So, here I was speaking at WordCamp Chicago 2010 and eventually I met these two guys from Chicago that were podcasters…. like super awesome podcasters. This was of course, before I got into podcasting. They were asking about BuddyPress in regards to their website, and we even talked some shop. I am speaking about Fausto Fernós and Marc Felion of Feast of Fun.
I kept in touch and followed up with them in Chicago during 2011 at WordCamp Chicago, and was just excited as I followed their site along. They interviewed people I wanted to hear, like the gals on Ru Paul’s Drag Race, which is on LOGO television. OH, and the list of people they have met and interviewed is amazing! I knew even before following up with them that I wanted to interview them. They actively engage on the social networks and on their own website. Come on, they really exude what a social media success story is all about and they were a lot of fun to hang out with too. Oh, and by the way, you can also find Feast of Fun listed in Wikipedia if you wish to know more about them.
Feast of Fun Stats – April 2011:
- 5 Time winner of the People’s Choice Podcast Awards
- Chicago Reader’s 2009 “Best Gay News Source” Award
- Covered by the Chicago Tribune and named “The Oprah of Gay Podcasting”
- Feast of Fun on Facebook (4203 fans as of April 2012)
- Feast of Fun Twitter (4526 followers as of April 2012)
- Feast of Fun on Youtube (1218 subscribers as of April 2012)
and much more….
Here is my interview with Fausto Fernós and Marc Felion of Feast of Fun:
ME: Please tell my readers a little about both of you and then a little about Feast of Fun itself.
FAUSTO and MARC: Feast of Fun started eight years ago as an audio blog to promote our live musical variety show, and was one of the very first podcasts ever made by anyone, anywhere.
When Apple celebrated the one year anniversary of the podcast directory in the iTunes music store, Feast of Fun was chosen as one out of 48 “pioneering shows… helping to bring podcasting from an underground movement to a mainstream phenomenon, [Feast of Fun] helped to pave the way.” -iTunes Music Store, June 28, 2006.
We think of our audience as friends. Friends which we share amazing stuff with, but in a totally funny, sexy, exciting way that you just can’t get in the rapid fire world of Facebook/Twitter. Podcasts are here to stay, and Feast of Fun helped pave the way for many shows.
ME: How did you get the word out in the beginning about your website? Was it difficult?
FAUSTO and MARC: When we first started posting audio clips, we were so thrilled to see more than 100 downloads of them. Our live shows never had more than 200 people in the audience, so when we got into the 1000s we realized our true calling was doing the podcast.
We didn’t choose podcasting, podcasting chose us.
As the Internet grew, we grew and at one point Feast of Fun did better than Howard Stern’s own podcast on iTunes. We were averaging a quarter of a million downloads a month. It still blows my mind to know so many amazing people listen to the show, and I make it a point to spend a lot of time interacting with our audience on our blog Feast of Fun. I really do think of them as friends, and we’ve made some amazing friendships with other bloggers, video folks and podcasters through the years. It’s changed us, changed our community and changed the world.
ME: What do you do offline to market your website? Many site owners, especially bloggers and podcasters are not familiar with marketing their site offline and could use some tips if you have any.
FAUSTO and MARC: We used to print out palm cards and gave thousands of those out at public events. We still have listeners to this day that found us by getting the fun, colorful cards we passed out.
Today we really spend a lot of energy and time keeping it electronic, because we want to draw an electronic audience and it’s easier to get people with Facebook, Twitter, and other forms of social media.
ME: You are the number one GLBT podcast on iTunes. That is no small feat. When you started podcasting, what was some of the most difficult things you had to learn and do you have any good tips for beginners wanting to podcast?
FAUSTO and MARC: My advice for any online creative content creator, is to make it fun for you. Chances are you wont find a large audience for several years, and that’s okay. You don’t need a large audience to be successful, you need to have an engaged audience.
Don’t skimp on audio quality, every show should have it’s own blog entry and a unique title. Be your own TV guide, explain to people what they will expect when they spend 5-90 minutes listening to you blab your mouth.
Do it regularly- whatever that means for you, weekly, monthly or daily?
I don’t think interviewing people helps to bring their audience to your blog. Interviews should be done to tell a good story, and that’s what makes people interested in what you do. We’ve had some huge stars on the show whose program did as well as some relatively unknown but fascinating people.
It’s all about storytelling, sitting around the fire, only the fire has now gone digital.
Don’t be afraid to ask for money and to charge for some of your content.
ME: Feast of Fun has put together a premium content package for their website. How has it worked for you? For those looking to put together a similiar concept of premium content, do you recommend this for other popular sites?
FAUSTO and MARC: Our audience has always been the reason we do the show, and they in turn have helped financially support it. We can only do it because they have invested in us, and that is the most amazing motivation anyone could ask for.
