Growing Your Podcast and Engaging Your Audience

Joe shows us how to leverage a podcast to engage your audience on the next level. Here's what you will learn:

- Planning your content so listeners feel like they can't ever miss an episode
- Tips for your website that will drive more traffic and listeners
- Which calls to action work best for engagement
- How to turn your listeners into your biggest fans
- How to streamline your podcast production for consistent results

Transcript

1. Growing Your Podcast and Engaging Your Audience Joe Casabona / @jcasabona / casabona.org
3. Talking to no one sucks!
4. @jcasabona How do we make sure we’re talking to someone?
5. @jcasabona We need to build and engage our audience.
6. @jcasabona Good Content First • Don’t just press Record. Plan your content • Be consistent with publishing - make sure listeners know what to expect • Define your show’s mission and stay true to it
7. Planning Content • For solo shows, script or outline your episodes • For interview shows, do some research on your guests • Define the main takeaway for your listeners • Remember they’re probably a little distracted - don’t throw too much at them
8. Consistency • Publish on a schedule • Same day and time (Tuesdays, 3:00am ET) • Same interval (Weekly, monthly, etc) • Have a backlog of episodes ready to go so you don’t fall behind
9. @jcasabona Your website is your show’s best friend.
10. Benefits • More control over content and design • If you want to change audio hosts, you can • Add features like a shop or forum
11. @jcasabona Your Podcast Website • Each episode should have its own page • You should drive all traffic to those episode pages • This allows users to browse old episodes, interact, and subscribe using their podcast player of choice
12. @jcasabona Your website has your episode’s canonical URL.
13. Submitting Your Podcast • Apple Podcasts • Stitcher • Spotify • TuneIn • Google Podcasts (requires website!) • Pandora
14. @jcasabona Engage with Your Audience
15. @jcasabona How to Engage • Have Calls to Action in Your Show • Send you users to an online community like Facebook Groups, Slack, or forums • Read feedback, questions, and reviews on air
16. @jcasabona Advice on Calls to Action • Much like a landing page, don’t put a lot of action on the listeners • Pick 1-2 things you definitely want them to do, and explicitly ask them do to it
17. Good Calls to Action • Ask them to answer a question based on the episode • Ask for feedback on the episode • Ask them to share the show • Ask for a rating and review • Ask them to join your online community
18. @jcasabona Format your show to draw listeners in.
19. Good Show Format • 30-60 second teaser in the beginning • Intro • Bulk of the show (the content/interview/etc) • Outro with: • Reiterating main point • Thank Yous (to guests, listeners, sponsors) • Call to Action • Sign Off
20. @jcasabona Collect Listener Emails (another good CTA)
21. @jcasabona Why Collect Emails? • You can directly connect with listeners • You have an audience to market to • You can make them feel part of the process
22. @jcasabona How can you collect emails? • Have an opt-in on your website with some episode bonuses • Allow them to sign up for email notifications • Offer feedback surveys to get them involved • Do a giveaway
23. @jcasabona Streamlining Your Process
24. @jcasabona How to Streamline • Document your process • Use a social media tool like Buffer or Social Pilot • Hire an editor and a transcriber • Batch process episodes - schedule 3-4 at once (if possible) • Use Automation when you can
25. @jcasabona How I’m using Automation
26. @jcasabona Editing • I drop all the parts of an episode in Dropbox • Editor gets notification • He puts them back into Dropbox • Transcriber get notification AND episode gets uploaded to audio host
27. @jcasabona Content • Calendly for scheduling • This creates everything I need: calendar link, Zoom call, Evernote note • Transcriber looks for quotes and links (thanks to an Evernote note)
28. @jcasabona Social Media • Upload CSV to Social Pilot for each week • Use Social Web Suite to schedule tweets when episode is published
29. Great social media posts • Promote episode • Question of the week • 1-2 quotes • Behind the scenes post • CTA
30. Joe Casabona Educator, Developer, Podcaster @jcasabona casabona.org/buffs/
31. Special Offer! 50% Off my podcasting course Use WPBUFFS at checkout. Go to
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