Latest / How To Protect The Ocean / The Power of Podcasting for Ocean Science Communication
Transcript
- 0:00Since you're listening to this podcast,
- 0:01I'm going to have this assumption
- 0:04that you are a podcast listener, right?
- 0:06You've been listening to this podcast
- 0:07forever, however many days, months,
- 0:09years, and you listen to
- 0:11other podcasts as well.
- 0:12And you realize the
- 0:13benefits of podcasting.
- 0:15You realize that you could multitask
- 0:17while listening to
- 0:17something in your earbuds.
- 0:19You can go for a jog.
- 0:20You can exercise in a different way, like
- 0:22do a workout with weights.
- 0:24You can take your dogs out for a walk.
- 0:26You can sit out in the backyard and
- 0:28garden while having earbuds in and
- 0:31listening to me or anybody else talk
- 0:33about a topic that
- 0:34they're passionate about.
- 0:35And you get to listen to that and you see
- 0:36the benefits of especially doing any kind
- 0:39of science communication, whether it's
- 0:40ocean science or any other kind of
- 0:42science and conservation.
- 0:44You understand that the power of having
- 0:47long form podcasts, being able to dive
- 0:50deep into complex information and be able
- 0:53to provide it for you.
- 0:54That's able to listen to while you're
- 0:56doing other things and you're able to
- 0:57consume that not to say that you can
- 0:59understand that you can't understand the
- 1:01science, but sometimes it
- 1:02gets a little complicated.
- 1:03I'm not here talking about a Nova's and
- 1:04try squares and all that kind of stuff
- 1:06and T tests and everything like that.
- 1:08I'm talking about what the implications
- 1:10are for certain projects, research and
- 1:12everything like that and decisions that
- 1:13are made in politics to the
- 1:15environment, to the ocean.
- 1:16And you understand the power of that
- 1:17because that's what we
- 1:18do here on the podcast.
- 1:20We talk about what is good for the ocean
- 1:22and science communication is great for
- 1:25the ocean, especially
- 1:26when you're using podcasts.
- 1:27So if you listen to the material and you
- 1:29like it, you like ocean use, you like
- 1:30ocean conservation, ocean science and you
- 1:32like science communication, hit that
- 1:34follow button because I talk
- 1:35about that Monday to Friday.
- 1:37This week, we are talking all about
- 1:39science communication, the platforms that
- 1:40you can use to really get into science
- 1:43communication for
- 1:43whatever that suits your needs.
- 1:45Yesterday, we talked
- 1:46about short form content.
- 1:47Today, we're talking about
- 1:48long form podcast content.
- 1:50So mostly audio content.
- 1:52We'll get into the video in just a
- 1:53second, but mostly audio content.
- 1:55And we're going to talk about why it's
- 1:57important to do all that kind of stuff.
- 1:59And of course, tomorrow I've got a
- 2:00special announcement Thursday.
- 2:01We're talking about
- 2:02YouTube and live streaming.
- 2:03And then on Friday, we have an interview
- 2:06with Amy, Amy Weldon, who is talking
- 2:09about her new season on her podcast, Blue
- 2:12Collar White Coat, which you're going to
- 2:14hear all about on Friday.
- 2:16Something to definitely listen to.
- 2:18All right, let's get into podcasting
- 2:20because obviously this is
- 2:21one of my favorite mediums.
- 2:22It is my favorite medium, to be honest,
- 2:24as a way to be able to communicate what I
- 2:27would like to do in this world, right?
- 2:30What I would like to do for you and what
- 2:31I would like to do in
- 2:32the conservation world.
- 2:32And it solidified me as not an expert,
- 2:35but definitely an authority in
- 2:37communicating science for many people for
- 2:39potentially you or anybody else who's
- 2:41listening in the audience, who listens to
- 2:43this podcast each and every day or every
- 2:45Monday to Friday or once a week or just
- 2:47the interviews or anything like that.
- 2:49You tend to build into this because it's
- 2:51really important to you.
- 2:52And I think that's cool.
- 2:53I really, I really do.
- 2:54I think to be able to talk to so many of
- 2:56you from all over the world, we're in
- 2:57like 185 countries, right?
- 3:00All over the world, over 3 million
- 3:02downloads in the last 11 years.
- 3:05You know, it's been a
- 3:06great experience, right?
- 3:08And so today we're going to be talking
- 3:10about what's important to me about
- 3:12podcasting and what I think, why I think
- 3:14many of you and many
- 3:15organizations should be podcasting.
- 3:19And I think it's definitely a platform
- 3:22that people undervalue
- 3:25from a creation standpoint.
