▶️ KATE TERENTIEVA, Kindly Gifted Creator

Lia Haberman: What’s your primary social platform?

Kate Terentieva: I would say it's pretty split evenly between TikTok and Instagram Stories. Most of the people that follow me on TikTok are people that either want to be in the industry or just appreciate my insight but don't really plan on directly putting money in my pocket for some sort of consulting service because they either don't have a brand that I can help them with or they're not trying to build a personal brand.

Whereas on Instagram, the majority of my followers already have an existing career in the industry, have a brand and, or, are building their own personal presence. So there's less pushback, in terms of affordability or additional resources. They take it as it is.

LH: Where else are you looking to connect and communicate with your community?

KT: I started my podcast [Kindly Gifted] on impulse. I was deciding between having a podcast and having a YouTube channel. I know that I'm great on video, but I hate video editing. So I'm not starting a YouTube channel until I have a video editor or budget for that. 

A podcast also lended itself really well to the marketing niche because our space is so reactive. So I don't need to create a full blown set-up every single time or really plan as hard on a podcast as I would on YouTube. There's no reason that I can't pop in my headphones and record for 7 minutes. It creates this bite-sized update. And it's been compared to a check-in call with your marketing bestie. 

LH: How does this channel help you?

KT: I naturally gravitate towards, ‘OK, let's put a ton of time and energy into expanding on the issue in a podcast episode and see how we can create bite-sized moments of education on either Instagram Stories or TikTok from there.’

So I think podcast first and then try to create TikToks out of that.

I've also realized that if I take a podcast episode that's 20 minutes long and I turn that into a bite-sized, 90-second sizzle, there is actually a portion of the audience that will never go to the podcast. They get everything that they need out of that 90 seconds.

However, there will also be a portion of the audience that will be like, ‘Oh, but I want to know more of the details of what she's talking about in this 90-second video. And I want to go listen to the 20-minute thing.’

So there are two different audiences that consume content… and you have to be OK with that.

LH: What’s your tech stack for this channel?

KT: I use software called Descript, which is actually really cool. You can upload either video or MP3 files into Descript and it will transcribe the audio and then you can delete any filler words as well as just edit down paragraphs and it cuts it out from the video files too. So that has been really helpful.

I will say, if you have a video podcast, it is not enough to simply record a dialog and put it up for people to watch.It has to be entertaining or a little bit more produced. So if that's not a capability that somebody has or is willing to do, then delegating that to somebody else is important.

LH: Are you monetizing this channel — what does that look like?

KT: I use a platform called Anchor. Well, now it's called Spotify for Podcasters… Spotify bought it. But it does allow you to place ads in your episode.

For me, I did not create my podcast thinking it's going to generate any revenue. I created it as a resource because I don't think people need to be paying hundreds of thousands of dollars for an education in this field. They just need to find the right people who have expertise in something and give it to them in a way that's digestible and not condescending and actually interesting to listen to.

So I never went into it thinking like, this is going to be a money-making resource for me. So I didn't get disappointed when that didn't happen for a long time. 

LH: What’s the percentage breakdown between time spent on social and this other channel?

KT: I would say I spend more time on something like Stories because things come out all the time. There's always something that I feel like I want to respond to that I don't necessarily want to be a podcast episode.

LH: What’s your BEST tip for other creators considering this?

KT: I heard this statistic a while ago that two-thirds of podcasts do not have more than four episodes published. And I think there's a few reasons for that. A podcast is like YouTube, they're long games. You don't get rewards for a while.

So I would spend a lot of time thinking: ‘Why is this the right move for me?’ How does it serve the consumer that you have or the audience member that you have? 

If it's only, ‘This will make me famous and this will make me cool.’ Or, ‘I'm going to make money from this.’ That's wonderful. And those things are totally respectable. But if it's not helping the person that's going to be listening on the other side, then don't do it.