Starting a podcast from scratch can be challenging, and you have to ensure that you’re getting the right audience right off the bat.
We often see a lot of short-lived podcasts with little to no listeners because they haven’t thought about whether their content is easily accessible and appealing to their potential listenership.
Think about what would entice someone searching for podcasts similar to yours in particular or at least related enough that your show comes up when they search for what you’re covering.
Think about what people are looking for, then create something better!
All Beginnings are Hard
Don’t have an audience or a good following on social media, and you’re wondering if your podcast can succeed? The great news is that yes, it absolutely can!
Take a look at the podcast charts for evidence for this.
Many of the top 10 shows are hosted by people who aren’t well known in their circles, but they still manage to host successful podcasts – it’s more about developing an idea that appeals to audiences than about having a profile.
Even if you don’t have an audience yet and you get out there, work hard, and create something worthwhile – you will be successful. We like to start with a simple question should you start a podcast, its simple yet most forget the basics and dive right in without and planning.
Focus on What You Love and Like
Select the right niche
The first thing to know about boosting your podcast’s visibility is that you need an audience.
Without a fanbase, if nobody knows about your show, it doesn’t matter how great it is – you won’t get the listeners you want and deserve.
If your show is competing in a wearisome category, you need to think of ways to adapt your content to make it stand out and feel different from what’s already out there.
Suppose your podcast is falling into a larger category and is thus not as competitive. In that case, you should choose the less competitive option because it will give you the best chance of featured placement in that particular chart.
Select the correct type of podcast
When starting a podcast, it’s essential to offer listeners something of actual value.
While the content ultimately needs to be engaging and fun, a conversation between friends can’t be used as an excuse for lackluster content at the end of the day because most shows seem to have been made with someone’s ego in mind rather than the listener.
It’s always recommended when deciding what type of show you’re going to create, consider what would appeal to the audience because ideally, you want listeners searching for your show as opposed to forcing listeners into listening for a show they are not interested in.
Have an Excellent Social Media Strategy
Choose a catchy podcast description
A podcast description isn’t just a promotional text at the beginning of your show (often also known as a Podcast Tagline). It’s also part of an introduction to listeners on how they can tune in to hear you!
The abridged version, or the unique intro you create for your podcast, might tell listeners so much about what this particular episode sounds like that it makes people want to listen.
Imagine someone has a ton of podcasts from which to choose and is trying to pick one based on what it says in their summary. Your new episode creates a bit of suspense – just enough that it piques their interest.
Create a catchy blurb to engage your audience from the very beginning, for the studies show that 70 percent of the audience tends to watch the podcast with a better description.
Podcast Audiograms
Podcast audiograms are in many ways similar to movie trailers. They use audio, visual, and text elements and a short clip of the primary episode material unique to podcasts themselves!
With more information embedded in them, they will be far more likely to grab the viewer’s attention on sites that you may upload them.
One of the content creators from the WNYC radio station has started using audiograms on the internet.
Since audiograms were first introduced, the engagement levels have been high, and it makes sense because it’s “more like reading,” but also more social and shareable.
According to their claim on Twitter, the average engagement time for an audiogram is 8x longer than a standard tweet.
On Facebook, some studies have shown that an audiogram’s reach outperforms photos and links by 58% and 83%, respectively.
In a Headliner study, WNYC shared a podcast episode on Facebook in two different forms: one is by a static image format, and then another was a podcast audiogram.
The audiogram attracted a whopping five times more traffic than the image! Where the static image generated 118 clicks, the audiogram generated 550 clicks! That is a pretty impressive boosting strategy for your content.
Where to share?
It can be hard to get the word out about your unique podcast, and the lack of advertising is undoubtedly a factor.
Still, producers often don’t make it as easy as they could for people to find their content and therefore make matters worse by having lower listenerships than they would have if they were more accessible.
It’s possible that iTunes is responsible for up to 70% of a podcast’s downloads and listens, possibly because iTunes can teach what your title is, how many episodes you currently have available and how listeners can access them manually per episode.
Picking the Right Podcasting Platforms
Promotion is essential for any podcast and becomes even more critical when launching a show with no following.
For your show to be seen by as many different people as possible, you want to share it in many different ways.
Batch recording your episodes will allow you to record a bunch of episodes at once instead of having to worry about recording one episode at a time.
