, enabled them to gain 3000 followers in three months. This clearly exemplifies a really good way of approaching podcasting and growing one’s audience. I know I have certainly made changes to the way I approach my own podcast that have seen benefits. I think I have definitely realised the benefits of paying attention to detail and utilising the platforms available, particularly as podcasting is not just about the podcast itself anymore.  

Anyway, I hope this has been useful as an example of how to find podcast success in a world full of millennials.

Happy Podcasting and have a good one!

x Eadie

Reference List

Taylor, L & Samuels, L, ExtraOrdinary Outback Stories, podcast, 17 September, ExtraOrdinary Media Co, viewed 28 September, < https://www.extraordinarymediaco.com/>

RESEARCH PRE-RESEARCH

When moving onto the next stage of planning I needed to figure out how I was going to record field notes, have a framework of how I am then going to analyse the research and also continue to expand on the ethical considerations I began to blog about in last week’s post.

Writing Field Notes

Before I get started in doing my ethnographic research, I really wanted to research the best ways to write fieldnotes and how to conduct fieldwork to ultimately develop my analysis. As described by Raul Pacheco-Vega “writing field notes is both an exercise in practicing how and what we write, but also who we write into our fieldwork, and who we exclude, and what elements we include in our analysis”. This essentially comes down to the purpose of last week’s blog post, in that the field notes should be centred around why this research is relevant. As Walford (2009) synthesises, there are basic tasks in making fieldnotes, recording as much of what is perceived to be relevant and thinking of what will be used in analysis and writing process layer. This means immersing yourself in the ‘field’ to grasp what they experience as meaningful and important.

I was also particularly interested in how to use fieldnotes in online spaces. As Rosenburg (2010) suggests, this requires particular focus on ‘active listening’ due to the nature of online platforms as heterogenous and diverse. You might be thinking what I was thinking when I read this, how can you actively listen in online spaces? As Winter and Lavis (2020) suggest this is because as a researcher you need to attend to the ‘polyphonia of voices that make up online spaces’ as they move beyond themselves to other spaces. This includes emphasis on multidimension contexts and recognising the

Overall when looking at ways of making fieldnotes, there is no true ‘correct’ or defined way of making them, it really depends on the field and what is relevant to the cause. It was good, however, to research examples of how other people have written them out. In this case it will be important to take detailed notes of the focus on attention to detail and recording these consistently.

Autoethnographic Theoretical Framework

By creating a theoretical framework, I will be able to understand how my work is grounded in established ideas and look at how other ethnographic studies have structured their study and analysis.  

Podcasts

In the study I found ‘Exploring the motivation of independent audio podcasters’ Markman focused on several different areas in research. This included podcasting as participatory culture, digital techniques and podcast research of listening environments. At the end of the report they found why start podcasting, why podcasters keep going, and the pros and cons of podcasting. Markman also noted the limitations and future directions of this issue. This was really useful as an example of a report of research and the things that could be potentially included.

Digital

The amount of ethnographic research now involving digital online spaces is telling of the need to record personal experience online. The nature of this research is necessary due to increasing human-computer interactive experience and provides a framework to understand changes to human experience that occur with digital connectivity. This looked at the conversations consisting of texts, Facebook, Instagram notifications etc.

My Theoretical Paradigm

Honestly, I have been a little bit stuck with the direction of my own theoretical framework. By focusing on the podcast I need to look at the way podcasts appeal to the audience through culture and politics. Moreover I wanted to look at how this how this particular podcast has the ability to elevate rural voices. I think I will have to do a bit more thinking and research with regards to this before my pitch presentation.

Ethical Considerations

There are a number of additional considerations that must be taken into account before I can begin my research particularly representation, voice, power and credibility (Mertens 2014).

As Mertens refers in her research to a number of ethical considerations the following I believed to be the most relevant to my media niche of podcasts.

1. The right to write honestly – being reflective on relationships with members of the wider community of stakeholders

Particularly when doing auto-ethnographic research, it is important to recognise that the observations I make are personal to me and that I cannot make assumptions on another people’s experience. Although I can be honest in my approach, I also need to balance the “shared rights to the results of the research and the implications of potential unintended harm coming from the research” by making sure I reflect within myself.

