Be mindful of ‘current events’ in your podcast

As I write this and soon to press publish, we’re in the middle of a federal election. The federal budget was delivered by the treasurer a few weeks ago, and opposition leader Anthony Albanese has been holed up in isolation after testing positive for COVID.

 At this stage, who’ll win the election is anyone’s guess, and the tide could turn either way depending on gaffs and events overseas.

Why am I writing all this?

Well, to illustrate how current events can impact on an immediacy of a published piece. The “now” factor can sometimes be more engaging and provide colour to a story.

The problem, of course, is that anyone in the future reading back at this feels that it’s old news and now not relevant.

And that is something you should keep in mind when doing a podcast.

When you’re recording a podcast with a guest, you always need to factor in the date in which the podcast will be released. Sounds obvious, but often during an interview it’s easy to get caught up in the moment and talk about current events, as if people are listening right here, right now.

Often, though, the interview may not be released for a week or two weeks or a month later.

If you are talking about the current election, for example, and the release date of the episode is after the election, it’ll grate on your audience.

Depending on your podcast, of course, it’s often best to keep things evergreen. Your evergreen episodes remain an asset long after they’ve been released.

If your episodes have a long shelf-life, you’ll be surprised how many new listeners to your show will go back and listen to other episodes in your back catalogue.

It’s always a good idea, of course, to promote the latest episode. But, it’s also fine to keep promoting older, evergreen episodes. You’ve done the work, so why not continue to market older episodes?