- 3:27But when you get a great eyes, you build
- 3:28that as you have that patience and you
- 3:30and you're able to dedicate the time to
- 3:32do it because it is a lot
- 3:33of time and a lot of work.
- 3:34You are able to create something special
- 3:37and build an audience of of loyal
- 3:40followers and subscribers and people who
- 3:43actually care about what you do.
- 3:45And in the ocean world, people care.
- 3:47People care a lot and they're very loyal
- 3:49and they're very passionate.
- 3:49And I think it's it's really important to
- 3:51have that those types of discussions.
- 3:53So with that said,
- 3:54let's talk about podcasting.
- 3:55Obviously, you know, my journey, you
- 3:57know, 11 years into the into podcasting,
- 4:00it's changed my life has helped me get at
- 4:02this job that I met with Pisces Oceans as
- 4:05an ocean communications manager.
- 4:07I know I was never an ocean
- 4:08communications manager before.
- 4:09I never got paid for this
- 4:10kind of stuff to do before.
- 4:13And now that's all
- 4:13changing because of the podcast.
- 4:15It's also allowed me to become an
- 4:17authority around the world for certain
- 4:19parts around the world where people are
- 4:20listening to the podcast on each and
- 4:22every day, even every weekday.
- 4:24You know, that's that's a huge thing for
- 4:25me to be able to spread this news that
- 4:28may or may not have been able to get in
- 4:30their ears or in front of
- 4:31their faces at some point in time.
- 4:33So being a resource for the ocean, for a
- 4:35lot of people who listen to this podcast
- 4:37is really important to me.
- 4:38That's why I started this.
- 4:40And it also allows me to introduce people
- 4:41that don't normally get, you know, wide
- 4:44coverage, you know, whether it be online,
- 4:47whether it be on mainstream media.
- 4:50There are a lot of people who are working
- 4:51within the ocean science and conservation
- 4:53fields who are doing amazing things and
- 4:56who are very passionate and are very
- 4:58personable and likable people.
- 5:01And they don't get the in front of the
- 5:03people that I want to get in front of you
- 5:04in front of this audience.
- 5:05So I get to bring those on the people on
- 5:07to be able to talk about what they do.
- 5:09And you get to hear it straight from
- 5:11their mouths and you get to hear about my
- 5:13curiosity in that type of way.
- 5:15But I think the benefits I talked a
- 5:17little bit about the big benefit.
- 5:18It's a long form type of content.
- 5:23Right. It could be it could be audio.
- 5:25Now could be video.
- 5:26YouTube is saying
- 5:27that they have podcasts.
- 5:28Now, I should mention that the actual
- 5:30definition of a podcast is something that
- 5:32is spread through an RSS feed.
- 5:33It's an RSS file.
- 5:34Right. So it's a specific type of file.
- 5:36But when you do a YouTube podcast, it is
- 5:40just a YouTube show that has
- 5:41a playlist that is a podcast.
- 5:43And that it's allowing that that category
- 5:46allows it to go on YouTube music.
- 5:48That's all it is.
- 5:50And podcasts do pretty well shows do
- 5:51pretty well on YouTube.
- 5:53And there's a benefit to that.
- 5:54And we'll talk about that in a second.
- 5:55But the benefit of having a podcast, you
- 5:57have a long form podcast, you can talk
- 5:58about complex information like ocean
- 6:00science, like ocean conservation and get
- 6:02into the nuances of the story.
- 6:04You can have some great storytelling that
- 6:06is difficult to do in, you know, zero to
- 6:08three minutes, like we talked about
- 6:09yesterday in the short form content.
- 6:11And so you can have
- 6:12people who listen longer.
- 6:13They can multitask is if
- 6:14it's audio, they can multitask.
- 6:16I still listen to YouTube shows while on
- 6:19audio because I can lock
- 6:21my phone of YouTube premium.
- 6:22But other than that, you
- 6:23have to have that open.
- 6:24And so you're kind of watching that,
- 6:25which a lot of people
- 6:26watch on their TVs now.
- 6:27So that's OK. So you
- 6:28can have both platforms.
- 6:29Now, the great part about having both
- 6:32platforms where you have video and audio
- 6:33video because it's on on YouTube.
- 6:37It's very searchable and much better
- 6:39searchable than like
- 6:40the podcast searches.
- 6:42Right. People who search on podcast
- 6:43compared to YouTube, which is owned by
- 6:45Google, which has at one point had the
- 6:47number one search engine
- 6:48optimization site in the world.
- 6:51And YouTube is second is is great for
- 6:54being discovered and having search.
