[BIZ TIPS] Why Aren’t My Podcast Guests Sharing?
OK, so you’ve done what you think is a killer podcast interview, you’ve done all the work and now it’s air day. Your podcast guest doesn’t share the episode, doesn’t comment on your post, and doesn’t even plug your podcast at all. What went wrong? Was it something you said? Was it something you did? Was it something you DIDN’T say? What happened?
We’re going to dive into this today, talking all about:
- Why sometimes them not sharing has absolutely NOTHING to do with you
- Asking yourself a few questions about the guest experience you provided
- Did you treat your guest like an absolute rockstar from start to finish?
- Did you make the guest feel comfortable with the line of questions?
- Did you make sure your guest was happy with the end result?
- Be understanding that they may just be so incredibly busy in their own business, and they don’t have the capacity/capability to share.
It can be hard not to take this situation personally, I speak from experience here. Hopefully today’s episode can help you look at this just a little bit differently.
Are you ready? Get listening right away by clicking the link above, or if you’re more in the mood to read today keep scrolling for the full transcription of today’s episode! Let’s do this!
Look for references from today’s episodes? Find them all here:
Episode #131 – [BIZ TIPS] How To Book Interviews & Build A Relationship With Podcast Guests
Hey, welcome back to the Room to Grow podcast and today we’re going to be talking about podcasting and I’ve gotten a lot of questions from clients about wanting podcast guests to share your episodes more. I have a lot of opinions on this especially after I saw a post about this in a Facebook group, I feel like I get my content ideas from Facebook groups just super randomly. I seem to come across things that I’m like ‘damn i need to do an entire episode’ so I have a lot of opinions about this that we’re going to get into. I have a lot to say, so let’s dive into this because I saw somebody posted in a group about requiring their guests to share the episode three times and that was part of the deal they were presenting to their guests so they had already pitched the guests, the guests had agreed to come on. Then when they sent over the details and the information to said guests, part of the deal was you need to post it once it’s up at least three times. Agree or disagree. The guest asked the host to waive that requirement, and the host said no. So they didn’t do the interview.
To me, I don’t want my guests to feel like they have homework. Of course, I want them to share, but they might also have other things going on, they might have a launch happening, they might not be in a position to add one more thing, if it isn’t in full alignment. I sometimes will be interviewed for podcasts, and I’ve done this myself with my own guests before as well. I have been interviewed for podcasts, where it doesn’t air for months and months later. I was interviewed for several different podcasts back in January, they still haven’t aired yet in May 2020. We’re nearly six months later, which I’m fine with. I know that they’ll air them eventually and it’s no big deal and I’m in contact with the hosts and I know that it’s coming down the pipeline. Sometimes people record much further out in advance. Okay, great, that’s no problem. What you need to remember is that when you do release it, then you don’t know what’s going on for your guests in that particular moment, either. Maybe they are in the middle of a launch, maybe they have multiple things to share with people. That’s actually something I’m struggling with right now, myself, I have so many balls in the air at the moment, and all of them are amazing. All of them are really cool, but I’m actually having trouble sharing everything with you guys with my audience, like whether it’s to social media, whether it’s on the podcast or whatever. I’m actually having trouble fitting in everything that I want to share without burning people out. I’m having to pick and choose what I share and to get really clear on what is most important and what I think people will benefit from the most. If I shared every single thing that was happening right now, my Instagram Stories would be 40 Slides long. It would take all day. I’m just not willing to do that. I’m not into it when my Instagram Stories are like the little dots at the top instead of the lines, that’s not my vibe, that’s just not for me. I tend to skip past the accounts like that because it just feels very overwhelming. That’s part of the thing that we have to think about here. Is that when we’re having a guest come on, I’d never want that guest to feel super obligated to me, you know? It is mutually beneficial, and of course, I would love it if they would share. I would prefer it if they would share, but I’m also understanding of the fact that sometimes shit happens. Sometimes life gets in the way.
