101: Six Simple Ideas to Connect with Your Listeners Beyond Your Podcast
We all know that podcasts are one of the most amazing ways to connect with your audience. They get to hear your voice, your personality, and your expertise directly from the source. No buffer, no filter, just you for the duration of your episode.
But… then what? Your most enthusiastic listeners are going to want to connect with you beyond your podcast. And while picking another channel outside of your podcast to invest time in can be a little overwhelming, you’re going to want to connect with them too to build those relationships and your business!
So today, I’m giving you six simple ideas for connecting with your listeners beyond your podcast. If you’ve been looking for the next big step in growing your podcast, using these ways to create connections might be just what you need!
#1 | Start a newsletter for your podcast.
If you’re using your podcast to support your business, as many of our clients are, you almost certainly have an email list. (Again, if you don’t, start today!!) And if your podcast aligns with your business content, you should be using it to talk about your podcast in a more intimate and personal way. And in reverse, on your podcast, ask your listeners to join your email list to get your newsletter! This is going to give your listeners direct access to you – AND vice versa.
#2 | Invite listeners to connect with you on whatever platform you use most (email, Insta, Linkedin).
As I just mentioned, you can (and should) ask your listeners to join your email list. But, maybe you don’t have a list yet, or maybe that isn’t the primary way you want to interact with your listeners. You get to choose the channel that feels most natural for you to connect with your audience, but regardless of the one you choose, you still need to ask your listeners to meet you there. If you don’t tell them and invite them into your space, it’s going to be very difficult to make connections there.
#3 | Start a Facebook group – or a community that makes the most sense to you.
I’ll be honest, I haven’t had a ton of success with Facebook groups, mostly because I don’t enjoy using FB as a platform. However, many of our clients swear by them as an easy and controlled way to interact with an audience – especially if you have a lot of listeners. Instead of clogging up your email inbox or IG messages, a Facebook group can be an easier way to connect with your listeners and also allow them to connect with each other. If you don’t love FB (like me), you can try similar platforms that offer group discussions, like Mighty Networks or even Discord.
#4 | Set up a Close Friends list on Instagram for mini-workshops.
There are a lot of ways to use Close Friends on Instagram, but I’ve found it really useful to run weekly mini-workshops there. All you have to do is send me a message to join, and it’s been a great way for listeners to gain additional information and get closer access to me if that’s something they want!
#5 | Set up a membership or private podcast.
For listeners who want more content, more access, or regular communication from you, consider setting up a membership program or a private podcast (or use both in-tandem.) You don’t have to make it expensive or overly complicated, but having a program where your audience can opt-in further will strengthen relationships and allow listeners more control over the amount of content they get from you.
#6 | And finally – don’t overthink it! Just offer somewhere that listeners can connect with you.
It’s your podcast and your platform! You get to make the rules. As long as your offer some space for listeners to deepen that connection with you (and remember to actually invite them into that space), you’re doing great! Don’t put too much pressure on yourself and start with one channel that feels the most manageable for you. Any offering is better than none at all!
So that’s it! Choose a channel to connect that feels most aligned with you. Promote that channel in your episodes and show notes. And then make sure you follow up with listeners in that space. Creating connection isn’t about having a huge break-through so much as those little interactions that build trust again and again. You can do it, friends! Go out there and connect with your people! We’re cheering for you!
Are you feeling stuck, uninspired, or just a little burnt-out when it comes to your podcast? Maybe you started it hoping you could use it to support your business, but it’s just not driving sales or creating leads like you hoped.
Trust me when I say, I have been there. But I’ve also pulled myself – and many clients – out of a similar place, and I can help you too! Through a Podcast Strategy Intensive, we’ll help you find a clear direction for your podcast, a path forward out of overwhelm, and a new strategy to align your podcast with your business goals in mind. Plus, we’ll give you the tools and steps you need to actually implement this plan, so you can finally feel like the amazing business podcaster you are.
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The Transcript for Podcast Your Business:
101: Six Simple Ideas to Connect with Your Listeners Beyond Your Podcast
[00:00:37] Caroline Hull Are you ready to start a strategic podcast for your business and share your message in a way that feels wildly authentic? This is the place. Welcome to Podcast Your Business, where each week I share the strategy behind having a podcast that helps grow your business. I'm Caroline Hull, podcast manager, strategist and consultant, and I've seen the power of podcasts can have for your business. Let's get started.
