Author: Joel Durham

Sound Quality – Noise Prints

To start, this will sound more complicated than it is. Sound quality, ironically, is more easily shown than written about. To start, find your favorite audio editing software. The arguably most popular is Audacity. Multiple other options are available, but for the most part share the same features.

Sound exists at all times. If you buy a fancy mic, it will hear everything. Even that pesky air that’s floating around everywhere. This will create one of your biggest struggles while podcasting (if not the biggest). The good news is it can be simply deleted. You will be using this to create what I call a “noise fingerprint”. If using the Audacity program I linked above, the process is simple.

Before every episode be sure to record dead air for a few seconds. No talking, movement or pen tapping. Just record nothing.

Highlight the section of audio that you recorded at the beginning (the dead air).

On the toolbar towards the top of the application, select the dropdown for “Effect”.

Next, select “Noise Reduction…”.

A box will pop up with numerous options. In the top portion is an option for “Get Noise Print”. Select it.

You will be returned to your recording, and your screen should look like the picture below.

Now you will want to select your entire project. You can do this by pressing CTRL+A if on a Windows keyboard. The classic click and drag works as well simply by clicking the start of the audio and dragging until the end.

Once all audio is selected you will need to return to the Noise Print Options. As a reminder, this is done by: selecting “Effect” in the toolbar and selecting “Noise Reduction”. You will see a dialog box appear again. Instead of “Get Noise Print”, this time you will select “OK”. You can also preview the first few seconds to be sure any background noise has been removed.

Once “OK” is selected you are returned to your project. This step by step will help remove almost everything. It will not however remove what I call mechanical noise. This is noise created by vibrations to the mic. It can be caused from your mic being on the same desk as you PC or Mac for example. I will go over simple fixes for those problems at a later time.

Why You Should Microcast While It’s Hot!

Everyone today has a YouTube channel, podcast or even a streaming show they push. It is the future of entertainment and nothing will change that. Today the average person can make money from the comfort of their own home by simply making a video and monetizing. Due to the increase saturation however, the market has become almost impossible to jump into. It has adapted the “Rockstar” concept of needing an immense amount of luck to achieve success.

That is not the only thing standing in your way either. YouTube’s adpocalypse and more have hinder even the best YouTuber’s ability to capitalize on advertising. Creators have now adapted to a whole new marketing scheme that goes far beyond Twitch and even Twitter. YouTubers are now streaming on Twitch, Streamers are now reviewing games on YouTube, the industry is changing everyday. New ways of standing out themselves are being saturated.

So now is the time. Depending on the video, it can take an entire day of editing to post content, just for it to be taken down due to rule violations. That’s where YKYZ.com comes into play. Free speech and content creation over the last couple of years has been blockaded behind rules and fear. “I can’t post this video because I’m on my final strike, and could lose my channel.” “This is too political to post, so I’m staying away from it.”

Have your say is so much more than a slogan, it’s a philosophy. You can report long form news on your favorite platform, but why not bring it to a place you can speak freely as well. Watching your tongue to keep your subscriber count up? Let them know they can come to ykyz.com for a little extra conversation where you present how you FEEL about a topic. Everyone reports the news, make your fan base interact with it. Interact not behind a keyboard, but in front of a mic for all to hear.

Most sports seasons are on hold or completely canceled right now. Maybe you do not have enough news to make a normal twenty minute video? Bring it to YKYZ and microcast it. Content should not be hidden behind quantity. The most important things ever said happened in less than ninety seconds.

Microcating is the future of content creation. It can not only be an add on to a service you already offer, but the home to your thoughts and feelings. A home to your new fan base.

Marketing Your Brand

Part One: Where To Start

Part Two : Scores And How To Use Them

So you don’t like your score, but you’re over it. It’s time to change that annoyance, and promote yourself. The most important place to start is this checklist. This is a fantastic place to start building your brand and look. It also will have you all set on how to upload your microcast to other sources.

