Cross-Media Promotions for Your Podcast with Anna Van Valin of Every Day is a Food Day
Podcast Bestie, the Podcast
Episode 5 Show Notes
Guest: Anna Van Valin, independent podcast producer, consultant, and host of the Every Day is a Food Day podcast
Host: Courtney Kocak, Podcast Bestie founder
Hey Besties! Today, we're taking an out-of-the-box approach to podcast collaborations. Our guest is Anna Van Valin, an independent podcast producer, consultant, and host of the Every Day is a Food Day podcast. Anna is an advocate for cross-media promotions, which is a different way to go about the whole promo swap strategy. In this episode, she shares how she got started, some great case studies, and tips for pitching brands for this type of collaboration. Plus, we discuss whether Instagram Reels are worth it for indie podcasters.
Check out Anna’s podcast, Every Day is a Food Day.
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Thanks to Michael Castañeda for mixing and mastering this episode. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram @plasticaudio.
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TRANSCRIPT
[00:00:03] ANNA VAN VALIN: Hi, my name is Anna Van Balan. I'm an independent podcast producer and consultant and the host of the podcast, Every Day is a Food Day. [00:00:10]
[00:00:11] COURTNEY KOCAK: Hey, Podcast Besties. Welcome back to the show dedicated to making your podcast the best it can be. I'm Courtney Kocak, your BFF, and helping you grow and monetize your show. And today for episode number five, we are doing something totally different. That is right. I got to keep switching it up, keep you guys guessing. Our guest Anna Van Valin has had a truly unique career trajectory from actor to 20th Century Fox recruit where she schemed her way into developing executive producing and hosting their first-ever podcast. That's a pretty awesome claim to fame these days. As an indie podcaster herself and a podcast consultant, Anna is an advocate for cross-media collaborations, which is a different way to go about the whole promo swap strategy. So Anna is going to share how she got started. Some really great case studies to get your wheels turning and her tips for how you can pitch brands. But of course, we have to start with Anna's podcasting origin story. [00:01:14]
[00:01:15] ANNA VAN VALIN: So my background is actually as an actor, writer, director. That's what I did for many, many, many years. I trained at NYU and Rada. I got my Masters of Fine Arts at Brown, and that's what I was doing for a long time. Plus, you know, living that life where you're waking up and going to your survival job at a media company and then at lunchtime getting in a cab and going across town so you can audition for a commercial and then leaving work and going to like perform Shakespeare off-Broadway and then getting up the next day and doing it again. And I just had a moment one day where I was like, I'm going to die. Like, This is how I die. They're going to find my body on the one train like, like in a yard. So I decided I wanted to move to Los Angeles, take a break from that rat race, and really find a way to combine my creative background and then also learning about the industry. And I actually got recruited by 20th Century Fox Film Company. [00:02:07]
[00:02:07] COURTNEY KOCAK: Oh, nice to do what? [00:02:08]
[00:02:09] ANNA VAN VALIN: Yeah. So I actually chose to go into the Strategy and Business Development Department because I wanted to learn more about the industry, which was just like a lot of guys in blue button downs named Nick. It was pretty much what I was working with, but I started working on some fan engagement projects for our franchise films, so not directly on the films, but things like a Predator app or a miniseries for Alien or I did some Comic-Con activations for Planet of the Apes, and then this idea of doing podcasts to celebrate our films was like floating around and in my brain I was like, This is perfect. This is totally a way that I can do my creative thing, right, direct, you know, host form, but also have it be, you know, a business endeavor. And I totally waited. I never mentioned that I should be the one to make it. I just waited until we got there and they were like, Who's going to host it? Anna Were you an actor? And I was like, Me? Oh my gosh, you guys. I hadn't even thought about that. I guess I could try it. [00:03:16]
[00:03:16] COURTNEY KOCAK: Smart. [00:03:16]
[00:03:18] ANNA VAN VALIN: And so I developed executive produce and hosted the first ever podcast from 20th Century Fox, which was called Screen Dive, where we celebrated our beloved catalog films like Devil Wears Prada and The Sandlot and Young Frankenstein. I got to interview Mel Brooks, which I will never miss an opportunity to work that into a conversation. And then grand plans for a bigger department and network. But unfortunately, Disney bought the studio and shut it down. So, yeah, I'm over it. [00:03:48]