Especially if we’re talking about a bigger name guest as well. I find it can be a little bit trickier sometimes not always by any means. This is not an across the board thing, but sometimes if a guest is a little bit bigger name and they have more programs, more things in the works, more affiliations, all of that. It’s very easy for them to end up experiencing the problem of having too many things going on. Maybe they did a podcast episode where they were interviewed about one topic, but right now they’re trying to serve their audience in a way that covers a completely different topic that maybe doesn’t tie in nearly as much with that podcast episode. That’s a little bit of a difficult balance from a business standpoint, it’s a little bit tough when we’re trying to educate your people about one thing, and then all of a sudden we drop in something completely different. It’s like ‘wait, which one does she want to focus on?’ It’s like decision fatigue for our people, and we have to be very conscious of that as the business owners, especially because we’re already in a very noisy online crowded space. There’s a lot happening. There’s a lot of noise, especially right now. With more people online than ever, with everything that’s happening in the world, there’s a lot happening online. I’m finding especially for myself, that I am much more distracted than usual. I’ve had to work really hard to train focus, and what it means is that I’m having to really limit the amount of time that I’m spending looking at other people’s stuff. I’m trying to really maintain my focus within my own work and what I’m sharing too. It’s a little bit tough, but I don’t want clients to come to me upset that a guest hasn’t shared.
Listen, I’ve experienced this and it doesn’t feel great because you both put in a lot of work and especially if you’re you know over in your corner like shouting them out and giving them props and because you love the interview from a very genuine place, and then they never say a word. I fully understand that feeling, and it’s a little bit frustrating, I completely get it, I completely get it. I just want you to recognize if your guests aren’t sharing, it can be for a wide variety of reasons, some of which may have absolutely nothing to do with you. It’s hard sometimes to not take it personally. Again, I say this as somebody who has absolutely taken it personally, but it can often have nothing to do with you. Sometimes people get distracted and stuff too, there can be a lot going on and you don’t know what’s happening in their personal life either. I can tell you though, that when I’m really excited about an interview, like this is sort of a caveat to everything I’ve said, when I’m really excited about an interview. I 100% share it, and there have been podcast episodes that I haven’t shared too, but usually because I felt the interview was subpar, maybe the host was super monotone and clearly just reading questions straight from a script, instead of truly listening to what I was saying and actually engaging, or potentially sound issues.
I was recently interviewed for a podcast, where when the host aired the interview, she added background music, I’ve never experienced before. She had added in the editing process background music to the entire interview. So it’s me talking over music for the entire thing. In my professional opinion, it completely took away from the interview itself and it killed the vibe because the music set a tone for the interview, and then I will be talking about things where the music was not at all matching the tone of what I was talking about or discussing, it was really kind of bizarre. It’s unfortunate because it’s a great interview, but I ended up feeling super weird about it because I’d just never experienced that before, and it sounded bizarre. It just sounded a little bit strange. My other problem was that it also aired with multiple errors in both the intro and the outro, and it was a reminder to me that I need to screen who I agree to be interviewed by even more closely, I’m usually very good about that. I’m also very forgiving, you know, shit happens. Like, I have fucked stuff up too. We all have. I’m very forgiving about that, but all of those factors combined, I ended up not really sharing it because even though it was good information, it just ended up feeling like it wasn’t my best work because of everything else that had gone on with the interview even in like the the post interview process, unfortunately. So here’s a better question that I want to ask, I want you to ask yourself, rather than saying, why aren’t my podcast guest sharing? I want you to instead ask yourself, how can you make the experience even better for the guests so that they’re so excited to share it, they can barely contain themselves. That way, I feel like a very overwhelming question. Some people are just better podcast guests and others. Some people naturally just speak in maybe a little bit more monotone way. That’s just the way that they talk normally. People get really nervous, which I completely understand, there’s so many factors that come into that. Ultimately what it comes down to, is you as the interviewer, if you are having guests who are consistently having guests who are not sharing over and over and over again, you’re the common factor there. This isn’t a blame thing that I don’t I don’t mean to imply that whatsoever, what I’m saying is, turn the question around, and to take responsibility for your role in this and to improve yourself even more, so that the next guest who comes on is going to be like, ‘holy shit, that was the best fucking interview I’ve ever done, the best interview, hands down’, of course, they’re going to share it.
