This series is all about libsyn’s podcasters. Its sole purpose is to introduce these awesome podcasts to the world as well as share their podcasting insight to empower the community!
Q & A with Steel Magnolias
When did you start podcasting?
STEEL MAGNOLIAS PODCAST is celebrating 2 years November 2020 and we just crossed our 100th episode! We thought it would be fun to share our journey as we are still having a blast doing the show!
Why did you start podcasting?
The beginning:
We had toyed with the idea of starting a podcast sometime late in 2018 because we ourselves were podcast listeners to several shows; everything from pastors, to chefs, to regular ole joe’s.
We love the South, and that is one of our favorite things to talk about. So, with an increase of people moving to where we grew up, Nashville, Tennessee, we wondered if maybe it was time to share our love for the region with all the newcomers; specifically, to hold on to the good parts of our culture and traditions, faith and graciousness in hospitality.
Now, that’s how the podcast idea got started. It got executed because Laura Beth went out to audition for Wheel of Fortune here in Nashville (fall 2018).
At the auditions Laura Beth was the 2nd name called up on stage to introduce herself to a crowd of people and play a quick round of the game.
“In my introduction, I found myself telling 1,000+ people that my sister and I were launching a podcast soon on ”all things southern.”
It was true, but that moment set us up with a deadline that I had publicly announced. So, we launched Thanksgiving weekend and 2 months later I was oh so proud to tell Pat Sajak on national television about our southern podcast!” says Laura Beth.
What’s the name of your show and what is it about?
The content:
Southern Sisters Lainie Stubblefield and Laura Beth Peters are hosts of the show STEEL MAGNOLIAS. It seeks to have uplifting conversations about life in the American South.
We had a pressing deadline to start the show, but truly we didn’t get super serious about it until we came up with over 50+ topics we could cover, and Lainie came up with those ideas in just an afternoon of jotting down some initial thoughts; and THAT is when we said: Ok, we have something here and we have the longevity of topics to make for a great podcast.
What’s your podcasting set-up? Hardware, software, CMS, etc.
The setup:
Laura Beth got schooled from Pat Flynn’s tutorials online. Man, he is a great instructor and encourager on all things podcasting!
We initially just shared a Blue Yeti Mic, and recorded and edited in Garageband.
Now we each use a Cardioid Dynamic mic on a stand and a BEHRINGER Audio Interface that plugs into my laptop.
We still record and edit in Garageband, and of course we are hosted on Libsyn!
How have you promoted your podcast?
Marketing:
Laura Beth’s background is in marketing so this is actually the only part of podcasting that we have some experience to bring to the table.
We set up social pages for the show on Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest but focus all our attention on Instagram which has been a S-L-O-W grow.
We’ve probably spent $100-$200 total in 2 years of social or Google advertising. We mostly partner with brands to try and get additional exposure.
Example, we love White Lily flour (a southern brand) so we post about them when we have a picture making biscuits and tag them in our stories.. They will then often share to their stories.
We share each episode release post on our personal pages as well because let’s face it, when you are starting out the most likely people to give your show a listen are your friends (and mom!)
Our biggest win promotionally was this summer when our Women’s Suffrage episode was featured on Apple Podcasts!
WOW! Thank you Apple Podcasts! That happened by us finding how to submit a pitch to them and figuring out which episode they’d be most likely to promote plus getting the idea to them with enough lead time for the promotion to be accepted!
Our biggest win for a guest happened because authors are trapped at home from the worldwide pandemic. This allowed us to interview Jenna Bush Hager and Fannie Flagg on their new releases. Thankful for such grand opportunities!
What do you know now that you wish you knew when you started?
We wish we had been more open to videos being a part of our show earlier on.
That’s definitely needed in the mix of your podcast! We are now doing more Instagram Live and eventually we’ll probably need to think about videos produced for a YouTube Channel.
Best wishes for those of you in the early stages of your podcast. It is HARD WORK!
If you are looking for southern charm and want to learn about the best things the South has to offer then this is definitely the podcast for you. You can subscribe to this gem on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.
Is the location where you live or the travel adventures you have been on something you want to share as a podcast but do not know where to begin? You have to check out our Start Your Podcast blog series, or attend our awesome Podcasting Quickstart. If you are ready, we have the best podcast hosting plans around!