[00:01:07] I have talked a lot about why it is important to create a way for listeners to connect beyond the episodes, but I haven't really done an episode on it and really talk about how that is incorporated into your strategy. And so that's what we're going to talk about today, because creating connections is like one of those pieces that can really bridge between. I have podcast episodes, I have listeners to, I have people who are super invested in my business and what I'm doing. And I think it's important and I think it's hard. It can be very difficult to figure out what that connection piece is going to be for you. So I wanted to talk about connections, give you some ideas. And then I love it. If after the show, if any of these resonated for you and you're like, Yes, I'm adding that, please let me know. Let me follow along. I would love to encourage and help you out.
[00:02:00] So creating a way to connect is one of the ways that you are going to be able to help your podcast grow, right? Because connections are so important as people get comfortable with your podcast, they're going to want to start connecting with you in other ways, and that's going to give you the ability to share more of what you do right and how you do it. Sometimes connection like these connection pieces can feel like a lot of work. And I think what's really he is like making sure that you find something that is aligned and allows you to share in a way and connect in a way that feels natural.
[00:02:36] And I'll kind of give an example. I started a Facebook group a long time ago for my business, and it was a way for me to ask people from the podcast to come to the Facebook group and the way we talk about it. Let me tell you, that was not a natural thing for me at all. I don't love Facebook, and showing up there was difficult. I felt like it was like one more place I had to go to. It felt tedious to create a schedule of posts like all of it was difficult. And so naturally what ended up happening is that failed and so well failed. I mean, I stopped doing it. And so all the people that were in that Facebook group, you know, that was just something I had to let go of because they didn't have the time or the energy or the space to get to it.
[00:03:19] And so when we talk about these connection pieces like that is not what I want to happen to you. You need to pick something that is going to work for you. And I will share what is working for me now, which I think is a really great idea and concept. And so that may be something you want to do. So again, I'm going to share some creative ways that you can create connection. And some are easy, some require a bit more effort, but hopefully this will get the wheels turning right.
[00:03:47] So the first one is that you should have a podcast newsletter. I am chuckling because I did an episode with Liz Wilcox, who teaches people how to do marketing through email. And I have a podcast newsletter. But it's one of those things that I just feel like it's not quite working. And she came on the podcast. Her episode is going to air after this one, and it is an amazing episode. And to listen to her talk about email and how I'm overcomplicating, it was a real eye opener for me. So when I say have a podcast newsletter like it does not need to be this expensive, crazy thing. It needs to be simple and personable, but if you are not emailing about your podcast to a list, I'm assuming that if you're listening to this, you're a business owner, you already have a business, you already have an email list. If you're not letting them know about your podcast week, please go do that right away because that's going to get them involved. And again, we're trying to create like a little bridge right between the episodes, between the podcast to your business and what you do. And this is kind of like a great first step to creating that bridge.
[00:05:00] Another way to create connection is to invite your listeners to connect with you, however, is most aligned. And so this kind of falls into that, like CTA, like what's the big thing you want people to do? If you notice on my podcast, I tell you all the time to connect with me on Instagram because that's one of the places I hang out the most. And so thinking about how can they actually get more of me? And what makes the most sense as an email? Is it Instagram? Is it LinkedIn? You know, whatever the thing is, inviting people to come and connect with you and contact you in that way, I think is is really smart. And like I said, it gives people a way to get a little bit more of you, right? Like, if they want to see more of you or more behind the scenes, that's a great place to do it.
[00:05:44] Now, I do have. Start a Facebook group on here. Now, some people absolutely love Facebook and it works for them so well. While I am definitely and if you Facebook groups and I have some friends and clients who have Facebook groups that are fantastic. And so if that feels aligned for you and you love connecting with people that way. I think community is is really cool. And I think when you can build a community around a podcast or a business, it's such a great way to add value and to also be front and center with people. And I feel like when you are creating a podcast where you're talking about your business and how you help others and you have a community where you can give just a little bit more, that makes it really easy to lead into like, Here's the program I'm running, here's a service. We have openings for this, right? And so I think a community is a really great bridging piece of connection. And of course, the Facebook group is a great way to do that.
