Hangouts On-Air (HOA) have been a great experiment for my newest podcast, Podcasters’ Roundtable. I’ve tried several different live-streaming options and HOA’s have been remarkably effective in getting people to actually show up and participate. The most interesting revelation about this is the live-streams tend to get scheduled only 24 hours in advance of going live and are rarely based on a regular schedule. Hardly a recipe for success in live-streaming yet for some reason it works. So what’s going on? 
Perhaps the most powerful aspect of HOA’s is the ability to create an “Event” page via Google Plus and associate it with your up coming live-stream. This allows people to RSVP and most importantly it sends whoever signs up for the event a reminder before the actual live-stream. I think this reminder is a key element to getting people to show up.
When setting up a podcast, Apple actually gives you a playbook of how they would like your feed to be setup for success in iTunes. It’s right there in black and white, a step-by-step guide about how to succeed in the iTunes store with a podcast. [Read more…] about TPS 074: iTunes Feed Specs and HOA for Podcasters
