Having trouble picking topics for your podcast? Whether you’ve been doing your show for a while or you’re just about to start recording episode one, finding things to talk about can present a bit of challenge. Here are nine tips on how to pick podcast topics both you and your audience will love.
See What’s Trending
Seeking out what people are talking about online is a great way to find topics people are already interested in. The trending sections on most social media platforms are full of news stories and topics that are popular both locally and nationally. You can also check Google Trends and Pinterest Trends. Keep in mind that trending topics change constantly, so if you can’t find something relevant to your podcast theme right away, you can check back later for a new slate of options.
Join Groups on Social Media
While social media generally gives you a large scope of people, joining specific social media pages or forums will show you what the people interested in your area of expertise are talking about. Monitor these pages and forums on a regular basis so that you can talk and release episodes while the topic’s still hot. For podcasts that drop weekly, biweekly, or even monthly, this can be a beneficial place to find new information.
Listen to Your Audience
You can go further than just peeking at what your audience says online. Try creating social media groups or pages specifically around your podcast so that you can provide your listeners with a community. Ask them what their thoughts are on last week’s episode or something that happened last month and see what they say. This can help you find out what your loyal listeners like, don’t like, and, most importantly, what they want to hear about.
Watch the News
Keeping up with the news outside of social media is a great place to find topic ideas—especially if your podcast is centered around talking about current events. Subscribing to either a trusted news publication or a newsletter from an active group in your niche is a strategic way to find current events to discuss. Just make sure you do your research before talking about what’s going on. That way, you can deliver accurate information for your listeners and build up your credibility as a current events podcaster.
Talk About Personal Experiences
Ultimately, what sets you apart from other podcasts is you. Your listeners come to you for information or entertainment for a reason. Giving listeners some insight into things you’ve experienced and how you responded can strengthen that connection with your podcast listeners. While your experiences are unique to you, people are bound to have similar ones, so take advantage of that! Connecting with people is the best way to turn casual listeners into loyal subscribers.
Bring in Captivating Guests
Booking and interviewing a guest isn’t just a good way to inject a fresh dynamic into your podcast—it can help you find and explore more topics than you might’ve been able to alone. A good podcast guest should be someone who either has advanced knowledge on a topic you plan to discuss or someone who can articulate a truly unique perspective on a topic. No matter, use the opportunity of having a guest on your podcast to guide your episode’s topic and conversation.
Revisit Old Topics
Repurposing content is a convenient way to find things to talk about while still keeping your podcast fresh. Of course, you don’t want to approach a topic the same way twice. Instead, tackle the topic from a different perspective or consider the things that have changed since the first time you’ve discussed a topic. For example, if you have an economic podcast and you’ve discussed a specific stock market event in the recent past, you can talk about that same event a few months or a year after the fact and the impact it had.
Expand on Previous Topics
An easy way to find podcast topics is to take a topic from a recent episode that you wanted to dive deeper with and continue the conversation. If you know that the topic you’re going to cover has a lot of moving parts that you can’t spend too much time on, spread out the discussion over several episodes. Not only can this provide more context to something you already talked about, but it can save you from having to find new topics.
Check Out Competitors
Keep an eye on what your podcast competitors are talking about. Tuning into shows that perform similarly to yours can help show you what topics boosted or hindered their performance. Use this to your advantage, and try creating an episode on the same topic, but do it better. Even a podcast format can play a role in a competitor’s performance, so take note of what you like and don’t like about their show and how they cover their topics.
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