Good Up is a fun, casual, and super laid back podcast. We don't ask guests to send us lengthy bios, we talk mad shit on the mic and leave room for plenty of laugh breaks and bloopers. So you'd think that the production that goes in to making the podcast happen must be similar right? Not exactly. Let's break down all of the elements that go in to pulling off a successful Good Up season:
Outlining Episodes
We often begin writing out topic ideas and doing our research (yes fam, we do research!) months in advance of actually recording them. Sometimes an episode or two will make it in that we've come up with at the last minute, but for the most part they're already written down in our handy dandy *twerks* notebook! We either focus on topics that push people to dive deeper into themselves and their life experiences or light hearted topics that you'd laugh about with your friends at the end of a long day. We also try to balance the season out - so not too much heavy and not too much jokes!
Scheduling
We are busy bodies, so scheduling is sometimes the hardest aspect of production. We want to be able to produce relevant episode topics but also have to be realistic about the multiple other obligations that often pull us away from the show. For the most part we try to plan for the next season while we're still recording the current. That means we literally schedule our podcast breaks in between seasons so that we already know when we'll be back in "the studio" to record.
We start recording almost a month ahead of the season premiere and aim for a set number of episodes. By the time we're done recording, the podcast is still going weekly for the audience. That way we avoid huge gaps between seasons.
We also email guests and get them scheduled weeks ahead of time. Everyone gets a calendar invite with all of the info they need so that there's reminders to prevent any forgotten recordings. Google Calendar is the GOAT.
Recording
Recording used to be more technical for us back when we were using the Zencastr platform, but it was more expensive and we realized that we might have a better dynamic on the podcast if we could actually see each other's faces so we moved over to Zoom. We record once a week on a day that works best for us both depending on the season and we aim for two 45 minute episodes per recording session. Listen - shortening our episode time has been a GOD SEND for our schedules. We literally use a timer on our phones to keep us on track these days.
Editing & Post Production
After we record, weekends and afternoons are dedicated to cutting our episodes into multiple formats:
Full Video & Audio (for our patrons to see the full show!)
Audio Only (For Apple & Spotify)
Sneak Peak Clips (For Social Media Content)
After that we start uploading things wherever they need to go! Into our online drive for safekeeping, on our hosting platform, Youtube, or to Canva where I edit sneak peak clips into social media formatted graphics (square posts, reels, twitter, etc.)
Launch!
The hardest part about running the podcast with such busy schedules is actual posting and engagement. The content is there ready to go - but sometimes our brains (and 9-5s) cause us to forgot to post the actual content! That's why scheduling ahead and setting reminders is *chef's kiss* everything. From getting reels scheduled to posting our weekly question thread and then finally promoting the ACTUAL new episode every Tuesday there's a lot of content to distribute on a weekly basis. Just know that by the time it hits your feed - there's been a lot of work that's gone into it to make it happen!
Have any other podcasting related questions we should answer? Comment below!
