How Much Background Should You Share In Your Podcast?

In today's episode, we dig into a question every new podcast host wrestles with: How much should you share about yourself in your podcast? We share our recommendations about what to include, what's optional, and the best way to deliver it to your listeners.

If you have questions as you start your podcast, reach out to us on the Podcaster Success team by emailing support@buzzsprout.com.  

Keep podcasting!

Transcript

Welcome to Podcasting Q&A

Cara Pacetti 0:00

Welcome to Podcasting Q&A, brought to you by the people at Buzz Sprout. I'm your host, Cara Pacetti, and I'm bringing you the best tips and strategies to keep you podcasting with confidence. Today's listener question says, for my first podcast, how much, if any, details do I go into about me, the podcast, why I'm doing it, and what I hope to accomplish? Or do I just go right into the material? You know, I mentioned recently on a Podcasting Q&A episode that the questions that you all send in can actually help hundreds of podcasters who are listening to this show. And I feel like this is one of those questions. It's such a good question because it really boils down to finding the balance between connecting with your audience while respecting their time. And the honest answer is it depends. But let's walk through a simple way to think about this. So first, I want to focus on what should be shared and what is more optional. Some of the optional things that you can share about yourself when introducing yourself to your listeners would be your name. So do you want to include your full name or for privacy's sake, are you just including your first name? I was personally on the fence about do I share my first and last name when starting to host Podcasting Q&A, or should I just stick to my first name? I ended up going with my last name because I'm really okay with listeners connecting with me on social media platforms if they have questions or want to talk about the podcast. So I felt comfortable to share my last name. Now you may feel otherwise. And that's why this is something that is optional and that you'll want to think about before you record this information for your podcast. You also want to think about how much information I should share about my family or my personal life. You want to ask yourself: does this provide value for my listeners? Does this relate to my content? And is it necessary to share information that is personal to me? In some ways, it creates connection, but you also want to be careful about how much you're sharing. You want to be really intentional about it and just give it some forethought before you just put all of that information out there. Some other optional things to include are your background. So depending on the content of your podcast, will your background help establish you as the expert in this field? For example, if you are hosting a podcast on world history and you work as a historian, that's great information to share. Or if there is a specific life experience that you've walked through that you are now focusing on in your podcast in order to give you some credibility and to establish you as the expert, then it may be worthwhile sharing more information about that background. You just want to look at these details through the lens of how am I serving my audience by sharing this information. You can share your background, you can share your experiences as they relate to the podcast. When it comes to sharing why you are doing this podcast, again, that is optional. I do recommend that you spend some intentional time determining your why so that you have that personally and you can always go back to that as you make decisions for the podcast. But when it comes to sharing it with your audience, while it's not mandatory or necessary, it also could be beneficial depending on your content and depending on your audience. The passion behind why you're doing what you're doing does make your podcast feel that much more human. It invites listeners to jump on board with you. They are going to be more eager to subscribe to your podcast and to hear more of what you have to say because you've explained why this is important to you. So sharing your why, I would consider that optional. In some cases, it's very important and it really helps establish that connection. But in some cases, it's just not necessary to share your why behind the podcast. So, with that said, what is it that you should share when you are introducing your podcast and introducing yourself? So you should let your listeners know what your podcast is about. So, an introduction to the podcast, what is it about? Who is the podcast for? You also want to share the release dates for your episodes. So, when can listeners hear new episodes? Are you releasing your episodes every week, every day, maybe every other month? Whatever your publishing frequency is, you want to make sure you're communicating that to your listeners so they know when to check in for new episodes. You want to share where your listeners can hear your podcast. So if you were listing your podcast on all the major directories, you want to make sure that you share that with your listeners. You can also let your listeners know if your episodes are available on your website. You want to make sure that you share that URL. This is the information that is important that you get to your listeners. Now that we've walked through some of the things that need to be shared for your podcast and some things that may be more optional, I want to go through how do you share this information with your listeners. Some podcasters will start with a trailer. So if you're just starting out with podcasting, you may or may not know this. In order to submit your podcast to the directories, you have to have at least one episode published in your feed. That is why we typically recommend starting with a trailer episode. Since you have to have an episode there already, you can go ahead and publish that episode and then submit to the directories. And if somebody stumbles upon your podcast before your official launch date, they will find your trailer, which will tell them what your podcast is all about. It doesn't need to be as long as your other episodes. So you can make it a little shorter. And the primary focus of the trailer is just to introduce yourself as the podcaster and share some of those important details that we just mentioned. It's a great introduction. And if you tag the trailer as a trailer type in Buzz Sprout, the directories will sometimes pull that episode kind of out of your list. So I know on some directories, they will show that episode at the top of your list. In some, it will show the episode at the bottom, but it marks it clearly as a trailer. So for listeners who are not subscribed to your podcast, but they want to know a little bit more about what to expect, they can hear that trailer episode. It's showing right there for them very clearly. Once they listen to your trailer, they can decide whether or not they want to follow your podcast. If you're not interested in recording a trailer, another option is just to go ahead and include that information about you, that introduction into your first episode. So it can be kind of a combination. It will be a little longer than maybe your other episodes because the primary goal is to introduce you, introduce the podcast, and then you can jump right into the content in that first episode. If you are producing a podcast that is maybe more of like an audio drama or it's more of a tactical podcast, and you really don't want to add a trailer or a full episode that is only about you and why you're starting the podcast, then you can absolutely share that information on a website. Maybe you can create an about you page. That is an optional way of getting that important information to your listeners without adding it as another episode to your podcast. These are all very acceptable options, but it is not an exhaustive list. You can get creative with this. And really, I said this in the beginning, but it just depends. You just need to take some time to think about all your options and the why behind what you're sharing and how it benefits your listener. That's really the best approach to deciding what gets added to your podcast. If you have questions about your podcast, please reach out to us on the podcaster success team by emailing support at buzzsprout.com. If there is one part of your podcast production process that just feels harder than it should, click the Send Us Fan mail link in the show notes and let me know. I'd love to cover this on a future episode. Be sure to join us every Monday to kickstart your week. Thank you so much for listening. And as always, keep podcasting.