← The How To Podcast Series - Podcast Co-Hosts, Practical Podcast Tips, and Podcast Community
The How To Podcast Series - Podcast Co-Hosts, Practical Podcast Tips, and Podcast Community
E584 - How To Engage With Your Podcast Audience - The Podcaster’s Path, 24 Steps from Beginner to Pro
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Okay, we're rolling. Hey, it's Dave, back with you again. Thank you for pressing play. Thanks. Really appreciate it. Love having time with you here on the how to Podcast series. We are doing our 24 steps from beginner to pro and excited to share the next step, and this is how to engage with your podcast audience. This is the fun part because you've gotten past all the tech, you've gotten past the big idea. You've hit record. You put it out into the world. You probably cried a little bit or you had the happy dance. Something's happened, and now you have an audience. Congratulations. Somebody press play on your podcast. Somebody not named mom press play on your podcast. Somebody in a different country that you've never been to pressed play on your podcast. Congratulations. You kind podcaster, have an audience. Way to go. So now what? What do I do now? How do I turn this group of listeners into a community? How? What do I do to build in my podcast audience? And you're in the right place, because that's actually the title of this episode, so well done. You're good at finding episodes to listen to. Here we go. Engagement with your audience. This is where you take passive listeners who kind of know you kind of don't know you kind of like your show. They're kind of new and they're, like, just trying it out. Like trying on a pair of shoes at the store before you commit and buy them, right? They're just trying on the podcast going, do I really like this host? Do I really like this content? Is this for me? Is this the right place? They're trying to just trying you on right now, right? Taking those passive listeners and turning them into an active community that fuels your podcast growth and helps your podcast grow into the future. That's a big change. That's a big difference and something that we really need to focus in on for the longevity of our show. So keep this in mind. That first listener that messages you for the first time, dm, a speak pipe, a buy me a coffee, a email, a comment in Spotify in the episode level, a review, those things. It's like the coolest experience ever when somebody reaches out to you and says, your podcast meant this to me because of your podcast, this happened. And you're like, it's happening. My podcast is finding an audience. And when you don't even know who these people are, it is the coolest feeling ever. It's like a virtual hug. Suddenly, podcasting shifts from being a solo act that you do by yourself in a room alone. With nobody else is around to having a community. There's someone else on the other end of this that's going to press play you did. There's someone else out there that's going to connect with this content and that is the coolest thing ever. Simple engagement loops. Keep podcasting sustainable. Something we can consider for our show. I would love for you to end your episodes. Keep this in mind. Your outro the closing of your show. Don't just stop talking, have an outro, have a conclusion, wrap it all up. But and maybe end your episodes with a targeted question like what's your biggest fear right now as a podcaster? I'd love to hear go to my speak pipe and this is I'm actually asking go to my speak pipe link in on my website howtopodcast ca click the button, record a message and say dave, this is my biggest podcasting fear right now. I'd love to hear do this for your show, for your content specific to what you talk about at the end. Why at the end? At the end is where people who love your show enough to stay to the end of the podcast, they're your superfans. These are the people with the most likely opportunity and chance to actually do the thing you're asking at the beginning of the episode. Got a lot of tire kickers. They may stick around, they might not, they may respond, they most likely won't. So putting it up front is almost kind of like putting your best in front of people that may or may not even be interested. At the end is where people have listened the longest and they're most likely to respond. So one thing I always kind of encourage podcasters. Treat your intro of your podcast episode the beginning for new people and treat your outro for long standing committed listeners. Focus your your content and the way you open your show for new people and how you close your show for long standing people. Keep that in mind. It really works well that's a bonus tip. By the way, you didn't even have to pay me for that. You didn't even have to pay me for this episode. So I'll continue reply personally to every email or DM that comes into you. Anytime somebody buys me a coffee@buymeacoffee.com Lincoln the website how to podcast CA I get this email comes to me so and so just bought you X number of coffees and that's amazing because that's the kindness of the audience and I really appreciate it. So what I do and I endeavor to do for everybody is to leave A video message back to the donor saying, thank you, thank you for supporting the show means so much for me. And I make it personalized to the person who donated to the show. That's above and beyond just never acknowledging it or an email message. The video is just one step further. So that's what I'm encouraging you to Never let a comment on Spotify, a comment on your YouTube channel, an email, a DM, a message, however