My Podcast Experience

As part of a group project, my group was tasked to create a podcast and invite media professionals on to discuss different aspects of their professional field in the media industry. Our podcast was titled “Content to Coin” and features 2 episodes with 2 sets of hosts and guests. Within the two episodes, we discussed various topics relating to social media marketing and sales such as the importance of storytelling in social media, budget friendly marketing and sales options for smaller companies and how to track and make use of analytics and statistics in terms of performance in marketing and sales. As part of this project, I was in charge of the branding and designs of the podcast. 

During this process, my group ran into various challenges and obstacles in creating this podcast and branding it effectively. One challenge that we ran into early on involves the process of finding an appropriate guest for the podcast. As the follower count of the guest was required to be 50,000 or above, it was a difficult requirement to fulfil as we did not know many people who work in the media industry who have reached that follower count due to most of us being inexperienced or have no experience at all working in the industry. However, soon after, we found 2 suitable guests that have experience in social media sales and marketing and were able to move forward from there. The next challenge we ran into was the branding of the podcast. Starting from a blank state, it was difficult to see the direction and envision the path we would like to take with the podcast such as the feeling and mood we want to convey through our episodes, the unique selling point of the podcast and also the podcast’s branding identity. On top of that, during this week, two of our groupmates were absent from class, making communication amongst the group more difficult. Despite that, we eventually settled on the podcast’s direction, dubbing it “Content to Coin”, a podcast that focuses on exploring both social media sales and marketing with different guests per episode. After we decided on the podcast’s direction, we went on to work on our individual roles such as scripting and planning the podcast’s content, planning a set schedule and date to record for the podcast with our guests and also doing up the first set of graphics and design style for the podcast. I was put in charge of the design and graphics that will be used for the podcast and thus, started to work on the early drafts of the podcast’s design schemes. Due to my prior education in graphic design in my tertiary education, it was an easy task to come up with multiple earl designs through using my knowledge in colour theory and branding. However, the challenge that preceded was from seeking opinions from other members of the group as they either do not have much experience in branding and design and therefore, were unable to give much input on the designs, or did not reply promptly in the group chat as we were all working separately on days away from school. This led to slower progress made on the designs due to lack of feedback. We also ran into many issues when rehearsing for the podcast. One such issue occurred on our first rehearsal, where most of the group was absent from class, leaving it down to two of our members that were able to rehearse. I had to tentatively takeover as the host for the podcast in place of our groupmates which proved to be a difficult task due to the lack of preparation, resulting in difficulties in filling up awkward silences when my teammate was unable to come up with an answer immediately. However, this also gave me a learning experience in learning more about the responsibilities of a host in handling the mood and atmosphere of a podcast. Another issue that occurred was with the recording with one of our guests. Our guest refused to do the recording live and therefore, we ended up doing it on an online call instead. Although the recording went smoothly, this resulted in issues sending over the recorded files to the editor due to the limitations of file space through Gmail and Outlook. We ended up handing over the files through a hard drive to the editor, resolving the issue.  

Throughout the process of creating the podcast episodes, I’ve learnt the importance of keeping calm when problem solving as well as the importance of planning ahead when tackling a major project. I now have a better understanding and insight on how podcasts are made and the things a podcaster must be aware of such as branding and scheduling. 

