Jenna Spinelle loves a good story and has spent the past 10 years telling them as a journalist, marketing professional, and most recently, podcaster. She hosts and produces the Democracy Works podcast, a collaboration between the McCourtney Institute for Democracy at Penn State and WPSU Penn State, Central Pennsylvania’s NPR station.
When she’s not podcasting, Jenna plans and executes the McCourtney Institute’s external communications. She also teaches journalism at Penn State’s Donald P. Bellisario College of Communications and works with national and international clients as a freelance writer and marketer.
What you’ll learn about in this episode:
- How Jenna’s journalism background, along with her presentation and interview skills, serve her current higher ed role
- Why Jenna began hosting her weekly podcast Democracy Works, and how her podcast helps create exposure for the McCourtney Institute at Penn State
- How a podcast helps expand your messaging and reach beyond your higher ed institution
- Why strong planning makes a successful podcast launch, and why you should launch with more than one recorded episode
- How Jenna uses her podcast as a tool to generate visual content, and what goals she sets for future content cross-promotion
- What steps Jenna takes to prepare her guests who may feel nervous or inexperienced with podcasts
- What key metrics Jenna recommends paying attention to when launching a new podcast series
- Why you must keep a weekly or bi-weekly episode schedule to grow and retain your audience
- Why you should keep your institution’s content calendar in mind when planning episode content
- What steps to take in the planning and strategy process to start and produce a podcast series, and what free and low-cost tools you should use
- How Jenna ensures that her content is accessible and successful, and how to use your podcast to promote admissions strategies
- Why a highly targeted podcasting strategy works better than trying to cover everything happening at your institution
List of Free and Low-Cost Podcasting Resources:
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