Engaging and Getting to Know Your Audience Better

Why Bother Engaging With Your Audience? Because It’s Awesome!

Loyal Fans: When you chat with your listeners, they stick around. They’ll keep coming back for new episodes and even tell their friends about you. Instant fan club!

Relevant Content: Knowing your audience means you can make episodes that hit all the right notes. They'll love it, and you’ll feel like a podcasting wizard.

Feedback Goldmine: Interacting directly with listeners gives you priceless feedback. It’s like having a team of advisors helping you improve your show.

Money Talks: A loyal audience attracts sponsors and advertisers, which means more moolah for you. Cha-ching!

Community Vibes: When you engage with your audience, you're building a community. It’s like hosting a party where everyone’s invited and everyone’s having fun.

Finding Real Listeners: Sometimes we chase this idea of the perfect audience, but it’s the loyal listeners who really matter. They’re your real MVPs, guiding you to make your podcast even better.

How to Get Personal with Your Audience

Shout-Outs: During your episodes, give a shout-out to listeners who’ve sent in cool questions or feedback. It makes listeners feel valued and recognized, which can significantly enhance their loyalty and engagement.

Answer Their Questions: Dedicate a segment of your show to answer listener questions. It shows you care, value their input, are attentive to their concerns and interests and keep them coming back for more. Encourage listeners to send questions via email, social media, or voicemail.

Feature Their Stories: Invite listeners to share their stories, experiences and perspectives related to your podcast’s theme. It’s a great way to build a sense of community and make everyone feel included. Share these stories in your episodes, and give credit where it's due! Credit the listeners who provided them.

Contests and Giveaways: Who doesn’t love winning stuff? Host contests and giveaways to keep your audience engaged and excited.It can drive engagement and increase listener participation. Organize contests where listeners can win prizes for submitting the best questions, stories, or creative content. Offer giveaways for milestones like episode anniversaries or hitting certain download numbers.

Listener-Driven Content: Ask your audience for topic suggestions. Use polls and surveys to find out what they want to hear. It’s a surefire way to keep them hooked. You can also use surveys or polls to gauge listener interest in various topics and format ideas. Create episodes or segments specifically requested by your audience.

Social Media Shenanigans

Social Media: Use platforms like Twitter (now X), Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn to connect with your audience in fun and engaging ways.

• X (twitter): Ideal for real-time engagement and sharing quick updates.
• Instagram: Great for visual content, behind-the-scenes looks, and Stories.
• Facebook: Effective for building community through groups and longer-form posts.
• LinkedIn: Best for professional and niche topics, ideal for B2B podcast content.

Audiograms: Use Hubhopper’s Headliner integration to turn your episodes into cool social media videos with audiograms. Each time you upload a new episode, you will be given the option to use the audiogram tool to convert the published episode into a video. You can use these audiograms on any of the above platforms, and voila! Your social media calendar is sorted.

Auto-Generated Captions: Let Hubhopper’s AI tool create social media captions for you based on your podcast episode content. To access this feature, go to your episode list and select the transcription option. Once your episode is transcribed, you'll have the option to auto-generate social media captions.

Content Sharing:

• Teasers and Clips: Share short clips or teasers from upcoming episodes to generate interest.
• Episode Announcements: Inform followers about new episodes, including a brief description and relevant links.

Engagement:

• Polls and Questions: Use polls and questions to get feedback and understand listener preferences.
• Live Q&A Sessions: Host live sessions where listeners can ask questions and interact directly with the host.

Community Building:

• Groups and Forums: Create private groups or forums where listeners can discuss episodes and topics.
• Collaborations and Cross-Promotions: Partner with other podcasters or influencers to reach new audiences.

Email Newsletters: Your Secret Weapon

Email Newsletters: Set up an email list with tools like Mailchimp or Brevo. Once you’ve set up your account on these platforms, you will be given a sign up link/form which your listeners can use to subscribe to your emailing list. 

• Website Signup Forms: Place signup forms prominently on your website. Offer an incentive, such as exclusive content or early access to episodes, to encourage sign-ups.
• Call-to-Action (CTA) in Episodes: Place the signup link in your podcast & episode description. Encourage listeners to subscribe to your newsletter at the end of each episode. Highlight the benefits of subscribing.
• Social Media Promotion: Promote your newsletter on your social media channels. Use engaging posts and ads to drive sign-ups.
• Private Podcast Subscribers: Customize and include the sign-up link to your private podcast subscriber invitation email directly from your Hubhopper dashboard. This allows recipients to access your private podcast and opt-in to your email list.

The type of content that you can share with your emailing list to keep engagement between you and your subscribers:

• Episode Updates: Inform subscribers about new episodes, including summaries, release dates, and listening links.
• Exclusive Content: Offer exclusive content that is not available on your podcast feed. This can include behind-the-scenes stories, interviews, bonus episodes, and more.
• Personal Stories: Share personal anecdotes and insights to build a deeper connection with your audience.
• Listener Spotlights: Feature listener stories, questions, and feedback. This encourages engagement and makes subscribers feel valued.
• Upcoming Events: Announce live events, Q&A sessions, and other interactive opportunities.
• Recommendations: Share recommendations for books, articles, other podcasts, or products that you think your audience would appreciate.

It’s like a VIP club for your listeners.

Spotify Tools: Get Interactive

Spotify Interactive Tools: Use Spotify’s polls (allows you to create polls for your episodes and can be used to gather listener opinions on various topics discussed in your podcast) and Q&A features  (ask questions related to your podcast episodes and encourage listeners to respond directly on Spotify) to engage with your audience. Claim your podcast on Spotify for Podcasters and unlock these nifty tools. To claim:

1. Spotify for Podcasters and create an account
2. Choose to claim your podcast on Spotify
3. Verify your RSS feed email address

By making your content personal and engaging, you can create a podcast experience that resonates with your listeners and builds a loyal community around your show. Happy podcasting!