Twitter and other social medias are your best friend. Not only do they give you a place to show your friends your work, but they give you groups to post in. Join groups that are in your area of subject. Post to them. Follow others who have the same passion as you do. They WILL follow you back. Start conversations and don’t give people a reason to talk, BE the reason people talk.

I have a once a day Twitter rule personally. This means AT LEAST one Tweet a day. I use other medias as well, but for simplification sake I will stick to the most popular one. Wording is everything with these posts. I HATE clickbait, but attention grabbers are completely different. Right now there are millions of tweets about the coronavirus…how will people find yours? Go for honest, yet intriguing.

Challenge yourself every week. Maybe a post on Monday had one hundred impressions. Go for one hundred and fifty next week. Use the numbers to motivate yourself to want more. Not hold you back. Take time to find out what words such as “impressions” means for your favorite social media. I challenge your next step to be knowing what the numbers mean this time, not just the numbers themselves.

Scores And How To Use Them

*Please read Stats And Where To Start before moving forward if you have not already

With more and more statistic information becoming available, you may be asking yourself “why?”. Is it to hurt your feelings? Is it to make you want to quit? Maybe it’s to show you do not belong in microcasting? Obviously none of these items are true. If you fail, YKYZ fails. If YKYZ fails, you fail. Every side needs as much information as possible. But why?

Personally I have not been here long, but I have heard casts or bleats about others being in some type of managerial position. If you have not been that’s fine, I intend to make the connection as simple as possible. Most leaders or managers know about the Net Promoter Score. This “NPS” stat has become so popular, that even people who never worked in management know about it. Net Promoter Score: a management tool that can be used to gauge the loyalty of a company’s customer relationships. At least that is according to my very scientific research on Wikipedia.

This definition is the best place to start. The manager is you. The company is your content. YOU manage your content. No one else. Not even YKYZ. Imagine YKYZ is just the building where you conduct your business. Now think of ANY job where you have worked. Did the building create a customer base? Or was it the business inside? Who created return customers? It was you. You made those relationships into a thriving business. What does that have to do with NPS?

It appears over the next few weeks YKYZ may be giving us more information of the stats work. This should make you excited. Now the control is in your hands. Own it. To some, using this kind of information may be difficult. Maybe even overwhelming. I’m hear to tell you, you’re making it way more complicated than it needs to be. You’re making it complicated because of emotion.

When a company’s or store’s NPS score comes in A LOT of associates freak out. Most companies now live off of it. You know those customer surveys you may have done in the past? They usually consist of five to ten questions, but only one or two matter. Usually they are phrased as “how likely are you to return to this location?” or “how likely are you to recommend us to your friends?” blah blah blah. They really do not care about the other three to eight questions one bit. Of course, most people go to surveys only when they are upset, so most employees hate seeing these numbers.

Much like how you might hate seeing your microcast’s stats. I’ve always told coworkers “who cares what corporate head honchos say, use these numbers for what they are meant for”. Yes someone’s bonus may be attached to it, or maybe your next promotion relies on it, but an over abundance of associates use these numbers in such an unproductive way that they never see that bonus anyways.

Example: “The food came out cold, and you are uneducated”. Despite how hurtful the comment was, never look for the emotional response to solve this equation. “The food came out cold.” This may be a reoccurring theme that only the numbers from NPS would show you. Take out not just your emotional response to the comment, but the customers as well. They’re just mad and there’s no reason to dwell. Only use the informative part of the sentence: Cold Food.

Now that emotion has been removed, you know you have a “bad” number, and you know why. What’s next? You fix it. Most would go back to sales that day, and break down labor. Others may look at talent and training, but the fact you at least know WHERE to look changes the game completely. You turned the “bad” number into a good one. Maybe you notice one episode of yours is performing better than others. You listen to it and realize you had an intro that was really catchy. So now you use it on all episodes. Possibly your multi-episodic deep dives perform twice as well as your ninety second quick fire news. Use these numbers to ably to future episodes, not to hinder them.