it gets to you, never let them go unreplied. Always, always reply. It builds loyalty and does it in a quick way. On air, read listener stories verbatim. Sarah from Toronto shared how she finally hit record after episode three. And here's her win. And here's a little sample of her podcast. Right here's Sarah, Everyone, like, put it out there, put out into the world and recognize the feedback and you will get more feedback. This invites more feedback. It creates momentum and listeners feel seen and heard and. And they don't always understand how a podcast works. So when they hear their voice on the show because they left you a speak pipe message, or they hear you mention them, call them out, mention their city, mention their location and say, I've got a listener in this part of the world at this city. Thank you for listening to the show. They're going to perk up and go, wait a minute, they're talking about me. Acknowledge your audience. Don't take them for granted. That's how you start to engage with your audience and build this loop where they reach out to you, you reach back. They reach back, you reach back. It just builds upon itself. And when your listening audience sees other members of your community interacting with you, they feel compelled to also interact with you. That's how you build. It's all in the reply. The key to building a podcast audience is, is in the reply. It's not in the first message coming to you, it's in how you respond. So keep that in mind. What's our action step? This podcast episode is short for a reason. This is all it takes to get started building an audience. It's not that difficult. You don't need a book, you don't need a course. You don't need to pay somebody $2,000 for this. This is how easy. This is your action step in your next episode, Whether that's episode two or episode 200, what I want you to do is ask one specific question and name one easy reply method. Here's the question. Send me a dm. Here's the question. Head over to my speak pipe. Here's the question. Send me an email, whatever, right? Send me a dm, whatever it is, put it out there with the method and the question, put it in front of your audience, and then promise to share select responses on an upcoming episode, record it today, and watch replies start to roll in. When people send you feedback, always, always, always reply. Never take your audience for granted and they will build upon each other. You'll get more and more listeners, more people coming into your world because you showed up. That's the key. And if you want to test me on it, reply to this podcast episode in Spotify. Comments right in the episode. You can leave a message right in there. If you listen on Spotify, which I do, you can send me a buy me a coffee and you'll get a video response from me. You can send me a Speak pipe message on speak pipe.com. it's right there on my website. Everything you need, all in one location. HowtoPodcast CA. How do you get there quickly? Just look at the show notes for this episode. Look at your phone, see in the comments, see in the episode notes, go to the bottom and there it is. Just click the link. You're right there. Hi, this is me, it's Dave. Anytime. I'd love to hear from you. And you're like, dave, this is great, but I'd really like to kind of unpack this more and maybe talk about this in more detail. How do I do that again? HowToPodcast CA Calendar Link is right there in front of you, right on the page. Click the link, come right into my calendar. Whatever's open, I'm ready. If I didn't want the calendar to be there, if I didn't want to spend time with you, I'd take the calendar off right now. But I want to be with you and I want to help you. So it's completely free. No sales funnel, no tricks. Just me and anytime you want to spend time, you can use that calendar link as often as you want. Again, if I didn't want it there, it wouldn't be there. So come join me anytime. Thanks for being here. Come back. We're going to continue our walk together through these 24 steps on our path through the podcaster's path. Right? Okay, you and me, let's keep going. Take care. If you're looking for more information about podcasting and you're looking for a community around podcasting, come check out howtopodcast ca. It's my website where everything we do around podcasting, the show, our community or meetup resources. There's a lot of great stuff there for you. A whole list of free tools that you can use as a podcaster to save yourself some money. That's based on my website, podcastforfree.com which just leads you back to my regular website. And if you want any more information as well, there's a calendar link on my website where you and I can meet anytime. It's always there. It's always available. Whatever you see available on your end. I'm ready to talk podcasting with anybody. I'd love to help you no matter what your questions are. We can grab a virtual coffee and we can talk through what your big idea is. Maybe some of your struggles in podcasting, maybe some motivational things, maybe some growth things. Happy to help you over at howtopodcast ca come check out the website. Let's connect. Stick around, because we have a bunch more episodes here on The Podcaster's Path. 24 episodes here in a row. That's meant to be kind of your starting point for your journey as a podcaster or if you're going to start a new show or you want to refresh your journey and catch up on maybe some of the things you might have missed. That's what this show's about. I'm glad you're here. My name is Dave. Love to help you reach out anytime. HowToPodcast CA take care. Talk soon.