Your podcast listeners are an important part of having a successful podcast. Without them, you won’t be able to share your knowledge, spread entertainment, create content, or whatever is the reason you decided to start a podcast. Getting listeners and trying to gain more if you’re new will be tough. However, there are several things you need to know to learn how to increase podcast listeners and expand your reach.
Prepare your media kit
Your podcast media kit is a helpful tool that can introduce you and present you as a professional podcaster. Your media kit will help you promote your podcast on every platform possible. It should include the podcast title, headline, links, podcast descriptions (both short and long versions), logo, team bio with matching photos if you want, and you can even include an origin story or idea.
Make a trailer
Listeners rarely commit to new podcasts blind – they want to know if it’s worth the investment. You can easily persuade them by having a trailer episode at the top of the podcast list. Your trailer should last around a minute or two and introduce you, the podcast theme and topics, and any guests. This will make your podcast welcoming to listeners, as it gives them enough information to decide whether to commit to your podcast.
Use social media for promoting and listening
Set up social media accounts where you can tell more people about your podcast, share announcements or updates, post photos or videos, create relevant hashtags, talk to listeners, and more. It’s wise to spend more time on the social media platform where you think most of your podcast listeners are. If you think your listeners spend a lot of time on Twitter, be active there and interact with them. If you think you’ll find more of them on Instagram, then use that platform more.
Transcribe your podcasts
Believe it or not, transcribing your podcasts can also attract new followers or fans. With a transcription attached to every episode, you get to maximize the SEO (search engine optimization), increasing your chances of making it to the first page of Google. You also get to reach a broader audience, specifically, those who are deaf and hard-of-hearing. With this, you’re offering them a better way of participating in your podcasts. Find a reliable free transcription service, have your episodes transcribed, and post them on your website with every upload.
Invite guests for collaboration
Collaborating with others is a foolproof way of increasing your podcast listeners. This collaboration can be with a guest, a partner, or another podcaster. When you invite guests for collaboration, you effectively widen your reach since you get to cater to a different audience other than your own. You can both leverage your own and your guest’s audiences and get new listeners for your own podcasts in the future. Don’t forget to promote these collaborations on social media as well so more people can join!
Submit to apps for podcasts
Apart from your podcasting host, you can also submit your RSS feed to apps that play podcasts. Also known as podcatchers, these apps will let you reach a wider audience and give other potential listeners a convenient way to listen to your podcasts. Some of the best podcast listening apps this 2019 include Spotify, Stitcher, Castbox, and Pocket Casts.
Utilize categories
Make sure you utilize and maximize the categories you choose. When you submit your podcast to various podcatchers, some of them will let you choose more than one category. This is your chance to pick main and secondary categories that will best describe your podcast and will lead you to new listeners.
Encourage engagement and interaction
Encouraging engagement and interaction is also a great strategy. Let people ask questions on various social media and then answer them in the next episode you’ll do. This is a great way to bond with your original fans and listeners, and attract new listeners at the same time. You can ask for feedback and suggestions as well so you know what to improve on for your podcast.
Make great content
And of course, don’t forget to make great content! You may be doing all these kinds of strategies and tactics, but if your content is unsatisfactory, you may end up losing listeners instead of gaining new ones. Be a great podcast host, plan your podcast well, choose interesting topics, focus on the conversation, and more. Making sure you’re putting out quality podcast episodes is a priority you should not neglect.