Effective Ways to Attract New Podcast Listeners

If you’re like most podcasters, it would be safe to assume one of your primary goals would be to increase the number of your podcast listeners as soon as possible. This is not exactly surprising. After all, a massive listener base often translates to bigger and better opportunities for you and your show.

While attracting new listeners can be a tad tricky, it is reassuring to know it can be done.

Below are some of the effective (and creative) ways to attract new listeners that you can look into:

Don’t shy away from networking

While unfortunate to note, many podcasters think networking is counterproductive. Nothing can be farther from the truth! Rather than viewing networking as “helping the competition”, you have to see it for what it actually is—a proven way to significantly expand your listener base.

Get in touch with people you’ve met in the podcasting circle and ask interesting contacts to grace your show. Interviewing someone in the space can be a likely source of quality content and can help in your cross targeting efforts.

Pick a good podcasting host

As your podcast grows, the need for a host that can provide a reliable and fast network becomes increasingly important. Keep in mind that the right podcasting host can give you access to ample bandwidth and flexible storage space that can effortlessly keep up with your podcast as it evolves and grows.

Nowadays, there are several hosting companies where you have the option to upload your podcast free of charge. However, if you are really keen on significantly growing your audience, you need to think and choose like a pro.

If anything, it will often boil back to making sure you have sufficient bandwidth in case one (or more) of your episodes will go viral. Otherwise, downloads will stop in their tracks, you’ll risk losing listeners, and you’ll miss out on the opportunity to grow massively.

Maximise your SEO

Ensuring your show is easy to find in today’s very crowded cyberspace should be on top of your list of priorities if you want to increase the number of your listeners dramatically. Fortunately, maximising your SEO efforts can help warrant you achieve said objective.

Not everyone may aware of it but if your podcast gets featured on Google’s first page, you are likely to also attract more first-time listeners. When it comes to your SEO efforts, one of your primary priorities should be to optimise your podcast both for Google searches as well as for podcast directories your show is listed on.

Be active online

To attract new listeners, getting as many people involved can definitely go a long way. Fortunately, there is no shortage of awesome community platforms online that can help you network, converse, and discuss with the right people. Use the platforms available at your disposal to interact with your current and new listeners as well as possible future guests.

When interacting online, ensure you also know and adhere to guidelines set by administrators. At all times, aim to also build genuine and lasting connections and you’ll find your listener number increasing dramatically in no time.

Use social media effectively

In today’s highly connected world, it would be safe to assume majority (if not all) of your listeners and subscribers are also active on social media. In line with this, make sure you are using the power of social media to your full advantage.

Take your social media strategy to the next level. For instance, rather than merely tweeting out information regarding new episodes, take things a bit farther by recording an episode sneak peek on Facebook Live.

The main idea is to get your episode previews out to as many different social media platforms as possible so you’ll be able to reach out to as many people as you can.

Champion listener interaction

In a lot of ways, podcasting is considered a personal medium. That means it is also likely that your listeners see you as a friend as opposed to just a podcaster. This dynamic makes fostering engagement with your listeners a lot easier compared to other mediums.

Make the setup work to your advantage by getting listeners to participate actively. Start by asking them to leave comments or giving them the opportunity to recommend guests they would like you to have.

Encouraging listener interaction will not only strengthen the bond between you and your audience, it will also give you a better insight into what your listeners want, need, and expect from you.

What other tips and techniques do you swear by to attract new listeners? We’d love to hear about it!

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