[00:03:48] COURTNEY KOCAK: So how long were you there? [00:03:49]
[00:03:50] ANNA VAN VALIN: Four and a half years. [00:03:51]
[00:03:51] COURTNEY KOCAK: Okay. But you got to cut your teeth in podcasting while you were there. [00:03:54]
[00:03:54] ANNA VAN VALIN: Yeah, I got to cut my teeth. I got my first taste of it, and it really was a combination of all the things that I was passionate about. I loved the low barrier to entry. I felt like it was something that you could do from 20th Century Fox to like a chick in her living room. Literally. [00:04:09]
[00:04:10] COURTNEY KOCAK: Like us right now. Yeah. [00:04:11]
[00:04:13] ANNA VAN VALIN: And here we are. And I so I started to do consulting with like entertainment companies who wanted to pivot into podcasting and then COVID hit and that dried up real fast. But what I could do was produce. So I built my home studio. I decided to produce my own stuff. And just like I wanted to learn about the industry, to be more well-rounded on that side, I was like, I should learn how to edit. I should learn how to record, I should learn how to put this together so that I have that 360 view of making a show. And so I've been doing that and then helping other people do that as well. [00:04:48]
[00:04:49] COURTNEY KOCAK: So tell us about your show. That it's going right now, right? [00:04:54]
[00:04:54] ANNA VAN VALIN: We just finished our third season. [00:04:55]
[00:04:56] COURTNEY KOCAK: Yes. [00:04:56]
[00:04:57] ANNA VAN VALIN: So it's called Every Day is a Food Day, and it's about the stories, scandals, history and holidays behind your favorite food. So every episode we pick a favorite food or beverage and we just nerd out on it and we look at the history of it, significant stories, wacky stories behind it, you know, food, culture, food crimes, a lot of food crimes, people. [00:05:16]
[00:05:17] COURTNEY KOCAK: Really? [00:05:17]
[00:05:18] ANNA VAN VALIN: A ton of food crimes. And it's just great fun. We love talking about hidden figures, the women and BIPOC people who contributed to our commerce, our recipes, our culture in ways that have not been acknowledged. And it has been a great opportunity for me to learn about marketing and promotion and get really creative and scrappy doing it independently. So I'm excited to talk to you about one particular way that we've done that. [00:05:45]
[00:05:46] COURTNEY KOCAK: Yes. First, I want to get you know, so you launched this show in the pandemic, right? [00:05:51]
[00:05:51] ANNA VAN VALIN: Yeah. [00:05:51]
[00:05:51] COURTNEY KOCAK: And what were your big, like growth milestones with the show? And maybe these go in tandem with what we're about to talk about. [00:05:58]
[00:05:59] ANNA VAN VALIN: I think that once we got into it, once we got like six or ten episodes in, I felt like there was starting to be some sort of word of mouth and we got into the groove. And then after we did our first season about like ten episodes, we took a hiatus, which I really recommend to people because it gives you a chance to slow down, not just be trying to keep up with your production schedule, look back at what you've been doing, pull your audience and see what worked and see what you can do more. And that really gave us a moment to regroup. Think about how we want to plan the next season and do some partnerships, do some bonus episodes, like really play with that. And then when we went into our second season, there was a big jump there. We really hit our stride with our format, with our process, and then also had really discovered these colors of different ways we could reach out to other podcasters, reach out to other, you know, places and companies and sort of elevated and give the audience more just like more stuff that they would love. And so that was a big one, was starting our second season, having a few great guests on the show and just the quality of, you know, it was interesting. I listened to the season one like finale or a later episode and we were like, Hey guys. So when you talk about popcorn, um, we hope you like it. And then in the second season we're like, What up? It's French fry day, you know, just that confidence. [00:07:21]
[00:07:22] COURTNEY KOCAK: Yeah. You find your, your voice. Yeah. [00:07:25]
[00:07:25] ANNA VAN VALIN: Yeah. [00:07:25]
