Not everyone should have a podcast, but everyone should consider one. They are a brilliant way to share the wider context of a story, to explain a topic, and better communicate your rationale and values with your audience. Essentially, you’re helping people to better understand you and your brand.
While attention spans are typically short, podcasts are one of the long-form content pieces that still retain attention – when done right (with listener completion rates of over 80%).
The variety of podcast topics, hosts, guests, styles is seemingly never ending (approx. 4.5 million podcasts worldwide currently). There’s something for everyone and yet there’s still plenty of opportunity to produce something valuable for your audience.
Podcasts can be highly specialised and niche, providing valuable content to relevant audiences. The format, structure and approach to your podcast depends on what you’re trying to achieve but remaining true to your values and what works for you will resonate with people – the size of that audience depends on a number of factors, but authenticity always wins in the long term.
Another win with podcasts is the amount of content an episode provides you with:
- You can take snippets to be used on social media to attract people to find out more about your podcast
- Transcriptions of episodes can help your SEO efforts (more on the current state of play of SEO here)
- You can spotlight guests and create content around your guests
- You can produce ‘key takeaways’ from your conversations
- Conversations may unearth opportunities for further PR coverage
- The possibilities are endless…
Interesting stats:
- The most common way people discover podcasts is through recommendations from friends and family, followed by mentions on social media (source)
- Just over 20% of UK adults now listening to at least one podcast a week (source)
- 83% of regular podcast listeners said they like the convenience of being able to listen to podcasts whenever it suits them (source)
- Business leaders spend an average of 54+ minutes/day on audio content influencing strategic decisions (source)
- Podcasts boast listener retention of over 80% for entire episodes (source)
Key takeaways:
1. Move beyond the soundbite: whether hosting or participating in a podcast, you have the opportunity to engage in more detailed discussions and be a trusted voice in your field.
2. Embrace authenticity: brands can build deeper connections with their audiences by humanising their organisations.
3. Be true to you: copying what works for someone else isn’t the key to success. That’s the key to their success. This is the opportunity to connect with your audience, and they want to hear from you.
