When starting a podcast it would be extremely important to create a backing or following in order for it to become successful. To do this you would need to market and create a personal learning network (PNL) that would support the content you are talking about. Prior to starting a podcast I believe that there should be some thought put into what topic you want to talk about. In order for the podcast to be successful the content you are going to put out there should be something that you are passionate about in order for it to come across as exciting and authentic to your listeners. Then it would be important to get the word out about your podcast. Such as promoting it on Instagram, youtube or any other platform. An idea that I had was you could drop teaser videos and clips from your podcast that you could use to promote your upcoming episodes. 

I took a look at one of the podcasts that I listened to and I picked out a couple things that they did that I believed helped them grow their PNL. One thing they did was start their own Instagram page dedicated to posting content about their podcast. As well as having a page dedicated to the podcast they linked the and cross promoted it on their own personal accounts. Once they finished a couple episodes they put it out on different platforms for their viewers to listen too like Spotify and apple podcasts. After this particular podcast started gaining attention they started doing things like creating merchandise with popular sayings they used in their podcast and made their listeners feel like they were a part of the group or gang. One other big thing that they did was allow their listeners to write in and ask questions, give tips and share stories of things that happened to them that were on theme with the podcast. The girls would then at the end of each episode share the questions and stories on the podcast and give their answers or feedback. By doing this I think that it made the listeners feel like they were a part of the journey and podcast. It made them excited to listen in every week and keep up. 

As a podcast becomes popular the people behind it become influencers and their listeners become interested in who they are and what they are about. It is important to consider things such as privacy and security. When someone becomes more famous their  fans or listeners want to know everything they can about them. As this is happening you would want to think about things such as how much of my personal life am I willing to share with the public. Also  keeping  in mind that if you have a big following people listen to what you have to say you need to consider how your thoughts and opinions will affect other people. Another possible thing to consider is that as your podcast becomes popular yes you will have lots of people that love it, but there will also be another group that can be very critical, have nasty comments and will come at you with hate. That is something that people need to know and be prepared for  when creating something for the masses. They have to try and not let the negativity get to them and focus on all the support that they have from their positive PNL.