[00:07:28] COURTNEY KOCAK: As season one sponsor of this very podcast mowPod is already helped podcast bestie reached number one on the Apple Podcasts. How to chart. That's right. We did it best. He is. We are moving on up. We are moving up the charts. And I want to keep moving up the charts. And if you are feeling the same way about your podcast. mowPod is an effective, targeted way to promote your show. And you don't have to take my word for it. It's already trusted by industry giants like Conde Nast, iHeartMedia and the HubSpot Podcast Network, and that's because it works. But mowPod isn't just for the big guys. mowPod Boost is perfect for indie podcasters like us. It's actually been my favorite paid advertising experiment to date. You know that if you are a paid best subscriber and you could try it for just $100. Plus, if you're a Bestie, you get 10% off with the link in the description. And if you don't use that referral link, I am going to be so mad at you because you get 10% off y'all. You work hard on your podcast. You invest a lot of time. I know you do, and it's worth it to invest some money to help your audience find you. I firmly believe that. I'd rather release fewer episodes and spend a little extra time and money on the promotion, so give it a try for yourself. Let me know what you think. Make sure you use that link in the description. [00:08:57]
[00:09:01] COURTNEY KOCAK: Tell us about you know, you guys have done some really effective cross promotions, it looks like. So I want to hear all about your strategy with this and like some good case studies. [00:09:11]
[00:09:12] ANNA VAN VALIN: So, yeah, today I want to talk a bit about cross media promotional partnerships. So I know there's a lot out there about podcast promo swaps, which I think are great. You know, you you promote somebody else's podcast, they promote yours. You know that the person who or the people who are hearing those are podcast listeners. So you've got that in. But my thought is that podcast listeners are three dimensional people and they have lots of interest. They use lots of media, lots of different products, and it can be just as effective to partner with those brands or those companies to introduce your listeners to something new that they'll love and also expand your reach to the users readers, you know, customers of your partner as well. So you can really tap into that three dimensionality and find a whole world of opportunities to cross-promote. And some of the reasons I love doing this, the like cross media non audio partnerships is one, it's noncompetitive. Like there is— as much as you want to support other podcasters. People do have limited eartime, you know, and so there is a little bit of a risk that somebody has limited eartime. They're going to try out this other podcast and be like, Mm, listen to this. Now there is that little risk. It generates a ton of reusable content for both sides. We're all lost in the content quagmire, right? So this is a new campaign to have ideas about content assets to create. You can build your network beyond just the podcast community, which can make all kinds of connections and resources for you. And another thing is you get to support other creators. You know, you're not just getting a boost, you're giving a boost. So if it's another creator that you believe in, that your values are aligned, that's a big draw too. [00:10:57]
[00:10:58] COURTNEY KOCAK: Explain that one, like an example. [00:11:00]
[00:11:01] ANNA VAN VALIN: Like if there's... I don't know, we wanted to support other female creators, so we specifically partnered with the one that gave me the idea for this whole thing, who is a woman I used to work with who was building an app, right? Or another female business owner who had a subscription box company. So other female creators, we wanted to lift them up as well. Small businesses, we wanted to lift them up as well, and especially people who we felt like their mission was in line with ours. [00:11:28]
[00:11:29] COURTNEY KOCAK: Okay, so yeah, because this is a little bit out of the box versus how people normally conceptualize this. So like what was your first foray into this? And like, how did you get the idea and how did it go down? [00:11:40]
[00:11:41] ANNA VAN VALIN: So the first one was a partnership with the Manna Recipe app. So this is an app created by my great friend Rachel Aubrey, and it is like Tinder for recipes. People put up recipes, they put up recipes. You swipe left or right, you create your own cookbook. You put up pictures when you've made the recipes like it's social cooking, right? We hadn't talked in a few years. We used to work together. We hadn't talked for a few years. And I saw her posting about this on LinkedIn and other places. So I just reached out to her and was like, Hey, we're both in the food space, let's connect. We chatted and we're like, Oh, what's these are very different things, but let's figure out some way that we can collaborate. And then in that hiatus I talked about, we did an audience survey, and one of the questions that we asked was, When do you like to listen to the podcast in terms of like, What are you doing? And the most common response is they listened while they cooked, and two thirds of our respondents said they consider themselves home chefs. So we were like, People listen while they cook. Let's give them something to cook. [00:12:44]
