Curating Digital Workplace Impact podcast: My recipe for success

Dear Diary. 

I’ve been reflecting on a recent exchange with a PR expert, who quoted some fascinating trends^1,2:  

💡More and more people are swapping out their music playlists for podcasts. In fact, 37% of listeners say they now choose podcasts over music during their commutes, workouts and even downtime.  

💡 Why? Podcasts go beyond entertainment. They are a unique blend of storytelling, education and connection. They engage listeners in a way music simply can’t.  

What’s more, they bring: 

🎙️ On-demand connection: Unlike music, podcasts provide niche-specific value, offering listeners content tailored to their interests. 

📈 Long-form attention: While music plays in the background, podcasts captivate – holding listeners’ focus for up to 40+ minutes per episode. That long-form content can be repurposed for bursts of micro-learning with the help of AI. 

🔗 Authority building: As a guest, you don’t just entertain – you educate, solve problems and position yourself as the go-to expert. 

This exchange reminded me of DWG members who’ve asked me about my approach to curating content for Digital Workplace Impact podcast. Since the pod has recently once again been shortlisted by Feedspot among the 20 Best Digital Workplace Podcasts You Must Follow, I thought this would be a particularly good time to share my special recipe. 

My recipe for curating Digital Workplace Impact podcast 

As with all seasoned home cooks, I use pinches, dashes and sometimes fists full of various goodies and lots of heart to bring together a distinct set of flavours, comprising these special elements:  

• Feature diverse and high-profile guests: Bring in industry thought leaders, practitioners and experts from renowned organizations like Google, Microsoft, Meta, Amazon and Uber. 
• Explore timely and relevant topics: Cover a wide range of essential digital workplace subjects, from AI and data transformation, to employee experience and operational resilience. 
• Share practical insights: Provide valuable, actionable advice for digital workplace leaders and practitioners. 
• Innovate content creation: Take risks and try new things, such as debuting a fully AI-generated podcast. Check out the final episode of 2024 if you are curious about this. 
• Deliver consistently: Release episodes regularly to maintain audience engagement throughout the year. Digital Workplace Impact is on a three-week interval with few exceptions. 
• Foster personal growth and leadership: Offer a wealth of experience and insights to support growth and leadership. 
• Bring a global perspective: Cultivate an international outlook for  the podcast discussions via a diversity of voices, cultural and geographic perspectives.  
• Harness storytelling opportunities: Impart wisdom on the significance of storytelling in the corporate realm, which translates into compelling podcast narratives. 
• Tackle changing work environments: Address current trends and challenges impacting digital workplaces in the moment, such as the effects of COVID-19 and the rise of generative AI. 
• Foster a sense of community: Use the podcast as a platform for sharing knowledge and insights among digital workplace leaders and practitioners. 

You might be wondering whether this recipe also has a secret ingredient? Truth be told, I had to give this question some thought before I could answer it. My final answer is: Naming an episode is the added spice. Much like a tweet of ole, you have about 140 characters to pitch your episode, so… Make it snappy. Make it snazzy. Be inventive.  

A recent title that really brought the spice factor is that of episode 145: ‘How Adobe’s DEXecutive unleashes inclusive, high-performing teams’. It ticks all the boxes including the inventive. The term ‘DEXecutive’ was coined especially for this episode. What else would you call an executive who is responsible for the Digital Employee Experience at Adobe? 

Ponderable of the day  

How do you pay forward what you’ve learned, to promote industry and professional development? 

Show of appreciation 

I’m closing out this edition of the diary with special thanks to you for being part of a loyal and growing subscriber base. As always, if you know of a story worth sharing on the pod, or want to offer feedback as a gift, just hit me up on LinkedIn. 

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References 

1 Jessica Joyce, PR Novo 

2  New podcast listeners are coming from radio not music (Forbes, 2020) 

Categorised in: Diary of a She-e-o