How to set up a private podcast using Castos and Zapier

Say you have a podcast, but you only want your members to get access to the feed after they join one of your Member Plans (and lose access if they cancel their plan).

Normally this would be a pain and require manually inviting/removing people via your podcast host.

Thanks to our integration with Zapier, you can easily accomplish this automatically by connecting your membership site with your private podcast on Castos!

We are recommending Castos through an affiliate link, which means we earn a commission if you choose to purchase, at no additional cost to you.

Why Create a Private Podcast?

A podcast is a great way to share your message, build an audience, and grow your business. So why would anyone want to create a private podcast? There are a few scenarios where creating a private podcast makes sense:

• You run a membership site and want to create a private podcast with special content exclusively for your members.
• You have a podcast and want to create a private advertising-free version of the podcast for your paying subscribers.
• You want to improve internal communication in your company and use a private podcast to share company-wide messages or audio training.

Step 1: Create a podcast in Castos

1. Sign up for Castos (or log in if you have an existing account).

2. Click New Podcast:

   

3. Give your podcast a title and description, and click Next:

   

4. Finish setting up the rest of your podcast (i.e. cover photo, URL, etc.). Then, click Create My Podcast.

Step 2: Add your first episode to your podcast

1. Click New Episode to upload your first podcast episode:

   

2. Complete the episode details (i.e. title, description, etc.) > upload your podcast episode > determine when you would like to publish the episode > then click the Publish Episode button at the bottom:

   

Step 3: Update your podcast details

Follow the steps under the "Getting Started Checklist" on the right to finish setting up your new podcast:

Step 4: Set your podcast to private

Click Distribution > Visibility > Private:

Step 5: Connect MemberSpace and Castos using Zapier

You'll need a Zapier account to set up this integration.Once you create a new Zapier account or log in to an existing one, click the Create Zap button:

From there, you'll need to create a "Trigger."

1. Search for MemberSpace and select it as the "Trigger."

2. Select New Membership as the "Trigger Event":

   

3. Next, click the Continue button.

4. Connect your MemberSpace account > choose your website > click Allow Access:

   

   Then, click Continue:

   

5. Select the Member Plans that can access the private podcast:

   

6. Click Continue > Test Trigger to make sure it's working.

Next, you'll be asked to set up the "Action" event, i.e., what should Zapier do when a new member joins one of the plans you just selected in the "Trigger" event?

1. Search for Castos and select it as the "Action."

2. Select Create Private Subscriber as the "Action Event":

   

3. Click Continue and sign in to your Castos account. You can find the API Key in Castos under Integrations > API (on the left):

   

4. After, click Continue > add your podcast details > click Continue again:

   

5. Then, click Test action to make sure it's working. This will actually add the member as a subscriber to your podcast. If you don't want that to happen, click Skip test:

If it all looks good, you can publish the zap.

Step 6: Set up a Zap for Member Cancellations

When a member cancels, you want to make sure that their access to the private podcast in Castos is also revoked.To do this, click the Create Zap button again:

From there, you'll need to create a "Trigger."

1. Search for MemberSpace and select it as the "Trigger."

2. Select Canceled Membership as the "Trigger Event":

   

3. Click Continue and complete the "Trigger" setup.

Next, you'll be asked to set up the "Action" event again, i.e., what should Zapier do when a member cancels one of the plans you just selected in the "Trigger" event?

1. Search for Castos and select it as the "Action."

2. Select Revoke Private Subscriber as the "Action Event":

   

3. Click Continue > choose your account > click Continue again.

4. Add your podcast details and click Continue:

   

5. Finally, click Test action to make sure it's working. This will actually remove the member as a subscriber to your podcast. If you don't want that to happen, click Skip test:

Now, when a new member joins one of your selected MemberSpace Member Plans, they'll automatically receive an invite email from Castos with information on how to access your private podcast feed.

When a member cancels their membership, they will automatically lose access to the private podcast feed from Castos.