[00:12:45] COURTNEY KOCAK: Yes. [00:12:45]
[00:12:46] ANNA VAN VALIN: So I reached back out to Rachel and I was like, What if we made recipe tie ins for the episodes? So we would make our episode. We'd find some recipe that was fun that had to do with the food we were talking about, post it in the app, her app, and then promote that, create a bunch of social media, you know, a bunch of assets and cross-promote that. So we called it Cook the Podcast and then we did things like we did an episode called As American as Apple Pie and did a recipe for apple pie turnovers. We did one about salad called Let me See That Tong. And so we did a smashed cucumber salad. We did one about takeout, so we made dumplings and it was just really, really fun, you know, It was a creative thing. And then we had people, you know, send us pictures if they made the food while they were listening to the episode. And, you know, we dropped the episode and then dropped the recipe the same day and we both saw a little bump. [00:13:46]
[00:13:47] COURTNEY KOCAK: Oh, really? [00:13:47]
[00:13:47] ANNA VAN VALIN: We both saw a little bump. [00:13:48]
[00:13:49] COURTNEY KOCAK: And you heard back from people or naw? [00:13:50]
[00:13:51] ANNA VAN VALIN: Yeah, we heard back from some people that they made the recipe and it was super fun. Great. So that was one that again, we got to support their app. They supported us. We reached out. A whole new audience. And also I liked that one because it was digital forward, right? It's an app. So if people are already using that kind of app, if they're already kind of first adopters, they're probably listen to podcasts. [00:14:12]
[00:14:12] COURTNEY KOCAK: Mm hmm. [00:14:13]
[00:14:13] ANNA VAN VALIN: Or at least more able to navigate, you know, how to find the podcast app on their phone and listen to it. So that was one of the first ones that we did. And that really got me thinking, what else is there? There's blogs, there's consumer products, there's like events, there's other websites, there's digital brands, influencer accounts, there's all kinds of things that we could partner with and give our audience something cool, something new. [00:14:37]
[00:14:38] COURTNEY KOCAK: So, okay, where do you take it from, from there? I would love to hear a couple more case studies if you got them. [00:14:44]
[00:14:45] ANNA VAN VALIN: Yeah. So another one that we did was a giveaway. Mm hmm. Because just like these tie ins, you know, you can do, like, profiles and write ups, You can do digital downloads, you can do product bundles, like all kinds of stuff that you can do once you open it up past audio. So we found another company called Pantry Party. And similar with with the cooking idea, she had a monthly subscription box that was like pantry items to make your food better. So it was like, Oh, mommy. And sauces and spices and little gadgets and things like that. So we created a giveaway with the point of capturing emails. So it was like a raffle. So if people wanted to enter the giveaway, they dropped their email, which opted into both of our email lists and they were got an entry for this giveaway. And it was just like she didn't have to do anything extra. It was like the box that she was sending out, or it was a seasonal box she was sending out. We also put some Food Day swag in there and we raffled it off. We created assets that we cross promoted in all our channels and we ran that for a month. And then we did that giveaway and then we had the winner send us pictures of her cooking with the staff and listen to the show. And, you know, it was just another way to enhance that experience that we knew was important to our listeners. [00:16:00]
[00:16:01] COURTNEY KOCAK: And how many emails did you get? [00:16:02]
[00:16:03] ANNA VAN VALIN: Oh, I don't remember. But it was like. [00:16:04]
[00:16:05] COURTNEY KOCAK: Like worth it? [00:16:05]
[00:16:05] ANNA VAN VALIN: Like it was worth it. It was like dozens upon dozens of emails. [00:16:09]
[00:16:10] COURTNEY KOCAK: That's a good one. [00:16:10]
