You may have your podcast up and running, but now you're wondering how you can grow your podcast, including your podcast downloads. Growing your podcast can be quite challenging. It can be difficult to reach listeners and resonate with them enough for them to listen and download. So, we've listed 5 ways you can work to increase your podcast downloads below.
5. Be Everywhere Your Audience Downloads Podcasts.
The best way to gain listeners and thus downloads is to ensure that your podcast is easily discoverable and accessible. Make sure that your podcast is on every directory possible. Also, make sure that you link the location where your podcast can be downloaded on your website, social media, and anywhere else you have a presence.
4. Commit to a Schedule and Follow Through.
Once you set your schedule for publishing your podcast, make sure you follow through. Your audience will come to expect episodes from you and may even set specific time aside to listen to your podcast. If you don't commit to your schedule and produce the best content possible, you will have a hard time keeping your current listeners and attracting new listeners.
3. Give Key Moments Their Own Episodes.
In some cases you might have an episode with a guest or a special segment that people are eager to hear. In these circumstances, you might want to consider making the guest portion or special segment its own episode. This way, people can easily listen to that portion without skimming through the entire episode. Then, if they are interested in listening to the rest of the episode, they can download the full episode to hear everything they missed. These mini episodes can even function as trailers for the full episodes.
2. Create Compilation Episodes.
Consider taking the best parts of certain shows and compiling them into one easily digestible podcast episode. You might want to do this monthly, quarterly, or some other frequency depending on your schedule. Compilation episodes give new listeners the opportunity hear what your podcast is about without listening to more than 1 episode. The ease and organization that compilation episodes bring encourage new listeners as well as downloads.
1. Ask Your Audience.
There's no better way to start than to simply ask your audience to download and listen to your podcast. If you don't ask, then your listeners won't know that you want them to download your podcast and they likely won't. Use the call to action portion in your intro and/or outro to ask listeners to download and listen to your podcast. If your audience is especially loyal, you can absolutely expect an increase in your podcast downloads when you simply ask them.
These 5 ways to increase podcast downloads should be helpful in increasing your own podcast downloads. However, it is a good idea to refrain from getting caught up in the number of podcast downloads and podcast listens for that matter. Getting too caught up in the numbers may distract you from creating the best content possible, so be mindful and find a balance between focusing on the numbers and creating the content. Happy podcasting!
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