Now I may have been of subject a few times, but just remember NPS. People hate to see the number, but it’s how they use it that determines if they are successful. Do you want to be successful talking about what you love?

Stats And Where To Start

To start, the fact that you are going out of your way to create content is already a better start than most. The bad news is the market for content creators is extremely saturated. What does this mean for you? Well it means you’re special, and you just need to find ways to stand out. I will not be going over any stories of how to clickbait titles, or how to grow your SEO (maybe in the future). Rather, I will attempt to ease some minds over stats, and the instant “I stink, I quit” reaction numbers give people.

Numbers do not care if you’re feelings are hurt. They do not care if it destroys your motivation to continue. Most importantly, they are merely informative. Obvious, right? Wrong. Remember when YKYZ introduced viewership stats? How did you feel when you saw those numbers? I’m including the people that were ecstatic about their results as well. These numbers gave you an emotional response when they were simply just numerical digits that represented who clicked that play button.

Start there: they’re just numbers. If low, they’re used to grow and make action plays. If high, they’re used to grow and make action plans. The outcome does not and will not change. This is immensely important to receive the best results. Think of your favorite YouTuber, blogger, or podcaster. I challenge you to find the very first episode they ever made. Most likely it was terrible. I mean bad. My first video was full of so many “uhs” and “ums” I cringe just listening to it. Refuse to actually.

What made your favorite creator great? I guarantee you they had the exact same results you did. The difference was they took those same stats, and used them to build. Stats are not final results, they are place holders. A place holder to show you where you stand at any given moment. They will go down, but they CAN also go up.

Your viewership results are your child. Your baby. If you had a child, and you allowed it to do anything it wanted. Then every time it performed an unacceptable act you just did nothing and gave up, where would that child end up? How can you grow and develop something with out knowing what acts are going on?

Use these stats as something to grow. I can go on forever about different statistics, and how to use them. In order to start that journey you need to remove the emotional response. Use the numbers as a current location, not an end point. “I only got one view yesterday?” That’s one more view than most of your friends. That’s one more view than the person who gave up before they even began.

You began. You started. You already took the hardest step there is. You will see numbers and stats you don’t like. So fix them. Math is meant to have a solution at the end. Be that solution to your own problem. If you see one view, be excited to know who’s watching. You can’t fix a problem you don’t see.

Helping One Another

Have you ever seen a new microcaster come and go in one day? It is always the same complaint: “I don’t understand how this works.” Maybe together we can come up with “training program” for new comers. We all want the same thing. To be as successful as possible. YKYZ is extremely easy to use…after you learn all the places to go.

I feel the goal is to have new creators find their way to YKYZ the same way they find their way to YouTube. Random creators, or even consumers, may find microcasting interesting yet find the site overwhelming. I’ve seen so many other casters reach out and offer help. This fills me with so much joy, but then I still never see the “newb” again. This leaves me perplexed. The only reasoning I can think of is they’re too afraid to ask for more help. Maybe too afraid of making a mistake for all to see.

I would love to hear from anyone ideas on how to keep retention higher. This is an amazing platform that makes podcasting insanely easy, and everything I have heard so far from content creators here is extremely creative. Please share with me anything that would help retain a userbase.

I would enjoy seeing a mentor type system or a training plan or even walk through for new users. Obviously, some of this is extremely far fetched, but the community here is so creative, I have faith we can do it. What outside of the box ideas do you have? My personal short coming is with helping keep new casters that have a different “type” content from mine excited to come back. I am trying better to reach out to anything “nerdy” and keep the conversation going with newer users.

What ideas do you have? Is there something you would like to see from the rest of the community? For the newer users, what was the hardest part of using YKYZ, and what can be done to help ease that transition? Maybe something beyond just the blog. Something that is more hands on to help one another out. Please feel free to reach out to me if you have ideas or input. I would love to be a part of helping keep retention higher.