One podcast episode that I have watched was the Hello It’s Me Podcast episode about Shaping Online Brand Identity featuring Michelle Martin. This episode talks about having a brand identity in modern society and the methods in doing so such as networking and forming social relationships and also the problems one may face when doing so such as having anxieties and fears. Through watching this episode, I have learnt just how important networking is when it comes to establishing your identity in whatever industry you work in. Michelle brought up an interesting point of how important it is to recognise that everyone has essential values in them and doing so makes you more incline to make a connection with everyone that you meet, naturally growing your social network. This was something in which I, myself, have never really paid attention and thought deeply about but upon listening to Michelle, it made sense. Michelle also brought up how she does networking in social events, talking to the oldest person there and then the youngest person, a method I have not seen and heard of before, but its effectiveness made sense as well, enlarging the range of perspectives and experiences you will receive through the huge gap in age range. One advice given by Michelle was when starting on a career, one should reflect on themselves and focus on finding out what their strengths are. Once they figure out and narrowed down their strengths, they should cater their professional image to these strengths and use them to their advantage. As someone who is still relatively young in the working world, this is a very useful advice. Up till now, I have only ever used what I’ve learnt both in school and in jobs on whatever projects I do and have never sat down and thought deeply about my strengths and how I would showcase them in a professional setting. One topic brought up during the episode that I closely related to was the topic of anxiety and fear and how to overcome them. Michelle stated that it is important to first acknowledge and accept our fears and anxiety and in turn, build upon them by exposing ourselves to them and overcoming them in the process. This process is something that I am well familiar with and have experienced myself many times in the past as someone who is filled with many anxieties. For example, at first, I was afraid of even attempting to take the first step at carrying out my first presentation, having many sleepless nights and panicking over it. However, I eventually was able to present on the day itself and thought it was not as gruelling of a task as I originally thought and henceforth, overcame my fears of presenting. By listening to this episode, I was able to reaffirm and reflect on some of my experiences building my online brand identity while learning some new and helpful pointers. 

Another podcast episode that I have watched was Rewind to Lens’ episode on Life in the Production Industry. Through watching this episode, I have gained new insights and respect for people working in the production industry. Firstly, the guest, Pei Jun, brought up how she jumped ship from product design to film producer. This greatly reaffirmed my prior view of how one's job role and scope are not fixed throughout the entirety of their career no matter the industry they are in as I have heard stories from many people in different industries of how they were currently working in a whole different role as compared to when they first started working. I also learned more about working as a production assistant. Prior to listening to the podcast, my initial impression of a production assistant was that it was only a role to assist the producer in minute tasks. After watching the podcast, I have learnt that the production assistant is also able to observe everyone in the production crew, enabling them to learn more about the industry, making it a flexible role. This role also requires one to have the mindset of being open to learn to greatly benefit from the role as compared to just learning only what is required of the role. Pei Jun then brings up an interesting opinion in that prior education and knowledge are not really required to work in the film industry which was contrary to my initial beliefs. What can make up for education and knowledge is on - site experience, which, on hindsight, makes sense as skills such as camerawork and crew management can be picked up as one goes. Through my little experience with film production, there are some points that Pei Jun brought up that reaffirms and matches up with the knowledge I have. One such point is that film production is limited by many factors such as set location which prevents multiple and various versions of a take due to restrictions such as time or environmental limitations which were limitations in which I have experienced when doing film production projects. Another point that Pei Jun brought up that I have prior insight with is the importance of crew synergy when it comes to film production. Having worked in a group for a film production project before, I have experienced what it was like to work in a group with little to no synergy before. It felt very restrictive and awkward when it comes to filming and resulted in a subpar product being produced. Just as Pei Jun pointed out during the episode, a crew’s synergy can be a make or break when it comes to enjoyment and quality of a film production. Through Pei Jun’s perspective, I have learned much more about film production and its processes. 

One last podcast episode that I took a look at was Kiasu’s episode about voiceover talents featuring Noella Menon. It was interesting to learn new concepts such as “cold calling” and problems that the voiceover industry face through the eyes of a seasoned voice actor like Noella. Noella brought up an experience of auditioning for multiple roles for a single show. This was surprising to me as I’ve always thought that voice actors can only go for a single character per audition. She then talked about the topic of networking in the voiceover industry, reinforcing the fact that networking is important in any industry, in which I have learned from the prior podcasts and my own experience working. However, what I found interesting to see was that Noella joined a Facebook community online which is a platform I seldom see used for networking especially in recent times. One major problem of the voiceover industry discussed during the podcast was the issue with AI taking over. As someone who is not too familiar with the industry, I have always thought that although AI voices are advancing quickly, they still lack the human and emotional aspect of a human voice actor and would not impact the industry too much. However, Noella pointed out that content such as long form content can easily be overrun by AI as they do not require much emotional factors to voice. It was also scary to learn that once companies get a hold of a voice sample through contractual means, there is little one can do to avoid their samples from being used for cloning and AI work. Through listening to the discussions in this episode, I was able to clear up some misconceptions about the voiceover industry through gaining perspectives from a professional and experienced voice actor.