2. Confidentiality

In addition to the above, I need to be careful when observing and writing down observations that I make, particularly when it comes to observations about what other members of the community have said, not disclosing any names or otherwise in the final report of my research.

3. Use of data beyond initial purpose  

I think by sticking to my original purpose and making sure I continuously reflect on why I am doing this; I will not breach the use of the data beyond my initial purpose. If however, as mentioned in the reading, it is useful, I need to make an evaluation as to the ethics of doing so.

4. Acknowledge limitation of work

Particularly as this is auto ethnographic, it is necessary to understand much of this is gained from my participation in the field, my observations, and my analysis. This does not make it bad research it is just necessary to look at this as a limitation to be recognised.

Now I can begin writing up a pitch to then begin my fieldwork research!

– Eadie

References

Dunn T R & Myers M W 2020 ‘Contemproary Autoethnography Is Digital Autoethnography’ Journal of Autoethnography, vol. 1, no. 1, pp. 43-59.

Delabrter N 2017, ‘Field notes and participant observation in ethnographic studies: a skill summary’, accessed 27 August 2020

<https://medium.com/media-ethnography/field-notes-and-participant-observation-in-ethnographic-studies-a-skill-summary-bb74e3881258>

Emerson, R.M., Fretz R.I & Shaw L.L. 1995, Writing Ethnographic Fieldnotes, Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Markamn K M 2010, ‘Doing radio, making friends, and having fun: Exploring the motivations of independent audio podcasters’, vol. 14, no. 4, pp. 547-565.

Mertens, D (2014) Ethical Use of Qualitative Data and Findings, The Sage Handbook of Qualitative Data Analysis (Edited by Use Flick), Sage: Los Angeles, 510 – 523.

Rosenberg A. 2010, ‘Virtual world research ethics and the private/public distinction’ International Journal of Internet Research Ethics, vol 3, pp.23-37.

Vega, R P 2019 ‘Writing Field Notes and Using Them to Prompt Scholarly Writing’ International Journal of Qualitative Methods, vol. 18, pp. 1-2.

Walford G 2009 ‘The Practice of Writing Ethnographic Fieldnotes’ Ethnography and Education, vol. 4, no. 2, pp. 117-130.

ETHNOGRAPHIC RESEARCH PLANNING

The three types of analyses and observer– observed relationships discussed here fall on a theoretical ‘subjective–objective continuum’ (Goetz and LeCompte, 1981: 54) that ranges from an emphasis on external qualities (describing the empirical facts as they really are) to constructive practices (understanding how facts are made meaningful by the people in the field) (Marvasti 2014)

When considering where I want my ethnographic research to go over the course of this subject, I have decided to study in the same field of research but change my specific field to be more suited to my purpose. As my purpose is to better research how podcaster grow their audience and use their platforms in doing so, for the purpose of my own podcast, I have decided to choose a more appropriate field site.

Initially it was interesting to look at Hamish and Andy and how they do their podcast, there are several reasons why this might not be fit for the purpose. I think because they have an established audience from their radio and tv shows the field site is not as focused in the niche of podcasts. Having been an avid listener of their podcast for decades, I think it would be more interesting to look into podcasts that 1) I haven’t looked into and; 2) podcasts that are more within the same topic area and format as the one I have begun. This would be more valuable for myself and also for others who are looking at beginning podcasts without already having a following.

Mapping the new podcast

Podcast Field Map

The new podcast I am going to be looking into is a new Australian podcast, ExtraOrdinary Outback Stories. This is extremely new but has already received media coverage and over 1.5K followers on instagram. I thought this would be an interesting field site as it is two Australian women just starting out with their podcast. Due to the change from the Hamish and Andy podcast, I thought it would be a good idea to map the field site (just quickly!) before getting stuck into how I will conduct my ethnographic research and the research plan.

