► Tell us about you and your podcast
Christian Jones and Regan Bell spent over 10 years in the customer service and entertainment industries along the Gulf Coast. This experience has led them to believe that everyone has a compelling, personal, connection to the things they are a fan of they are here to uncover the secret fandoms of the Gulf Coast's VIPs.
Our listeners are Gulf Coast natives who like learning about other Gulf Coast Natives and their hobbies.
► Why & how did you start this podcast?
We started this podcast because we love talking about nerd, geek, and fan culture. We believe that people love to talk about what they love and often end up telling you a lot about themselves as a result. We strive to get to know interesting guests and local celebrities through talking about what they are a fan of. We started in August 2020. We started recording in July 2020 and it took us a month of batch recording and editing before we were ready to post.
► How'd you find the time and funding to do this podcast?
We release episodes weekly and it takes generally 2 weeks to produce them in full. We block out one Sunday a month to batch record so it does not require a serious commitment due to having families and jobs. We spent about $1,100 our first year on buying equipment, paying for our hosting site and website and some social media marketing. I and my co-host split the costs.
► What do you gain from podcasting?
We ultimately seek to monetize every year. In our first year we broke even with our expenses. We secured our first set of sponsors from friends and family we knew that had businesses. We were averaging about 100 downloads per month at the time of our first agreement. My philosophy was it can't hurt to ask. It is possible to monetize right away if you just ask.
Currently I still rely on my personal network for sponsorships and also referrals from those businesses. We now sit between 600 and 1,000 downloads per month.
The podcast benefits us in a few ways. 1.) Our friendship. We get together on regular basis and get to geek out with people from all over and work on a project together. 2.) We get to talk with 4 amazing people every single month about something they love and share it it's enjoyment. This also builds out our network. 3.) Financially, while we have only broken even so far we do seek to have this as supplemental income and are working towards that now.
► How does your podcasting process look like?
We use Garage Band to record, Descript to edit content, and then outsource the audio engineering. We find guests through our personal network and recommendations from them. Sort of a 6 degrees of separation to notable people in the community.
We prepare for each episode by researching the topic (fandom) and partaking in some of the content. We send the guest a pre-show questionnaire to get the high level questions and answers before hand so we have clear direction when we record.
► How do you market your show?
Of course we market the show by posting on social media. In addition to that we engage in like minded facebook groups and twitter threads related to our weekly topic. We also have our own Facebook group which serves as a place to both engage our future listeners and promote the show. Right now Facebook and Twitter are our strongest sources.
► What advice would you share with aspiring (new) podcasters?
Paying for adds on social media is a money pit that does not transfer to listeners very clearly. Don't waste the money. Instead engage with people in groups and pages related to your topic/niche. 15-30 minutes every day.