Podcasting is a fast-growing industry which is constantly evolving – which means brands need to adapt quickly to changing circumstances.
As we’ve previously reported, YouTube overtook Spotify as the most favoured platform to use for podcasts, according to a survey in the Cumulus Podcast Network Spring 2022 report, with 24% of listeners identifying it as their preferred channel. Spotify is a close second choice at 23%, while Apple Podcasts is at 16%.
This is why at Listen, we use a multichannel podcasting strategy. These different avenues can include social assets, video podcasts, as well as live events and merch, and are all geared towards building the podcast brand. We’re particularly excited to use this strategy on an upcoming original series (more news on that VERY soon), and it’s something we encourage other podcasters to do too. As Amber Bateman, one of our Executive Producers, told Podpod recently, “knowing what success looks like for the podcast helps us frame what multichannel means and where it leads.”
Lessons Learned From Video Content
Similarly, Senior Digital Producer Alice Tilley, said to Podpod that, having worked in TV, she has noticed a growing level of competition in video platforms, and says that brands now have to adapt to keep up with audiences’ changing behaviours.
“I think video provides audiences with a tangible experience …I understand that visual context is super important and allows the audience to get that deeper connection.”
As a creator, having a variety of avenues through which to monetise is a major advantage. Podcasts have traditionally relied on download figures as their main success metric, and only point of monetisation, but by allowing your podcast to exist on multiple channels, podcasts can harness several distinct revenue streams.
A multichannel approach also allows you to have several touch points of engagement for your audience, by offering a space for conversations via social media or YouTube comments. As Alice told Podpod “It’s the most used platform so why not speak to them there?”
Don’t Panic If It’s Not Perfect
With limited resources or funding however, it may seem intimidating to expand into a multi-channel marketing strategy – particularly if you’re an independent podcaster – but there are some other things to keep in mind which can help. For Amber, being consistent with releases for your brand is what’s most important.
“It’s sort of podcasting 101 having a consistency of approach, whether you are starting out with an RSS feed and releasing weekly, or whether it’s having a really solid social strategy.”
Her advice is to focus on nailing down who your community is and the audience that you’re addressing, and really trying to “super serve” them. This could be done through things like setting up a Twitch account or a Discord server in addition to your podcast, adding another channel that allows you to converse with your audience and to build that sense of community that’s unique to podcasting.
Other strategies include repurposing your content so that you’re getting the most out of it. Alice suggested to Podpod that if you’re just recording audio, you can manipulate that into socially digestible pieces. For example, taking the hero piece of audio content and enhancing it on TikTok with different backgrounds and subtitles to repurpose it across multiple channels, optimise it for SEO, and maximise the number of listeners.
“I don’t think audiences are worried too much about a super polished production, it’s important to keep that in mind so you’re not deterred by thinking that your video strategy needs to be super high in production or have a high cost – it can be a bit more authentic.”
“We have total free reign over building the brand from the very start, which is super exciting. The possibilities when you open up to what multi-channel looks like are endless.”
