How teachers can use podcasting to enhance the learning experience

The internet has changed the way people learn. It has provided multiple options and sources for students to find information. Youtube, blogs and podcast have added a new dynamic to the learning experience. But the question is how can educators use these tools to their advantage?

Imagine having a healthy discussion with a group of students around a topic. Some of them bring up points from your podcast or even ask other questions for clarification following an interview you did. That’s what a podcast can do.

Create a Study Resources

Young people live on their mobile phones, so why not create resources for them to use while they are preparing for exams. The beauty of a podcast is that instead of them listening to music, they can playback a lesson for further clarity on a topic. This is a neat idea to have notes in audio form catering to the learner who likes to listen

The other way to utilize a podcast is to add extra material not covered in class. This can be new analogies and examples to further explain your point. These extra examples can make a big difference to students retaining the material.

Expose them to real-world applications

Another way a podcast can help teachers is to talk about real-world applications of a subject. This can be interviewing industry practitioners and subject matter experts about current trends in the industry.

What this does is get persons to buy into the topic by seeing the relevance of what you are talking about. For example, a subject like English, talking to leaders about knowing how to communicate using the written word. This can help students see the relevance of the subject and learn to appreciate it.

Change the teaching style

Finally, changing your approach in your podcast can be a testing ground for new ideas. Maybe a more fun approach can be a way to get listeners drawn to your unique style. Maybe a more practical how-to-style or teach through stories. The possibilities are endless.

The aim is to experiment with different ideas. Finding what your students will respond to and get them drawn into your subject area. Podcasts can add that experience and offer a way to engage with students in a new way.

Understanding how each social media platform works

One of the things that can cause paralysis when using social media for marketing is not knowing how it works. You might have lots of ideas and you may even post a few stuff but, are you really using it effectively? Do you know all the things you can do on a particular platform?

Social media platforms cover 4 areas, video, audio, text and images. However, each platform has different implementations of this and knowing these can help you in your content creation.

Newsfeed post criteria

Every platform has a newsfeed.  You can see people you follow and those who follow you can see your updates. 

On Twitter, there’s a combination of written word, images and video. However, each of these has a limit. Images must be a certain size, a video has to be a 2 minute and 20 seconds, and also the 240 character limit. 

You can use this information for your advantage in your content creation. You can craft your message to fit that limitation. It will also make your story powerful and consumable by your customers. 

Radio & TV ads are 30 seconds to a minute. Companies had to tell their stories with that limitation for that platform to work for them.  Same applies online.

Stories 

Not all social media platforms have this feature, but it’s still a useful tool. You’re able to share ongoing progress of what you are working on throughout the day. It goes away in 24 hours. You can use stories to test ideas out before committing to a post on your newsfeed. You can also create specifically for that. Instagram, Facebook, WhatsApp, youtube, Snapchat all have the stories feature.  You can use it to good effect. 

The interesting thing about stories is that people check it very often. Sometimes multiple times for the day. This is interesting because you can use stories to drive traffic to content in your feed. Instagram as a swipe up feature where you can post to stories and persons can swipe up to learn more. 

Direct Message

Direct messages are also a great way to interact online. If a customer asks a question on your newsfeed you can either reach out publicly or send a private message offering more help.

In the book fill your funnel by Tom Hopkins and Dan Portik says asking instead of telling is the most critical concept to grasp in selling. The person who is asking the questions controls the direction of the conversation. This further demonstrates that you can use direct messages to ask questions and further et up to speed with social media tools for good effect. 

Search function

Search is the perfect way to find conversations online. You can search hashtags, keywords and see what your potential customers are saying or talking about. This will allow you to answer questions and meet new people who might be interested in what you do.

Like, reply with a comment or reshare

All platforms allow you to interact with other content. If you see something you like, press the like button, reshare it if you find it interesting or leave a comment so that the person can see your thoughts. This is a great way to interact with the community and meet new people and potential customers.

How to define your target customers for your business

Clearly defining who the customers you want to attract to your business will set up your marketing for success. Not doing it will cost you lots of money, time and frustration. Gary Halber in his book the Baron letter says the fastest way to grow a business is finding a starving crowd. That’s the aim of this article, to show you how you can clearly define your starving crowd. The people who would respond to your offer. 

Who are your best clients/customers?

If you already operate a business who is the best type of client you have worked with. The ones that you don’t have to worry about, don’t question the quality of your work. Or don’t complain about everything. 

For me as an audio engineer and producer, I was recording artistes that had a job and clearly knew how they wanted their music to sound.  These artists pay on time, focus only on the music and are well prepared when they come to work with me. The rest are always trouble. They complain a lot and always have a story about why they forget to pay you. This is worst when you send tracks for feedback, they never respond. 

Perry Marshall in his book 80/20 Sales and marketing says 20 per cent of your clients bring in 80 per cent of revenue. The other 80 per cent cause you most of the problems. Get rid of the ones that cause you to stress, and target the ones that bring in revenue. 