I’m not saying that if somebody doesn’t share your interview, it doesn’t mean that you’re a bad interviewer. Not at all. I’m not equating one to the other, not even close. We have all had that every podcaster I know has had a guest on at least one guest where they didn’t share it. At least one I have had more than one. So trust Me, I think that that’s that’s the thing, but if this is happening, you know, all the time, or guests are not sharing your interviews and not pushing your interviews, you are either interviewing the wrong people who maybe aren’t aligned with you and your message, or maybe you really need to look inward to see how you can better yourself as the podcast host. That’s just a win win all around because then you improve yourself, you improve everything for the listener, you improve everything for your guests for your future guests. That’s just a win win for everybody. So I want you to ask yourself that question instead. Of course there are going to be times when you do absolutely everything right and your guest still doesn’t share, and that’s fine. Move on. Move on. I do not make it any type of requirement for my guests to share. I have on my podcast form that I teach my students about, I have at the end of my form, I say, Would you be willing to share Yes or no? I’ve always had everybody say yes, but even if they say no, that it’s not a requirement for me. If they did say no, I would maybe just be curious and question purely out of curiosity, you know, ‘can I ask you why you said no’. I’m not rattled about it or anything like that. I’m just actually curious to know, do you have something else coming up? Is there something else going on for you? Is there something that we could change? Is there something I can do to make you more comfortable? I am just curious as the podcast host, if I know in advance that that’s what somebody’s saying. I would just love to know the answer to better understand where they’re coming from. I’m not likely to turn a guest away for that. It’s not a requirement for me.
I want you to really focus on the value that the guest brings to your interview. I’m a businesswoman, and I’m providing someone with a platform to share their message. I don’t take that lightly, because I feel really strongly that I have a responsibility to anyone listening to bring on people who are going to offer them something, who are going to give them something of value, some piece of knowledge or some thought or, you know, some lesson or something like that, that they can learn from. Of course, the intention is to support each other and to have it be mutually beneficial. I often don’t share my episodes three times to go back from that original post that I saw on that Facebook group where they were requiring their guests to share three times. I often don’t get around to sharing my own episodes three times before the next one airs. So I get it like three times because you like a big commitment when there’s a lot of balls in the air and I have two different podcasts. I’m coming out with a total of three different episodes per week, two episodes here on the Room to Grow podcast and one episode on the What the Fuck is Happening podcast, which I will reference in the show notes. It’s a newer project that’s only been around for about a month or so at the time of this airing. I have a lot just with the podcasts themselves, plus anything else that I am offering like, Speak your Truth Academy right now I’ve opened the doors to speak your truth Academy to like the 12 week private coaching program that I’ve opened to help female entrepreneurs build businesses. Great, I have that going on. I’m also an affiliate for several other programs right now, there’s a lot happening, and I have to be very careful with what I’m sharing and in the right ways and in ways that offer the most value to the people listening or watching. I’ve also had a bit of a situation where a guest of mine was a bit overwhelmed after they shared their story on my podcast, and it was the first time that they had come forward on the podcasting platform. They were inundated with really, really heavy messages and DMS afterwards. It was, it was kind of a lot for them energetically, and so they didn’t really share the episode when they didn’t share the episode, because I just happened to have a closer personal relationship with them. I just checked in with them to see if they were okay. I’m like, you know, is everything cool? A lot of people reached out to me saying how much they enjoyed the episode and stuff too. I just want to make sure you’re okay, and they kind of shared with me that they’re a little bit overwhelmed, out of respect for them and to try and protect them as much as possible – I’m so protective of anyone I consider to be my people, my inner circle, I will I will always go to bat for you – I’m also incredibly protective of my podcast guests too, and out of respect for them as both a guest and as a friend, and to try to protect them as much as possible, I never shared that episode again. It’s actually continued to do incredibly well. It’s in the top 20 of my most downloaded episodes, but I have never shared it because I’m very protective of that person, and I want to make sure that they’re okay.
