Episode 92
What makes high quality podcast show notes
How much time and effort do you put into your podcast episode show notes?
As a podcaster, producer and judge on the Webby Awards and Australian Podcasting Awards, I am exposed to a lot of podcasts.
And one of the biggest variables is the quality of the show notes.
I can understand why podcasters don’t generally put a heap of time into their show notes, because podcasting is an audio platform (video too these days). People don’t come to your podcast to read your show notes.
They come to listen to or watch your episode.
But what you’re missing out on here is the increased reach that you could be taking advantage of from the episode you took the time to record.
Show notes do not have to be just a summary of your podcast episode within a couple of sentences or a paragraph. They can be a valuable tool for engaging your audience and expanding your reach.
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Transcript
What makes good quality
Speaker:podcast show notes?
Speaker:There are so many ways that you
Speaker:can attack a show notes type
Speaker:situation for your podcast.
Speaker:And I'm going to break down what
Speaker:we do here at Bamby Media, what
Speaker:we do for our clients, so that you
Speaker:understand what the value of putting
Speaker:a little bit more effort into them is.
Speaker:Can give you, we have come across
Speaker:a lot of podcasts that don't put
Speaker:a lot of thought actually into the
Speaker:show notes that they are providing.
Speaker:I've come across them through
Speaker:the judging that I've done.
Speaker:I have now been a judge on the Webby
Speaker:Awards, the Australian Podcasting
Speaker:Awards, and the Signal Awards.
Speaker:This is one area where I see.
Speaker:See just across the board that
Speaker:there was a lack of thought and
Speaker:attention placed on the show notes.
Speaker:And I really think that you're
Speaker:missing out on a opportunity here
Speaker:to do something once that then will
Speaker:give you much more to play with.
Speaker:I also come across this when
Speaker:we're doing a free podcast audit.
Speaker:So we have a free podcast audit.
Speaker:service where you can submit your show
Speaker:and you will have our audio editors
Speaker:and myself listen to your show and
Speaker:then give you valuable feedback.
Speaker:It's within 48 hours.
Speaker:It's a really good service.
Speaker:And uh, I would recommend that everyone
Speaker:does that because there is just no
Speaker:reason why you wouldn't really, if you
Speaker:want some valuable feedback, go for it.
Speaker:And so I see that there as well.
Speaker:The show notes.
Speaker:just lack any sort of real depth.
Speaker:They're a lot of the time
Speaker:a couple of paragraphs.
Speaker:If that, mostly maybe a couple of
Speaker:sentences and maybe some links.
Speaker:But what's the point of that?
Speaker:And I get that people go to podcast
Speaker:players to listen to a podcast.
Speaker:They don't go there to
Speaker:read a bunch of show notes.
Speaker:I 100 percent get that.
Speaker:But what I want you to try
Speaker:and think about is if I create
Speaker:something that's more valuable.
Speaker:Can I put it in other places?
Speaker:The answer is yes.
Speaker:We write full on articles
Speaker:for each podcast episode.
Speaker:And this is what we do with
Speaker:our clients that are on bigger
Speaker:packages with us as well.
Speaker:We write big detail, key worded.
Speaker:show notes, multiple paragraphs,
Speaker:headings, things that we feel like it
Speaker:just, it's a solid piece of content.
Speaker:It's a solid piece of writing that
Speaker:works with your podcast, but can
Speaker:also stand alone as its own thing.
Speaker:Because then what we do with that,
Speaker:One piece is that we then pull out
Speaker:the first maybe three paragraphs.
Speaker:So we always write in a way
Speaker:where the top three paragraphs
Speaker:can be by themselves as well.
Speaker:We pull them out and then we use
Speaker:them on the podcast platforms.
Speaker:So we put it into the back end of
Speaker:Captivate, which is the podcast
Speaker:host that we use for our show.
Speaker:I'll put a link to Captivate.
Speaker:They're really good.
Speaker:We also use that same
Speaker:description for YouTube because
Speaker:we know that this is targeted.
Speaker:We've put effort into searching
Speaker:for keywords, looking at what
Speaker:people search for, and then making
Speaker:sure our show notes hit that.
Speaker:So then we have good keywords in
Speaker:our top couple of paragraphs for
Speaker:podcast platforms and YouTube, and
Speaker:then with our full length article,
Speaker:our big juicy, meaty thing that we've
Speaker:spent decent time on, we put that on
Speaker:LinkedIn as a full length article.
Speaker:And that requires a
Speaker:little bit more finessing.
Speaker:You need some graphics, some gifs,
Speaker:some quote areas, things that make it
Speaker:really feel like it is its own piece.
Speaker:And if you want some examples of
Speaker:that, go to our LinkedIn, which
Speaker:I'll put in the show notes here,
Speaker:so that you can access it easily.
Speaker:And you'll be able to see the articles.
Speaker:We have a lot.
Speaker:of articles in there and they're all
Speaker:really hefty With links to all the
Speaker:things in the bottom of them as well
Speaker:and also to our youtube videos So you're
Speaker:getting that post to linkedin from
Speaker:the article, which is your show notes
Speaker:Then you can also post that article in
Speaker:your newsletter if you want to use it
Speaker:just in full as a newsletter article.