It’s tragic that Apple hasn’t offered an option for people to charge for their podcasts like they now do with iBooks because I think it would attract a lot more talent to the long format audio spoken word show.
I think yes, there should be some sort of paywall if it helps you do what you need to do. For some people though, the revenue comes through other means.
ME: What are some of the highlights that you are most proud throughout the time Feast of Funs has existed?
FAUSTO and MARC: Winning the People’s Choice Podcast Award five times for best GLBT podcast has been such an incredible honor. We put our heart and soul into every podcast. When people connect with us and celebrate our efforts, it is really amazing.
Meeting the listeners face to face at live show tapings has always been amazing. When we first came out to Los Angeles in 2006, we were greeted by a packed house at a popular bar in West Hollywood and were given the key to the city by the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence. It was made out of cardboard, but we didn’t mind!
We’ve done some shows that have rocked the world, like exposing the AT&T/T-Mobile merger scandal, where these creepy corporations were secretly paying off grassroots political advocates to endorse the merger which would have effectively killed net neutrality!
It’s always a blast to meet folks like: George Takei, Mo’Nique, Sharon Needles, RuPaul and get to ask any question that pops into my mind. We also love taking questions from the listeners while we tape- they can do so by posting on our Facebook page: http://facebook.com/feastoffun
You can see what the audience loved in the past year: http://feastoffun.com/category/podcast/?pop=year
ME: Success in social media seems to be a slightly different journey for each website and individual, what advice overall would you give to anyone striving to become the number one in their niche?
FAUSTO and MARC: Being number one means being better than everyone else. You don’t need to be #1 to do well, you have to be #1 only in your audience’s eyes. What they think matters the most, because in the end, hopefully they will be your boss and pay your bills.
Try to be good at what you do by focusing on your passions. Write about what excites you, not what you think your audience wants you to say.
Your authentic voice comes through when you speak honestly and transparently. People aren’t stupid, they will see how awesome you really are.
If you don’t share what’s inside your mind, you’re being a selfish jerk by robbing the world of your story. Don’t be afraid to be awesome! Everything is something to somebody.
Nice question and answer series where we can see these kind of things which can be help us lot in life.
these questn and answers are really very interesting and helpful .
Thanks Nile, it’s very inspiring to see such success stories. I love the answers and questions, very healpful.
What an great post, Nile. Thank you. For me, this particular part stuck out
“If you don’t share what’s inside your mind, you’re being a selfish jerk by robbing the world of your story. Don’t be afraid to be awesome! Everything is something to somebody.”
That is awesome advice for anyone who is working on any kind of business, but in particular online where it seems so often we are getting only the “regression to the mean” ideas and people. Very cool that you got to interview these guys, your questions were great. thank you for sharing with us. 😉
Hi Nile,
very interesting interview.
Thank you for giving my an insight to these creators of Feast of Fun, which I never had heard about.
I like their advice to ‘not be afraid to charge for some content’. And the section Michael pulled out in his comment makes a lot of sense.
Thank you so much for the food for thought and the links too.
Hello Nile ! these questions and answers are really very informative and i am sure it will surely help me out in future.
OK Nile,
That’s twice today I have been told that sharing your story is the key to internet stardom. Mind you, someone else talked about focusing on a niche and targeting every keyword you can think of in that area!
In the last couple of weeks I have changed my blog offerings to stories about things that have grabbed me over my life. I remember my most responsive audiences were in situations I shared completely from the heart my life experience. You have inspired me to get back to my story, so expect some interesting stuff from me in the next few months.
Social media is ever changing, so the more tips we can all get, the better off we will be. Great q & a series. Learned a LOT!
It must have been a blast to “chill” with those two.
Very nice post Nile. The question and answer series was great. Take care.
Very helpful post. I love learning the story behind success. One thing I picked up is that they did their podcast and also wrote about it. They didn’t always have a large audience but they enjoyed the audience they did have. And by sharing consistently and loving it, their audience grew. They seem to have a simple business model. Do what you love, share from the heart, keep it going consistently, interview interesting people and keep putting it out there.
Thanks for a great post.
Warmly,
Dr. Erica
You know stories behind every success of people can be a big help in order to motivate people to work hard and make things possible for them…
The interview is really good and inspirational. They offer good tips for anyone who is at the beginning of the road.
Social media strategies are a multi-site endeavor for many businesses, with social sites such as Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and LinkedIn providing businesses with direct access to the their customers. Companies should measure the success of these strategies at periodic intervals both for the companies to determine the effectiveness of a particular campaign as well as to let the companies know which social media channels provide the best return. This helps companies make decisions when new funds are allocated to the social media budget…
What a great post! I really enjoyed.
Thank you for sharing this valuable information with us.
