Week 12 Part A: Using Business Specific Online Tools

         My first search into the realm of specific online tools has not been fruitful. I went to the website Snacknation to view the list of the top 35 online collaborative tools to see if I could find a good website to connect with other podcasters. Most of the website suggestions involve manager and employee interactions, and I don't intend to have any employees to start this business. It most likely will be a two man band until the podcast picks up off the ground. I did, however, notice that there was a website that is similar to Zoom and Skype called Whereby that is an online video chat website. This website could work well if my partner and I wanted to invite a guest onto the show that lives in another state. We could use this website to meet and record an episode with someone that is all the way across the country. Other than this, I don't believe the collaborative sites suggested are fitting for my business. 

        The next platform I looked to was LinkedIn. I've personally never used the platform before, so it is a little bit confusing. After some searching around for people, groups, events, and courses related to being a podcaster, I found some interesting courses that I believe could be really beneficial to the startup of the podcast. There is a course on producing podcasts, one on promoting your podcast, monetizing your podcast, and multiple courses on how to speak confidently and effectively. I think that all of these courses could be very beneficial for the production of the PlayGround show because I really don't have any experience in the technological aspects or the monetization of a podcast. My partner for the podcast is a film and media major, so she has some knowledge about the audio and video production aspect, but neither of us are well informed on the legal aspects of producing a podcast. I will definitely come back to LinkedIn to educate myself on the monetization and production courses as well as the speaking videos. 

        I wanted to look into Meet Up to find some female entrepreneurs because I think it gives more relatable information as a woman. Honestly, I expected to find more content as I did on LinkedIn, but this search was almost as bare as the Snacknation website. I found two groups that involve local San Diego podcasters which could be nice to be involved with. It could be nice to connect with a local podcaster to meet up and possibly see the behind-the-scenes of how they create their show and maybe even do a collaboration. Besides the two local groups I found, I wasn't able to locate any groups dedicated to female podcasters in San Diego or anywhere in the US. Broadening my search didn't help either. There were a few podcast groups I found from Miami, New Jersey, and Chicago, but none of them had information that I found particularly interesting or profound. I wanted to find more groups and connections on Meet Up, but I think I would only use it for the local podcast groups if I couldn't find any on LinkedIn. 

        The last category I looked into was music sites. Spotify has been my go-to music website for years and I love the variety on the site. I can use Spotify to find inspiration for music and podcast conversation topics. The website creates playlists based off of your listening history, or you can look up playlists with a certain mood or genre. This is a great tool to help broaden the music we play on the show and ensure that we never run out of good music to share with our audience. Spotify also has a section dedicated to podcasts and certain genres of shows. I can find popular comedy podcasts to find themes on the most discussed topics, find underrated topics, etc.. A lot of podcasts have links to their websites or links to get in contact with the creators via other social media platforms. I could contact some creators of smaller podcasts to see if they want to do a collaboration or just for advice on how they got off the ground. I definitely look to Spotify for a lot of inspiration in what will go into our show because it's a great tool. 

        There are definitely a lot more helpful websites out there than I had anticipated which was a pleasant surprise. The groups I found on LinkedIn and Meet Up gave me a sense that I wasn't alone in the confusion of creating a podcast, and I think that I can find some really helpful information to help get started with the show. We've focused a lot on the marketing aspect of our businesses which has been nice, but I found it to be refreshing to discover resources that help with the start of a small business.