– TIM PAIGE
Introduction
Here, I want to discuss how to attract “celebrity” guests to your podcasts, YouTube and Facebook interviews.
One problem you may have is encouraging people to agree to be interviewed.
Here, I’ll discuss some of the things I'm doing to line up guests consistently for the Engage with David Walker show...
Which he has been running since November 2021.
No Convincing Required!
The first thing I want to say is you shouldn't need to convince anybody as such...
To either appear on your podcast or to appear as a guest if you're conducting an interview in a Facebook group.
Just like other aspects of online marketing... It's not a convincing game.
We're not here to try to cajole somebody into doing something they don't want to do
Instead, we want to go after the people who actively want to appear as a guest.
A Brief History Lesson
Interviewing guests, certainly in the online marketing industry, is nothing new.
It’s been going on for at least the last 10 years, maybe even 15 years.
When I first got into the “make money online” industry, people were doing interviews with guests even back then.
Podcasting wasn't really around and Facebook wasn't that popular.
What marketers did then was interview “expert” guests.
Then, try to either sell those interviews as an information product...
Or, they would offer them as a free bonus for part of a product launch.
Who Are You Asking?
The explosion in social media, podcasting, YouTube has seen interviews become a lot more popular.
With that in mind, it shouldn't be difficult to line up quite high calibre guests to appear on your own podcast or to be interviewed in a Facebook group.
The way i look at it is...
People love nothing more than to talk about themselves.
In the online marketing industry, there are no shortage of people who want to talk about themselves in front of an audience...
Regardless of how big that or small that audience is.
You shouldn't have any problems lining up guests to to interview.
If you're having difficulty with that then first of all I would look at who you're actually asking to appear as a guest.
Are you asking somebody who has never been interviewed before?
Are you asking somebody who's very inexperienced within the industry... who doesn’t have much knowledge or results to speak of?
If that's the case, then you are likely to run into a problem because what people don't want...
Especially in the online marketing industry... Is they don't want to be “found out”.
They don't want to be seen as as somebody who doesn't have the answers...
When in their social media content they're talking themselves up.
They post about how much of an expert they are...
How successful they are...
How many sales they're making etc.
But, if they speak to somebody one to one and they're asked questions they don't know the answers to...
Then that's going to make them a bit nervous!
So, the first thing I recommend is to have a look at who you are asking.
Experienced Guests
There aren't any shortage of people in online marketing who are seasoned interviewees.
Those who have been interviewed in lots of Facebook groups...
Or are no stranger to being interviewed on other podcasts.
You'd be surprised actually at the level of people who will agree to be interviewed within the online marketing industry!
With that in mind, I also think it is important to understand that online marketing is not a big industry.
It's quite a small pond overall in the grander scheme of things.
Therefore, people who you think are “way above” you...
These “celebrity” characters who are hugely successful and wouldn't want anything to do with you...
You're totally wrong!
These are just normal people like you and I.
If you approach them and ask if they wouldn't mind taking a bit of time out to answer a few questions in your group or appear
in your podcast...
The chances are they're going to say “yes”.
Even if they're a very successful marketer who's making hundreds of thousands of dollars a year...
The chances are, if they’re used to being interviewed by other people, then they're likely to say yes!
If you can get somebody like that onto your podcasts, or into your group...
That's going to raise the overall standard of what you're trying to do.
As opposed to trying to convince somebody who doesn't want to be interviewed...
And who hasn't really achieved much in the industry anyway.
It's just going to make for an awkward and uninteresting interview.
So, don't be afraid to reach out to bigger people within the online marketing industry if that's who you want to interview.
Aim high...
You’ll be surprised at who will agree to take part!
Check Out Other Podcasts
I’d also recommend you look for other podcasts...
Whether that's on Spotify or Apple Podcasts, within online marketing or entrepreneurship.
Make note of the people who appeared on those podcasts as guests.
Who is appearing consistently?
You’re able to draw up a short list of people who you can approach.