I Learned most From Your Site.
Hello Nil!
Awesome Interview.
I’ve never heard about the creators of Feast of Fun. Thank you so much for sharing the valuable information.
And yes, Michael’s comment makes much sense. I appreciate your hard work and once again I thank you for the amazing insight.
Hey NIce Post! I had a good time reading your question and answer series and I really learned a lot from your post!Keep Rockin’!
Very valuable information. Thank you for sharing you interview with us. The Q & A’s will come in handy.
Very nice post. The concept of the whole article is perfect for a newly blogger like me. Thanks for sharing this with us. Keep up the good work.
thanks for sharing an interesting article on the value of podcasting. IN the closing paragraph they tal about being authentic. Its true. Write about what interests you. We are all different and interested in different perspectives. Why not share yours with the world.
I would be surprised if Facebook was still at the top considering how social media has changed just in the past few years. The internet is an ever changing machine that allows creative individuals to test the limits of what consumers are looking for and need.
I love hearing tales of folks finding success blazing their own trails. There has never been a better time to go after exactly what you are passionate about and find a living out of it. The classic structure of working in a sad, dead end job all day to afford a living is wasting away. Good times, folks. Good times.
Are you going to speak at word camp this coming year?
I am not sure. I definitely am going to apply and hope to speak at WordCamp Chicago for a 3rd year in a row.
Hello Niles, I hadn’t heard of your friends before… here in France we can be alittle bit behid the times, so nice of you to make the introductions like this, they seem like a lot of fun and they’re clearly smart!
Sorry for name typo… Nile … finger slipped!
Very descriptive way to describe how things have changed. Social media have impacted the marketing world forever. Thanks for helping me develop my social media websites with such great information.
very good post 😀
yea the time has certainly beign in the favour of the social media and the social networking sites like facebook are on top and thought cannot be competed by any other niche !!
Social sites such as Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and LinkedIn providing businesses with direct access to the their customers. Companies should measure the success of these strategies at periodic intervals both for the companies to determine the effectiveness of a particular campaign as well as to let the companies know which social media channels provide the best return.
Thanks for the shout out Nile. The Fausto Fernos and Marc Felion newly heard to me, I found it interesting. Thanks a lot this post would help me in blogging.
Very nice conversation. The Feast of Fun thing was incredible. Success stories like this gets more people inspired to reap their own success too. Social media is really powerful that can change someone’s life forever.
Nice post Nile. It’s very helpful for us people who are new in blogging.
-Jessica
Hi Nile, these Fausto Fernos and Marc Felion is newly heard to me. But then thanks for keep sharing your great thoughts with us.
Hello Nile, I hadn’t heard of Feast of Fun before! It’s interesting that some podcasts are so popular. Audio is so easy to listen to when you’re doing other things, like driving, in public transport, walking, at the gym, just about anywhere.
It’s funny when you think about it, because radios used to be that popular. And, now podcasts are so much better because they don’t go “off the station”, and you can listen to what you want without the adverts!
Love the technology we have now! Thanks Nile, a very interesting interview.
very interesting post thank you for sharing it with us i really enjoyed reading it.
Hi Nile,
Thanks for interesting interview.
I like the phrase: “Success in social media seems to be a slightly different journey for each website and individual.”
I can’t agree more.
This is really record breaking. 5 Time winner of the People’s Choice Podcast Awards? These guys are really talented. Who were their inspirations as artists of their own forte? Thanks for giving us the up close and personal interview with them.
-Ivy
Hey Nile,
It’s cool to see how effortless building a fan base can be with podcasting. These guys look very entertaining and funny!
I’m glad that you got exposure through offline marketing ideas. That is very nice because not people that never would of heard of you had the chance.
hey Nile ! i am just glad to find your blog because it has all the good things which i am looking for. and this particular question and answer post is really informative. have a gud day ! well i surely enjoyed your post with a totally different perspective.
Wow that is so great that you got to meet them especially when you were just starting to get into podcasts. They sound like they have credentials to back them.
Really interesting interview, Nile.
Fausto and Marc remind us of why its important to embrace the latest and newest trends and tools to access them.
Nobody wants to pioneer these things. Everybody wants to join in after they’ve been “convinced” that they are worthwhile.
By then, you’ve already lost out on the greatest opportunity.
Nonetheless, it remains true that it’s never too late to be #1 for your own followers. And after all, that’s really most people’s bottom line online, I think.
All the question and answer was really helpful. Great post. Well written.
This is really breaking records. 5 winners of the People’s Choice Podcast Awards? These guys are really talented. Who were her inspirations as an artist in her own forte? Thank us with the up close and personal interview them
Hi,
Excellent post. All the question and answer are really great.
It is very stunning and helpful for me .
Thanks for the sharing.