Self-improvement
80 | Audience Engagement VS Podcast Metrics - Which is the Better Success Indicator
In this episode of Podcast Growth Club, Reina Wrikiki explores the importance of audience engagement over traditional podcast metrics. She discusses how building a loyal listener base can lead to orga...
80 | Audience Engagement VS Podcast Metrics - Which is the Better Success Indicator
Self-improvement •
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Interactive Transcript
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Hey, this is Erin Holland from the PG-ish podcast and I love working with
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Reina because she just makes everything so easy and doable.
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But I think above all that Reina is just so lovely as a person and it's just easy to want to follow her lead.
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And so Reina, thank you for being committed to all of us podcasters in our group.
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Hey podcasters, welcome back to another episode of podcast growth club.
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I am your podcast growth coach Reina Wrikiki.
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Today in episode 80, only 20 more to the big 100, I'm going to be talking about how to engage your audience and grow your podcast through connection.
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It's mostly because I've seen people recently get really caught up on podcast metrics.
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We're talking about download numbers and wanting to keep boosting their podcasts and I'll talk about benchmarks shortly.
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But I also want to talk about how instead of obsessing about benchmarks, it's probably more important and more impactful to obsess about audience engagement.
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This is how you're going to have a small but mighty podcast that does weigh more for you than a podcast with a thousand casual listeners.
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So let's dive in.
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First thing I want to talk about are just some quick podcast benchmarks.
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So in the podcasting industry, how do I know if I have a successful show this changes from time to time, but relatively speaking, we're getting more than 150 downloads after 30 days.
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Then you are in the top 50% of podcasts.
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If you are getting over 1000 downloads per episode after 30 days, then you're in the top 20% of podcasters.
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And again, most people don't make it to this point where you get over 1000 downloads and episode per month.
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And just so lay the groundwork for you to get to this point, normally it takes three to five years.
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So unless you're a famous person or already have this great audience built up, you're not going to get there for several years.
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And if you never get there, it's okay too, because you can still have a very impactful, powerful podcast without getting a thousand downloads per month.
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So I just want to throw those numbers out just as reference point, because I often think podcasters are focusing on the wrong thing.
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They're like paying money out of pocket to hire these somewhat suspicious podcast promotion companies to get more downloads and then those downloads end up being bots and not real people or a whole group of people from Bangladesh who are probably not your idealist and that focus and energy and money could be better spent on audience engagement.
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So let's chat about that. Okay. So the first thing I want to talk about is why engagement actually fuels growth.
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Downloads measure reach right how many people you're reaching, but engagement creates loyalty and loyalty drives that word of mouth growth, which is what you want, which is probably the most powerful form of growth when your podcast name or your name is being spoken in rooms where you are not there.
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And people are spreading your praises and talking about how helpful you are. That is magical stuff. And it goes so much further along.
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Also a smaller engaged audience often shares episodes. They're going to be the ones to invite friends and invite colleagues and they're going to stick around because they have this trusted relationship they built with you where you don't seem like this far off figure, but you seem like a trusted friend.
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Let me give you an example of audience engagement. So maybe you get a questioner a question from a listener and you shout them out. You said, Hey, Amy, I had this great question about what's more important download growth numbers or audience engagement.
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I just want to give a shout out to Amy. This was a fab question and we are going to be diving in today and so on. So how cool would it to be to hear your name on your favorite podcasters podcast.
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One of my favorite podcasts is called cozy conversations with the sister project and it sees two very sassy Italian sisters from Chicago and they always read their reviews on the air and it's become this hype thing where people almost compete to write the craziest,
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funniest review and it's so fun to hear them give shout outs to people. It built up this cult almost right to build up this super fan mentality where you're like, oh, I can't wait to hear what they're going to say this week about
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review. This is awesome. And if you're trying to build a community, this is what we want. This is the gold lining that we are all aiming for. So I'm going to give you just a couple tips today on how to bring more engagement to your podcast.
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So first tip is listener questions. So again, this builds community because you're inviting listeners to give questions that you could make a whole episode about or just answer at the beginning. It could be an ongoing running segment of your podcast.
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These questions could be something from speak pipe for this podcast. For example, there's a link to speak pipe. If you have a podcast question, leave it and I will answer that on a future episode.
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So you could do something like that. You could post questions on Instagram, LinkedIn threads, TikTok, wherever you're at Pinterest and then call out viewers that way. And then when that episode airs, you tag that person and say, hey, Amy, I answered your question on episode 79.
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You should go check it out. And how cool is that to know that someone actually listen to you and wanted to answer.
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So people who respond to social can become the new podcast listeners. So this is a great engagement strategy. Recently, I did this with a client who had a family trivia podcast and we had them invite listeners to submit their own trivia question that the host answered at the start of the show. They've gotten tons and tons of great listener questions. And it's all these cute kids who are asking.