You're going to have a much higher success rate with booking people for your own interviews...
Because you're dealing with people who are used to being interviewed.
It's part of their overall marketing strategy.
They want to put themselves in front of other people’s audiences.
If it’s something they're doing consistently then there's no reason why they won’t say “yes” to you!
Podcast Guest Groups
Another source where I've been able to pick up a few decent guests is the “podcast guest” groups on Facebook.
Some of them have tens of thousands of members!
If you can join those then you might find a couple of decent guests.
I used one of those groups to interview a guy called Phil Tomasso.
He was a contestant on Food Network show earlier this year...
So a pretty decent calibre guest!
He was very interesting.
We spoke at length about his experiences on the show and as you can imagine he had lots of stories to tell!
It was a really good interview...
Probably one of my favourites.
If I hadn't joined those groups then I wouldn’t have know about him.
The show he was on hasn't aired in the UK yet so if it hadn’t been for the group we’d have
never connected and would not have recorded the episode!
It’s worth joining those groups because you never know who is going to turn up!
Of course, for every Phil Tomasso, there are going to be hundreds, if not thousands of, without wanting to be rude...
Uninteresting guests who aren't going to bring much to your podcast.
Join LinkedIn
I joined LinkedIn a week or so ago.
I've been aware of it for years but never joined it because I was always involved with other social networking sites like Facebook...
Or even Twitter back in the day.
I felt I wasn’t getting much joy in contacting the type of people via Twitter that i wanted to feature on my Engage show.
I don’t use Twitter any more but I have an account set up on there to contact people use the platform and try to set up interviews.
But, I’ve been unsuccessful of late so thought I’d try LinkedIn.
Since setting up the account I’ve been very surprised at the calibre of people who are on that platform...
Who are accepting my connection invitations.
Now, I have a direct link to them where I can try to start a conversation...
And hopefully get them booked as a guest.
A side benefit of being on LinkedIn is now I have made a few connections, the algorithm then puts other people in front of you...
Like the “suggested friends” feature they have on Facebook.
It's unearthed a few podcasts which I hadn't heard of before.
Podcasts which I wasn't able to find, e.g. browsing through Spotify because they’d been buried by other podcasts which are hosted by mainstream celebrities.
But now I’ve found them via suggestions on LinkedIn and I am following them.
I’ve looked at the episode archive...
And noted the guests who were interviewed.
It’s helped me draw up short-list of people who I think would agree to appear on my show and I can contact them accordingly.
Aim High
I’m trying to get as high calibre guests as possible.
There's no point just interviewing other people like me within the online marketing industry...
Because there's not going to be any wider interest in that.
Nobody's going to be searching for me...
Nobody's going to be searching for my guest.
I might get a bit of interest from Facebook...
But in terms of growth, that's not going to happen for a normal person like me.
A non-celebrity.
If the podcast is going to grow then I need to have a genuine celebrity guest...
Because that’s who will bring the star power.
That’s who the audience is going to be interested.
They’re going to be interested in what the guest has to say...
And that's the route I'm going down to try to build that audience for my show.
The way I look at it now is each guest I have on the show...
Ideally should lead to the next one.
So, even if I'm not featuring the guest I want right now...
I’ll be able to leverage their appearance to get higher calibre guests in future.
That's the approach I’m taking...
And I think that's the approach you should take to if you are serious about podcasting.
Leveraging your guest's credibility to build your own...
Become credible by association.
You can bring that credibility to other platforms...
Such as Facebook.
Then, use it to strengthen what you're doing with your online marketing.
The Next Step
If you want to add podcasting to your marketing toolbox...
Whether it’s hosting your own show...
Or just building your credibility and increasing your audience through appearing as a guest on other peoples...
Then I can help.
As an extra bonus, if you decide to work with me...
I’ll also feature you as a guest on my Engage with David Walker show which can help you build authority in your chosen industry!
Want to find out more?
Send me a message and let’s have a chat!
Article Produced by David Walker
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