[00:16:11] ANNA VAN VALIN: Yeah. So another one that was really fun was we did an episode on honey. If you want to hear about food crimes, honey crimes are rampant. International scandals, beehive theft, it's a whole thing regardless of the honey episode. But we touched on mead, and I've done a bunch of research cause I'm a nerd and I came across this meadery in Flagstaff, Arizona, that had their own podcast called The Drinking Horn Mead Cast, and I thought theirs was the best. Like I listened to all these podcast from like National Geographic and like these, you know, real outlets, but like these dudes in Flagstaff, shrinking meat out of a stein like theirs was absolutely the best. So I reached out to them and said, You know, I love your show. I just want to let you know, we give you a shout out, you know, indie podcaster to any podcaster if you ever want to collaborate. I felt like their show had a similar vibe to ours and they wrote back like in seconds. And we're like, Yes, let's do it. So what we decided to do was a crossover episode. [00:17:08]
[00:17:09] COURTNEY KOCAK: Uh huh. [00:17:09]
[00:17:09] ANNA VAN VALIN: So we did a crossover episode where we were all talking about me. They were talking about their story, why they love mead. And we did our thing, our shtick of like, cool stories. I did, like, mead and mythology, right? [00:17:20]
[00:17:20] COURTNEY KOCAK: Uh huh. [00:17:21]
[00:17:21] ANNA VAN VALIN: Except, of course, our model — we did this with a wine episode, a margaritas episode — is: obviously you need to be drinking the beverage for research for authenticity. Right? [00:17:30]
[00:17:30] COURTNEY KOCAK: Of course. [00:17:30]
[00:17:31] ANNA VAN VALIN: So the guys shipped me and my co-host, Leah each a box of mead. [00:17:35]
[00:17:36] COURTNEY KOCAK: Oh, fun. [00:17:36]
[00:17:37] ANNA VAN VALIN: And then as we were drinking it, we were talking about each different flavor and, you know, getting a little tipsy, having fun, and then share their link. And, you know, they promoted us on on all of their stuff. They have a pretty big following in, you know, the mead community and we put a link to their store. And then next day after our episode dropped, their website crashed. [00:18:01]
[00:18:02] COURTNEY KOCAK: Ah, what? [00:18:03][
[00:18:04] ANNA VAN VALIN: Because so many people who'd heard the podcast went on the website to buy mead like their store crashed. [00:18:10]
[00:18:10] COURTNEY KOCAK: That's amazing. [00:18:11]
[00:18:12] ANNA VAN VALIN: And so we started getting DMs being like, Hey, I want to buy their meat. But it says their websites down. [00:18:17]
[00:18:18] COURTNEY KOCAK: Oh my God. [00:18:18]
[00:18:19] ANNA VAN VALIN: So I wrote to the guys and I was like, Is there a problem with your website? You tell people to hold off and they were like, You did it. [00:18:22]
[00:18:26] COURTNEY KOCAK: Damn, that's a lot of traffic. [00:18:27]
[00:18:28] ANNA VAN VALIN: Isn't that cool? [00:18:28]
[00:18:29] COURTNEY KOCAK: Yes. [00:18:29]
[00:18:30] ANNA VAN VALIN: Yeah. [00:18:30]
[00:18:31] COURTNEY KOCAK: So did you both see bumps or were you about the same size or no? [00:18:34]
[00:18:34] ANNA VAN VALIN: We're a little bigger. So we saw a little bit of a bump. But they've they're just been really supportive and I kept shouting it out. And so I think overall, that episode had a higher shelf life in terms of like post launch numbers than some of our other episodes. And again, it was just like really fun and great to connect and great to get their product out there and really great for them to introduce. To. If somebody is going to follow amid a meadery, they're obviously interested in food culture and. [00:19:05]
[00:19:05] COURTNEY KOCAK: Right. [00:19:05]
[00:19:06] ANNA VAN VALIN: Things like that. [00:19:06]
[00:19:07] COURTNEY KOCAK: Okay. So identifying these good brands to work with. Like, how do you do this? How can Besties replicate this? [00:19:15]
[00:19:16] ANNA VAN VALIN: So there are a few things that you want to think about before you go into reaching out to people. One is that the partnership, the promotion, it's got to have some kind of clear benefit for your listeners and for their audience. So maybe it solves a problem or it enriches or enhances an experience like an activity like the cooking. You know, it's got to be relevant to your subject matter and your audience is demographics and their interests. You want to be pretty balanced between the two audiences. So it's effective for both of you. And again, you want it to align with your values. So it should really be something that will introduce both sides to something they love. And a great way to find that out is to learn about your audience, ask them questions, get some feedback, learn about them. Right. So listener surveys like a Google form. Google form goes a long way. [00:20:04]
[00:20:05] ANNA VAN VALIN: Mm hmm. [00:20:05]