- 6:55So if you are good at that and now with a
- 6:58it's a little bit different.
- 6:59But if you're good at that,
- 7:00then you will get searched.
- 7:01So that's always great.
- 7:03And I think that's that's an important
- 7:05thing to think about if that discovery,
- 7:07because as you get a
- 7:09podcast, you can get your your
- 7:11listeners or your viewers on.
- 7:13But eventually it comes to a plateau if
- 7:15you don't start putting it out there and
- 7:16you don't have people
- 7:17sharing to put it out there.
- 7:18I think it's it's important to talk
- 7:21about, you know, discoverability, because
- 7:24if you want to grow your
- 7:25following, that's great.
- 7:26But when you first start doing a podcast,
- 7:28you don't want to have the big following
- 7:29because you're going to make mistakes.
- 7:31You're going to do some weird things.
- 7:32Some audio may not come out right.
- 7:34And you want that work up.
- 7:36You want that testing and experimentation
- 7:38to do to go on at the beginning of your
- 7:41journey and not when you're 10 or 11
- 7:43years in, although I'm always
- 7:44experimenting and stuff like that.
- 7:46But so so like podcasting does have its
- 7:48advantages in having long form.
- 7:50People can listen to it like when they're
- 7:52multitasking, they could really
- 7:54understand the material that you're
- 7:55trying to do in like 30 to 60 minutes or
- 7:58under 20 minutes, whatever that might be.
- 8:00It allows you to do a lot
- 8:02of great things with that.
- 8:04And I think that's that's an important
- 8:05part of communicating, especially stuff
- 8:09when you're talking about, you know, when
- 8:10you're talking about science.
- 8:12Right now, this some still things still
- 8:14apply from from like the
- 8:17short form video to the long form.
- 8:20People want to make sure that they know
- 8:21what they're getting into.
- 8:23So the benefit of having a podcast is
- 8:25you're on a podcast app.
- 8:26The person is
- 8:27listening. They will see a title.
- 8:29So that will really get them going.
- 8:30And that's where this
- 8:31really searchables in the title.
- 8:33So if I put ocean in the title and people
- 8:34want to learn about
- 8:35the ocean, that's great.
- 8:35If I put squid, if I put Corey's people
- 8:37will want to know about that.
- 8:39The hook audio wise is really important
- 8:42because people are going to make their
- 8:43decision whether they're going to
- 8:44continue on listening or
- 8:46they've said, hey, you know what?
- 8:47This is not exactly what I expected.
- 8:49So the hook that first.
- 8:52Like 10 seconds, even I think with with
- 8:55with short form, it was like
- 8:56three, one to three seconds.
- 8:57And this one is you
- 8:58probably get like maybe 10 seconds.
- 8:59But even then it might be a little
- 9:00earlier because people are ready to
- 9:02commit a half hour of time.
- 9:03They want to make sure that they're
- 9:04getting their full half hour.
- 9:06They're making the best of it.
- 9:07They want to make sure it is
- 9:08what they want to listen to.
- 9:09So when you get a new listener in, you
- 9:11want to make sure that hook is important.
- 9:12Even with people who've been in your
- 9:14audience for a while and will listen to
- 9:16each and every episode or a certain
- 9:17amount of episodes, they still want to
- 9:19know that this is the interest.
- 9:21Like this is the
- 9:21episode that interests them.
- 9:22So that's that's an
- 9:23important aspect as well.
- 9:25Right now, the the algorithm.
- 9:29The algorithm that they have is really
- 9:31interesting because it's not as if you're
- 9:34going to get a news feed of different
- 9:36podcasts on your Spotify app or on your
- 9:38Apple podcast app or
- 9:39whatever you listen to.
- 9:41Right. You are going to get what your
- 9:42feed is like who you followed or who you
- 9:44subscribe to, depending
- 9:45on the app that you're on.
- 9:47And so that you're kind of competing with
- 9:49all the other podcasts that there are
- 9:51people are listening to.
- 9:52So you want to make sure
- 9:52that you're in front of them.
- 9:54You've got new stuff.
- 9:56The the title stands out.
- 9:58But the algorithm on the different
- 10:01platforms is the search isn't that great.
- 10:03Spotify, you're competing with music,
- 10:05you're competing with video, you're
- 10:06competing with all
- 10:07these different aspects.
- 10:08It's it's it's a difficult thing to do.
- 10:11And of course, sharing on social media is
- 10:13also it's not as
- 10:14great as people say it is.
- 10:17You know, I share clips, which I just
- 10:19kind of show you what you're getting on
- 10:20the How to Protect the Ocean podcast.
