When should your podcast have its own forum? from The Audacity to Podcast

The Audacity to Podcast

Daniel J. Lewis

Episodes

When should your podcast have its own forum?

47 minutes Posted Apr 22, 2013 at 1:32 pm.

0:00

47:26

Download MP3

Share at current time

Show notes

When to start a forum for your podcast

Community forums are a lot of fun, and I would guess that you are an active member of at least two.

You've probably thought about starting a forum for your podcast. This can often be an amazing thing for your podcast. Consider the following before you launch a forum for your podcast.

5 benefits of a forum

A forum turns your listeners into a community.

A forum enables your community to engage with each other.

A forum will attract new people and boost SEO.

A forum provides another avenue for feedback from your audience.

A forum empowers your community to help each other and frees your focus.

When you have a topic that inspires a lot of interaction

Some topics and niches are naturally more interactive than others. I've seen and experienced this especially with TV-show related podcasts.

This can apply to almost any topic where people will have passionate and varying opinions, theories, and observations.

When you get more feedback than you can handle

Are you being overloaded with feedback from your audience? Sometimes, this will be with questions and feedback that only you can answer. But other times, the feedback will be general opinions, requests for validity, and stuff that you may not be interested or available to handle.

When you have a forum, you can point your audience to share their thoughts, theories, opinions, observations, and questions there. They'll receive more conversation and more contributions than you may have been able to give by yourself.

When you have enough time to moderate

Running forums are no picnic. Get ready for technical problems, spammers, requests for features and sections, and peacemaking.

If you choose the right forum software and configure it well, you can eliminate many technical problems. Make sure you know what you want your forum to do and don't feel like you have to adhere to the latest request.

Also have clearly stated, easily accessible rules that will guide the interaction.

When you have people you can trust to moderate

Have you gotten to know some of your audience members enough that you can trust them to properly represent your podcast's brand? These people can be priceless team members to assist in moderating your forum.

Find someone just as passionate about the topic as you, and someone who is already active in the forums. Give them authority to handle the smaller issues.

When your post comments are starting new conversations

Comments on your blog posts and shownotes are a lot of fun. But they should generally be focused on the theme of that post or podcast episode. If you're receiving too many comments to keep track of, or especially if the comments are regularly on different topics, this is a great time to start a forum. You can point people there to start their new conversations and invite others to join.

When a neutral-ground forum isn't enough

A forum is a lot of work, but can also relieve a lot of burden. Before you start your own forum, consider whether there's a better place for your audience to go where they may already be.

For me, I regularly participate in several podcasting-focused communities (TAP118) and encourage my listeners to go there. This also has the benefit of exposing me to a broader audience and not just my own followers.

Top forum software

vBulletin is the premium, $249 standalone forum software. It's the best of the best and is used and trusted by many large companies and communities.

phpBB is a free standalone forum software. It has been around for a long time and is very powerful and extensible. But it's commonly targeted by spammers and its theme and plugin structure is horrendous.

Simple Machines Forum (SMF) is also a free standalone forum software. It's easier than phpBB but almost just as extensible.

bbPress is a free forum plugin for WordPress. It's the easiest to manage and it integrates well with your current WordPress theme and plugins.

If you consider different software, I highly recommend you pick something that works with the Tapatalk mobile forum app.

Check out my latest video episode!

iTunes review

Thank you, DansModernLife, for your iTunes review! It was encouraging and it'll help other people find me better.

If anyone else hasn't left a review, I would be deeply grateful if you would write a 5-star review for The Audacity to Podcast in iTunes, and also for the lonely video edition.

Learn WordPress and Audacity in upcoming webinars

My first Audacity webinar was a great success and was highly praised. This is where I teach the basics and some of the more advanced techniques of using Audacity for podcasting and other audio-editing. If you want to edit your own audio for high quality and with efficiency, then join me for my “Learn Audacity” webinar on Saturday, May 18, at noon (EDT/GMT-4).