HOW TO START
When it comes to your podcast there are many different areas that you need to focus on. Having a comfortable space and great audio are two pretty big ones, but if you don’t know how to engage your audience that you are trying to reach out to then no one is going to listen to that amazing audio that you have.
So, this then begs the question, how do I engage with my audience? Whether you are just about to begin your podcast or you have been doing it for years, there are still tips and tricks to learn.
WHO IS YOUR AUDIENCE
I’ll start off with talking about who your audience is. This is actually the question that you need to ask yourself, who are you talking to or who are you aiming your podcast towards? Once you know this then you can start aiming your conversation, talking points or interviewees towards this group of people. Not to say that you have to start your podcasts with “Hi to all the 21 year old females with brown eyes,” because that is exclusive and frankly just pretty stupid. It’s not about saying to your audience who they are but it’s more about adjusting your formula for the podcast to fit the audience you want to create.
Wild example, but maybe your podcast is a fitness based pod but you continually talk about video games throughout the majority of your pod. Doing this will appeal to a very small niche audience rather than if you strictly talk about fitness. Having an overarching topic that is the majority of the conversation creates a wider audience that is still a targeted audience. Not to say you can’t mention video games in your conversation, but it has to be a quick side to the larger conversation.
Okay, so you’ve hopefully by now come up with who your target audience is. You can now try and configure your conversations, interviews or chats through your podcast to that audience.
This is great and an awesome starting point to engaging the listeners, but there are plenty of other ways you add to this to up your pod game.
WHAT’S YOUR IDEA?
Having a niche is the next part, we briefly talked about not being too niche but you still do need to have something about your pod that makes it different to every other one. What is it about you that people want to hear? There are plenty of people that have an idea for a podcast and they think it is the best idea. To quote one of my favourite people in this industry, Alex Blumberg, “So what?” This is the question every person with an idea needs to ask themselves because if you can’t answer the ‘so what’ question, then you need to find another idea. This seems pretty harsh but if no one else cares about what you want to talk about then no one is going to listen.
Your idea, your niche, is what makes your podcast yours and once you’ve come to the conclusion that people actually will want to listen after answering the ‘so what’ question then you can start. Find out how many people are doing podcasts like yours, the market is flooded with specific types of podcasts, so you need to find a way to cut through the noise or do something fresh.
STATISTICS
Finally, and I know I’m going to sound like a nerd here but, USE STATISTICS! Research your little heart out until you find all the information you need to get started. Now, you might be wondering where to even start with what to find out and that’s fair enough. I would recommend researching times, in a lot of ways. How long most people listen to podcasts for, how long until a podcast needs a change of pace so the listener doesn’t get bored, when would an ad break be good to put it?
These little details are the difference between keeping an engaged listener and not. This is also why we binge shows but don’t remember anything about them 2 minutes after. We want the listener to remember what we have said, why and how they can be a part of it. Place like Buzzsprout have some good general statistics (https://www.buzzsprout.com/blog/podcast-statistics). If you are using a specific platform already like Podbean or Kajabi, they will have your statistics for you to have a look at for your own podcast, which will help you SOOOO much.
PUT IT ALL TOGETHER
To sum up, engaging your audience is the key to having an audience and without an audience you don’t have a podcast. So, let’s together make your podcast happen by using these little tips and tricks.
Happy Podcasting :)
Poly Studios