[00:20:06] COURTNEY KOCAK: A listener survey. Social media polls are a great way to ask, you know, what's your favorite episode this season? When do you do you listen to this? Where you work out, where you commute, like where you put your makeup on? All of those things are great information and super simple. Like, especially if it's like multiple choice. Anybody. I'll answer a multiple choice poll and then looking at some some industry research, there's lots of cool. There's like the big Edison Research and then there's like lots of cool little niche research out there that'll give you some clues. And once you got an idea of what you want to do, you want to think about who would be the right partner for that and things you can do like with a friend of mine I used to work with is just pay attention to your network. What are people doing in LinkedIn? What are people doing on social media that you feel like there is a tie, maybe an audience overlap and is a person or brand that you might want to work with? Fundraising platforms are a really great place to look because if you're a smaller podcast, another company that is smaller, fledgling or trying to get up off the ground, they're a great place to look because they're also looking for these promotional opportunities that they probably don't have a huge marketing budget, you know, but they want to be creative and how do they get the word out there. So I like fundraising platforms, Social media, slide into DMs and then go back to those audience survey answers. If you asked what products do you use and a whole bunch of people said they love this, I'll go to the Container Store. I don't know, I made that up. If they all love one kind of brand of something, that might be a brand to reach out to. [00:21:35]
[00:21:36] COURTNEY KOCAK: So, you know, I get a lot of pitches and I get a lot of bad pitches. And I think the worst thing is starting with introducing yourself before. It's like you need to make a really clear value proposition about what the person's going to get out of it first and foremost. What are your recommendations for how to pitch these people once you're ready? [00:21:59]
[00:22:00] ANNA VAN VALIN: Sure. Well, the first one is like, I actually want that company. Don't send out some like blanket boilerplate. [00:22:06][
[00:22:08] COURTNEY KOCAK: Yes. [00:22:08]
[00:22:08] ANNA VAN VALIN: Random emails. Everyone sees through it. I see through it, You see through it. You know, you really want to have a reason why you want them, a reason why you want to work with them, and the reason why they should want to work with you, right? Actually research them, try out their products, listen or read to what they make, right. And express that authentic interest. Also come to them with some kind of plan. Don't just be like, Hey, you want to collaborate? And then crickets, right? Come to them with a plan overall. Make it easy for them. So if you show up and you have a plan, it's just for them to say yes, right? You've got to be flexible, though It might need to change so it fits you both. But have something thought out. Don't forget to drop that. It's content creation. Like I said, we're all in this content creation quagmire and I'll continually trying to come up with ideas for posts and all of that. So if this is going to have content creation built in, it's going to give you ideas for assets that you can use over and over and over again. That is a great selling point. And then do the heavy lifting, right? If you're pitching someone else. Make it easy for them in the sense that you're going to do the majority of the work. They're not going to do nothing. But if you go to them in there, you're like, okay, so you're going to have to develop six more features for your app or you're going to have to product test all these things and develop. They're not going to do it right. [00:23:26]
[00:23:26] COURTNEY KOCAK: Right. [00:23:26]
[00:23:26] ANNA VAN VALIN: But if you're like, Here's my idea. Most of it is on us. You can help us implement it. Like when we did the giveaway, we handled the shipping, you know, we handled putting it together, like just those kinds of simple things. For the recipe app, we came up with the recipe. Just those kinds of things that aren't like a huge burden, but that you're communicating to them that like, Hey, this has more benefit for you than it does work and time, you know, and that kind of investment. [00:23:51]
