Improve the quality of your podcast with feedback from your listeners

A podcast is a series of several individual episodes in the form of audio and video contributions, which can be downloaded and listened to at any time.

The term itself is a made-up word of the terms pod (play on demand) and broadcast.

Mostly, podcasts are offered for listening via streaming providers such as Spotify, Deezer or Apple Podcasts. There are also private producers who offer their podcasts on their website or at the media libraries of the broadcasting stations. There are now over 2 million podcasts worldwide on a wide variety of topics.     

In principle, podcasts are free of charge and are financed by advertising or by broadcasting fees.

Whether the production of a podcast for itself or a company makes sense, always depends on what goals one pursues with the medium and whether there is a target group with which they want to reach your podcast.

For this, on the one hand, the topic and the message play a role.

There are subject areas that have a small target audience and for which it is not worthwhile to produce podcasts.

Other subject areas, on the other hand, can reach a very large target group. There it makes more sense to put your energy into podcasting. However, these are often topics that are already in competition and are therefore hotly contested.

Furthermore, there is also the possibility to offer podcasts in niche topics where there is potential. These are less competitive and can be an easy market to get the necessary audience and relevance. 

Second, in addition to the topic focus, as mentioned earlier, the target audience is critical to determining whether it’s worth putting the effort into a long-term project like a podcast. Age and occupational group, interests, consumer habits or technological affinity are decisive factors for or against a podcast.

If there is a listener market, the topic provides entertainment and excitement, then the podcast is a great way to improve reach, retention, growth and strengthening of its brand. In the end, however, don’t forget the time and technical investment behind the decision to produce a podcast.

Good podcasts are characterized by the fact that they are not boring. They have to be entertaining, inspiring, educational and, at best, provide additional excitement. Ultimately, that means the content has to be right.

Successful podcasts focus on one topic in terms of content and try to establish themselves as experts in this field. However, secondary topics or personal experiences belong just as much in the context of the podcast. It is important not to stray from the focus of the podcast. After all, your listeners have come for your exact focus topic.

Furthermore, a good podcast is not only oriented according to its own preferences. The podcast thrives on its listeners. So this should also be oriented to the listeners. For this you should collect feedback from time to time. By the feedback of the listeners one receives regularly the current state of the satisfaction of the listeners and discovers possibly optimization potentials. In addition, you can ask what wishes and interests the listener has in order to incorporate them into your podcast.

Another point is quality. This does not only mean the content, but also the technical side.

Good sound quality, a pleasant voice of the podcaster and the subsequent cutting and improving the quality of the recording are important factors that make a podcast a good or bad one. If the overall quality is lousy, then the podcast is also doomed to fail. Therefore, quality on the technical side is as relevant as the quality of the content.

Another characteristic of a good podcast is also the most important point: authenticity. Podcasting is about establishing a personal connection with the listeners. In addition to a friendly and likeable character, this also means that the moderator is honest, credible and puts his heart and soul into it. His or her character is critical to the podcast.

The final point of what makes a good podcast is regularity. Anyone who starts a podcast should also commit to producing episodes regularly and at a fixed interval. As a podcaster, you should be committed. Listeners ultimately rely on this when they subscribe or follow the podcast.

Additionally, those who continue their podcast series at regular and fixed intervals definitely get relevance among the listeners. So, a big plus to grow with the podcast as well.     

We have listed all the points that make up a successful podcast for you once again below:

– Focus on one topic
– Entertaining, inspiring, informative and exciting
– Listener-oriented
– Quality of content and technology
– Authentic
– Regularity

If you’re unsure how well your podcast is resonating with your target audience, or if you want to constantly optimize your podcast to meet the needs and desires of your audience, there’s simply no way around feedback.

Surveys still offer the best opportunity to look into the minds of your listeners and ask what you’d like to know. If you’re thinking about producing your own podcast, surveys can help you determine your target audience first. Based on that, you can decide whether it makes sense for you to invest work in an elaborate project like podcasts.   

But even before and during planning, surveys can help you shape the podcast in terms of content and organization.

As you can see, conducting surveys around podcasts makes sense at every stage.

Give it a try!