The Call To Action

I have heard several creators at YKYZ mention they do not know where to start with marketing their microcasts. That’s right I called you creators. This is the first step in gathering a following. It’s time to stop being humble. It’s time to realize you’re creating content. It’s time to take pride in what you post here because you’re using a creative side that so many say they wish they had. What does this have to do with the “call to action”?

Many people take this important step for granted. I have watched creators on other platforms miss this vital step and disappear. Casters on YKYZ have asked where to share their content when there’s no one they can share it with. I and the blogging team, I am sure, can help with that. The first step, however, is never wasting the individuals you reach out to.

Call To Action – a piece of content intended to induce a viewer, reader, or listener to perform a specific act, typically taking the form of an instruction or directive. Never assume a listener or viewer is going to “like, follow, and subscribe” just because they like your content. Take YouTube for example. How many creators pop up in your recommended feed that you watch semi-regularly? How many of those creators do you actually subscribe to? This is where the CTA comes into play.

Content is everywhere. Creators are everywhere. Every market is saturated with content creators, and consumers have become detached from the need to follow you. Most of the time, your content will pop back up in their feed without the need to even follow you. This is due to the algorithm knowing what to put in front of them. (I can go more in detail with algorithms at a later time. This itself needs a whole article just for it.) Your job as a promoter is to hold the viewer’s hand through the whole process. Do not assume they’re dumb, but assume they’re distracted. There’s too much content around to not be distracted.

“Hey, will you listen to my microcasts? I would really appreciate it.” This triggers a sympathy emotion. Most of the time a person will listen because of that emotion. “That’s really cool!” You did it. You marketed your content a won a view. Unfortunately, you sold a short term goal. We’re all here for the long term goal though. Don’t sell views, sell marketing. You need to look at it as passive income. The income you make without working. It generates on its own. “Hey, will you subscribe to my channel on iTunes? I could really use the help.” This will help put you in the algorithm while also advertise every time you post something. Let the technology that sits in their pocket do all the work for you.

In conclusion, my call to action to you is to change how you look at what you’re offering. You ARE a creator. Take pride in that. Own everything you put in the world no matter how small. You have a gift, do not waste it. YKYZ has given you an outlet that requires little work. Lastly, change your “ask”. The days of asking for views are gone. You’re asking for a commitment. Use their sympathy for a fan, not a one and done. The Call To Action: Your underestimated best friend.

Your First Steps

When you first visit YKYZ it may be intimidating. Never be afraid to reach out to fellow bleaters, and ask any questions you may have. The community is here to help one another! Here are a few tips to help ease your transition into microcasting:

  • If you have not already, add an intro at https://ykyz.com/c/intros. Here you can describe what your cast is all about.
  • Take a look around. Listen to other casters, and see what they are offering. Comment on episodes and get a feel of how the system works.
  • Upload your first episode. While recording, if you want to start over, simply click the cancel button next to the Bleat button and start from scratch.
  • When recording onsite, pay attention to the green timer bar under the bleat button. If you run out of time, the bleat will end and autopost.
  • After you have posted your first episode, information on it can be found by clicking the “i”. Your bleats can be marked as explicit, and you can mark other bleats as your favorite.
  • Be sure you are in the correct “room”. If you want an episode to be part of your microcast, make sure you are recording in that area and tag.
  • Feel free to test your mic at https://ykyz.com/c/tmp. Bleats here are deleted regularly, and do not show in the main stream.
  • If your record time seems shorter than others, keep in mind this is only temporary. Keep bleating to build your time.

Most of these items are covered at https://ykyz.com/wtf and the more technical walkthroughs can be found at https://ykyz.com/blog/index.php/how-to/ if you want to learn how to add your cast to iTunes and Google Play. Do not be afraid to ask any questions not covered at https://ykyz.com/c/meta. The community here will be happy to help.