[00:23:55] COURTNEY KOCAK: Hey Besties. You have an awesome about helping me rack up some ratings and reviews on Apple podcasts and the offer still stands. If you give me a five star rating and review over there, I will give you a shout out on the podcast. All you have to do is send me a screenshot or include your name and the name of your show within the review. But I actually have another ask for you this week. Okay, We got to keep it fresh and obviously a ton of people listen to podcasts on Spotify, so I need a presence on Spotify. I need to signal to other Spotify listeners that this is a good podcast. All you're going to do is if you're listening on Spotify, you go to the upper left hand corner of the podcast Bestie page, you click the start button and then you click all five stars, and then you take a screenshot and you send it to me. And you know what I'm going to do for you? I'm going to give you a five star rating and review back, baby. I mean, that is a one for one deal. And I just want to bring to your attention that that podcast advertising space on this podcast is a steal. Okay it's for sale on my website podcast bestie dot com slash advertise there is a classified option and there is a presenting sponsor option. They are honestly both an incredible value because you actually get the podcast which is now reaching upwards of episode number four got 3500 people and it is not even been a week. Okay that's pretty good numbers. You're going to reach all those people podcast enthusiasts, podcast industry people. These ads start at $30 for classifieds and again, you get access to the podcast and you get over 3000 readers of the newsletter as well. You get ads on both, plus social media. It's honestly a no brainer. I can't believe more people haven't taken advantage of it. So I am being a little birdie right now. And I'm telling you, if you are trying to promote something and I'm talking to you, big podcast, you, I mean, shoot, this is a steal over here. Take advantage of me. Buy a $30 ad and you are going to reach over 6000 people. I mean what so again podcast bestie dot com slash advertise It's so easy to advertise on this podcast it's so affordable so stock up while you can. Okay. [00:26:21]
[00:26:22] COURTNEY KOCAK: Oh I was going to ask you about you make Instagram Reels and I'm curious, have you seen any big bumps like what are your tips about that? [00:26:30]
[00:26:31] ANNA VAN VALIN: Instagram Reels. So my Reels are mostly for my own business. As a podcast coach and consultant, I haven't seen that crossover into my podcast because that's not really what they focus on. [00:26:43]
[00:26:43] COURTNEY KOCAK: But I'm curious about, you know, I never post Reels and I got like 20,000 views on this Reel that I'm like, What? I don't even understand. Have you seen that kind of stuff? [00:26:53]
[00:26:53] ANNA VAN VALIN: Oh, yeah. My, the most views I've ever gotten on a reel was a reel of a tree. Okay? It was a tree. I went to Sequoia National Park and I took this video like going up the biggest tree in the world, General Sherman, and put, like, the, you know, Space Odyssey music behind it. And it's got like 3 million views. [00:27:11]
[00:27:12] COURTNEY KOCAK: Oh, my God. [00:27:13]
[00:27:14] ANNA VAN VALIN: Not the ones I spent hours and hours, like scripting and filming and editing, but the tree, that one's got millions of views. So there's like no rhyme or reason to it. [00:27:24]
[00:27:25] COURTNEY KOCAK: So do you think this is an area that podcasters, you know, say they're not? Super into the video component. Do you think this is an area that they should be focusing on in 2023? [00:27:37]
[00:27:38] ANNA VAN VALIN: I think that if you can build it into what you're already doing and not make it a whole ordeal, because if you try to make it a whole additional ordeal on top of producing your show, you're just not going to do it and then you're going to feel bad about falling behind. So if you tape remotely, you tape over Zoom, make sure you record that. And there's ways to frame it up so that it gets in that nice, you know, square over square. So that's super easy to pop into a reel. You can go into Canva and make a background template that you then pop that into. What I always did was I had my my Canva template. I popped in the Zoom video and then I put it into Headliner and put my captions on it. Super easy. Maybe took an extra hour, but I wasn't adding on a ton of work to my podcast production. I do think that's a way that a lot of people consume their social media. Obviously, the algorithms we think, we think that's what the algorithms promote. So you want to stack the cards in your favor, right? By doing what the algorithm once we guess. But I would say if you are an indie podcaster, you're probably doing everything. [00:28:42]
[00:28:43] COURTNEY KOCAK: Yeah. [00:28:43]
[00:28:44] ANNA VAN VALIN: So if you decide that you're it's going to be a whole different thing and you're going to film different things and edit it and you're not going to and then you're just going to feel bad about it. [00:28:52]
[00:28:53] COURTNEY KOCAK: Yeah. Has it been worth it podcast wise for you to do these rails like with the Canva template and stuff? [00:28:59]
