Bess Auer on Building a Community with a Podcast

Hey everyone, Ashley here with RSS.com podcasting. On today's episode, I'm interviewing Bess Auer, who's the founder of Florida Blog Con and the Florida Swim Network. She's also the author of UNIO, the Art of Intentional Community Building. Enjoy the show. So, Bess first, I just want to say thank you so much for being part of the show. And tell me a little bit about what it is that you do. Yeah, so I am a digital consultant and strategist.

And so I help people learn how to build their communities, whether it is a blogger learning how to kind of build their tribe, whether it's a nonprofit trying to engage people and get them to give of time or money, or if it's big businesses trying to figure out how to engage their fan base and grow their businesses.

And that's kind of my sweet spot, letting them know because even though the platforms may change, you know, you got Facebook or now TikTok or you know, you have all these different platforms, the fundamentals actually don't change. You know, good marketing is good marketing. Good community building is good community building, no matter what the platform is. So that's my sweet spot. And you definitely are sweet at it.

I mean, I've known you for a few years now because you built the Florida BlogCon community and that's how you and I met. And tell me a little bit about what it was that kind of led to that. I have read the story, but just for anyone listening, I'm kind of curious as to how you started something so cool.

Oh, you know, I had the honor of being part of two really amazing communities. And one of them was a Florida blogger and social media conference. And I was a classroom teacher for almost 20 years teaching my kids how to write. And through that time, the internet allowed blogging so my kids could actually publish their own work, which was amazing for students. And so I thought, well, I need to know how to do this as well. So I started blogging early with my first blog, Missing Florida Top 5.

And I wanted to learn. I wanted to figure out how to do blogging even better. And fortunately, Orlando, where I live, has some of the biggest bloggers in the nation. So I went around to them and I said, if I hold a bloggers conference, because I can't afford to go to a real conference, if I hold a bloggers conference, would you please come and speak? And every single one of them was so gracious with their time and knowledge.

And so we held the very first Florida blogger conference in the gym where I was teaching at the time. The maintenance guy and I are setting up tables the day of. I had two teachers come in and take mercy on me and they helped with the registration. And we were so low tech that I had a big piece of bulletin board paper up on the wall, duct taped to the wall. And people were writing their names on there to be able to connect because we didn't have any other tools at that time.

But that was the birth of the Florida Blogger and Social Media Conference. And it grew from there over the next decade. And I was very proud of the community that grew up around it and was honored to be able to connect bloggers of all different job reps. And we really stuck by where Florida bloggers helping other Florida bloggers. And that was something very important to me. Now I kind of get kind of lost with the timeline. Did Florida Swim Network start before, after, during?

How did that play out?

Yeah, during. It started during almost at the same time. So my husband is a swim coach and I was a swim mom. And I'm one of those, I don't do well sitting up in the crowd talking with other swim parents because I'm kind of introverted. You wouldn't tell by this, but I'm good one on one, but not in the crowd. So I said to my husband, I'm like, I can't sit up there. It's driving me nuts listening to these parents. You know, if I'm going to be poolside, I got to do something.

So we're here a blogger. Why don't we, we called it webcasting at the time. Why don't you webcast the swim meet? So we went to Best Ball and I got this little eyeball camera. It cracks me up because that's all we could find at the time. We plugged it in the computer that my husband asked the coaches if I could webcast the swim meet. They had no idea what that was, but they're like, yeah, go ahead.

So I sat down by the little speaker, the guy that was announcing the meet, put the little web ball cam up on the speaker. Every time he spoke, it shook and said it's the worst, worst, worst, worst broadcast ever. But people on deck are like, Hey, what's that's doing? And he's like, well, he's web, she's webcasting the meet. And so they're like, Oh, that's cool. So he gave them, I think it was called Jason TV at the time.

And he gave them the address and we had 300 live viewers watching regular, like little league type swimmers ages 12 and under in the pool. And that's why I said, Oh, there's a market here. And so it sprang up from there. And so we started webcast, sitting live streaming before it was a thing, amateur sports and Florida being such transient state. We had a lot of viewers because people native here from Florida, if you're actually from Florida.

So we had fans all over the world that would tune in to watch their kids swim. And it got bigger and bigger to where we were asked to live stream college swim meets. And then eventually ESPN actually hired us to broadcast some of their swim meets. So it took on a life of its own. But again, we concentrated on Florida. That was my sweet spot with the community. That's amazing. I just think it's so cool.