To do that, pay attention to their profile, their interest and other things that can help you find them online as well as ou may learn more about your ideal customers.

What if you’re just starting out and have no paying customers?

The best thing to do is to assume and picture who you would like to work with and who would respond to your marketing message. This is simple if you examine the problem your product/service solves and flip it. 

I help persons with __________ solve _________________. Anyone with that problem would be your ideal customer. You can also narrow down that statement further as well. Here are a few questions to think about:

  1. Where are your customers located?
  2. What interests do they have?
  3. What is their gender male/female?
  4. What is their income level?
  5. What problems do they have that your business solve?

These 5 questions can go a far way in helping you find the ideal customers for your business.

How to start a self-hosted WordPress blog

Starting a blog is one piece of your marketing arsenal, useful in helping you promote your business. You have the opportunity to educate your customers,  share your marketing messages on a channel you control but, you might be thinking that you need to hire an expert to help you set it up. Well, Not so, because it’s pretty easy and here are the steps. 

Step 1 Get hosting

The first thing you’ll need is to get hosting for your blog. This is for persons who don’t have a website. There are multiple options out there such as host gator, Bluehost, Namecheap, inmotion and a list of others. Pick one that is within your budget.

Having a self-hosted blog gives you more control and is cheaper to manage than a blog hosted on a platform. You can customize it with ease later on. Like add custom sales pages, change the look and feel of the site with a host of design options.

Once on the hosting site, pick a package that suits your budget, and then pay for it and you’re done. Now you can move on to the next step.

Step 2 Install WordPress

The reason for choosing WordPress is the variety of options available to customize your blog. In addition, you can get help when needed with the abundance of sites dedicated to teaching how to customize WordPress. Plus depending on what you are doing you can find a design or theme to fit your needs. More on that later.

Your hosting package will have a click to install option, to set up WordPress. Follow the instructions and you won’t have any issues setting up your blog. Choose your site name, which will be the name of your business and tag which is what you do. After that pick your username and password and you’re done.

The other key thing you’ll need is a domain name. Most hosting companies will give you a free domain name with your hosting. Otherwise, purchase the domain name for your business. 

Step 3: Pick a theme

The theme is like the skin of your blog. This is how it will look for the long them. WordPress has thousands of themes available for you to choose from. Browse through their list of options to choose one for your blog.

Some theme companies give you a basic theme with a drag and drop page builder. This will help you further customise the look of your blog to fit your brand. When choosing a theme, pick one with a style you like that you can customize to your choosing. 

Themes are either paid or free. Don’t worry too much about the paid options, you can just work with a free theme and customize it to your preference. 

Once you’re finished customizing your blog add basic pages, Set up your site to let people know who you are. like an about me section with your story and how you help your customers, and a contact us page, which will make it easier for people to get in touch with you. 

Step 4 Add content to your blog

Now it’s time to add content to your blog. If you’re stuck for ideas don’t worry, start sharing simple. Answer questions customers create a step by step tutorials about teaching them how to do something related to your business. 

To do this click create a post and start writing. Once you’re through writing, review and click publish and you are done.

3 reasons why your business website need a blog

One day I was doing some research trying to find a place I could buy a printer. Checked all major outlets websites thinking it would answer all my questions. I wasn’t searching for a regular home printer, I wanted something similar to the one I used at work. 

Few of the companies websites I checked I saw that they had a one or two printers that might work. No information was there that would convince me to pull the trigger and get it. Based on the look of the site I wasn’t even sure they had the printer in stock. Plus it was my first time buying that particular type of printer. These are the type of things situation a blog could solve.

Long before the internet companies used to rely on newspapers and magazines to write about them to reach their customers directly. They actively seek out these opportunities. Now they don’t have to do that. Its easier to reach your buyers directly and address their problems on your blog. 

Answer customers questions and queries

This is one of the easiest places to start. Answering questions customers call or come into the store and ask. Walk them through step by step, educating them to make a decision. If I had seen a buyer guide to office printers on the site. I would have read it. Would make me more likely to buy from them if I felt I knew what to look for in the type of office printer I wanted. 

It builds trust with customers

If your blog is helpful overtime customers will trust you. Why? You took the time out to educate them. You became a trusted advisor that helps them make good decisions and get value for money. 

For instance, I always hate when calling companies asking questions and the person on the phone is trying to get rid of you. Its the worse feeling in the world and a big turn off when you are genuinely going to buy something. 

Its a communication channel you control

Lastly, if you have a big announcement you can post it on your blog, once you build up subscribers and chances are you collected data from them you can send it out to them. No need to send an email to the press and hope someone sees it and publish it. You can tell your story through a vehicle you control. You can post as often as you want for free. Once you build up your customer database you can reach them directly through your blog.

How to find your customers online

Imagine going to a party and the music is playing, everyone is dancing and having a good time except you. You start chatting up some people but all conversation feels awkward. So you end up leaving. A next time you go to a different event for people like you. You talk to a few people and they ask what you do and low and behold they love you. You are what they were searching for. That’s the feeling you get when you find your customers and people with similar interest. And the thing is you can find them online as well. 

