We're just rolling along here. This is Digital Podcaster. My name is Dylan Schmidt, I am super glad you are here today. I'm feeling good. I hope you're feeling good. Wherever you are. Just a quick reminder, you might be tuning in for the first time. So I gotta say real quick. You're listening to a part of a series, where I podcasts every day for the month of May, to keep the imposter syndrome at bay. Disclaimer, I don't exactly have impostor syndrome when it comes to podcasting. Or maybe I'm just refusing to admit it. Maybe I do. This isn't a therapy session. Although, you know, I do find actually a lot of people say when, when I'm looking on like Facebook groups or all over the web, which is actually related to today's topic, how to find trends for your content, I do find a lot of people say, you know, I would say if I had to put a number on it, and this is not a scientific number, I would say I bet about 510 15% of the time I see people's reason for starting a podcast is that they, one actually therapist will sometimes recommend starting a podcast. And you got to be careful with what information you're including in your podcasts because it's a public piece of media. So you don't want to call out anybody that didn't ask to be in your podcast. Got to be mindful of that. But really, they say they started their podcast as a form of therapy. So I find that interesting. There's a total angle there that I am not going down in Digital Podcaster one day, probably not, which is like podcasting in therapy as a form of therapy. I'm just not qualified to talk about that. And I gotta stay in my scope, which is content. And that's what we're talking about today of how to find trends for your content. Because staying on the cutting edge is very important. And when I was starting out with Digital Podcaster, I felt in anxiety, or afraid that I would be talking about old news. Like I would be talking about something that was relevant years ago, or there would be some other like professional, even though I was an AMA professional was was back then too. But I felt like someone be like, what they call me out for saying something I'm wrong, you know, or that oh, that's old news. Oh, you actually don't know about this app. I know about this podcasting app, let me tell you about this, which you know, it still happens. And the more that I would say, the bigger your audience grows, the more voices there are out there that will tell you you're wrong. Or they're not necessarily that you're wrong, but they'll tell you that there's something better, there's always a better app. And that in that is funny because looking at from a podcast perspective, people will always be like there's a better microphone, there is a better setting. So I use this microphone is plugged into a thing called a road caster Pro. And the road caster Pro is essentially like those mixing boards where you see with like the knobs and volume faders they call them faders. But it's this cool little piece of gear that I plug into my computer and it makes it makes the microphone work with my computer. And but there's like set so many settings deep inside the road caster the thing that my microphones plugged into, there's so many settings. And I could sit there and tweak it all day and perfect all this and that. At the end of the day, like there's someone on YouTube or there's there's people out there that have better settings than me, probably the room could be something there's always ways to improve something. And I just find it fascinating though, as creators, as marketers, as online business owners, whether you're whatever you're trying to do to improve whatever it is that you're trying to do, you always want to be on the cutting edge, because staying on the cutting edge is how you innovate. It's how you improve what it is that you're doing. And it's important to be seen as someone who is on the cutting edge if you want to be an expert if you want to be an authority in your industry. And I'm gonna share with you just some resources to use this for your benefit that will help you stay on the cutting edge and how to find trends for your content. And the secret top secret one I will share is one I have found through trial and error, but is absolutely the best. And it doesn't require being some type of technical wizard none of these actually do. So there's a few suggestions here. Some of them are more obvious in some of them are more soft skills, relationship. All right. So number one is observing your competition. Number one, like if you've got to find someone in your space, even if they you know they gotta everyone has competition, even if you're Tesla who's you know, doing this electric car thing and they seemingly are on the so far ahead of others when it comes to electric cars and things like that. But they still have competition and they're still observing that competition, whether we hear about that in the news or not, and you don't have to be a car maker to observe your competition and see what they're doing, we get so wrapped up in consuming when it comes content wise, we get like lost in the sauce, we get lost in the magic of observing our competitions, content, that we forget that they are human just like us. And they have a lot of the similar access to things that we do. And so there's not like an elite group of content creators that have an unlocked cheat code, necessarily, even if they had more money, that doesn't always mean that their content is, is, you know, the money and content are related. You know, so I say that because you got to observe your competition and see what they're doing. Like, if they're doing something that's successful, that you can tell a successful, what is it, make a list of it, note it, but don't get lost in the watching that you've actually forget to then implement and innovate and spot those trends. And then another thing to do is, is step back, because that's kind of like observing your competition is yeah, you kind of you're going to take a step back and observe. But for this next suggestion, I would suggest stepping back even a little bit more and thinking long term, like what, what are you seeing that happened to be for chronologically? What what happened before in your industry? And what is happening now? And where do you think it's going, you can make predictions, that's part of innovating, is making predictions, and then acting on certain things. And, you know, you want to make calculated decisions, but you want to make if you're going to be innovating and growing and things like that, you and you want to be on the cutting edge and you want to find trends, you're gonna have to act on some hunches. And when you observe what happened long term in like in the past, and long term might be you know, depending on your industry, it might only be 510 years or maybe less, then you also want