Like, I mean, people hearing this, it sounds like, you know, Oh, you may have come at it with a plan, but the fact that it happened all so organically is what I love so much about it. You know, they both did. And what I talk about, you know, in my book, you know, is that timing really does play a key factor. And if you're first to market, which we were, and on both of those communities, it really gives you a leg up.

Yes, and the book that she's referencing is UNIO, the art of intentional community building. So tell us a little bit about how that played out, like how it was that you brought all of your thoughts and all this knowledge and expertise about building communities and decided, Hey, I'm going to write a book.

You know, I'm a writer at heart. It's my passion. I do love writing. I do a lot of creative writing, fictional writing, but decided, you know, I have some stories to tell, some things to share about building these communities. I had a little bit of luck with these two communities. What can I share about it? So originally I wanted to call it the big book of everything I've ever learned. I thought, I'll give you a very short book.

As I sat down writing it, and actually, you know, 2020 was a gift to me because I had time and the locked in time to be able to write. And as I sat there writing and organizing, I realized, wow, there really were some commonalities that I can convey to people. There were some real lessons about communities in general. You know, why do people join a community in the first place? And then why do they stay?

And when I say community, it might be a community or it might be a customer fan base or your clientele or listeners of a podcast. Why do they choose to listen to your podcast or why do they come back again and again? So that's what I mean by community. It's applicable to your fan base. Now since it is applicable to one's fan base, what would be your first tip for if someone's trying to build a community from their podcast listeners, where should they start?

You know, the biggest thing I say for everybody is know your why. And I do talk about this in the book. I have two different whys. The first one is what is the purpose of your podcast? Why are you doing it? Does it convey information? Is it to talk about your passion? Do you just love romance books and so you want to talk about romance books all the time and share your love of that? Or is it a business podcast where you're helping people grow and develop? So what is your why?

And I always use the example of Sport a Swim Network. We thought we were in the live streaming business. We thought that we were live streaming swim meets. Really we were. But what we were actually doing was connecting families. We were allowing the mom in Afghanistan that was serving overseas to get up in the middle of the night and watch her son swim live here in Florida.

And not only that, she was in the chat room talking with me as I was commenting the swim meet to be able to give that shout out to her kids, hey, Will and lane four, your mom's watching from Afghanistan. She said to go fast. And then when Will gets home after the meet and he's watching himself on the replay, he hears that and he knows mom was there and we're connecting those families. So that was our why. So the first thing I always tell anybody is understand your why. Why are you doing this?

Because that's going to be the basis of everything you do to promote your community, your listenership. So once you know your why, why you're doing it, then you have to decide, well, why are people going to listen to me? And so there are three reasons really why anybody joins the community. And the first one is needs. All right. So think basic needs. Are you providing a service that they absolutely need? For example, I use Tom's shoes as an example. He provides shoes for your feet.

Everybody needs shoes. It is the basic need that we have, unless you're me who goes barefoot in Florida all the time. But, you know, it's a need. Or are you providing a want? So a want would be like Peloton. You may want a Peloton. Doesn't mean you can afford one now. You can very easily just work out or ride a bike outdoors. So a want is more of an ego stroke or a luxury need. So you have your needs or your wants.

Or are you providing the third reason people might join a community is that continuing development. Are you helping them grow? Are you providing health and wellness information? Are you providing business tips for them? Are you helping them grow? If you can meet through your podcast one of those needs, a need, a want, or a growth, and ideally you do all three, it's possible to do more than one, then you have the recipe for a winning podcast that people are going to want to listen to.

And they're going to want to join your community because they're getting something out of it. So it sounds like you just gave us the secret sauce to actually building a community with a podcast. You know, part of it, part of it. You know, you have to though, then have to, once you understand all that, then you have to execute with the messaging that you do. And you have to make sure your timing is right. And you know, there's all sorts of factors that go into it.

But if you can start with those first your why, and then those three basic reasons why somebody joins a podcast or listens to a podcast, you're definitely on the right road.

Absolutely. I love that. And now I confess I haven't gotten completely through the book, but I did, I did glean some pretty good insights. One of the things that you said is whether it is one we have built for our business, or excuse me, whether it is one we have built for a business or one we have cultivated for ourselves, our families, our friends, and our communities are how we make sense of life, share our experiences and engage with others in a meaningful way.