Speaker:That's fine Substack beehive whoever your
Speaker:host is for your newsletter You can use
Speaker:that whole thing there or you can pull
Speaker:segments out of it and do it that way.
Speaker:You can also pull segments out of
Speaker:that long article for like a really
Speaker:good description on your Instagram
Speaker:posts or on your, again, your
Speaker:LinkedIn posts or a Twitter thread.
Speaker:You can use a few little sentences
Speaker:from within that because it's all
Speaker:content and it's all coming from
Speaker:that one big juicy article that you
Speaker:bothered to write in the first place.
Speaker:To me, that's just a massive.
Speaker:Time saver.
Speaker:You get that piece of content
Speaker:and you're able to spread it
Speaker:to a bunch of different places.
Speaker:And you can also use that
Speaker:article on Medium if you like
Speaker:Medium or if you feel like your
Speaker:community might also be on Medium.
Speaker:It's a great place to share articles.
Speaker:It's a great place to
Speaker:showcase your writing.
Speaker:If you love to write or if you
Speaker:have us here at Bambi Media doing
Speaker:your content writing for you.
Speaker:Those articles will be really
Speaker:good on that platform as well.
Speaker:And it exposes you to a
Speaker:completely different audience.
Speaker:Now some people go, yeah, okay.
Speaker:That feels like a little
Speaker:bit of effort though.
Speaker:Can't I just put my transcript in there?
Speaker:Yeah, you can do that.
Speaker:You can just have a transcript instead
Speaker:of writing a big old article, but
Speaker:it's not going to be as keyworded.
Speaker:It's not going to be as strategic
Speaker:as actually doing a proper
Speaker:article for your show notes.
Speaker:And then the other place we
Speaker:obviously put the full length
Speaker:article is on our website.
Speaker:So we have a blog article for
Speaker:every single podcast episode.
Speaker:This all helps with search
Speaker:engine optimization.
Speaker:And so again, we've done the
Speaker:one thing we've recorded a
Speaker:podcast, which we did on video.
Speaker:We've pulled the audio
Speaker:out of that as well.
Speaker:And then we've written content, big,
Speaker:long, Bits of content, a full article
Speaker:that then we've pulled bits out of
Speaker:for podcast platforms, for YouTube.
Speaker:You could put some on Pinterest,
Speaker:Instagram comments, Twitter threads
Speaker:or X threads, Instagram threads.
Speaker:You can pull all this stuff
Speaker:out of there and use it.
Speaker:effectively reach a wider audience than
Speaker:you would be reaching without doing that.
Speaker:There is no downside to doing this.
Speaker:Yes, it's going to take you a little
Speaker:bit longer to do, but it's going to
Speaker:be a better use of your time overall.
Speaker:If you suck at writing, if you're like,
Speaker:this is just not for me, a zone that
Speaker:I'm comfortable in, then you can use
Speaker:platforms like ChatGPT or CastMagic.
Speaker:I'll put a link to CastMagic here.
Speaker:You can upload your transcript or your
Speaker:mp3 or your video and it will give you an
Speaker:article and also a bunch of other things.
Speaker:We start with AI but then
Speaker:we Take it a lot further.
Speaker:So the AI uses the same
Speaker:sort of words all the time.
Speaker:There's no personality.
Speaker:Even if it's saying it's going
Speaker:to deliver your tone, it doesn't.
Speaker:It's just not good enough yet,
Speaker:but it's a great place to start.
Speaker:That kind of thing is
Speaker:a really valuable tool.
Speaker:If you use Descript to edit your
Speaker:podcast already, then you can go to
Speaker:the AI section of Descript and just
Speaker:ask AI, write, Blog post and that
Speaker:will be a full length article as well.
Speaker:I have found that it's just not that
Speaker:great yet But it's certainly something
Speaker:that we tweak and play with and it helps
Speaker:get over that Creative hump where you
Speaker:feel like you just don't know where
Speaker:to start and so those kind of tools
Speaker:are really good for that purpose But
Speaker:definitely make a bunch of changes and
Speaker:have them keyworded properly so that
Speaker:it is your work not the robots work I
Speaker:hope that's been helpful for you today.
Speaker:If you have any comments and you're
Speaker:over on YouTube, just leave a comment.
Speaker:I'd love to reply to that.
Speaker:I try and get to all of them
Speaker:and I want to know what your
Speaker:struggles are with that.
Speaker:If you're interested in this kind of
Speaker:podcaster related content, hit the
Speaker:like button, the subscribe button.
Speaker:I hope this has been valuable.
Speaker:And if you're on podcast
Speaker:platforms, just thank you.
Speaker:Thank you for having me in your ears.
Speaker:I know how valuable it is
Speaker:to feel like you're learning
Speaker:something and being educated.
Speaker:And I hope that I'm able to
Speaker:deliver that for you as well.
Speaker:Thanks so much.
Speaker:And I hope you have a great day.
