Do you want to build a podcast audience for your brand? If so, you’re in the right place! In this step-by-step guide, we will walk you through everything you need to know in order to create a successful podcast. We’ll cover topics such as choosing a topic, recruiting guests, and publishing your episodes. By following these steps, you’ll be on your way to building a large and engaged podcast audience!
Know Your Audience
Before building a podcast audience it’s critical to be clear about who your target audience is before you pick a development strategy. Your podcast can’t appeal to everyone, therefore the key to building an audience is identifying your niche. Will your podcast appeal to entrepreneurs, spiritual searchers, or people interested in improving their health? It’s entirely up to you.
When you’re just starting out, you’ll need to do a lot of research. Because it will assist you in determining where your audience may be found online. Are there any media outlets that they like? What social networking sites do they frequent? Do they follow particular subreddits or hashtags on Instagram? Finding out where your audience already hangs out can help you determine where to focus your attention.
Creating Quality Content
Your podcast’s content is the most important part of attracting and keeping listeners. If you’re not providing quality content, people will quickly lose interest and stop listening. That’s why it’s so important to spend time planning and crafting each episode. Every show should have a clear purpose and structure.
Start by brainstorming potential topics for episodes. Once you have a list of ideas, do some research to see if there are any other podcasts covering similar topics. If so, what sets your podcast apart? How can you make your content more unique and engaging?
Once you have a good understanding of your audience and what content they’re looking for, it’s time to start recording! If you’re new to podcasting, there are a few things you’ll need to do in order to get started. First, you’ll need to invest in some quality recording equipment. This doesn’t have to be expensive – a simple microphone and recorder will suffice. Second, you’ll need to find a quiet place to record. This is important for ensuring that your audio is clear and free of background noise.
Image: A Shure podcast microphone.
Make a Podcast Trailer
Whether you’re just getting started or want to build on your podcast audience, producing a podcast trailer is essential. Before your podcast goes live with its first episode, a trailer allows you to start building an audience.
Use the trailer as a marketing tool for your company and across existing marketing platforms such as social media, email, forums, or your website. You may use this method to create excitement around the podcast’s release and even hold a contest to boost early interest.
When you upload your trailer to your hosting service, pin it to the top of your feed and name it your trailer. Some helpful hints include:
- Introducing yourself and your firm is the most important thing you can do when starting a podcast.
- Give a brief overview of the subjects that will be discussed in your show.
- Let listeners know what they’ll get out of it by mentioning any snippets from future episodes that you have prepared.
- Finish with a call-to-action encouraging people to subscribe to your
Calls to action are a powerful tool for generating leads and driving traffic.
A call-to-action (CTA) at the end of each episode is a good method to get your podcast listeners to perform a task that assists you in achieving your objectives. To expand your podcast audience on media players, you’ll need individuals to do four activities:
- Watch, listen, subscribe/follow your podcast show.
- Rate your podcast program — ideally with five stars.
- Examine your podcast program.
- Share your podcast program with family and friends.
These four activities can help to enhance discoverability and increase the likelihood of ranking on major podcast charts: Subscribing to a podcast means that your show will appear in someone’s feed when you publish a new episode, which increases the chance of them listening.
The more positive ratings and reviews you get, the more likely consumers are to give your show a chance. And it’s critical to share it with friends and family since word-of-mouth recommendations are very effective.
The key, though, is to use only one CTA at the conclusion of each episode to avoid customers becoming confused about what action to perform.
Apple, for example, uses these four activities in tandem to influence how popular podcast applications such as it ranks podcasts in its New & Noteworthy section. If you’re just starting out, there’s a good chance that making an appearance on the list will attract new listeners.
Use social media to promote your podcast.
Now, think about all of the possibilities for this topic. But first, consider how accessible social media is. It’s one of the most accessible methods to market your podcast, which is why you need to consider an active social media strategy.
There are two ways to go with your brand: create dedicated social media accounts just for your podcast or utilize existing ones. Both are effective, and the choice usually comes down to available resources such as time and money. Maintaining a social media presence allows customers to find your show and provides a dependable platform for promoting your content.
Check the show’s Facebook page every day to see what you missed. Also, follow the other major networks and keep up with shows that have aired on them in order to find stories that will work for your podcast. Keep a list of all new episodes in Google Keep or Evernote (or both). Repeat this process for upcoming seasons and make sure
Consider making audiograms as a fun tip to build a strong podcast audience! These are social posts that include an image or video, a caption, and a little audio clip from your podcast.
Use SEO to Improve Your Company’s Visibility
Google now features podcast episodes in search results, so excellent SEO will attract listeners interested in your area of expertise or subject areas. When it comes to podcast SEO, keywords, formatting, and meta tags are the most important elements (for web pages).
Using your most essential keywords, create detailed, but succinct episode descriptions at the start. Because podcast apps only have around 120 visible characters in search listings, being brief is critical…while still being able to be found by your ideal podcast audience.
You may also use show notes to improve the SEO of your podcast. For each podcast episode you create, make useful, easily skimmable, and correctly formatted episode show notes. Your show notes should include all of the resources you talked about throughout the podcast episode as well as any links for your CTAs (like we mentioned above).
If you have any inquiries regarding SEO, please contact our award-winning SEO agency in Omaha!
Analyze your efforts to determine whether they’re paying off.
You’ll be unable to improve and expand if you don’t know how your podcast is performing. How will you do so if you don’t know?
Consider these questions and answer them honestly: Is there anything you need to add?
- What does it take for you to be a successful podcast audience?
- What indicators matter most to you in building a podcast audience?
They might be numerical, such as the total number of episodes viewed or your subscriber count. They may also be qualitative, such as a listenership that is engaged or the number of 5-star ratings on podcast platforms.
Determine what baseline success looks like for you and build your audience with that in mind, as well as ensure you are aware of the key podcast metrics brands should pay attention to.
Next Steps
If you’re looking to start a podcast or improve your current one, contact us today! Our team of experts can help you with everything from SEO to content creation. We’ll make sure you build a podcast audience and your launch is successful! Visit our website or give us a call today.
316 Strategy Group in partnership with Two Brothers Creative have taken Omaha Podcast Production to the next level!
