As a podcaster, your show’s lifeblood is a faithful and engaged audience. Not only do they love your content and fill your socials with praise and camaraderie (heck, even the haters shine a spotlight on what you’re doing), but your listeners also help guide you toward like-minded advertising companies. Identifying what piques your audience’s interest on an episode-by-episode basis should be high on your to-do list. Lucky for you, Blubrry is here to help!
WHO’S YOUR AUDIENCE?
Besides your creative team, your audience is your most important podcasting partner. Of course, you should produce content that is authentic to your story and your expertise, but be wary of becoming too complacent or self-indulgent. Very few people want to listen to too much, “inside baseball” content. If you don’t take the time to analyze who’s listening, where new listeners are coming from and who you want to eventually be listening to your show, you’re missing out on valuable information that is readily available on the Blubrry podcaster dashboard.
Maybe your funny personal story got the most attention, or maybe it was a special guest who appeared on the show. You can find those types of specifics on the podcaster dashboard to analyze your episode, minute by minute.
GIVE THE PEOPLE WHAT THEY WANT
An episode you felt was half-hearted, or not your favorite topic could get twice as many listens as an episode you put a ton of time and resources into. If you can’t put your finger on why, and there doesn’t seem to be an easily identifiable difference in format or episode length, you can hone in on potential reasons using Blubrry’s audience survey.
The survey can be sent to your audience as you see fit. This data can tell you the age, gender and location of your audience. Maybe Gen Z is really digging your skincare content or perhaps Gen X just can’t get enough of the 1980’s mash-ups you analyze. Now that you’ve got the data, you can double down on creating your next podcast episode’s earworms.
HOOK ‘EM!
Now that you’ve checked out your audience survey, you’re primed to please your listeners. You know what episodes, what parts of episodes and even what topic or guest is resonating the most.
You know this because Blubrry’s podcaster dashboard has aggregated your stats on impactful plays and audience retention. This data can tell you how meaningful your content is for your audience. If they’re listening to over 75% of episodes – you’re crushing it. For episodes that aren’t as popular, you can figure out at what point people stopped listening and, perhaps, don’t replicate whatever happened at that point again!
When you combine the goals of your show, your business goals and what content is attracting the most listens, this can help immensely to align the focus of your show’s material. Consider crafting a whole season around this model and then not only will you have provided your audience with an experience they will enjoy, but hopefully they’ll keep coming back for more of your awesomely curated, consistent content.
A FINAL… “PIQUE”… INTO THE FUTURE
Sorry (not sorry) about the play on words! But truly, keeping your audience excited and interested can be challenging no matter what style of show you produce. Remaining true to the elements that draw people to your show, and really dedicating yourself to understanding what your audience enjoys is key to long-term success. No podcast can survive in a bubble (unless it’s actually a show about bubbles) so dig into the incredibly valuable statistics Blubrry provides, and your show will never be in danger of … PEAK-ing… on your podcast journey!
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Written by: Tara Jean O’Brien
Tara Jean O’Brien has been a writer, actor, improviser, podcaster, and stand-up for nearly 800 years. When not producing, editing, and hosting her podcast, Single Vs. Married, or co-hosting, Cinema Craptaculus Presents: B-sides, she also writers on Medium and recently found a floor safe hidden in her coat closet.