There are many places to get inspiration for your podcasts. In the same way that you will often find inspiration for your blog posts, so too can you find inspiration for your podcasts.
Brainstorm
When you are first starting your podcasting journey, it is probably because you feel inspired to do so and have at least a couple of topics on your mind that you would like to speak about.
The best thing to do is to latch on to that momentum and start your own brainstorming session. Do a brain dump in which you write down every idea you have. Then start tackling them one by one. It’s always easier to expand on ideas from a big list than to dive deep into a single topic which can overwhelm you and cause you to lose steam.
You may also find that your brainstorming content leads to usable material for months to come. I’ve still got lists that I draw from which are from 3 years ago and I’m just now realizing the benefit of some ideas I had all the way back then!
Look at discussion boards and forums
See what the people in your niche are talking about. If you’re seeing activity on the web than it’s a sign that others are seeking some more content.
The same has been provably good for blogging. Even when you think “someone else already did this” you have to remember that you have your own audience and you have your own spin, your own voice, and your own style for all of your content.
Check out social media
What are people talking about on the networks you use? Or in the groups, such as Facebook Groups, LinkedIn, and Twitter. Podcasts are a very popular for quick reactions to content that is living and expanding on social media, so now is your chance to jump in, get inspired, and create some relevant content.
The news
What ís going on in the world that you can connect to in your podcast? Just like the social barometer, current events in your industry or your niche area are literally staring you in the face. Just search out the daily news wire such as searching news.google.com and you will find trending topics that you can jump into.
Ask your audience
Get them to email you or tweet you what they want to hear. There is nothing better than tapping into the folks who are already listening, watching, or reading.
Even as you get started and have less of an audience, you should ALWAYS be referring to them as if they are a huge crowd, because one day it will be if you keep on it!
Bring on guests
Bring on guests who have certain niche-related things they want to talk about. You can get audience members and experts to all join in. This helps to create great conversations and you are able to work with someone to both amplify them, and yourself.
The bonus to having guests involved is that you can also encourage them to use their social channels to bring more ears and eyes to your content.
Read frequently asked questions about your niche
FAQs can offer a wealth of content to help your audience get the most out of your niche and create relevant content to lead to bigger audiences, and happier folks for whom you can solve problems and bring new information to.
Just dig around websites of industry leaders, vendors, etc, and look for what their FAQs and reference section refer to. This is where you can literally have your niche market create your content for you.
Pay attention to your competition
What kinds of things are other competitive and similar hosts talking about on their podcasts? Subscribe to at least two or three, or search their teaser copy to get ideas. Just like above, I always remind folks that you are your own voice and your own style, so don’t be afraid to take on the same topics and ideas as other creators. What makes it your content is YOU!
Go head to head with your competition
If you subscribe to different podcasts and hear something you disagree with, or want to cover in more detail, go for it. You won’t want to just make a point of being adversarial, though. In fact, you might even suggest that you do a podcast together so that both your audiences can benefit from fleshing out ideas and resolving some ideas as a group.
There are lots of great way to do “reaction videos” and more to help to add your voice to the opinions of others in your niche and then if you’re doing things right, you will find a growing audience of people who learn to value your views and ideas.
Use customer support issues
If you get the same questions coming up over and over again in your customer support email, chances are it is something worth discussing in detail.
Even if you just check Reddit forums and crowdsourced review sites like G2 Crowd, Trust Radius, and TechValidate, you will find a wealth of content waiting to be produced. If lots of people in the industry are leaving feedback on products and platforms, you can jump in with your voice and take on the topic in your podcast.
Check trends online
Most of the social sites, and the search engines, show what is trending. You can join in on the conversation. Never let a good trend go to waste. Be careful, though. You may not want to be chasing the “if it bleeds, it leads” type of content, so choose your niche and how aggressively you want to attach to breaking news and trends.
Follow thought leaders
Follow thought leaders on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. See what kinds of things they are talking about that inspire you which are signs of who their audiences (and yours) are keen on hearing and seeing.
Thought leaders often use broad brush generalizations, so you have a huge opportunity to dive further into content that they touch on at a high-level. This is also a chance to create podcasts and leave some comments for the thought leaders in your niche area. Before you know it, you may be hosting them as guests!
Your own blog posts
No need to keep reinventing the wheel all the time. Leverage the content you already have to create your podcasts by using your blog posts, social media threads, and any other industry content you’re creating.
Expanding on your blogs in podcasts lets you dig further into the topic, add some nuance by making it conversational, and
Contributed niche content
Contributed content is pre-written content from either contract writers or PLR (Private Label Rights) that you can buy a license to be able to use. Just add some of your own spin and turn it into your own blog content and also use it for your podcasts. Pricing will range from as little as 1-5$ per article and as much as 1$ per word. UpWork and Fiverr are great places to go for finding junior writers who can help you get started and then simply edit it for grammar as needed, and to give it your own voice and style.
Top Ten Listicles
Listicles are articles in a list format, with Top 10 tips, Top 10 items and so on all listed, and then discussed briefly. We could title this article “Top 15 ways to get ideas for your podcasts”, for example. People love lists, hints and tips.
We often love and hate the famous Buzzfeed-style “23 things that every 90s kid will remember” but the truth is that these niche articles can really draw in your audience and it is a well-know format for a reason…it works.
Article directories
Article directories were really popular a back when Google gave higher rank to pages that had a lot of back links. This is no longer as effective because of the ever-changing Google algorithm, but there is still a lot of interesting content that was created by pretty talented business owners and writers to try to drive traffic back to their own sites. Search for your niche and see what inspires you from the content that’s out there already.
Now that you have lots of very easy to reach places to find inspiration for your podcasts, you should be ready to start your own, or give a little boost to your existing podcast to give it some new energy and ideas. I hope that you find this as helpful as it has proven to be for me!