One of the stories that obviously really touched me was you spoke about the loss of one of your swimmers and how the community it was more than just you sharing the news, you, well, I mean, I'll let you speak on that. Would you like to speak on that a little bit? Yeah, I don't mind. I use that as an example in my book. It was, so Vance Sanders, who was a rising star, often compared to Michael Phelps or Caleb Dressel, and a standout swimmer 15 years old.

And when we were broadcasting meets, we would see these kids over and over and over at the different meets. We were doing two and three meets a weekend. We would see them, we would interview them because we treated them like rock stars. We'd be down doing the one-on-one interviews with them. So we got to know a lot of the kids, the coaches, and the teams very well. And Vance, unfortunately, shot himself one day after swim practice. He got very upset. His little brother found him.

And we got a phone call from his coach, Randy Reese, former Olympic coach. He called up my husband, Joe, and said, I need you guys to spread this news before rumors start going and everything else. So he was asking Florida Swim Network to craft the news and spread it. And so I sat down to write that. And it was first very heartbreaking to us, as it would be for anybody, you know, a child that you know. Life lost senselessly way too early.

And the manner, the fact that it was a suicide made it very difficult to write about. And then I knew that many of the teams and many of the swimmers that knew him, and many of the parents that knew him, would be hearing about it the first time from us, from what we wrote about it. And so I really felt honored that we were asked to do that, that our community trusted us enough to do it in a very sensitive way versus sensationalized way.

But it really was one of the hardest things I've ever written. You know, I wrote it and kept rewriting it and rewriting it. And I guess we did a good enough job that, you know, sensitive at the same time, you know, conveyed the loss and what a tragedy it was. But I later found out that his mother actually used that blog post to send to her friends and family to let them also know about the news.

So if you can build community in a way that trusts you to do the right thing and to, you know, deliver for them and be there in times of need for them, then that's another key component as a community builder. It's our obligation. Absolutely.

Absolutely. And I mean, the thing that stood out to me so much about that story is that you really did build a family. You built people that were not just people you saw at swim meets. They weren't just the parents you spoke to. It was truly a community that you could talk to about everything. Swim related, of course. But just so, right, right. But just the fact that even with our podcast, you know, we're giving our messages every day and we sit at home alone with our microphones.

You know, sometimes we're lucky enough to interview somebody and connect with someone in another part of the world. But we forget, I think, that every time that we get behind the mic, we do have a chance to build a community that matters, something that's meaningful. And I just, I think that story, I'm really glad you shared it because I feel like everyone needs to know that you don't just have to be a podcaster. You don't just have to be a true crime podcaster.

You don't have to just be a health and wellness guru. You can be so much more. And I think it's awesome. You know, when we started broadcasting, out of necessity, ours was interactive. I didn't know enough about swimming. So we had this chat room where we oftentimes would have coaches tuning in, college coaches that were watching recruits and they would like give me information. And hey, that kid just set a new record. I'm like, oh, great.

And so we've really established the whole social, you know, live streaming is not TV. So don't use it. It's so much more than TV. It's a step up beyond TV. So I get irritated when I see people just live streaming and talking at you. Social media is social. So open that up. And it's a great way to build that trust and to build those relationships. And it's one of the reasons people will stay a part of your podcast audience. That's awesome.

So basically it's almost like throughout your entire messaging, you shouldn't just be waiting till the end of your episode to leave a call to action. Instead you should be, you know, it's something in this resonates with you, tweet us at RSS, you know, that kind of thing. And so I love that idea and I never really thought of it that way. So all right, I'll be taking lots of notes from this.

And one of the things that you said in the book that I really liked is you said, our communities are a direct reflection of ourselves. All of these communities from the ones I built to the ones I was simply a part of, have brought me closer to the human experience and allowed me to walk a few steps in other people's shoes. Speak to me a little bit about that. Speak to me a little bit about that.

You know, for me, because I am such an introvert, I mean, I'm in my sweet spot right here, sitting behind a camera just talking to you and then we're done and I'm back in my lower permit shell. That is perfect for me. But there are other people that it's not. Like my husband's an extrovert. He needs to be out amongst the people. So the communities that we build and we're active in, they really are a reflection of ourselves. So I was really good at building the online audience there.

