Exciting things have happened since I published my book, Blogging on Instagram: Engagement Writing on One of the World’s Best Social Media Platforms.

One of the most surprisingly fun experiences has been doing podcast interviews. For those of you who listen to podcasts, you might not be aware of what goes into making them happen.

Each host has his/her own protocol for preparing for a podcast episode. Many conduct pre-production “meetings,” to prepare the guest. The pre-conversation could touch on sequence, types of questions and other things to expect. I’ve found it helps me be relaxed going into an interview because I understand what is going to happen.

Others hosts do zero prep and let the podcast interview become a spontaneous conversation. This is more like “My Dinner With Andre,” a 1980s movie of a 2-hour dinner conversation. They’re often entertaining but this format can leave a guest with a feeling of uncertainty.

There are also pointers for a guest. I found some terrific suggestions from Billy Samoa, CEO and co-founder of Podify, and shared them in an Instagram blogpost.

I recently listened to Celeste Headlee, an award-winning journalist, professional speaker, 20-year veteran of NPR, talk with Jaime Jay about what goes into making a great interview happen. She offered some great advice the best podcasters have employed in preparing me to be a guest on their shows.

It was exciting to finally meet Neal Schaffer at a pre-production meeting. He described our interview “as if we we ran into each other at a conference, and had a conversation where people overheard us like a fly on the wall.” So the interview was a conversation, but Neal also prepared by doing research. The result revealed unexpected information in a fun and interesting way.

Please give a listen to Episode 29 of Neal Schaffer’s “Your Digital Marketing Podcast.“

Thanks for listening!