- 10:22But it's also, you know, you need to, you
- 10:26know, you still need to go off platform,
- 10:27whether you're watching
- 10:28Instagram, TikTok or whatever.
- 10:30And you have to go on into the podcast
- 10:32platform and find the show and everything
- 10:34like that if you're new to the show.
- 10:36So it's very difficult to share.
- 10:37But once you get that audience, once you
- 10:39get that loyal audience, they they are
- 10:41loyal and they listen
- 10:42to a lot of the shows.
- 10:43And I think that's a
- 10:44really great aspect of it.
- 10:46But to understand that, you know, for you
- 10:50to understand, you have to realize you
- 10:51have to have a lot of people.
- 10:51You have to have a
- 10:51lot of people listening.
- 10:52You have to have a lot of people listening. You have to have a lot of people listening. And then you have to have a lot of patients.
- 10:52It takes years to grow an audience and
- 10:55that is it's a lot of work to put all
- 10:57these shows together and only get like 50
- 10:59people listening or 100 people listening.
- 11:01It's even more competitive now.
- 11:03And then you realize later on that people
- 11:06aren't listening as
- 11:06many people as you thought.
- 11:07And you a lot of people will podfade or
- 11:09abandon their podcasts because after six
- 11:11episodes, they're like, you know what,
- 11:13this isn't what I expected.
- 11:14It's not as viral.
- 11:15I'm not getting up into the charts.
- 11:17There's so many things that are going on.
- 11:18There's so many different podcasts.
- 11:20A lot of people are starting podcasts.
- 11:22They don't continue them,
- 11:22but a lot of people start.
- 11:23At one point, there were
- 11:244 million podcasts total,
- 11:26but 400,000 podcasts
- 11:28had released an episode
- 11:29in the last 90 days.
- 11:31And even then, that's pretty generous.
- 11:33So there's still less
- 11:34than a million podcasts
- 11:36that are out there now that
- 11:37are actively producing episodes.
- 11:40But I think the big thing
- 11:41is, is like when you come up
- 11:42with this, just like
- 11:43you do in the short form,
- 11:45you have to be one patient,
- 11:47but you have to understand
- 11:48that it's about the messaging.
- 11:49Who do you want to listen to this?
- 11:51Even if you can do
- 11:52one person or 50 people
- 11:54or anything like that, to
- 11:55be able to watch the video
- 11:57or listen to the audio
- 11:58and listen to the message
- 12:00and take that home and be like, yes,
- 12:02I'm gonna take this home and
- 12:03I'm gonna do something about it.
- 12:04That's the power.
- 12:06That's what you're working on.
- 12:07The followers, you can
- 12:08always work on getting more
- 12:09subscribers or whatever that might be,
- 12:11but that's the power of podcasting,
- 12:14is to be able to get your message across
- 12:16in a clear, concise way,
- 12:18to break down complex information
- 12:21and be able to put that forward.
- 12:22Now, the one thing
- 12:23that you have to realize,
- 12:25the format of the
- 12:26episode, anything you want,
- 12:28you can put segments, you
- 12:29can put any length you want,
- 12:32as long as people are listening,
- 12:33you can look at your status to see when
- 12:35people are dropping off
- 12:35and all that kind of stuff.
- 12:37But then what you have to realize is
- 12:41there's a frequency,
- 12:42you have to know when
- 12:43you want to do that,
- 12:45but you also have to realize that it
- 12:48takes a while to build that audience.
- 12:51The monetization is different than
- 12:54anything else that I've seen online.
- 12:57There's no creator program, Apple,
- 13:00Spotify, they're not
- 13:01really providing anything.
- 13:02They provide, you'll get your host to be
- 13:04able to produce that and be able to say,
- 13:08hey, we can put in these
- 13:09dynamic ads, put them in,
- 13:11but they have nothing to do
- 13:11with the show that you're doing,
- 13:12or they're getting a little bit better,
- 13:13but I don't like doing that.
- 13:15You can make money on sponsorships to
- 13:16have people sponsor your podcast,
- 13:18but you got to make sure that those
- 13:19sponsorships, those brands fit your brand
- 13:22and make sure that
- 13:22they're in line with it.
- 13:23If you're talking about oceans and you
- 13:25don't want an oil
- 13:26investment ad to pop up,
- 13:28or you don't want someone talking about
- 13:30single-use plastic selling
- 13:32and all that kind of stuff.
- 13:33So there's a lot of different
- 13:34things that you can look for,
- 13:36but you have to be careful, it takes some
- 13:37time to go through that.