Production

Source 1 – Website homepage https://www.extraordinarymediaco.com/

Although their podcast is yet to go on streaming sites, they have already done profiles and interviews with three people, which has been showcased on their website and social media platforms. This gives the audience a ‘teaser’ into their podcast

Source 2- Interview profiles on their website https://www.extraordinarymediaco.com/interviews

Listening Platforms

It will be available on Spotify, iTunes and Google Podcast as well as shown on their website. I noticed they have not specified a date as to when this will be available, which initially caused some confusion.

Social Media

Source 3 – Instagram page https://www.instagram.com/extraordinaryoutbackstories/?hl=en
First post from their instagram

Their instagram as I said previously, has gained a massive following of almost 1.5K considering they only commenced posting on the 27 July 2020. Their posts have to be accessed using a device and the internet, however, you do not need an instagram log in as their page is public. Their posts have been mostly to do with introducing themselves together and as individuals, making sure to tag their individual social media pages to enable the audience to find out more about them.

They have also made sure that they repost media coverage about their podcast and the work they have been doing to increase following and audience support.

Source 4 – https://www.facebook.com/extraordinaryoutbackstories/

The Facebook for their podcast also shows similar content, including the mini videos they have made for the individuals they will be showcasing on their podcast and information regarding their website and contact. Overall their social media shows the build up in momentum for the release of the podcast, sharing all content they have across all their platforms to increase engagement.

Website

Their website as you can see in the above photos has a very clear aesthetic and layout, making it easier to navigate. Once again you do need a device and the internet to connect to this online. On the actual website, there are several tabs where you can see where to find their information. The particular thing I want to focus on is the ‘Contact us’ button, which means their audience is already able to feel involved with the podcast. This was quite clearly laid out with the below descriptions.

Personality

It is clear from the outset they both work together really well to make . In saying that I have noticed in both the social media posts and the website both showcase them as individuals, focusing them in the light of their personalities, humanising them.

I am really excited to start looking into the field site of something new and will build upon this initial mapping over the coming weeks!

A quick (but important!) note before I get started on planning

It is really important to note what is involved with the research before getting started. First, it is necessary to develop a detailed plan of what will occur each week over the four-week period and how this will be recorded. As Merriam & Tisdell note, a record needs to be made of the research absorbed by what they (being the ethnographic researchers) absorb. This enables the research to become meaningful and detailed.

This also means there must be ethical considerations to be aware of before commencing ethnographic research. This includes recording detail, making note of the human factors that implicate research such as biases, balance the right to privacy and the public interest and also have an ethical purpose for conducting studies. In keeping these in mind, ethnographic researchers can maintain an ethical standard.

Problematising

Problematising enables us to connect the potential model of framework in identifying a new trajectory for research. In order to support ethnographic research into podcasting as a niche, the following must be answered:

What are the key issues that you think are crucial to help us better understand this niche?

Audience experience

Why do audiences choose podcasts over others?

How content creators then maintain/grow/obtain their audience?

How will your research help us to better understand the niche?

Understand how podcast audiences work

Understand how podcast audiences choose their genres/podcasts

What attracts podcast audiences? How do they choose their podcast?

How podcast creators attract their audiences?

How podcast creators use other platforms to gain a following?

Who is your audience?

Future podcast creators to enable them to understand audience base and building upon their listener group.

Consider what kinds of new experiences you might explore in your media niche.

New podcasts that want to change the generic field site.

Research Plan

What are you going to do?

Over a four-week period I will be observing the above podcast in order to achieve my research of the media niche. This will include immersing myself in the field site by going through all their platforms and researching and recording observations including descriptions of the setting, people and activities and providing detailed commentary. More specifically I will start off by noting what my experiences were when becoming a member of their audience and joining their following.

How are you going to use observation and auto-ethnography to create new knowledge?

By going to a podcast that I have not listened to but has a growing audience base, I will understand further what exactly works for gaining a following and how they take the audience experience and make it something through their social media, platforms, access to podcasts.

How are you going to record field notes?