to look at, again, where you're at now, and where you want to go 510 1520 years in the future. You know, typically when it comes to content, five years is a long time in the future to think because we didn't have tick tock like we have it now five years ago, don't tick tock was a thing. But it wasn't as as it is today. Which is funny, because like five years ago, I believe it was around five years ago, I had an interview with tic toc to do some work with him. And I don't remember that I knew what tic tock was, like, remember, and it's kind of funny to think like I was applying there. But I didn't know a lot about it because it wasn't as big as it was as big as it is now. And then also to spot trends. This is a tactical, tactical one. But it's super obvious. And somehow we all forget it. I forget it, too. I forget it all the time. And then every time I remember I go oh, yeah, let me run to Google. So when you've Googled stuff, we've all we all do. When you Google something at the top, there is like the search results, which I think is just under all. And then there is images tab right in between those little tabs at the top where you can search images, there's a news button. And when you click news, it will show you the latest news around your industry or whatever it is you search. So for Digital Podcaster if I was just typed in podcasting, and I hit news, it's going to give me the top news. So as of recording this, I'm just going to type in podcasting on Google. Oh, it's actually in between all and images. And it's giving me news. So right now just looking at the top headlines for podcasting As of recording this, that in these are trends. Facebook pulls the plug on podcast business after a year that looks like similar across the board here. From the verge of popular tech website. They say Facebook is shutting down its podcast platform after less than a year. So I could if I was spotting trends which I am doing live I could spot the trend that if I looked overall we've seen Facebook and here is how I'm using trends literally on the spot no planning to share this with you and sharing my thought process out loud. So if we look you know we know Facebook face oh if you if you don't know I know this because I study this and this is my industry. But Facebook is always changing stuff. They're always trying to stay on the cutting edge that's why they have this meta thing which I don't hear anybody. I hear like one out of every 10 People actually call it meta but I guess it's meta but even the news headlines called it Facebook we're supposed to call it meta no one wants to catch on to the meta I guess it's weird or maybe Facebook's the names think the same and it's just meta as the parent company. I don't really know if trim transition period. But I would look you know looking longer term in the past longer, longer snapshot. Facebook's always changing stuff. And they start and they stopped stuff. And when they started podcast on Facebook podcast, I was hesitant. I don't even I think I might have signed up. I don't remember if I did sign up or not, because I just didn't trust it. I have very low trust. I know public, across the board has very low trust of Facebook. And I do too, because they're starting and stopping stuff all the time. Google is another one, they start apps and they stop apps. They have a couple, you know, solid ones, like Gmail, or Google Docs, or Google Sheets, G Suite, you know, there's a couple solid Google ones, but they have started and stopped apps. If they buy an app, which they've done in the past. It's like people in the tech world kind of look at that, like, hey, this app is probably going to get killed. And it will stop being used because Google will just stop developing it. And that happens across the board. And Facebook does that too. So I felt hesitant anyways, when Facebook started that thing, because people don't typically associate Facebook and podcasting. On the flip side, when it comes to trends I did see in the news about I think it's a couple of weeks ago now that YouTube and Google, Google owns YouTube. YouTube is going to be diving more into podcasts and making, I believe, a podcast section of sorts. So they're going to be going more into podcasts. What will that mean for podcasting? Well, here comes a prediction, as I just showed you about what does that mean, for podcasts, I would say that I have a little bit more trust with, with YouTube and Google than I did with Facebook. Because Google, YouTube, you know, there's already Google podcasts. But Google podcasts isn't that great? Like, the review rating thing isn't that great on there. It's just not as polished as like Apple podcasts, or Spotify. So my trust is a little low. And like I mentioned, just a minute ago, Google will kill stuff, they'll start and stop stuff all the time. And that's not their bread and butter YouTube is but I would be, you know, cautiously optimistic with YouTube diving into it, because people already use YouTube to listen to podcasts, they already consume podcasts on YouTube. So it makes a natural extension, if they had a audio only version or something like that, where podcasters could upload that that makes total sense, am I going to put all my chips in there. And that's going to be the only thing I didn't know, I'll be smart about it. But we're talking about trends right now for your content. And I just wanted to give you an example, real time. So Google News is a great way to find those literally in the moment trends, and then draw predictions and long term have a bit of a long term snapshot. And then lastly, and this is the most important tip I could possibly give you, to finding trends for your content. And this is what I do. And this is how I have pivoted to refine and grow an audience. And this is if the secret sauce of anything I do is I listen to my clients and my audience. And my sole goal, especially in the beginning, when I was first starting Digital Podcaster is stay closely aligned with anybody who comes in contact with me. I can draw ideas and conclusions from Google News. I can observe my competition, but there are people like you, like you literally listening to this. If you consume my content, if you hear my words, my goal is to stay closely aligned with you on some level, because you come to me for something that I don't always necessarily know. Like, I, it's hard for me to take a third person perspective on why someone might listen to me. And how I actually get solid data on why someone might listen to me, is the feedback that they give me like they go I really liked when you talked about this, for example, I really like personal growth stuff I really like you know, self help. I don't that term feels weird, but I like personal growth stuff. Because I work through all that stuff. And Digital Podcaster is like going to the gym of sorts