I read a press release announcing that some podcast now has two hosts. They are trying to piggy-back off of the hoopla over Katie Couric’s debut on some show.
Since when does adding a second host to your podcast become news? In my book, that’s not newsworthy at all. Here are some other ridiculous podcasting announcements that people are claiming is newsworthy:
- Releasing a podcast
- Releasing a new episode of a podcast that hasn’t been updated in months
- Releasing the 20th episode of a podcast
- Being listed in iTunes
- Saying that some unknown (or even known) person appeared as a guest on a podcast
- Going from 30-minutes to 15-minutes
- Getting some celebrity to produce your bumper
- Moving from a mono to stereo output
- Using a high definition microphone instead of just a mic
Here’s a tip folks - just because your podcast is now shorter, sounds better, features someone and is listed somewhere isn’t newsworthy. It just isn’t. All this hype about the frequency, sound and format of your podcast is just adding noise to the eternal clutter that permeates cyberspace. Only announce really newsworthy items.
Technorati Tags: podcasting, Technorati Profile
September 7th, 2006 at 12:01 am
I sent a press release out when I launched my show. We did a press release when we covered the topic of autosurf ponzi schemes. I’ve done two each year for my MVP contest, one to announce the contest, one to announcee the winner. I’ll definitely be doing a press release for my third anniversary and sharing some of the milestones we’ve reached.
I’m not press release happy by any means but I do think that adding a new host or changing hosts is newsworthy. I also think doing a press release for a well known guest is a good idea. Any press release has to pass the ’so what’ test right? I think these topics would pass it.
Some of you other examples are pretty goofy - I would have to agree that a new mic is hardly press release material.
September 7th, 2006 at 7:29 am
I love it! Excellent list
September 7th, 2006 at 9:35 am
But, just because you’ve reached a milestone doesn’t mean much, unless you can tie it into a bigger news story. I know that’s what The Public Eye tried to do, but they missed the mark in their press release.
The Public Eye should’ve explained why adding a second host is important, aside from the entertainment value. Are there any stats that show that having more than 1 host increases subscribers by X%? Why is the CBS approach to just having Katie on her own a flawed approach? Their press release should’ve dug deeper into the issue.
The same with other podcasting milestones. For example, if you’ve achieved 100 episodes, can you show that you’re one of the few to achieve this feat? I mean, are there stats out there that show that most podcasts fail to even go beyond 10? Do you have some informal, non-scientific numbers to show that say only 1% of podcast make it beyond episode 100? Or 200? Or whatever?
At the end of the day, I don’t just want search engine traffic from a press release I issue online through PRWeb and the rest. I want journalists to take notice and publish my story in their newspaper and magazines. I need to answer the question, “What really makes my podcast special?” Find that angle, back it up with some numbers and then you’ve got a powerful story.
September 7th, 2006 at 10:52 am
Most podcasting “news” is worthless. I follow press releases and news reports on podcasting and I rarely ever see a newsworthy item. I commented as such a few months ago on my blog here: http://www.podcastnyc.net/blog/2006/05/new-rules-of-podcasting-part-iii.html