Online is littered with groups with all types of interest. From knitting to sports to healthcare to cars. The thing is you can use this in your search to find where your customers are. 

What are your customers interested in?

Knowing your customer’s interest will find communities to be a part of to reach them. This piece of information is useful when choosing platforms base on customers interest.  They will use a particular platform to get information. For example, a lot of friends share craft and cooking videos on facebook. They are short and demonstrate how to cook something. On Pinterest, a female coworker pins hairstyles she likes, outfits, shoes and so on. This can help you with your search.

If they have a problem where is the first place they go to find answers? Who are the influencers in the space? This will help you find where they gather on a regular basis. To help you on your search here are a few places:

Forums

Forums are the really old school way of using the internet. There are websites dedicated to giving persons space to ask questions and get help. It has evolved into various Q&A sites like Quora, Reddit and others. To maximize this space find forums dedicated to your topic. Create an account and start answering questions.

Facebook and Linkedin groups

Some social media sites have groups you can join around the interest of your customers. Similar to the forums jump in and start answering questions you can tackle and participate in the group. 

Twitter search 

Conversations are happening on twitter. They are asking questions and complaining about stuff. You can use twitter to search to find these questions. Type in the question and start answering the questions.

Youtube

There are communities on youtube. The thing is they’re usually watching certain people on a regular basis under those videos people leave comments and talk to each other. Jump in and be apart of the community associated with your platforms.

In the book brains on fire, the authors talk about a scissors company that created a community for craft makers. The idea was to enable them to make more craft. What that did was give persons more reason to create which in turn encourage them to use the scissors more often. 

If you can find your community online with your customer’s interest and start participating.

How to choose the right social media platform for your business

Given the number of social media platforms available today you can easily get confused, and scratching your head about which one to choose. This may cause paralysis, as you may find yourself asking “where do I start? ” which platforms do I choose?” You might decide to jump in on all of them, stretching yourself thin and not seeing any results from your efforts. 

I use to make some of the same mistakes, which led to me no longer using all of them as a result. 

That’s why it’s important to have a strategy. I learnt how to narrow my focus on what’s important. With that in mind, here are some questions that will help you to choose the right social media platform for your business. 

What platform are my customers using the most?

The foundation of your marketing efforts online is knowing who you want to reach. This helps you in your decision making, to find out how you can execute your content strategy. Do they use Facebook? Are they on youtube?  Are they on Instagram or twitter? Knowing this will give you a clue as to the choices you should make. 

What media represents my business the best?

The next question is knowing which content type is best to market your business. Social media platforms offer various ways to post content. Knowing this also helps your decision making. Because you now have to decide which platform gives you all the features to maximise promoting your business with content. Are you going to be using video and images? Do you plan to write a lot of text? Out of all these forms of content, which one does your customer consume the most?

Depending on what you do will dictate your choice. If you’re a photographer, Instagram and Facebook will be your best friend. They host your images with a caption. If you’re a fitness coach youtube and facebook and Instagram are good platforms for you to look at. 

What content type do your customers consume the most?

finding out which content your customers use the most is important to let you know which tactics to focus your marketing efforts on, and know-how to integrate them effectively. 

It doesn’t make sense to be all over the place. Answer the questions and align yourself with the platform that will give you the tools to market your business. ANd also help you reach your customers.

How to apply your content strategy on different social media tools

Having a content strategy is the first step towards marketing your business online. It narrows your focus and gives you a plan of action to achieve success. So, how do you narrow that down to each social media platform? 

Your content strategy is simple what image you want to leave in the mind of your customers to convince them to buy. As it relates to social media this narrows down to using the platform to achieve this. To be effective on each platform you choose, you need to understand a few basic things. 

What is the dominant way that people use the platform?

Understanding the basics of each platform is the key to success later on. The other component is knowing what content type works best. This can be images, text, video, audio. As it relates to your strategy narrowing your focus to producing native content is how you can start. So here are some questions to consider:

  1. What are the different ways to use the platform?
  2. What content type people consume the most?
  3. How can I use this to join the conversation?
  4. What are my target customers talking about on the platform?

Answering these questions will put you on a path to generating lots of ideas for content. It will also let you integrate well and use the platform properly. 

What are the features of the platform that I can take advantage of? 

Knowing what you can do is also critical for social media success. You can simply check out the options you have. Facebook, for example, has live video, stories, you can post video, images and text. But the dominant way people use the platform is more visual. So now you can start to generate ideas for each feature. 

Here are some examples: if you’re in the food business:

  1. Use stories to share the making of a meal from prep to the final dish.
  2. Post the final image as a post with a caption that tells the entire story
  3. Post behind the scenes video explaining each step
  4. Do a live Q & A to interact with your customers

All of this is a strategic way to use all of Facebook’s features to your advantage. With that the aim of getting persons to buy from you in a way that person’s don’t feel sold. Now it’s your turn to learn to about your platform to execute your strategy.