calendar

 I spoke to Lisa and Leo Laporte, the husband-and-wife team behind TWiT's podcasting empire on how you can 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 the company, we had a certain niche of individuals who were tech enthusiasts; now we're like, "Where's the technology? !" smiles Lisa Laporte who is CEO of TWiT. "It's completely evolved." The social aspect of podcasting was the reason it was a "logical expansion" of Chief TWiT Leo's purpose in life. It was also the main reason Lisa became a fan of emerging media.

The couple had built their podcasting empire for 16 years when the pandemic hit in 2020. "Those few years were lonely," Lisa explains. "We were all in little Zoom boxes. However, we've got a large technical community that is awed by and seeks community." TWiT needed to come up with a better way to connect to its followers during this time of solitude.

Lisa was talking to one of TWiT's sponsors Tech training company ITPro.TV, about how to offer something back to supporters. "Simply enough ITPro.TV permitted its customers to come in to hang out on the internet for an an hour at night. There were times when they played games, sometimes they would just chat," Lisa continues. "I was thinking to myself, 'That's what I want to accomplish.' I wanted for our customers to be able to have a space and relax.

Lisa says that being able to incorporate a Discord server to the membership offerings officially was "a richer experience" than just creating an online community. "It was the right time to give our community that little extra something; people wanted to get out of the confines of locked up at home." Club TWiT was ready to launch.

From content to cruising The launch of Club TWiT

Lisa clarifies that she explains that TWiT group encourages members to get involved in the club in the most effective way. They solicit feedback from their shows; they host regular Ask Me Anything (AMA) sessions, and they have spaces where the supporters can just come in and meet up. This was especially important for the internet during the pandemic but is adapting well to the real world.

"We will be exhibiting our photography, so I think it'd be fun to say"Hey, we're going to be at this event. Join us for a photography walk!'" continues Lisa. They plan to host many more in-person experiences; indeed, TWiT held a recent cruise for 100 of its members. Leo and Lisa have agreed that, nearly oppositely, it's the in-person experiences such as this are the "fundamental element of what podcasting is about" and also what differentiates it from other media.

Lisa and Leo are also using Club TWiT to premiere and try out new shows; once the show begins to gain traction, it may be added to the premium Club TWiT offering or become an ad-supported program. When this happens, Lisa will approach the host of the show and ask them to start practicing ad reads, and add the show to their arsenal to get started with advertisers. Every ad needs to be read by the host to ensure that it feels like an integral and natural element of the show.

Promoting your sponsors is more effective than what they do

Creating an advertising approach that will benefit sponsors as well as listeners is paramount to TWiT's achievement: "Our advertising works because our audience trusts us. We have the ability to suggest products and services to them, and they want to support us, so they buy them. We sign up advertisers when we do We thoroughly vet their credibility as a business as well as review their ratings," Lisa says. Lisa.

She explains: "We do such a great job on our advertising-supported part that Club members say"Hey, we need to add advertisements.' We actually have Discord for the ads on our shows! Discord channel exclusively for ads we show on our programs!" She adds that the audience requests for them to post an advertisement each month on each show because viewers are looking for information on where they can purchase the products advertised: "They trust us so they say, 'You need to provide us with a feed so that we can watch ads every once in every once in a while.'"

At this point I must double-check the information I'm getting. Lisa affirms that the members make entries into the shows to request hyperlinks to the ads of TWiT. "Isn't it hilarious? !" she smiles. She adds: "Our Club TWiT members get the shows for free, but they write in to say, 'Hey, we miss the ads - we'd like to hear them!' So we often include courtesy commercials for active sponsors as well as when we've got an exciting new patron. They're so compelling."

"Our sponsors ask, 'Can you send us a courtesy commercial for each advertisement that you read? Our sales trainers take a look because you've made them watchable since you've helped sell our company better than 50% of our junior staff!' I thought that was quite cute."

Start small is essential.

What can you do to create an organization that members appreciate and are confident enough that they're willing to watch the ads you put out? "Really have a look at the competition and think about the way others are operating," Lisa suggests. "Look at those who's that are similar to yours and observe what they're up to before you jump into the fray. Have conversations: call me or talk to someone who has been through this."

She recommends "just slowing down" to consider different approaches and structures. "Don't bite off more than you're capable of chewing. If you decide to do 50 different things, you'll discover you can't do those effectively. Begin small, like we did. "We started by introducing AMAs."

Leo and Lisa discuss how they explain that TWiT team is slowly but steadily figuring it out while they move along the way. Once they're comfortable of the process and are beginning to add the value of their service with additional content. "I do not want to make promises that are too big to deliver only for them to disappoint," Lisa continues.

Lisa urges creators to examine all of the services they offer with their membership packages. "See what makes sense specifically for what you're trying to do and shop around for the right product: because we're both audio and video-based, we have a few peculiarities that are not typical as a podcasting network."

Supporting the community

"If you're interested in the field of technology, check out our network. We have a show suitable for all!" she smiles. "We offer shows for beginners like the Tech Guy; we have iOS Today, which is entertaining if you've got an iPad or iPhone and would like to learn more about using them; we have 'geeky' shows like Security Now if you're into security. If you like some show, sign up to Club TWiT and download the podcast! It is important to remember that we must support one another in this group."

Supporting the podcasting community and the incredibly inclusive nature of it has always been a priority for the TWiT team "We continue to offer gratis content, however it's an excellent opportunity to provide this additional benefit for those who are super fans. I love having both options because anybody with an internet connection can access our content and they don't have to purchase these shows. It's very democratic," Lisa adds. Lisa.

Then she says: "We have fans in third world nations who have written to say, "I've heard of your podcast. I was a regular at a local electronics store and listen to your podcast and learn a few things. Now I've got a job in tech""

Maybe Lisa, Leo, and the team at TWiT are not the only ones to witness technological advancements from an area only for the ardent enthusiast to an ubiquitous issue today. Maybe they've helped make the transition.