These are the types of things that I want you to start thinking about, and to not just write somebody off and just get pissed off and throw your hands up in the air, if a guest doesn’t share an episode, it is far more nuanced than that. Far more nuanced than that. So let’s talk about how to make an awesome guest experience. First of all, treat your guests like fucking rockstars. Treat them like a rockstar, show them all kinds of respect, be excited that you’re bringing them on because you fucking should be. They’re giving you their time, their effort, their energy, and if you aren’t really pumped to have them on then then they might not be the right guest for you to be bringing on anyway. There’s a reason why every time I bring on a guest, I always seem to start with ‘guys I’m so excited today’, because I am legitimately fucking pumped that I have that person on and that I that I get to have a job where I get to speak to really cool humans for an hour and then get to air and interview where we Just get to talk about all kinds of really cool shit. That is so amazing to me that will never cease to amaze me, and I love every minute of it. So when I say I’m really excited to bring you a person, I am really excited to bring you that person. Really excited. Let them know that because people can sense that energy about you. So if you’re bringing on guests that you weren’t excited about, and you’re just going through the motions, then you need to shake something up, you need to mix it up a little bit. I bet that your podcast might not be doing quite as well as you want it to, if you also have that energy, because again, people can sense that energy. People can feel that even through their microphones or through their earbuds. So treat your guests like a rockstar. You know, give them kind of the full experience. Let them know why you’re excited to speak to them all from a genuine place. I’m always going to underscore that we do not bullshit people around here. If I’m really excited to talk to somebody, it’s because I’m actually really excited to talk about Somebody and I’m never going to blow smoke up someone’s ass just to make them feel good or stroke their ego or something. If I’m excited, it’s because I’m actually excited.
Follow up with them. This is something that I see fall by the wayside a lot is that sometimes when a podcast interview comes out where I’ve been interviewed, the guests won’t even let me know, they won’t even tell me or I’ll just randomly get a DM because they’ve shared it in their stories, but they never even told me directly that it was out. Make sure to follow up with a guest when the podcast interview comes out. Send them an email first, before you share it on social media or anywhere else, send them an email to let them know that it’s out and send them you know, some graphics that they can share. Make it easy for them, make it super, super easy for them and tell them you know which platforms the podcast is available on let them know where they can find the show notes, all of that information, make sure to send that to them and go the extra mile. I always try to send my podcast guests something, usually via snail mail when I can manage it in Bali. For people that I interviewed while I was in Bali, that was a little bit tricky. I wasn’t really able to do as much of that, but when I am in more developed countries or in North America, I always try to send my guests something via snail mail. So I’ll send them a little gift. I’ll send them a handwritten thank you note, I’ll send them something to show my genuine gratitude and appreciation for them, because again, it’s not just because they came on the podcast is because they have enriched my life in some way. That’s why I’m reaching out to them in the first place because I already know how much value they offer, and I want my people to be able to experience that for yourself and to introduce you to them somehow. I’m a connector at heart so I always want to be able to make those kinds of connections. If I meet a really fucking cool human, I want to connect them with more really fucking cool humans, because that’s where all the magic happens.
So make it easy for them to go the extra mile, follow up and treat your guests like a rock star. I go into this more in Episode 131, all about how to book interviews and build a relationship with podcast guests as well. I do a deep dive on this. So if you want more about how to make a really awesome guest experience, that’s the best place to start. This is just kind of the tip of the iceberg, and I’m just really fired up about this because I just see sometimes these podcast hosts out there that are just bitching and complaining. I’m like, okay, but what are you doing? Like, are you taking responsibility for your role in this? And how can you be better? How can you do better? How can you show up better? How can you offer more value? Those are the kinds of questions that you need to be asking. Not bitching and complaining because your podcast guests refuse to share your episode three times. Fuck that shit. That’s not how we do this here.
We all need to take responsibility for ourselves first and foremost, and the best way to do that is to start taking ownership and to start looking inward to see how you can show up even bigger and better. There are definitely still going to be times where guests maybe just don’t share or kind of fall off your radar or whatever. We have to develop a little bit of a thicker skin there too,because it isn’t always about us. It can sometimes have absolutely nothing to do with us, but it’s very easy to fall into the trap of feeling that way. I fully understand that 100% I’ve been there 100 times and I’m certain I will fall or at least start to fall into that hole again in the future. I’m certain of that. Hopefully at this point, I’ve developed enough tools that I can talk myself out of the hole a little bit faster because it is hard to not take that personally. I really want to encourage you to start looking at this a little bit differently.
Thank you so much for listening. I am always so grateful that you tune in. I really, really appreciate you always listening and showing up for me. If there are things that you want me to talk about if there are things that you have questions around, you know, with mental health, online business, podcasting, relationships, all of these types of things, please send me a message you can send me an email over at [email protected] or shoot me a DM @EmilyGoughCoach. I would just love to thank you for listening anyway. So please feel free to reach out and share this episode with somebody who needs to hear it. Thank you so much for listening from the bottom of my heart. I can’t even tell you how much it means to me. I will be back on Thursday!
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