Episode Details

Increasing Your Podcast's Audience Engagement With Better Calls To Action

We love our audience, and we want to connect. We want them to take steps to deepen their level of engagement. We want them to take actions. These often include:

Subscribe, Rate & Review in iTunes

Follow us on Social Media

Join our Email List

Buy products

Shop At Amazon

and that's just a few.

Determining Your ONE Call To Action

Your call to action will be unique to you. We all have different needs, and different motives. There is no one size fits all, but in the end you need to STOP and THINK, WHAT IS THE GOAL OF THIS PODCAST. Them figure out the roadmap to get your audience from point A to point B. If you are in podcasting "Just for fun" you probably still want people to tell their friends. That is a call to action.

Now if I was to honest here, I would say I want everyone to join the School of Podcasting. I need to look at this realistically. This may be the first time you've been on my website, or heard my show. That seems a bit forward don't you think? You don't ask someone to marry you on the first date, so you might not want to close the deal on the first contact with you audience. The cool thing is it is YOUR call. You want to ask someone to marry you on the first date, you can do that.  But you might be less intimidating to have them sign up for your email list. From there you have another opportunity to provide value. Notice what I said here, you have an opportunity to serve your audience.

Figure out where you want to go, and the figure out how you're going to get there. It sounds easy, but you might find it difficult. The bottom line is you need a plan.

Tips For Creating a Call To Action

1. As I said before, you need to figure out what you want your audience to do
2. Be clear and concise
3. Be repetitive if necessary
4. Tell them HOW (sure you know how, but they may not)
5. Make it E A S Y (don't make them hunt for buttons, or type insane website addresses)
6. Eliminate competitive calls to action
7. Explain how they will benefit (not how you will benefit)
8. Explain exactly what will happen
9. Explain why they need to do this now
10. Remove the Fear. Try to avoid words that might seem much of a commitment. BUY NOW vs Add to Cart. Maybe we should be asking people "Get the back catalog" instead of "Subscribe." Explain how they can cancel at any time, and it is free.
11. Place it in two places on your post. One near the top of the page ("above the fold" and once near the bottom).

In the end, a call to action should convey value, and provide a sense of urgency.

Because of my Podcast - Jeff Steinman

Jeff explains that how launching a podcast boosted his book sales, brought him more traffic, and boosted his interview skills. You can find Jeff at howtoquitworking.com

How To Quit Working: A Simple Plan to Leave Your Job for a Life of Freedom

Podbean's CrowdFunding Platform

For the sake of this argument, let's say that the bar is set at Patreon.com They are the first at an ongoing crowdfunding platform. Others have come and gone, and they are still here. Podbean (a media host) recently launched the ability to have crowdfunding. I went over to check it out. Here is what I found.

1. It's easy to setup, but in some cases impossible to edit.
2. With Patreon it's super easy to create a post (think of it like a Facebook Wall) and choose who can and can't see that post. I don't see that option. With Podbean you have a comments section that doesn't seem as robust.

When I watched their video on this, I did noti