This digital artefact has been my favourite one to date! Not only was creating the podcast fun, but it was so simple in the beginning as it was something I was extremely passionate about and so was easy to fulfil every week. I still feel a strong passion towards it, but as I stated in the video, uploading once a week became too much as life got in the way. However, I take this on as a learning experience and believe that posting each fortnight will be a positive change for my podcast, my brand and my time.
My favourite part about this whole experience has been interacting with my followers on my Instagram stories and getting them involved, whether that be through polls, questions and feedback:
This interactive portion of my digital artefact not only helped promote my podcast, but strengthened my brand as a whole. As I said in my pitch, I wanted my brand to feel like an open space to create conversation and also create a community to talk about sustainability in an open and honest way. I believe that I have successfully achieved this! All the feedback has been positive which is something I did not expect! I always love to hear what my listeners would like me to talk about and was happy to take in any feedback and suggestions to use for my next upcoming episodes.
I had little to no expectations for the “Video Soundbite” as I am aware that video content would have really pushed my digital artefact to the next level. However, I did receive some positive feedback regarding it which is something I didn’t expect! As well as audio, I included some written sneak peaks of the episodes in some of my Instagram posts which I think gives an element of curiosity that will make the audience want to know more.
Overall I am super proud of this project. I have learnt so much and have a clear direction that I would like to take this project in the future. The end of this semester will not mean the end of Bad Days The Podcast. Over the next coming weeks I will be pushing more video soundbites and continue engaging with my audience on my social media platforms (particularly Instagram) through story media such as polls, questions and countdowns towards each episode. Pushing the social media element of my podcast will increase the number of downloads I receive. It is incredibly obvious through my analytics that more social media engagement means more listeners. As I upload more, I tend to receive more feedback. Now that I have more time between each episode, I will be able to promote them much more as I believed I would in my pitch.
As for the episodes themselves, I believe that adding Apple Podcasts as a streaming service last week was definitely a good idea. Unfortunately I cannot locate any analytics which tells me how many people are viewing on Spotify or Apply Podcasts. However, I have already received a 5-star rating via Apple Podcasts. After I upload my next podcast episode I will create a poll on my Instagram to ask which platform they listen to and reveal my findings in week 13. The next step would be trying out a video element again, which will allow me to promote my content on Youtube and TikTok. I believe this will be a huge and vital step if I want my podcast to really gain popularity, but for the time being it is just not possible. My final step would be monetisation through either sponsorships, affiliate marketing or a support link such as Patreon.
I cannot wait to continue this podcast and am so excited to see where it takes me in the future. If you want to listen check out these links below!
Rachel Weisz 
Hey Rachel!
Good to see that your project came together nicely, the working prototype looks great. You are also consistently posting episodes of your podcast which shows how F.I.S.T your project has been, plus your genuine passion.
Since your biggest struggle at the moment seems to be time management and scheduling as you juggle different aspects of your brand+social media, I wanted to offer my thoughts and feedback. Firstly, I think that because you are now taking orders again, a fortnightly or monthly episode release schedule is suitable. You could even have the episodes be slightly longer, going into more depth, to make up for the time gap between releases.
Quality>>>Quantity
Another suggestion I have is to break up your podcast into ‘seasons’ (season x episode y), so that you can take a break from it every now and then to focus on other parts of Bad Days. You don’t need to stick to your steady release schedule indefinitely. It also allows some time to pass for new ideas and topics in the fashion sustainability world to pop up.
Maybe you could also use that break time to iterate and improve your podcast in a significant way. Perhaps you could develop some sort of ‘studio’ space for filming podcast video footage; decorating a quiet space in your study or bedroom. Fake plants, some ikea/kmart furniture, and a custom neon sign (https://customneon.com.au/) all seem to be trendy decorations in podcast set-ups. By no means is this a cheap (inexpensive) venture, but if you’re keen to spruce up the visual side of your podcast, it may help create some appeal on a platform like YouTube. If that’s too much, you can just start small and simple instead, and also build up some fan-generated income to put back into the project using a service like Patreon.
If you’re still unable to make video footage work for your podcast due to all those circumstances listed, you could instead try a different avenue of visual content creation under the Bad Days brand. You could choose a popular sustainable fashion topic and create a video essay about it on a ‘Bad Days’ YouTube channel. You could also select audio snippets from your podcast to be used as TikTok voice-overs, placed over footage of you crafting your products. This way, you are able to satisfy an audience demand for video content, without necessarily needing to alter your podcast format.
I think you have created a solid, qualitative feedback loop with your users by utilising Instagram’s Q&A story stickers. You’ve shown that you can cleverly use this specialised social media feature as effective tool in your digital media arsenal. Great job! Wishing you the best of luck for the rest of this session.
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Hey Rachel!
Wow, you have done so much since the pitch it is awesome to see! That is so good to see how many successes you have had over the past few weeks even though there are setbacks that are good to learn from. This assessment is based on trial and error, seeing how much you have trialled will help massively by the time it’s finished for the digital artefact. I’m glad you gave filming a go, maybe down the track if you still love doing a podcast for fun you could look into filming, making a safe space in order to feel comfortable to be on camera, it could be you even finishing making a product while you talk on the podcast too!
I had a thought for your Instagram too – reels or on the story making a timelapse or mini clip of you just creating your designs, or you sitting down knitting? I find it so interesting as well as comforting watching someone do their project as a soothing or downtime video, with calming music. The reel would do so well and a lot’s more engagement could come out of it, but more behind the scenes on your work would be fab to see!
Honestly, I think your project is doing so well, you have made some great improvements but I think having a look at how to further create more on Instagram as that is your dedicated app will really help you with engaging more followers for your company! I cannot wait to see what you decide to do but good luck with it all.
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