Calendar

 I spoke with Lisa as well as Leo Laporte, the husband-and-wife team behind the podcasting company TWiT, about how to build an audience that is so engaged with your brand that they actually would like to listen to your commercials.

"When we first started TWiT we were aiming for an elitist group of people that were real technophiles. Today, there's a resounding question: Where isn't technology? !" smiles Lisa Laporte, chief executive officer of TWiT. "It's fully developed." The communal aspect of podcasting was the reason the industry felt like an "logical continuation" of Chief TWiT Leo's life mission and was the reason Lisa was captivated by the new medium.

The couple had been working on their podcasting empire for 16 years when the pandemic came to the forefront in 2020. "Those two years of isolation were lonely," Lisa explains. "We were all stuck in tiny Zoom boxes. But we have a technical fan base that loves and desires community." TWiT needed to discover a method of connecting with its fans during the time of isolation.

Lisa was talking with one of the sponsors for TWiT Tech training company ITPro.TV regarding ways to give something back to the fans. "Simply enough ITPro.TV allowed its members to join in and chat online for up to an an hour at night. Sometimes they would play games, sometimes they would just chat," Lisa continues. "I thought, 'That's what I want to do.' I wanted to let our followers be able to have a space to hang out and have fun.

Lisa confirms that the ability to incorporate a Discord server into their membership offering formally created "a better experience" that just establishing a new online community. "It was time to provide our community that little extra something; people wanted to get out of the confines of locked inside their home." Club TWiT was set to go live.

From content to cruising: The debut of Club TWiT

Lisa clarifies that the TWiT team members are encouraged to participate in the group as much as possible. They seek feedback on their show and they hold regular Ask Me Anything (AMA) sessions; and also host spaces where the members can come to socialize. This is especially crucial when it came to online communities during the pandemic but is adapting well to the real world.

"We are hosting a photography exhibit, so I think it'd be fun to announce, 'Hey We'll be at this event. We invite you to join us on a photography walk in the park!'" continues Lisa. The team envisions doing many more in-person experiences and, indeed, TWiT held a recent cruise for its 100 members. Leo and Lisa agree that, almost contrary to popular belief, it's events in person such as this are the "fundamental element of what podcasting is all about" and what distinguishes it from other media.

Lisa and Leo also use Club TWiT to premiere and test new content; if the show begins getting noticed the show could be included in the premium Club TWiT offering or become an advertisement-supported series. In this case, Lisa will approach the host of the show, and advise the host to begin practicing their ad reads, and join the show into their kit to start approaching sponsors. Each ad must be read by the host to ensure that it appears as an authentic and integral part of the program.

Promoting your sponsors is more effective than they sell themselves

Creating an advertising approach that will benefit sponsors as well as people who listen to it is crucial to its achievement: "Our advertising works because the community trusts our brand. We can recommend the products and services they need and they are willing to be a part of our team, which is why they purchase them. When we sign advertisers We thoroughly vet the company they represent, and we look over their reviews." says Lisa.

She says: "We do such a great job on our advertising-supported part that Club members are constantly saying"Hey, I need you to drop in the ads. Actually, we have Discord for the ads on our shows! Discord channel just for the ads on our shows!" She adds that their audience asks them to share an ad each month on each and every show since the listeners would like to know where to purchase the products advertised: "They trust us so they tell us, 'You have to share a feed with us to allow us to go out and hear ads every once a while.'"

As of now I must double-check what I'm hearing. Lisa says that TWiT members do write into the shows for links to TWiT's adverts. "Isn't it hilarious? !" she smiles. She continues: "Our Club TWiT members get the shows for free however, they do write us to say, 'Hey, we miss the ads - we'd like to hear the ads!' Therefore, we frequently include commercials to thank our sponsors for their support or whenever we get an exciting new patron. They're so compelling."

"Our sponsors say, 'Can you send us a courtesy commercial for every ad seen? Our sales trainers look at them since you've sold our company better than 50% of our staff members who are junior!' I thought that was quite adorable."

Start small is essential.

How do you build an organization that members like and trust so much they want to listen to your advertisements? "Really examine what's available and take a look at the things that other businesses are doing," Lisa suggests. "Look at people that are similar to yours and observe the things they're doing prior to you jump into the fray. Have conversations: call me or talk to someone that has done this."

She suggests "just take your time" to look at different ways and structures. "Don't take more than you're capable of chewing. If you decide to do 50 different things, you'll discover it difficult to accomplish them. Start with a small amount, just as we did. "We started by introducing AMAs."

Leo and Lisa describe how they explain that TWiT team has slowly but surely figured the issue out as they go along the way. After they've gotten comfortable of the process it's time to start adding the value of their service with additional material. "I don't want to over-promise but then not deliver," Lisa continues.

Lisa encourages podcasters to take a take a close look at the features they provide with their membership packages. "See what is appropriate in the context of what you're trying accomplish and then shop around to find the right product: because we are audio and video, we have a few peculiarities that are not typical for a podcast network."

Supporting the community

"If you're looking for a career in technology, check out our network. We've got a show for everyone!" she smiles. "We offer shows for beginners like the Tech Guy; we have iOS Today, which is entertaining if you've got either an iPad or iPhone and are interested in learning how to utilize them; we have 'geeky' shows like Security Now if you're into security. If you're interested in something, join Club TWiT and download the podcast! Remember to help fellow members of this community."

Supporting the podcasting community as well as its amazingly inclusive character has always been a priority for the TWiT team "We continue to offer gratis content, however it's nice to provide this additional benefit for those who are super fans. I love having both options because everyone with internet access can access our content and don't need to shell out money for these shows. It's democratic." says Lisa.

Then she says: "We have fans in third world countries that have written to say that they heard your podcast. I used to go hangout at a local electronics store for your show and pick up some new skills. And now I have a job in tech!'"

Maybe Lisa, Leo, and the rest of the staff at TWiT have not only witnessed tech's evolution from a subject just for enthusiasts to its ubiquitous status today. Maybe they've helped make the transition.