Are you satisfied with the number of people you have in your online audience? Are you always looking for more?
The key to gaining a larger audience is CONNECTION.
You may agree but how can you create more powerful connections and what’s it got to do with what’s in your pocket?
Read on and find out.
We live in a media-rich world. Some might even call it media-infested but it’s undeniable that everyone is connected in some way almost all the time via technological devices – and what’s the one device which is always to hand, in our pockets? The mobile phone.
However, we are also very busy. While our children spend hours each day (if we let them) watching YouTube and scrolling through Instagram posts, adults have less and less ‘screen-time’ because we are doing more tasks and activities where screens would be dangerous or inappropriate.
Have you tried watching YouTube while driving? Don’t.
Housework, parental taxi duty, gardening, working out, commuting – think of the hours we spend doing tasks which don’t require 100% of our attention but do require us to avoid using a screen. Of course, many people listen to music at these times but a growing number are beginning to listen to spoken-word content via Podcasts (UK link – for US, try this).
Here’s what Podcasting Guru, Dr. Colin Gray has to say about the remarkable growth of the medium:
“Podcasting has always been a medium of slow and steady wins the race, and that includes its own growth. But, since 2015, growth has been accelerating, and this past year has seen an explosion of celebrities, platforms and, most telling, venture funding, flooding to the medium. The draw is the audience – smaller than YouTube or social media, sure, but more engaged than both combined, and multiplied by 100. Listeners are discerning, evangelic and they take action! Podcast adverts convert like no other. Branded podcasts are on the rise, and the brands are benefiting by the bucket load. At the end of the day, if you’re looking for a way to create content for the web that creates huge fans of your brand, and moves the sales dial, then a podcast is for you.”
Dr. Colin Gray, The Podcast Host, originator of Alitu – The Quick & Easy way to Make your Podcast (which is brilliant by the way and that’s my affiliate link!)
It’s a little known fact that there are podcasts about almost every conceivable topic. If you don’t believe me, just try this little Google hack:
>>> Start typing ‘podcast about’ and then try every letter of the alphabet in turn. You’ll find some fascinating shows! Fancy listening to a podcast about quantum physics? What about a show about Watergate or Japan? These results pop up automatically – you don’t even need to press search. <<<
So, more people are listening to podcasts on the device they have with them at all times – but how can you use this to your advantage? How can you attract more members via a podcast?
Well, we are back to CONNECTION.
Think about how podcasts work. The vast majority of the time, podcasts are listened to by individuals. The sound of the host’s voice – and, of course, the host’s message goes directly into the ears of that one individual. It makes podcasting a surprisingly intimate medium and one which enables strong connections to be built between the listener and the host.
A well-constructed podcast can help you to engage, attract and retain more members for your membership organisation, especially if you have considered the needs and desires of your audience and produce useful, consistent episodes.
It may surprise you to learn that podcast listeners build your show into their schedule and quickly grow to expect it to be there. Just like the (now old-fashioned) practice of releasing episodes of a favourite TV show at a predictable weekly time, your audience will be disappointed if they haven’t got your show to listen to when they clamber into their car at the end of a tiring Thursday (or whatever day you have chosen).
The host of the podcast becomes like a friend and if a listener ever has their name mentioned on a show, the effect is astonishing!
If the listener is already one of your members, their knowledge of and interest in your activities is strengthened and if they haven’t yet joined, the ever-growing connection you are nurturing will be the most persuasive form of audience recruitment you have at your disposal.
…and another thing
It’s not just Podcasts – Audiobooks are enjoying a huge renaissance as well! I’ll be blogging about my Audiobook adventures soon, so stay tuned.
Why not drop me a line and we can discuss how you can start connecting more deeply with your audience via podcasting and audiobooks or sign up for my newsletter and I’ll send you all sorts of interesting podcast-related things!
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