Build a Podcast Interview Portfolio to Stay Relevant as a Thought Leader

The LOLcat is out of the bag: your social media profile has become your business card online, tilting the playing field in a world where memes and hashtags spread faster than ever. The new era has minted the so-called "influencers", who have created mini online empires on the account of their content production skills, creative editing, catchy marketing, and armies of followers. Being true entrepreneurs, those influencers have bootstrapped themselves into their newfound roles of high-profile-conference speakers, TV show guests, and increasingly, even coveted investors in hot deals – all on the account of their social media clout.

On the other side of the media ring, many authors and thought leaders, who were slow to figure out the new playbook, have been left behind. Having spent years cultivating their "offline", real-world track record of books, publications, conference appearances, and radio shows, they have suddenly found themselves playing catch-up online. What's going on here?

Part of the explanation lies in the fact that

social media platforms have managed to commoditize the distribution of ideas.

News, and often, ready-made thoughts and opinions seem to be rolling off our feeds' infinite scroll.?Curated by algorithms, for sure, but also self-selected by those?on the receiving end of the "idea hose” – voracious information consumers formerly known as readers, listeners, and viewers, who?are allocating an increasing?proportion?of their time to the ideas they perceive as "high-value".

It is safe to assume that?the number of followers?plays a big role in these perceptions, even if they do not reflect reality. Known by several?names (preferential attachment, winner-takes-all, the Matthew effect),

this phenomenon can ultimately be thought of as?a time optimization strategy for consumers with limited time.

It's also a potent social signal: if?lots of others like this, it?surely?must be important. Ignore it and you risk being the only person in the room who doesn't get the joke.

This trend puts many a thought leader in a quandary: should they jump on the social media bandwagon and start firing off tweetable wisdom missiles by the hundred, in hopes of impressing a gaggle of new followers? Or should they ignore the block party and stick to the deep and silent mode of thinking and creating, investing months and even years of focus and effort into polishing their creations before finally asking their agent to book them for a book-release media blitz tour (and risking finding no takers)? What's the lesser risk here: shallowness or irrelevance? And is there a middle ground? Perhaps, there is.

I am?a Co-Founder and?CEO of the?podcast interview?platform Padverb. I believe that

the podcast interview medium is the best way to distribute high-quality ideas in the era of social media

and stay relevant for those deep thinkers who invest years and years into idea development. Rather than stay locked up behind closed doors, writing a book, why not build a following, and give the world a glimpse of your thinking, all while oftentimes not spending a dime.

Below are the benefits of the?podcast interview?format for creators playing in the deep idea league:??

·???????First, the?podcast interview?is not a huge investment of time. While books may take years to put out, all you need for a quality interview is an hour to two hours of your time. It is a good way to announce and promote yourself and ideas, while you are in-between books, TV, or film appearances.

·???????Second, the cost of a?podcast interview?has come down tremendously. Anybody, who is not after making money on ads, can appear as a guest on a show (the host owns the monetization rights), and all expenses will be covered by the host. They are usually very small for the host, up to $50 for editing an episode. Therefore hosts are interested to attract quality guests because their upside is potentially unlimited for a very small investment.

·???????Third, there are now matching services to put a guest on an interesting show, so you have your interview options brought to you. You can schedule at a click of a button. Padverb, for example, will be rolling out such service soon for a low monthly subscription fee.

All of those reasons lend themselves to accumulating?a portfolio of?podcast interview?appearances with multiple hosts, possibly even with hosts, who typically interview thought leaders from a different area of expertise than yours.

And there is one more thing that a good?podcast interview?does. It allows anyone with ideas worth spreading to stand up and hold their own in the face of increasingly impressive production values of the mega-influencers. Yes, those guys and gals can bake a top-notch video in hours, complete with effects and titling. But so what? Ask yourself: does that really make their ideas more useful? More relevant? More original? Hardly. What’s more, given that behind every influencer nowadays there is a production team at work, whose ideas are they really presenting? We can never be sure.

Those with the idea power to sit down for a coherent hour-long interview, however, are (mostly) playing in a different league, or perhaps even a different sport altogether….

For consumers of ideas, the?podcast interview?format presents the best way to separate the wheat from the chaff, for multiple reasons. Some of them are listed below:

·???????First,?the audio form itself orients toward focus and reflection. There are no camera distractions; the visual cortex can?take?a long-deserved break and pass the baton to its auditory and pre-frontal neighbors.

·???????Second,?a person's voice carries much?more?information than we usually give it credit for: who hasn't been surprised – and occasionally, disappointed – by the timbre,?diction, or accent of their favorite writer or journalist? Perhaps, we hear much more than mere words?

·???????Third,?any interview is an opportunity for us?listeners?to get into two heads at once: occasionally, we may identify more with the host and if so, we'll probably hear our own questions asked in due time.

·???????And finally, the very format of the half-an-hour-to-two-hour conversation gives the guest enough time to present the ideas that simply won't sit comfortably in a single post or video (let alone a tweet).

Our platform helps?thinkers?of all stripes?bridge the gap between the high quality of their ideas and the?limited?distribution?channels currently available to reach consumers of ideas. We had to limit our purview a bit: we are not about morning drive talk shows or the latest news or fancy radio-style editing; we are about people and their ideas. Using?Padverb, you'll be able to assemble your?podcast?interview?appearances in one place, find people to interview (or be interviewed by), and follow those whose ideas resonate most with?you.

There?are?currently several thousand public thought leaders?with podcast interviews?on our platform. Why not join their ranks?

Anna Haskell is Co-Founder and CEO of the podcast interview platform Padverb, your podcast interview home for authors, thinkers, and thought leaders. Sign-up, listen and create your podcast interview portfolio at https://en.padverb.com/