When it comes to doing a podcast it can be easy to think that all it requires is releasing a daily, weekly or monthly episode of the same stuff over and over again.
But the thing that makes a good podcast great is the creators ability to take what they are already making and expand on it.
Being able to take throwaway comments from a guest, or a random comment online from a listener and turn it into a whole new bit of content is what makes a podcast the kind of show that listeners will become addicted to.
Now that’s easy to say but just how do you expand on existing content? Well these are the 4 main ways:
Expand Episodes Segments
The most obvious way is, if you have podcast segments or features, just take those and turn them into entire episodes.
You could start with 1 podcast a week where you have a segment where you rant about a topic, a segment where you take listeners thoughts and a segment where you brainstorm a wacky idea.
These are hypothetical segments and many podcasts might not have such blatant segments, but most will have a few different ideas in one episode.
The next step is to literally take these short segments and make them a full episode. The rant segment can be a deep dive on a particular topic where you have done a lot of research and explain things in detail. The listeners thoughts segment can be an episode where you take listeners thoughts and discuss them on multiple topics, or even have the listener on the show. The wacky idea can be a stunt or experiment you go and do and then record an episode with audio from that stunt where you explain what happened.
Suddenly you have 3 episodes a week and a whole bunch more content for the listeners to enjoy.
Create New Episode Segments
Of course if you don’t think you have enough segments on the show, or need to replace some, that is the first step. Take a long, hard look at your last few podcast episodes. Was there something you said that listeners have reacted to strongly in the comments on your social media? Or maybe you had a guest say something especially powerful.
The trick is to look at that and see what additional content you can gain from it. Maybe it’s just a follow up topic to be discussed in the next episode, or maybe it’s a regular segment.
For instance, maybe a guest said they had a pet dog called Letitia and you thought that was an odd name for a dog. You could have listeners submit their pets names and your co-host reads them to you and you have to guess the kind of animal that pet might be. Suddenly you have a segment that involves your listeners, is a bit of fun and can go for as long as you like.
So take a long hard look at everything that has been said on your show and see what you can do.
Create Bonus Episodes
Don’t be afraid to just throw out an extra episode now and then. Maybe you had an interview that wasn’t as long as normal, or you had a funny idea you wanted to discuss with your co-host that wouldn’t fit in your normal podcast.
Take that short interview, or record that short idea and release it as additional content. No good listener is going to be upset that they just got extra content!
Or if you aren’t confident turning it into an episode, repurpose it as digital content. A blog post or short video is just another bit of content your listeners will love and devour.
Whether it’s creating new episodes, new segments, or even just an extra 3 minute discussion on your show, it’s always a good idea to keep asking yourself “What else can I do with what I have discussed on the show?”.