My husband was really great at being out, actually talking with the swimmers and talking with the people. So first, you have to know your personal comfort zone with where you want to be when building your audience. Podcasting may be great for you because you do have this passion, this voice that you want to do, but that microphone is a great audience for you rather than standing in front of 20 people getting interaction that way. So you have to know your comfort zone there.

But the other thing that I do feel strongly about with community is community, the actual word. It means more than one. Even, and I talk about this in my book, I talk about the community of one, meaning the

conversation is happening in your head. You're going to have the naysayer, the self-doubt, the imposter syndrome. You're going to have the cheerleaders saying, oh, I think I can do this. So you do have, even in your own head, it's a community of voices. So looking outward to our actual communities, our podcast audience, you need to be able to understand where they're coming from, what they're thinking.

If your goal is to truly grow that audience, then you have an obligation to be thinking about how to engage them. And so you're going to need their feedback. You can't assume what they know or what they understand or what they want. So you're going to have to get that feedback from them. And many times that means being empathetic, having a listening ear on, finding that feedback any way that you can. Now how would you go about finding the feedback for the communities that you built?

Yeah, so for us, live stream, we have that chat room going all the time.

People would tweet us all the time. They would tag us and stuff. So that was a very robust one. The Florida Blogcom is a little bit different. It was a once a year thing. And we did a little mini workshops throughout the year after that. But that once a year when we would have the speakers there, it was an in-person event. That was probably my most taxing day of the year, not because I didn't have this great planning team that helps set up everything.

It wasn't the actual physical putting on the event. For me, it was taxing because I was there talking with people, getting their feedback. And that introverted me was like, no, I don't want to do this. But it was a great way to get in there and get that feedback. And we sent surveys afterwards asking for the feedback. And sometimes it was painful to read. If we screwed something up or people were angry, then you have 300 attendees. You're not going to make them all happy.

So sometimes that critical feedback, even though it is really hard to read and you feel all down for a little bit, it's still important to take into consideration. So surveys are a great way to do it. Interaction on Facebook and social platforms, in-person interviews and talking, those are great ways to get feedback from your community. That's fantastic. I think everything that you've shared here today has just been wonderful. So where can people find your book? And what is it called again?

Yeah, it's called UNIO, the Art and Intentional Community Building.

And it's available at Amazon and paperback or in Kindle format, either plan, whatever's easiest for you. And you can also check out the website, buildwithunio.com. That's fantastic. And where else can we find you online? You can find me at best underscore hour, A-U-E-R. And Twitter is my most favorite platform. So if you tweet me, I'll tweet you back. One of those that, you know, Twitter is my first platform. So it's my first love. And I'm available on just about all of them.

So hit me up definitely. I love it. That's fantastic. Well, I'm going to ask you the same thing that I ask everyone before I let them go. Is there anything I didn't ask you? You wish I had. Oh my goodness. Now you're putting me on the spot. That's what everyone says. Oh my gosh. You know, the only thing I'll add is we talked about why people become a member of a community, but we didn't talk about why they stay. And I think this is especially important for podcasters.

So there's three real reasons why people stay a member of the community. And I call it the ifs. Do they feel included? So is your podcast relevant to them? Do they feel included in the conversation? Now, it doesn't mean they have to be talking to you, but it's a conversation I'm interested in that I feel like I, you know, yeah, I have input in that. They can feel included. The next one, do they feel valued? So are you respecting your listener enough?

Are you respecting their intelligence, respecting their interests? If they do give feedback, respecting their feedback. And then the final one of that ifs is an S. That means are they satisfied with the engagement that they have with your community? So if they tweet you, do you tweet them back? If they respond to something on a Facebook comment, did you answer them back? Do they leave your community feeling satisfied?

So keep in mind those ifs because they are incredibly important to a person remaining a member of your podcast audience. So good. So many good things. Thank you so much for being here with me today. I really appreciate it. Thank you so much for having me on. I appreciate it. Well, my fellow podcasters, I hope you enjoyed all the amazing insights that Bess had to offer on building a community with your podcast.

To learn more about launching and growing your own show, visit us at rss.com backslash blog. You can get your first episode on us if you start today at rss.com. Thanks for tuning in.