sometimes. But you know, I at times, I felt like I don't know if I should be talking about this thing. Because podcasting in in personal growth stuff I don't really see I don't really have that I'm aware of in this very moment of someone directly doing exactly what I'm doing. And one of the ways I'm able to innovate and staying on the cutting edge of this stuff is by saying what's true to me. But I do that because I get the feedback of Dylan I like when you if you only talked about podcasts stuff, you didn't include that personal growth stuff would be boring, or it not be boring. They actually haven't heard that word, but they just say like, they would actually stop listening, which I guess is worse. And I've heard those words do if I didn't talk about like the inner work stuff, they'd be like, Yeah, but people share with me I like the inner work stuff. And I like the podcasting stuff in great because that's what I love, too. So there's a match here. There's other people who are just like, What microphone is the best and I'll be like, Okay, well, it's just this microphone, but But I know that the real issue isn't like why they haven't published yet isn't the microphone and I just like getting to the heart of the matter? Is it the best all the time? No, not honestly, probably not, I probably could use a little bit more microphone gear talk. But this stuff gets a little boring, because to me, it's the real draw of life. And the real juice of life is like, talking about the stuff that's going on inside, not an emotional heavyweight, but like a, how can we make something known that maybe was previously unknown, and then improve upon it, but also improve, like our content and all that stuff, because I think great content and finding trends is all about an inner game. And the better you get at the inner game, the better you get at spotting things before people see that they're happening, or before they catch on, I guess. And it looks like, you know, because it's true to you, what you're saying is true to you. People identify with it, and they relate with it, and it makes for better content. So there's one thing of finding trends for your content just for the sake of finding trends. And then there's also another level to that is, you know, staying authentic to what you share. And, and growing because you're not talking to just anybody in the world, you're talking to a specific person. And the reason why, if you're listening to this right now, the reason why this sounds like I might be talking specifically to you, is because I talk with so many clients, and people in my audience, that I get better at talking to like a specific person, I don't exactly know, you know, what you look like, but whatever, you know, your essence, your this is gonna sound really deep for a second, it's probably gonna sound a deep, it's gonna sound strange for a second, but you know, your spirit, whatever it is, that I'm talking to, I get that because, or I can talk to that part of you, because I spend so much time every day interacting with clients, customers, audience, and that's the only way I'm able to stay on the cutting edge. And honestly, sometimes I feel like I'm a bit far on the cutting edge that I might, you know, lose somebody or something because they just are like this is doesn't exactly make sense. But I don't really try to give that too much thought I try to just do my best to stay in a conversation. And then, you know, look at competition or think longer term, like, where do I want this to go, because once you become an expert or authority, then people are looking at you for just kind of driving the ship a little bit more. So I think it's important to note that too. And if you were in charge of innovating and finding trends and all that stuff, what would you do? You would make calculated smart decisions based on feedback you hear from your audience and noose around your circle, you wouldn't make it an isolated I'm thinking for myself. I don't talk to anyone, I don't consult with anybody you wouldn't make that wouldn't be a smart decision. So yeah, I hope these tips helped you. And my goal. My challenge for you today is how can you stay closer with your clients, with your customers with your audience? And what questions can you ask them in a way that draws the most important information from them. And typically, this is asking them what their biggest obstacle or problem is. And then like shutting up and then being quiet, because you want them to do the talking, there's a time when you're making content, that you're doing the talking. But when you're interacting with your audience, it's the time where you want to be listening. And you want to you want to nail that and the better you nail the listening part of it, of being able to just hear what they're saying, the better your content will be. And the more trends you will spot because you go, Oh, I realized the last five people I talked to you all had this common thread amongst them all about this one thing, maybe I should talk about, and then you talk about that and they go get out of my head. How do you know that? Like, well, I just saw like, five people just told me that same thing, and I'm just relaying that information. Not necessarily having to, you know, be Elon Musk with that. as controversial as he is right now. All right. I hope you are having a great day. Remember, ask your questions to your audience, ask questions. open ended questions are completely fine. And listen and do your best to just be quiet but get them talking, get them typing, get them giving you it doesn't have to be necessarily directly feedback to you, but just what it is about your thing for podcasting is you know, what is the struggles with podcasting? What are the things you like about podcasting? Because I got my own list, but I want to hear your list. So, if you are listening to this, I would be curious to know to let's see would be an example. Email hello at Digital podcaster.com. What if you're, you're considering podcasting. You know, what do you love about podcasting? What do you dislike about podcasting? If you are emailing me and this is not the month of May 22 want you to just let me know that this is the episode you're referring to? So there's a little bit of context and so I don't know what I mean I pick it up right away but you don't I mean, if you're listening to this but I would love to hear your feedback on you know what obstacle or what struggles or you know what what do you love? What in What do you dislike about podcasting? Let me know hello at Digital podcaster.com. And then again, ask your clients customers, your audience, and get really good at listening get really good at getting them to open up and I promise you you'll spot so many trends. You'll have to struggle with time to get it out. Have a great day. I will talk with you tomorrow.