Guest Post

One of the best ways to grow your podcast is to get as many reviews as you can. It works just as the reviews on the product pages for online stores or social media. It’s social proof.

The main feature of podcasts is that you record an episode and don’t see your audience in person. You don’t know what resonates with them, what they disagree with. Therefore, you should accumulate reviews on various platforms to develop your show.

Reviews illustrate the audience’s opinion on whether your podcast is worth it or not. They help determine if your input and hard work invested into creating the podcast pay off. Do listeners connect with the show? Do they listen to the episode till the end?

It’s beneficial not only to the host but also to new users. Imagine a podcast with many positive, recent reviews on platforms like Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, or sites like Podchaser. It can encourage potential listeners to press “Play” on one of your most recent episodes. And if what you produced is engaging, this will be accompanied by a “Follow” or “Subscribe” action.

But how do you encourage people to review and rate your podcast actively? This article goes over some simple tactics for podcast hosts to get feedback.

5 Ways to Expand Your Audience by Getting More Podcast Reviews

1. Start with Asking

How do you receive what you don’t request? While approaching strangers and asking for something can be challenging (and a little uncomfortable), offering your listeners to share their thoughts is a different story. They’re a part of your team and might be eager to help you with feedback.

Loyal listeners already appreciate the show and what you do. If you ask them to leave a review, you propose they share something they enjoy with others.

How can you do that?

● Use a call-to-action during episodes, email newsletters, or social media.

● Invite your followers to listen and give feedback.

● Just like online store owners opt for a headless commerce approach to meet their customers’ needs on numerous touch points, track various channels where the listeners mention your podcast.

● Don’t forget to show the reviews on social media as an additional motivator to join the community, such as the Copywriter Club podcast does on their Instagram page.

Screenshot taken on the official Copywriter Club Instagram account

2. Include a Direct Link

Once you’ve asked for a review, the user needs to find the place to do it. Make sure that fulfilling a request is as easy as possible to avoid frustration. It includes providing direct links for your listeners to easily browse and click, taking them directly to the site where they can submit their reviews.

Here are a couple of pointers:

Put direct URLs in your show notes.
It allows your audience to respond to your call to action practically as soon as you’ve finished your request.
Include the URL in the Instagram bio or Twitter pinned tweet.
As a result, it’s effortless for the listeners to hear and respond to your request.

Screenshot taken on the official Trellis website

Here is what the review section is like on the Trellis website. The page contains:

● the podcast description;

● a YouTube version of the podcast;

● links to podcast platforms;

● the comment section.

Bonus Tip:

Create and distribute a review template to make it even easier for your listeners to leave feedback. It’s not about forcing someone to tell what you want to hear. Your template can contain prompts on how to respond, such as:

● I’ve been listening to X podcast for… and what I appreciate most is…

● My favorite episode was… because…

● I listen to this podcast because… and I always walk away feeling…

This template may be in your show notes to quickly copy and paste the review.

3. Launch a Giveaway and Provide Incentives

A giveaway is one of the few things that inspire action and involvement. Contests are a sure-fire way to increase audience engagement, especially when advertised on social media platforms like Instagram. Therefore, giveaways are a highly effective technique to improve your ratings.

What should you keep in mind?

a) Set the contest rules, such as writing a review of your podcast on the required directories to get a chance to win a prize.

b) Include a direct link in your bio or on the post to direct listeners where you want them to leave a review.

c) Make sure the prize you’re offering is something that your target audience will enjoy, and you’ll be sure to get a positive response. And I don’t mean cheating to get a positive review. Instead, make it as an incentive to perform the desired action. In any case, you’re unlikely to get many reviews without the nudge for the listeners to take that action they’ve been putting off.

Among other ways to motivate people to leave a review are:

● discounts;

● coupons;

● stickers;

● access to additional content;

● etc.

The incentives depend on your brand, what you offer, your sponsors, and so on. The bottom line is that they’re relatively inexpensive if you get creative and think outside the box.

4. Guest Reviews

If you conduct interviews or invite guests to your show, ask the guest to review the podcast. There is a good chance they will provide their feedback, but you need to ask them to do so.

Your guests may be opinion leaders in some spheres or have their audiences and resources to share their thoughts on your podcast and encourage others to do so. So why not ask them to share the request for a review with their listener base?

If the guests urge their listeners to check out your podcast and leave a review, they will help raise the credibility of your program and attract potential listeners to the show.

Let’s overview the InnovaBuzz podcast on the Podchaser platform. Below you can see a striking example of how the podcast host responds to the reviews, while some comments belong to podcast guests.

Screenshot taken on the official Podchaser website

5. Don’t Ignore the Effort of Your Audience

If you want podcast listeners to provide you with honest feedback, turn it into a two-way communication between you and your audience. It means responding to reviews. Track the comments and reply to as many as you can.

It underlines the importance of listeners’ reviews, showing that you read them and go above and beyond to respond to them. Keep in mind that this feature is only available on a limited number of platforms. If you opt for this method, choose websites like Podchaser that enable podcast hosts to respond to the reviews left by listeners.

Giving your reviewers customized shout-outs is another simple and effective technique to encourage listeners to rate a podcast. You can do this through your email newsletters, social media posts, or even during an episode.

This way, you strengthen the bond between you and the listeners. Shout-outs mean a lot to your devoted fans and cost you nothing as the host. So use them to thank the audience or even read out some of the things the listeners wrote in consequent episodes.

To Sum Up

Podcast reviews, just as their product analogs, help hosts raise authority, improve their reputation, and expand the listener base. As the most precious asset is time, people need to know whether the show is worth listening to.

So start by asking the audience to leave their comments. Provide easy ways to find a place to do it (just as online stores provide seamless navigation to product and checkout pages). You’ve worked hard to develop high-value content and offer it via high-quality audio. So why now remind listeners of this way to help you keep improving your program?

Consider different incentives on media, ask podcast guests to rate the show (along with their followers). If you try various ways to multiply your reviews and deal with them, you will certainly bring in more listeners.

About the Author

Kate Parish, chief marketing officer at Onilab, with 8+ years in Digital Marketing and eCommerce web development promotion. Kate constantly upgrades her knowledge and skillset to stay fit in the progressing online world. She always does exhaustive research in such spheres as SEO, branding, SMM, PPC, and Magento PWA development, before sharing her expertise with a wide audience.

5 Ways to Get More Podcast Reviews to Grow Your Audience