[00:06:42] So this is one that I really love and I have been experimenting with this year and it's going okay so far. I definitely want to grow it. But what I love about it is that it has given me the opportunity to take like the content from a podcast episode and put it in more of a mini training kind of format container, which I think is really good for me because I have a hard time knowing how to teach. And so what I'm talking about is starting a close friends list on Instagram, and I learned this from my friend Melanie. She's been on the podcast before and she had a close friends list that I just I loved and I was a member of, and I loved how she presented the information. And so I was like, Yes, I want to do this for my Instagram and business as well. What I really like about this is the potential to expand the conversation beyond the podcast. And so that's one thing I've been trying really hard to do, is to think about, okay, if I have a podcast episode this week, how can I expand on a small piece of this and create a mini training so that people feel like they're getting just a bit more from the podcast episode? And what's great about that as well is if I'm on top of it and I've got my content scheduled out and planned, I can even say, Hey, this is the thing I'm going to be talking about in close friends next week. So if you want to talk more about it, come over there. So I think that's really cool because the way that my podcast works is I'm giving you an overarching view of something, right? And so a lot of it is you have to take it home and you have to implement it and apply it to your podcast. But Close Friends gives my listeners a way to get a little mini training, which is just a little bit more precise, a little bit more exact on how to do the things right.
[00:08:31] Another really cool option and, you know, I think there's a lot of strategy that can be done around this and thinking about how it incorporates to current services or memberships you already have. But I think creating a membership or creating like an insider version of your podcast is really great. Obviously, like I think you do have to have a bigger audience to do this, but this, I think, functions on a lot of the same way that Close Friends does that I just talked about in that it creates a bridge from your content to getting just a little bit more right. And that is a great way to then again, remind people about your services and what you do and how you work. It's like taking, okay, if the podcast is showing what you know and building your authority, I feel like a close friends list or a membership is a really great way to show how you work or how you train. And so it just kind of like it's like a stepping stone, I feel like, to booking the full service, right?
[00:09:29] And then my last like piece of connection is like just having a place for people to engage. That's, that's the key, right? Is we want people to feel like they have a way to come and talk to us whenever they want. Not that we're available all the time, but I think there's something so special about hearing some of these voice and being excited about their content and what they're teaching and then being able to go somewhere else and see even more and like become part of their world. And so where, where does that make the most sense for you? Is that Tik tok? Is that Instagram? Like, where is that place where people can come and leave your comments and talk to you? And for me, that's, you know, social media, that's Instagram. I love Instagram for creating connection, for being able to post a little bit more information. And I use it in the same way that I'm talking about like close friends and a membership I use. My posts usually build on the podcast episode, and so it carries that conversation from the episode to my social media. And you know, I'm not a huge Instagram like, I don't know, Instagram strategy, but I will say that what I have found to be really helpful for me is to like, say, like, Hey, we talked about this on the podcast, but if you want more, go listen to it, right? And it kind of creates a circle. And so people either listen to the podcast and connect with me for more on Instagram or they find me on Instagram and they go listen to the podcast because I'm talking about it so much. And so it creates this really great place for people to come and create that connection off of the podcast, right?
[00:11:04] So the key here is that we want to invite people and we want to extend the offer, right, for them to gain access to us in other ways. And this can be simple. I don't know that this necessarily has to be a part of your, your big call to action of your podcast now can be, you know, if the next step makes sense for them to go to your Facebook group, then that's the thing that I would ask of my listeners. For me, I will mention like, Hey, connect with me on Instagram if you want to talk more about this. And again, I'll mention my close friends. And so that's just inviting and saying, like, I want to engage with you in other places is going to give that feeling of connection to your listeners and that you're an actual person and you're not so inaccessible that they can't reach you or see what you're working on or become a little bit more part of your world.
[00:12:01] But here's the thing. If you don't let them know about these things, they're not going to be able to connect with you. So really think about after you listen to this episode, you know, what is the way that I want to connect that feels most aligned? What is something I can do today to promote connection and then how am I going to keep that engagement and that connection going in the future? Because that really is key. Like it's not something you can do once and expect a million people to hop over. This is about nurturing and cultivating relationships, right with your listeners. And I don't know, I think connection is so important. I think it's going to become even more important this year. I'm pretty sure I talked about it in my Trends episode a few episodes back. Finding ways to connect with people outside of the podcast episode is important, but again, making sure that we're not adding too much to your plate and we're doing it in a way that it feels aligned. If you have any other ideas for creating connection, I would love to hear them. You can email me hello@wildhomepodcasting.com or you can do me on Instagram @WildHomePodcast. I am always really excited and interested to hear how people are growing their podcasts in unique and creative ways. And so if you have a way that you like to connect that I didn't mention, I would love to hear about it. I hope you have a wonderful week and I will be back next week with a pretty incredible interview. So be sure to subscribe and get ready to take note. Thank you for listening to Podcast Your Business. For more podcasting tips, follow us on Instagram @WildHomePodcast. If you're ready to launch up level or grow your podcast, head to wildhomepodcasting.com to get started today.
