Whether reading their reviews, sharing their feedback, playing their voicemail, or using their creative contribution, involving your podcast episodes can be powerful to deepen your relationships and grow your podcast.
When it comes to audience engagement, it's not where the engagement lives that matters most. For example, it doesn't matter whether all your ratings and reviews are in Apple Podcasts. What's important is what you do with those ratings, reviews, and feedback.
What kind of audience involvement?
There are many ways to involve your audience in your podcast:
- Written or voicemail feedback. Your audience can send you a voicemail or write a message through a simple landing page like my own PodcastFeedback.com/audacity (that's powered by Podgagement). For example, Seth Goldstein recently wrote in to say, “Love the show and topics. Keep up the good work.” Thank you, Seth!
- Suggestions. Even if it's not full feedback you read or play, a listener suggesting a future episode, a guest, a movie to review, a video game, or an Easter egg you never thought of is still real involvement.
- Questions and answers. Maybe you ask the questions and your audience answers, or maybe your audience asks and you answer.
- Financial support. Think of this as your audience giving value back to you after you've given value to them. (Please avoid the word “donate,” since you're most likely not a nonprofit.)
- Contributing talents. Listeners can design artwork, make audio bumpers, mix things together, or help sort your feedback. On our Once Upon a Time podcast, a community member known as Slurpees had the sole job of sorting and categorizing all the feedback we received, and they were great at spotting the good stuff.
There are many other ways too, even inviting a listener to become part of your team. And when you involve your audience and acknowledge that involvement in your podcast, it does three powerful things.
1. It makes your listener feel special
When someone sends in a voicemail, feedback, a financial contribution, or artwork, and you mention it on your show by thanking them by name, playing their voicemail, or answering their question, you're shining a light on them in front of your whole audience.
It's a bit like, “Hey, Ma, look, I was on a podcast!” People feel like celebrities, and they're far more likely to go tell others, “You've got to listen to this podcast. They answered my question. They played my voicemail. They used my artwork.” They become little evangelists for your show.
It also deepens the relationship. They feel seen, a little more known, and a little more like they know you. I feel this myself with the podcasts and YouTube shows I consume. When I get a direct interaction back from the host, I feel like they know me and know I exist. You can do that same thing for your audience.
2. It encourages more involvement
When someone hears Sally's voicemail played in your podcast, they think, “Hey, I want to be in the podcast too. I want my theory shared. I want my question answered. I want my review read on the show.”
Just by using the engagement you already have and sharing it with the rest of your audience, you encourage even more engagement. People like to join other people. Most folks don't want to be the first to pave the path, but once that path is cut, others see that it's easy and fun, and they want to be part of it too. It's positive peer pressure.
3. It boosts your reputation
Think about reviews. For most podcasts, unless yours is intentionally non-U.S. or in another language, the majority of your ratings and reviews probably come from the United States. But a tool like Podgagement tracks your ratings and reviews from everywhere, not just one country.
Here's where it gets powerful: when you share a review from someone outside your normal demographic, outside your country, or outside the English-speaking world, it does all three things at once. It makes that person feel especially special, because they might have assumed you'd never even know they exist. It encourages more involvement. And it boosts your reputation.
Why? Because when your audience hears, “Wow, she has a listener in Zimbabwe,” or “He took the time to answer a question from someone who could never pay him for it,” they realize you're personable, relatable, reachable, and responsive. It doesn't perfectly scale, but do it anyway when you can, because it's worth it.
There's a bonus, too. When you read a review from a country outside your norm, your audience realizes you have a global audience. Once you have listeners beyond the country people would expect, you truly have a global audience, and that's pretty cool.
Involving your audience is so much fun, and it's exactly how you build the relationship. When you get your audience involved, it makes them feel special, it encourages more involvement, and it boosts your reputation. Try it on your next episode!
If you love The Audacity to Podcast and value the podcasting inspiration and education I provide, would you please consider giving back what it's worth to you?
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Disclosure
This post may contain links to products or services with which I have an affiliate relationship. I may receive compensation from your actions through such links. However, I don't let that corrupt my perspective and I don't recommend only affiliates.
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