How to Keep Your Podcast Listeners Glued

As a podcaster, one of your primary priorities should be to produce captivating content that will keep your audience glued. Make no mistake about it, your inability to keep your listeners satisfied might just cause you to lose even the most ardent followers you have.

While there’s no foolproof way that can guarantee people will really listen to your show from start to finish, there are certain measures you can do to at least keep your listeners interested and engaged.

Why is it important?

There are already tons of podcasts out there and it’s safe to assume competition is high. That being said, there’s no room for complacency in an industry as competitive. Even if you have a significant number of followers, the number can change dramatically if you are no longer able to provide content that’s truly worth listening to.

How audiences listen

Understanding the dynamics of your audience’s listening habits is important in podcasting. For starters, it can help ensure you get an insight into their preferences and you are able to create bespoke content that caters to those preferences.

A study conducted by Infinite Dial 2016 showed that half of Americans already listen to some sort of online radio weekly. Over the years, podcasting has also seen significant gains in terms of listenership.

Bridge Ratings recently published Podcasting Audit, a study on podcasting market and consumption. They found out that from 3, 000 respondents who are podcast listeners, 26% tuned out within the first 30 minutes, 19% tuned out at the 30-45 minute mark, and 15% stopped listening to the podcast after over 60 minutes.

Reasons for abandonment may vary and can be due to the following reasons: topic discussed, lifestyle impact, audio quality, host, and the listener’s specific interest, among many others.

Keeping your listeners glued

Apart from understanding how your audience listens and consumes media, you also need to ensure measures are done to warrant they listen to the show in its entirety. The following tips should help get your efforts off to a fantastic start:

Take advantage of the power of storytelling

Who doesn’t love a good story? Awesome storytelling will never get old. Use the power of superb storytelling in your podcast. Also, ensure there is smooth transition and flow in your podcast so your audience will have an incredible listening experience.

Provide awesome content

At all times, aim to provide content that’s topnotch. If anything, there’s no shortage of interesting contents you can come up with given you do your research. It would also be a good idea to take note of prominent personalities and authorities in your niche so you can invite them over.

Keep the conversation interesting

This can be challenging if you are not prepared. Ensure you don’t bore your listeners out of their wits. Otherwise, you risk losing them for good. In line with this, always make sure you have an episode outline handy. It will help guarantee you are able to ask all the right questions and you don’t miss out on anything important.

Keep your listeners involved

Keeping your listeners involved can be an effective way to foster loyalty so it’s vital that this ranks high in your priority list. Ask for recommendations. Ask for topic suggestions they want tackled. Listen to their ideas and recommendations. Create a poll where they can vote for guests they want to listen to. Not only will it make them feel important, it will also make them feel that you always have their best interest in mind.

Ensure audio quality is exceptional

No matter how interesting the guest or how beneficial the topic, no listener will have the patience to stick around if your sound quality is crappy at best. Understandably, who wants to listen to a podcast when the voices are muffled and background noises are aplenty? No one. That being said, don’t shy away from getting post production help from experts like the team at Podcast Engineers. They can help guarantee you’ll be able to produce show you can truly be proud of.

How do you keep your listeners captivated? Share with us your tricks in the comment section!

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