Fresh and engaging content is the key to a good podcast. But it can be hard to keep coming up with ideas for new and interesting content.
We’ll go over the following strategies for coming up with unique podcast ideas:
Ask your audience
Get inspiration from your peers
Interview someone in your industry
Host a panel discussion
Check out forums
Branch outside of your usual routine
Need help coming up with podcast ideas that your fans will love?
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Ask Your Audience
Survey your audience for what podcast topics they want you to tackle.
Your listeners are the heart of your podcast. Knowing your audience is key to a successful podcast strategy, and sometimes that means reaching out and asking them what they want from your content.
When asking your audience what they want to hear, make sure to:
Ask them where they engage with you most, whether that means hosting a poll on social media, sending them a survey via email, or adding a short questionnaire to your website.
Keep your question specific. Don’t just ask your audience, “What do you want to hear about next?” Figure out their unique pain points with questions like “What issues do you have when ABC?” or “What do most people misunderstand about XYZ?”.
Another great place to look is other podcasts your audience listens to …
Get Inspiration From Your Peers
Keep a list of podcast ideas.
We’d never encourage stealing, but sometimes listening to other experts in your industry can spark some ideas for what topics to cover next.
If you hear a topic you’re interested in discussing, think about how you could:
Put your twist on the topic
Delve deeper into the topic
Show a unique perspective
For some inspiring podcasts right here in Arizona, visit our blog “7 Great Local Podcasts for Inspiration in 2022.”
Listening to other podcasts may also give you ideas for inviting guests—maybe even a fellow podcast host—to your show.
Interview Someone in Your Industry
A great way to engage your podcast audience is to interview a guest.
Featuring a guest on your podcast is a great way to give listeners different insights into your industry.
When coordinating an interview:
Get to know your guest before the interview. Going into the interview knowing nothing about your guest will look unprofessional. Make sure you have a basic understanding of your guest’s life and achievements, which will also help spark questions when they’re in the studio.
Keep things flexible. While it's essential to have a list of questions you want to cover to feel prepared, you shouldn't only stick to those questions. If you sense a good follow-up question from one of their answers, ask it! You'll create a more genuine conversation that listeners can appreciate.
Avoid negative and repetitive questions. It’s okay to address failures or downfalls in interview questions, but don’t remark on them in a negative way. Keep things upbeat, and make sure to ask unique questions. Asking something the guest has answered in another interview won’t give you anything new and interesting—and will likely bore your audience.
Have several people that you want to interview? Host them all in a panel!
Host a Panel Discussion
You could also host a panel, which would allow you to cultivate interesting discussions with multiple different viewpoints from people in your industry.
When hosting a podcast panel, make sure to:
Choose the right topic and panelists. It can be tempting to invite people you know well and are comfortable talking to, but that may not make for the most interesting discussion. You’ll want people who can keep the discussion going, which could mean reaching out to peers and industry experts you’ve never interviewed before.
Keep the discussion on track. Hosting a conversation with multiple people means having multiple different experiences and backgrounds. The discussion can easily derail from the topic you want to focus on, which means you (or someone else) will need to moderate the panel to keep everyone on track.
Another great place for podcast inspiration is forums.
Check Out Forums
Online forums allow people to ask questions that other people can answer. That means you can get inspired by and even discuss a wide range of exciting topics.
Reddit and Quora are among the most popular forums, but you can find forums that cover just about any niche—from gaming to cultivating plants to hosting your home on Airbnb.
If you’re unsure what your audience will like, experiment with different podcast formats …
Branch Outside of Your Usual Routine
Switch up your podcast format with a Q&A session.
If you have a general format you usually follow, switch things up.
For example, you could do some of the following:
Ask Me Anything (AMA) series: A live Q&A session with your audience, where they ask questions that you answer in real-time.
Social Media Minute: Read posts that your audience uploads to social media using a specific hashtag.
Recommendations: Give your listeners recommendations—whether it’s a particular song or recipe you’re into at the moment or resources or tools that would make your audience’s life easier.
Content revamp: If you have longer episodes that cover a few general topics, dive deeper into those topics over a few episodes.
Event recap: Are you attending a big event or conference in your industry? Give a brief recap of how the event went and/or what you learned.
Episode lookback: Look back at previous episodes you’ve done and discuss how things have changed since it was initially published.
Need Some Podcast Ideas?
Let our team of creative professionals help guide you through the process and inspire you with ideas to get your new show out on the networks.
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We run three small business podcasts ourselves (Shorts-N-Suits, Rocket Media Blogcast, and Guiding Growth), so we know what it takes to create and maintain a successful podcast.
Modern Moments has available podcast studio space for rent that helps small businesses with everything, from pre-production, ideation, and scriptwriting to affordable equipment rentals to post-production services like landing page creation.
Book a tour today to see how we can help you start, build or grow your podcast.