One of the keys to running a great business is fostering communication among employees and being transparent from the top down. Opening the lines of communication in your business doesn’t have to be difficult, and there are plenty of great ways to do this.
One method that is becoming increasingly popular in large organizations is the creation of private podcasts. Private podcasts allow employees to get an inside look at different aspects of the organization, keep up with important business news, learn about other employees and much more. So how do you set up a private podcast, and how can it bring communication in your business to the next level?
What Is a Private Podcast?
Typically, when someone creates a podcast, the intent is to reach as many listeners as possible. You make content and try to reach your target audience to share your ideas, thoughts, findings and more. A private podcast is quite a bit different. By nature, these podcasts are only meant to be heard by a select group of people — namely, employees in a business.
When your business creates a private podcast, you won’t list it on major listening apps and market it to the general public. Instead, your podcast will only be accessible to your designated group of listeners through an employee portal, a password-protected RSS feed or through a platform that allows you to customize the audience. But why make one of these podcasts in the first place?
Advantages of a Private Podcast
Businesses, especially large businesses, can sometimes run into difficulty connecting with employees and helping them feel informed about the company. Keeping every employee across a variety of departments interconnected is a challenge that requires creative approaches. A private podcast is a potential solution.
Here are some of the biggest advantages of private podcasts:
Training Employees
Podcasts are a great way to train employees. With a password-protected podcast, you can give employees access to a wide variety of training courses you created, for example. These podcasts can be designed to give employees an engaging and interesting way to learn about their job. Many people look to podcasts for information, so this is a great way to use that to your advantage.
Keep People up to Date on Company News
When significant things are happening in your company, it’s pretty common practice to send out a company-wide email or maybe even a newsletter. This is one way to get the word out, but sometimes it can feel a little bit stiff and formal. A private podcast is an exciting way of delivering company news. Employees can tune in weekly to find out what’s going on with the company. The podcast hosts can be employees themselves, adding another layer of connectedness to the experience. The hosts can interview employees who are directly involved in big changes, and they’ll likely be the most excited to talk about said changes. This will get other employees more interested in company news, as opposed to just skimming through an email or newsletter.
Involve Remote Employees
If parts of your workforce are remote, it can sometimes be hard to make them feel like they’re part of the team. Since their primary communications with the rest of the company tend to be conducted over messaging apps, they might not get that same sense of community they’d get in an office setting. With a private podcast, they can get news and updates about the inner workings of the company and stay up to date with changes, making them feel like a more integrated part of the company overall.
Creating a Quality Private Podcast
If you’ve decided that a private podcast is a good move for your business, your next step is to start planning out your podcast. Even though you’re not launching your podcast to the general public, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t map out a strategy and produce high-quality content for your employees.
Here are some steps to get you started:
Decide the Type of Podcast You Want to Create
Do you want to create just one podcast or multiple? Do you want it to be a training podcast or a podcast for company news? Who will be your host or hosts? We outlined a few use cases for a private podcast above, but that doesn’t mean you’re restricted by those parameters. Get creative with your business podcast. Whatever you think will engage your employees and foster communication the best is what you should shoot for.
Map out Your Content Plan
Once you’ve solidified your podcast concept, you can start planning out your content. Try to think about what would interest your audience — in this case, your employees — most. As with any podcast, you want the content to be appealing. This is what’s going to get people listening and paying attention. Create plans for at least a few episodes in advance.
Record and Edit
Once you’ve found your hosts, mapped out your content and created episodes, it’s time to record and edit your podcast. Make sure you take the time to get good audio quality and edit the podcast to make it flow nicely and be easily digestible.
Publish and Distribute Your Content to Employees
Once you’ve finished editing your podcast, you’re ready to publish it and distribute it to your employees. Unlike traditional podcasts, when you release a private podcast you already have a built-in audience. Marketing it and reaching your listeners won’t be nearly as difficult since your employees already have a vested interest in the company. Choose a distribution method and inform your employees that the podcast is ready to go. Make sure to check analytics and get feedback so you can continue to optimize your podcast to meet your employees’ interests.
Publishing Private Podcasts with Backtracks
Using the Backtracks platform to create your private podcast is easy! If you want to set your podcast or episodes to private, you simply enable the private podcasts toggle. Of course, you’ll want to have more in-depth privacy settings than that, so Backtracks gives you plenty of options. You can make content partially public, allow authorized access only, set privacy settings by episode, allow streaming only with no downloads, embed behind paywalls and logins, and more. In short, Backtracks lets you customize your private podcast in the way that is most beneficial to your needs.
Utilize Backtracks as Your Podcast Platform
The easiest way to create a private podcast for your company is to use a platform that gives you all the tools you need. With Backtracks publishing tools, you can create an embeddable podcast player, get in-depth analytics for your podcast and much more. Backtracks is a powerful tool for podcast publishers and advertisers alike. If you’re looking to create the best podcast possible, then Backtracks is the solution for you.