It can help you create social media material that gives people a taste of your show before it officially launches, which can help build momentum.
It would be best to break up each podcast episode into multiple pieces of content to share it in different ways. Maybe you’d like to use audiograms, pull quotes, and blog posts.
After creating your content, make sure you’re using hashtags for your niche so listeners find out about the podcasts they might be interested in hearing!
We’re lucky to live in a day and age where any creative content we put our minds to can find its audience – so let’s share that with the world!
The best way to do so is by taking a page directly from what worked for your favorite cult-favorite television show or podcast.
For example, all you need is one episode out, and you can post an update on every platform highlighting all of your episode details from the title, run time, and release date (or even a unique hashtag) while tagging each respective company or individual who helped facilitate your project.
Next, take some time to turn each new episode’s information into quote images that you can then use as standalone posts containing links back to iTunes or Soundcloud to drive traffic towards new episodes.
Make Sure your Podcast Quality is Good
When it comes to a podcast, you need to balance the quality of the content and the number of episodes you are launching per week. It is also necessary to SEO optimize your podcast to increase traffic.
Getting involved in podcasting and growing an audience is challenging. Creating a successful and engaging podcast can be tricky because so many podcasts are available in the market now.
If you’re trying to compete with shows that already have a vast reach, you have to make your show stand out.
If your content is appropriately optimized, Google will turn up playable search results even if the person searching has no idea who or what a podcast is – turning “podcasts” from a trending topic into everyday vocabulary as happened with “blog.”
Also, if someone searches for keywords relating to your niche inside a podcast app, all new results would include yours.
So if you want to make your show available to as many different people as possible, getting this right is essential.
Decide if you want to start with only video or only audio
When you’re recording an audio podcast, it helps to think about how you will find a great location or need an excellent microphone.
It also helps to know that when you’re filming a video podcast, it helps to know about other things like lighting, for example.
Engaged listeners are more likely to become evangelists, spreading the word about your podcasts.
Video podcasts offer two additional advantages: video podcasts give you the chance to capture visual reactions better than audio, and people participating in podcast interviews are more likely to reveal intimate details over video.
If you know that a participant will not be available to speak over video chat, don’t let that stop you from recording a video podcast; recording video calls is easier today than ever before using services such as Skype, Zoom, or Google Hangouts On Air.
However, those videos are hard to make and edit. Hence, if you are unsure how your footage looks or how you look, or which types of equipment to use, stick to audio for the first few attempts.
Get the Right Equipment
There are many free tools and devices that will help you start a podcast (e.g., Anchor, Audacity, ccMixter, Canva, Zoom, etc.).
All of these free tools come with their unique disadvantages when compared to paid, premium competitors like Adobe Audition or Waves; however, they can still be used if you wish to spend your time and effort learning how to get the most out of them.
They’ll work fine for getting your show up on the air as long as expectations aren’t set too high regarding the sound quality or an intricate process to edit audio in podcast episodes.
We know how expensive microphones and audio interfaces can be – and don’t even get us started on studio monitors!
The good news is that while it may seem challenging to get everything you need from the very beginning, you don’t have to break the bank with the initial expenditure.
There are some great sound devices that won’t cost you more than $200 altogether, and we think it’s wise not to spend too much on anything other than what’s necessary for your home studio.
For example, if you’re starting in music production but haven’t had any formal training or education, then it would be best to just invest in a few pieces of equipment rather than going overboard at first.
You’ll probably find that when we look at everything together, there are many free options like recording software and audio loops which will help you try things out and see if this venture is worth sticking with before spending money on something more serious.
Proper Podcast Structure
Everybody knows you have to submit your show to podcast directories. Still, it might be good to remind people that they need to do this for their shows to get found by more people and grow their audiences.
They must be in all the places people listen to podcasts, so make sure they submit their shows everywhere to start growing!
Make Sure it is Fun and Engaging
Engaging podcast content takes time and effort, but it’s worth the investment. The biggest motive for creating compelling podcast episodes is to build a loyal fan base.
These listeners will keep coming back to your show every week, allowing it to succeed by writing positive reviews and sharing your content with others.
It may sound somewhat over-the-top, but there’s no denying that the key to creating a successful podcast is finding something you are passionate about talking about.
If someone just randomly picks an idea without trying it out of their curiosity, chances are they might not get too far along with their new adventure into broadcasting (unless, of course, you aim to create a satire show!
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