Maintain and keep a journal to record observations that have occurred in the field for 20 minutes at the end of each day. This will include both practical details about events, times, dates and places and methodological notes concerning my role, my influence on the encounter and my relationship with the informants (Dawson 2002).

Schedule of research

Week 1 – THE PROCESS

Take detailed notes of what the audience has to go through in accessing and listening to the podcast and content

Observe the processes a NEW person to the podcast has to go through!

Has it changed throughout the week?

What happens when I navigate the various channels? What does it probe me to do? Interact?

Week 2 – SHARING CONTENT

Focus on other social media feeds – Instagram, Facebook, twitter

How is it presented?

How do they engage the community and get more people involved?

Why is it different?

Week 3 – OTHER USERS

How is the audience responding over the platforms?

Consume the content

Week 4 – BROAD APPROACH

Begin to understand the podcast audience as a whole

Draw on experiences from notes from week 1-3

As noted by Leon Anderson (as mentioned in the lecture), analytic auto-ethnography requires the researcher to be fully immersive, draw attention to influence of your own experiences and note changes in their beliefs as they occur. Each of these weeks I will maintain a detailed journal of observation, making sure it is updated each day with screenshots, notes and commentary to ensure the research is as detailed and as involved as possible.

Resources

Anderson, Leon 2006, Analytic Autoethnography, Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, Vol. 35, No. 4, pp. 373-393.

Dawson Catherine (2002) How to Carry Out Participant Observation, in Practical Research Methods A User-Friendly Guide to Mastering Research Techniques and Projects, How To Books: Oxford.

Marvasti, Amir B. (2014) ‘Analysing Observations’, The SAGE Handbook of Qualitative Data Analysis. Uwe Flick editor. Sage: Los Angeles

Merriam, Sharan B.  and Tisdell,  Elizabeth J. (2016) Being a Careful Observer, in Qualitative Research: A Guide to Design and Implementation, Jossey-Bass: San Fransisco.

EXPLORING THE FIELD SITE

Mapping the Niche of Podcasts

In continuing on the ethnographic mapping of podcasts, it is necessary to delve deeper into the breakdown of the audience experience and how they grow their audience through their different means of communication. This is mapped out within the ‘field site’ that is their production, advertising, social media and their own personalities both within and surrounding the podcast.

Again, some background into why this is necessary to map out. As Creswell points out in his article ‘30 Essential Skills for the Qualitative Research’, it is necessary to gain perspective when thinking like an ethnographer. Particularly when look at the field site, you have to look at examining the processes and practices to inform your own understand of how you comprehend the world and communicate ideas. In order to do this successfully, you have to use the skill of contextualising which combines perspective, approaching and conceptualising. When mapping out the field site this means narrowing in on the niche by exploring every aspect and uncovering new information.  

For podcasts and for my exploration on the way in which podcasters grow their audiences is a concept I want to focus in on. Ultimately this research will aid my own exploration in how I grow my newly founded podcast and its audience. By mapping Hamish and Andy’s podcast in more detail, I will hopefully gain an understanding of how they attract and grow their audience.

HAMISH AND ANDY PODCAST

Production

Source 1: Hamish and Andy Homepage https://www.hamishandandy.com/
Source 2 – Click linked to podcast https://www.hamishandandy.com/podcast/

Listening platforms

Initially starting in radio, they already had quite a following when they transferred to podcast. The produce one podcast per week on multiple mediums including:

  • Hamish & Andy Website
  • Podcastone
  • iTunes Podcast
  • Spotify
  • RSS
  • Hamish & Andy App

Hamish and Andy Website

Source 3 – https://www.hamishandandy.com/contact/

The links to their websites is available on all platforms. As mentioned in the previous blog this allows the audience to access content, new videos and email the show. In addition to this, for new potential audiences’ content is available by date from May 2008 to August 2020 dated at the bottom of each page. This enables people to go through all their video content and discover what they have previously done and their personalities etc.

In addition to this they have a lot of focus on podcaster input, which I also mentioned in the previous blogpost. This is quite visual and encouraged by them, which for podcasters is really important because it feels as though they can interact with the show and get involved with it more in a ‘hands on’ approach.