[00:28:59] ANNA VAN VALIN: Yeah, it's simple enough. It's great. I'm a big proponent of those content pillars. So for every episode you drop, you say, Okay, I'm going to do three posts. The first one is a preview, the second one is a video gram of us taping it as a tease. And the third one is some cool images that talk about— give us some background on what we talk about in the episode. So we made those videos, one of those buckets and those different got play. You know, people see your face, they see you talking and they definitely have a response to it. [00:29:27]
[00:29:27] COURTNEY KOCAK: Okay, awesome. So I am asking everyone who comes on season one of this show to audit me. So you probably are most familiar with Podcast Bestie. I also have a podcast called Private Parts Unknown. It's about love and sexuality around the world, and I have a podcast called [The] Bleeders. It's about book writing and publishing, but you're here on Podcast Bestie right now, so I'm just asking every guest if there's something you think I should try or if you think there's something I should stop doing immediately. [00:30:00]
[00:30:01] ANNA VAN VALIN: Oh my gosh. I don't think I'm in a position to tell you how to run your life. [00:30:03]
[00:30:04] COURTNEY KOCAK: No, just. Just tips. [00:30:06]
[00:30:07] ANNA VAN VALIN: Maybe there could be a fun way to integrate video into something you're already doing. So, like, you could make part of this interview on Instagram live or something like that. Or you could have like, if we tape this now and it drops in a month, The day that it drops, we do a half hour Instagram live or a few days later when people have had a chance to listen to it and we answer people's questions and then, you know, that's automatically something that we can both put on our social. And I like doing that as well because it's a little more interactive. People can ask you in real time because it's not as edited. Like, you definitely want something more polished for a podcast, but that might be something to try. [00:30:46]
[00:30:47] COURTNEY KOCAK: Oh yeah. And I love that. Feeding the content. You know, these songs still have to feed. Yeah. Thank you so much to Anna for sharing such great information. This is a very expansive way to think about how to collab. I love it and thank you for tuning in to this podcast, bestie. In last week's episode, producer Megan Hayward gave us the scoop on how edit audio and add large grew media after over 100,000 downloads in just a couple months. It is a must listen episode and in fact, all of the guests so far have been just incredibly generous with information and insights. And I got a tweet that freakin made my day. It's from Ashley Hammer Prichard. She's the managing editor at Descript and has a podcast called Taboo Science. I sent out a tweet celebrating the podcast chart success and Ashley said, Congrats. So well-deserved. I have finished every episode feeling fired up to try something. You talked about High five. High five, indeed. That tweet made my day. And no pressure. But I would absolutely love it if you tweeted at me or screenshotted listening to this episode right now or took a selfie and posted about it on social media to help spread the word. I will 1,000% repost and it is so fun getting to know my Besties better and getting to be in community with you guys. So check out my other podcast, Private Parts Unknown, which is about love and sexuality around the world and The Bleeders about book writing and publishing for more of my audio creations. And if you want to take your own audio creations to the next level, I am teaching a one-day podcasting intensive all about how to grow and monetize your show. It's through Pandemic University and this is going to be a three-hour deep dive into the business side of podcasting. This will help you if you're trying to launch a new show or season. Just grow your audience in general, monetize your show through a variety of different methods and take your skills pro if you're trying to break into the industry. So it's coming up on Saturday, May 13th, it will be recorded if you can't attend and you still want that information. It is super affordable. Plus there's an option where you can get feedback and a one on one meeting with me. So if you want my feedback on your podcast or your marketing plan or whatever, make sure to check out the link in the description to get more information and sign up. I hope to see you there. And you can follow me between episodes at Courtney Kocak — that is K-O-C-A-K Instagram and Twitter. And of course, this podcast started out as a newsletter, so I send out a ton of newsletter exclusives to my Besties as well. I have been really focused on the podcast lately, but I have two in the can that are ready to roll, so make sure you are signed up for Podcast Bestie on Substack That's podcast bestie dot substack dot com slash welcome. There is obviously a link in the description. And until next time, happy podcasting! Bye Bestie. [00:30:47]