Statistics are vital to podcasting. They help you track your growth and (indirectly) guide your podcasting process and content. The more specific the stats, the better, and whenever new kinds of statistical data become available to podcasters, it’s like striking gold.
Which is where Spreaker has set its focus. We’re thrilled to launch a new data point that’s sure to make your mouth water: follower tracking!
Predicting the coming year of podcasting is a little more challenging than usual because, in my mind, the 13-year-old medium has been maturing very fast. Unfortunately, growth and innovation will be slow in coming this next year.
“It is true that podcasting’s best days are ahead and we do have many developing trends that will enable the medium to grow its creators and listeners.”
For a little perspective, the podcasting medium was a revolution when it began between 2004 through 2007. Since then, podcasting has been chugging along at a slow, unrevolutionary but steady growth trajectory for many years. It is true that podcasting awareness and listening grew a little faster over the past 2 years with the heightened media coverage of the reality and fictional storytelling podcasts.
Ask yourself: how accessible is your podcast? Can listeners follow your story, or get through your content in one sitting? Could they more fully appreciate your podcast with extra background information or references?
Accessibility isn’t just about making sure your podcast is available on every listening platform, or blowing up people’s social network feeds. It also lies in the structure of your content, how well you tell your story, and the marketing strategies you use to hook listeners in; your podcast needs to be easy to consume for listeners.
Spreaker is now giving you the ability to add chapters to your episode through our CMS. With chapters, you can delineate a clear outline of key points and favorite moments that listeners can get to easily, and create new ways to share your content.
It’s a podcasting renaissance, as we already know. I won’t reiterate how it can be affirmed, there’s already very looong literature available on that (sources here, here, and here).
Besides its general increased use, podcasting has also landed on new content landscapes in the past two years, becoming a medium that content marketers can turn to when it comes to building relationships with potential clients. Marketers and consultants – the entire marketing sector, even – have started using this “new” tool as another way to stay in touch with the communities that follow them.
As part of my job at Spreaker, I study what can seem like a heterogeneous podcasting ecosystem to find common patterns that can help me with my daily struggle in understanding this fast growing market. One of the most interesting things I’ve noticed in the last months is the use of podcasting as a main platform in content marketing strategies.
Podcasting doesn’t end when you hit “Publish.” Your content needs to get to your listeners’ ears, and effective distribution means sharing your content quickly and looking good while you do it. But when your podcasting to-do list is already inundated with different tasks – mixing, editing, uploading, describing, tagging – some of the process risks falling by the wayside.
That’s why we’ve been focusing so much on the new CMS, to offer you a dashboard full of quality tools and features to help you every step of the way. Today, we’re eager to show you the newest addition: the ability to auto-share “camera-ready” episodes to all your social networks.
Here’s what we mean:
If you’re wondering why you should transcribe your podcast, start by considering that the easiest way to find something on the internet (any kind of media – audio, video, images) is through text. By providing a text version, or a transcript, of your podcast’s episodes you can improve its accessibility, shareability, and be able to repurpose that valuable content later on. It also improves your listeners’ experience, giving them an alternative way to consume your content when tuning in isn’t possible.
“Text is the secret. Converting podcast recordings into a transcript makes it possible for podcast producers to give listeners a better experience.” (Observer.com)
Moreover, as mentioned before, since web searches are text based, a transcript will open up new opportunities; you’ll be able to easily redact your content into blog posts, articles, presentations, and even books. Even your listeners will be able to quickly quote and share what they find valuable from your episode. Let’s take a deeper look at how transcriptions can benefit your podcast:
Now that we’ve talked about how to use the auto-ducking feature, today we’ll take a look at how to schedule an episode on Spreaker Studio for Desktop. This is the second post in our new “How-To” blog series to help you better understand how to use Spreaker’s platform. Post by post, we’ll focus on each of the apps and features that Spreaker offers to the community, breaking down the steps through handy visuals.
If you’re planning your podcast, you know how important it can be to record your next episode well in advance of publishing it to the world. With Spreaker Studio for Desktop you can take care of the entire process in one place: recording, saving, scheduling, and publishing all without having to worry!
“If you build it, they will come.” The only person that ever worked out for was Kevin Costner. If you’re a podcaster and the only thing you’re doing to build your audience is publishing your podcast, then you may be living in your own “Field of Dreams.”
There are upwards of 180,000 podcasts currently circulating, clamoring for listeners in 2015. This means that the odds of your ideal listener finding you, without some “New and Noteworthy” push from i-Tunes can be quite slim. If you’re a faith-caster, the odds become even slimmer since the most popular podcasts tend to fall into the comedy, business, sports, or lifestyle categories.
In short, you have to work a little harder to drive your audience to your podcast. Since launching Branding for Believers, I’ve use three social media strategies that have really provided a boost in downloads and listenership.
Podcasting continues to grow rapidly in this digital communication era. With several inexpensive and easy-to-use tools available, even a novice can produce high-quality content.
Research found that 32% of businesses desire to learn how to use podcasting and 23% have plans to increase their efforts. Marketers recognize the untapped potential of expanding into the podcasting industry.
“Podcasting has made a massive difference to the growth of my brand, businesses and my audience,” says Chris Ducker, host of The New Business Podcast.
Are you ready to get behind the mic? Get started today. Here’s a list of six essential podcasting tools:
When you attended your last conference, did you notice people mentioning social media channels? For example, did guest speakers give attendees a hashtag to follow? Or did workshop hosts ask participants to “like” their Facebook pages?
If so, you’ve witnessed individuals maximizing their offline activities, in order to increase their online personas. These methods keep highly-networked audiences engaged with your brand after your in-person encounters. As a podcaster, it’s to your benefit to recreate and personalize these techniques to draw attention to your show,
Research shows that “90% of word-of-mouth conversations about brands take place offline, primarily face-to-face.” While we hope our social media campaigns go viral, the data tells us that most links only reach 5-10 people. Therefore, conversations with folks at the grocery store, your favorite restaurant, a baseball game, or anywhere people meet offline brings a greater sense of credibility.
Create relentless buzz about your podcast. Here are four ways to use your offline networking efforts for online success:
