(Updated July 2019) What would your podcast be if your listeners weren’t there? It would just be a one-way conversation, a full-on monologue shared with no one but yourself. There’s almost no point in producing a podcast if there’s no one there to dialogue with.

And so, once you’ve found the right words to say and have used the best tools at your disposal to do so, the next step is to really focus on getting those words to open ears – and get them wanting more.

There are three components to reaching listeners and getting them hooked: distribution, engagement, and getting them loyal. Here’s how to approach each using Spreaker’s professional podcasting tools:

1. Distributing your podcast

Good podcast distribution is fundamental to your podcast’s success – which is why we’ve introduced one click / tap distribution. We wanted to make syndicating your podcast simple, quick and stress-free – plus you can do it from desktop or mobile – giving you total freedom in how you podcast! To get started, head to your podcast dashboard and choose from Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeartRadio, Google Podcasts and Castbox – click ‘submit’ and we’ll take care of the rest. It’s as simple as that – what are you waiting for?

2. Engaging your listeners

In order to get the conversation going with your listeners, you’ll want to place yourself in a space that allows for dialogue. In this case, you’ll really have to leverage the “social” aspect of social media. Posting your podcast to Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, and the like allows listeners to truly interact with you. They can like, share, and leave comments directly under your episodes – in other words, respond and exchange their thoughts and feelings about your podcast with you.

Getting onto those social networks is key, and to facilitate that are the auto-sharing options available through Spreaker’s CMS. You can see exactly how they work here.

The best example of how this can play out is on Twitter. When you share a link of your episode to Twitter, Spreaker’s embedded player will generate automatically. Listeners can like and share your episode, as well as get a full view of your podcast’s artwork.

There’s one more way to get listeners to engage with your podcast, and that’s to subscribe. It’s the easiest way for them to opt-in and directly receive news on all your latest episodes. One way to include a “subscribe” call-to-action to your arsenal is to export your podcast to YouTube, which Daniel J. Lewis of The Audacity to Podcast encourages, too: “I’m a fan of making things easy for your audience. You should especially want things to be easy for your potential audience to subscribe.That’s where you can use the YouTube subscription link to encourage more people to subscribe to your YouTube channel.” See what he means here.

3. Cultivate listener loyalty

Listener loyalty is what every podcaster ultimately strives for – to get listeners returning eagerly to every new episode or piece of news. To ensure their return, aim to prolong their listening experience in some way.

This can start with your podcast itself, and with Spreaker’s episode chapters, in particular. Chapters are effective tools to immerse your listeners in your topic, diversifying your storytelling with content from external mediums, like images and links to blog posts and videos.

Aside from external content, chapters are also a great way to add calls-to-action with specific links. For example, you can lead listeners to registration forms where they can add their names and emails. With that information, you can send them occasional reminders or related newsletters directly to their inbox and keep their interests piqued in-between episodes. Learn more about inserting chapters right from Spreaker’s CMS here.

Reaching out to listeners and getting them to continuously engage with your podcast is the most important part of the podcasting process (once you’ve completed recording and editing). Make sure that when you do lay out your strategy, you keep all three outreach components in mind in order to really connect with your listeners. You’ll find yourself with a solid fanbase to support your podcast.

Like what you read? Tell us all about it below! ⬇️