Hamish and Andy App

The Hamish and Andy App can be bought via the app store for $7.99 USD per year to access additional 1,300 plus episodes to the free 30 latest episodes. In order to make this known to people when you click the podcast menu on their website it gives a step by step of how to access the app. For this you firstly need a portable phone device, it cannot be accessed on the computer.

How to access the back-catalogue

  1. Sign up and purchase a Libsyn premium access subscription
  2. Install the app on your Apple or Android device
  3. Open the app and go to Settings
  4. Sign in with your Libsyn account to unlock our entire back-catalogue!
Source 4 – https://www.hamishandandy.com/podcast/podcast-app/

When you go onto the app store to find the podcast, typing in ‘Hamish and Andy’, it is the only app that comes up. It also maintains their logo and has a whole lot of reviews (4.9 star with 1,805 ratings), which really helps potential new audiences.

YouTube

Source 5 – https://www.youtube.com/user/hamishandyofficial

Firstly, for this access to internet is required on the device the audience chooses. Their YouTube currently has 447K subscribers with their most watched video having 29M views. They tend to continue to upload video about once a week – so quite frequently, which mean their audience gets high quality content whether it be from the podcast or previous things they’ve done on the podcast and videos from their tv show, which will be discussed later.

They have made playlist sections, which makes it particularly easier for followers to find videos they are interested and watch accordingly. Overall the YouTube channel appears to be successfully laid out in that sense that it is super easy to navigate.

Connection to other content

Source 6 – https://mumbrella.com.au/hamish-and-andys-perfect-holiday-premieres-to-881000-metro-viewers-606917

Obviously as well as their podcast, they have had a series of tv shows, which means the breadth of content on their social media, website and YouTube channel is quite extensive in addition to the podcast material. This is both available online and also in hard copy disc.

Social Media

The brand has multiple social media platforms, explored in greater detail below. This requires the internet, however, all their pages are public so a log in to these websites is not necessary, a person can see it from the outset.

Twitter (1.2 million followers)

Source 7 – https://twitter.com/hamishandandy

The twitter has quite a large following. They mainly appear to repost video content and also post videos of them recording the podcast. There twitter is not active daily, but they do tend to do a couple of posts a week. When looking at the comments, they don’t tend to really interact too much with the comments. It doesn’t particularly seem to be as active as their Instagram in terms of interaction with audience in the comments.

Instagram (1 million followers)

Source 8 – https://www.instagram.com/hamishandandy/

When you click on their Instagram, it brings you to their page, which has all of their videos in the feed, which you can watch. If you click the follow button ‘suggested’ brings you to Hamish’s, Andy’s and Jack (the sound guy on their show, who also sometimes talks and partakes in quite a sizeable role in their show). This is a really good way Instagram uses the algorithm to their benefit as it means listeners don’t have to look them up, they can just follow them straight away. Again, similarly, to twitter they don’t really interact with their followers in the comments – It appears their main source of interaction is through the podcast.

Their Instagram pages really enable them to define their own personal brands and their own content, which is appealing to the audience as it feels like you are engaging with them and not solely for the podcast or the two of them as a brand together.

Facebook (2.5 million followers)

Source 9 – https://www.facebook.com/hamishandandy

The same content is readily available on Facebook again the audience really interacts with this in terms of liking, commenting and sharing the posts that they make. These are all video content based that they post on all their mediums.

Advertising

When looking for the types of advertising they get for their podcast, they have had a lot of advertising in the past not only for their own show but have appeared for other brands such as Uber eats commercial earlier this year. The more specific advertising they have had for their podcast includes billboards, tv advertisements etc. to build up momentum and gain new listeners. These are often engaging and humorous to intrigue potential newcomers.  

Overall, they have an extremely wide breadth of mediums that they use to grow their podcast and it will be interesting to explore more of how audiences react and share and grow dependent on the content they produce.

– Eadie

Resources

Crewell, J W, 30 Essential Skills for the Qualitative Researcher, SAGE Publications.