- 13:39So yeah, I think from a
- 13:41monetization standpoint,
- 13:42it's a little difficult from a
- 13:43communication standpoint,
- 13:44it's on point, it's a
- 13:45lot, it's really cool.
- 13:47You can build your authority and get
- 13:49opportunities from being
- 13:51consistent and posting regularly,
- 13:55whether that be every day, whether that
- 13:56be every week,
- 13:57whether that be every month,
- 13:59it doesn't matter.
- 13:59If you do it consistently, people will
- 14:02start to listen and you will get seen and
- 14:04you will get noticed
- 14:05and different opportunities will happen.
- 14:07I've had other podcast offers.
- 14:10I've had TV shows that I've been on, like
- 14:13three or four of those now.
- 14:15I've had job offers and
- 14:16it's actually changed my life.
- 14:18So there's a lot of benefits to
- 14:20podcasting that I think are important
- 14:22that you may not realize
- 14:25and that they are popular,
- 14:26more popular than you think.
- 14:28And what's nice is you can talk about
- 14:29from any angle, you can
- 14:30be as creative as possible,
- 14:32or you can be just, if you want to be
- 14:34just straight up and this is the facts
- 14:36and this is what we're doing,
- 14:37you can talk about that as well.
- 14:39What I would do when if you're
- 14:42considering something, I would start to
- 14:43listen to the podcast that are out there
- 14:45and differentiate yourself from those
- 14:48podcasts so that you're a little bit
- 14:50different and you bring
- 14:51something different to the table.
- 14:53There are a lot of
- 14:53education podcasts out there.
- 14:54There are a lot of
- 14:55conservation podcasts out there.
- 14:57Differentiate yourself so
- 14:58that you can hit your niche.
- 15:01It'll be a different audience.
- 15:02It'll be maybe a new audience and then be
- 15:05supportive of other podcasters too.
- 15:07We need more podcasters.
- 15:08We need more people
- 15:09talking about the ocean.
- 15:10It's not a competition.
- 15:12It's a way to build on each other and
- 15:18help each other out and help the ocean
- 15:21out and help the planet out.
- 15:23When these Nature
- 15:23podcasts, it's not a competition.
- 15:26It's collaboration support so
- 15:28that we get our message across.
- 15:29And I think that's something
- 15:31that I feel like is really big.
- 15:33That's it for the episode.
- 15:34If you have any questions about
- 15:35podcasting, equipment,
- 15:36all that, what I would say,
- 15:38you can contact me through my socials.
- 15:39The links are in the show notes, but I
- 15:41would say off the bat about equipment.
- 15:44You don't need to spend a lot of money.
- 15:46You can get like a wireless mic or you
- 15:48can just use your
- 15:49headphones that you get.
- 15:50Say those Apple headphones.
- 15:51If you have Apple or any kind of
- 15:52headphones you get and use that as long
- 15:54as it's clear enough
- 15:55that you can hear, then it's working and
- 15:58the content really
- 15:59matters and you can always build
- 16:00on those.
- 16:01I've rented equipment before for really
- 16:03cheap, really great microphones.
- 16:05I've done a lot of different things.
- 16:07So if you have any
- 16:07questions, please let me know.
- 16:09You can hit me up on links in the show
- 16:11notes and you can support
- 16:13the podcast through Patreon if
- 16:14you want, speakupforblue.com forward
- 16:17slash Patreon, but get to it.
- 16:19Get to doing science communication.
- 16:20I want to hear what's holding you back.
- 16:22If you want to do any type of science
- 16:24communication on any of these
- 16:24platforms, what is holding you
- 16:26back tomorrow?
- 16:28I'm going to talk about the benefits, one
- 16:30of the benefits that
- 16:30I've been able to have
- 16:32and a big announcement
- 16:33tomorrow and tomorrow's episode.
- 16:35And then of course, Wednesday we have Amy
- 16:36Weldon, who's on the
- 16:37podcast talking about her podcast,
- 16:39Blue Collar White Coat and the
- 16:41release of her second season.
- 16:42That's on the episode
- 16:43coming up this week.
- 16:45And we're going to talk about YouTube and
- 16:46live training on Thursday.
- 16:47Hit that follow button if you want.
- 16:48Don't want to miss any of the episodes.
- 16:50I want to thank you so much for joining
- 16:51me on today's episode of the How to
- 16:53Protect the Ocean podcast.
- 16:54I'm your host, Andrew Lewin.
- 16:55Have a great day.
- 16:56We'll talk to you next
- 16:56time and happy conservation.