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These really obscure but fun trivia questions. And I know that's really driving up their listener engagement and building some super fans for them. So think about that. It works. I can't think of a show where this wouldn't really work. So listener questions is one thing you can do.
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Another tip you can do. I talked about this is shouting out reviews. And again, this is something a lot of podcasts do, but people don't do enough, especially entrepreneurial podcasts. So when you get a good review or even a good client testimonial from someone who's worked with you.
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Read it on the air or if you have an audio clip plate on the air. This is great because it shows, hey, there's people out there who love your show.
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If you're thinking of trying to get clients, they're like, oh, listen to the transformation. This person had my working with Reno, like their podcast growth went up so much. Or this they had a really successful podcast launch hearing that kind of stuff. Again, builds that close relationship.
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This is really big and this is something to where if you get a positive review on your social media platforms again, wherever you're at, take a screenshot of it.
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Show it, share it. Talk about how this really just major hard growth resize is that day. Just like the Grinch, right?
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These are things that make a podcast or blush in the best way and it makes us keep going. And when people see that, it's like the giving encouragement where they're like, oh, you know what?
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I love that podcast too. And maybe I should leave a positive review.
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So that's something you want to do. Shout out reviews, share client testimonials.
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Another thing to consider for audience engagement is to consider doing workshops or lives. This kind of engagement, hosting workshops or going live on one or two platforms that you like to show up on.
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It really creates that real time connection. It shows you're actually a real person. There's almost this like fan girl fanboy mentality.
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Where it's low. I've heard Raina speak every week for six weeks and now on Friday afternoon, I'm going to go to her workshop and I actually get to see her on the screen.
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I'm going to ask her this question. It's really fun and it's so neat to actually be able to interact with your audience. This is really why you're podcasting right. Think about that. Why you're doing it to change people's lives to give them advice to help them out.
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And when you get to meet them, that makes it all worth it in the end. So consider doing a workshop or a live.
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And again, we're not talking about killing yourself trying to do these all the time. Start with once a quarter.
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So sometime in the fall September, October, November, say, hey, I'm going to pick a time that I think would be ideal. Maybe a lunch time or an evening time where I can connect with my audience.
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And doesn't have to be a big deal. You could do a quick training on something for 10 minutes and do some Q&A.
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You could just talk about a topic that you know, but these are really great touch points where the audience gets to see you as a real person and gets to build that relationship.
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And in addition, if you decide to do one of these workshops or lives, you want to promote these, but beyond your podcast. So also say it on social media. Tell people in your newsletter. This will just lead to more growth for your podcast as well.
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And bonus. Once you have this workshop done this live done, you can repurpose it. If you want to do clips for reels for LinkedIn and so on, you could take questions that people ask in these sessions.
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You use them for future episodes again. Shout them out. Chef out the person. And it just builds on itself.
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So those are three tips. And I just want to say these can become habits. But you have to be intentional. Right.
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As you start to build up questions from social media, from speak pipe, things like that. Or maybe you searching up questions on threads. What are people asking about my genre?
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Each episode can start with this listener question prompt.
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Then you can start reading reviews. Maybe make it a goal to read one new review each month or two.
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And then think about doing monthly or quarterly workshops, lives, things like that.
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Start small, make it scalable. But as you do this, you're going to slowly turn those casual listeners into engage audience members and then super fans.
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And then if you're trying to grow your business with your podcast, ideally, some of them are going to become clients. So this consistency builds trust. It gives you steady content for repurposing for growth. It's magic.
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And this I almost think is the missing formula. Like I was saying at the beginning, too many podcasters are focusing on download metrics, vanity metrics. When instead you should be focusing on building an engaged community.
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A people that love you, you can have a small but mighty audience. That helps you and whatever that goal is that you are doing.
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So to recap engagement builds loyalty, loyalty drives growth and podcast growth expands those opportunities.
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If you have a question, reach out. I would love to hear from you. I'd love to answer it. I'd love to give you a shout out. Please leave a positive review. I love reading these on air. It's super fun. If you want to make it snazzy, show some personality. I'm going to give you a high five over the air.
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Also, when you leave a review in September, you're entered into a monthly drawing for a free podcast audit. You get my services for free. Doesn't get better than that.
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So think about that. And I am going to be doing a workshop in the fall. More details coming up in my newsletter and on social media. So if you don't have the newsletter, reach out. I'll add you to it.
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And text social media as well.
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All right. Until next time podcasters. Keep podcasting. Don't go into pod. Fade. You got to stay in it. To win it. I'm rooting for you.
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Hey podcasters. You know, it's better than expert podcast advice.
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Yeah, you guessed it. Expert podcast advice for free. That's right. This fall, when you leave a positive written review for your favorite podcast podcast growth club, I will choose one lucky winner each month to receive a free podcast audit.
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I will extensively go into your podcast and tell you the best things you need to do for podcast growth, audience engagement and building those super fans. If this is something that appeals to you, go ahead and leave that positive written review.
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I thank you in your future karma. Thanks you as well.