Coaches will often tell me they struggle to create engagement with their audience. Does that sound familiar?
People don’t opt in for your lead magnet. Nobody is emailing you with questions. You aren’t getting any discovery calls with clients.
Does it sometimes feel like you are talking to yourself with nobody on the other end of the line?
MAKING ENGAGEMENT MORE DIFFICULT
On this episode, I want to give you 7 steps to generate more engagement with your audience.
I also want to give you 75 Ways to Drive Engagement. It is a free download at http://www.PodcastTalentCoach.com/engage.
You might be making the problem more difficult than it needs to be?
The solution is easy to understand, yet difficult to execute properly.
Through all of my research and years of experience in both radio and podcasting, I’ve discovered a few key steps to create interaction. We are going to cover 7 steps to create more listener engagement.
Some of these steps may sound a little too simplistic. Just remember … don’t make it harder than it needs to be. Step back and ask yourself if you are truly executing on each step to the fullest.
1. ASK THEM FOR ENGAGEMENT
When Oscar came to me for coaching, he had a great podcast. But, he was struggling to get any clients from the show.
His podcast is called “Deep Listening – Impact Beyond Words”. Oscar helps leaders be better listeners.
As I listened to his episodes, it occurred to me that Oscar did a great job interviewing his guests and make them look amazing. However, he never explained what he did or made an invitation for listeners to work with him.
We restructured his podcast, and he now uses it to introduce prospective clients to his services and lead them to hiring his consultancy.
If you’re not getting engagement, you may not be making enough invitations.
How do you expect your listeners to know you want them to be part of your show or work with you if you don’t ask?
Be sure to make your request specific. Tell your listener exactly what you want her to do.
If you want engagement, you need to ask for it.
2. MAKE IT EASY TO ENGAGE
Your listeners don’t want to jump through a lot of hoops to create engagement.
I was working with a client earlier this week. He helps leaders and organizations thrive by facing their challenges. His podcast is built around his book with the same content.
On his podcast, he would suggest people go to Amazon and search for his book. Unfortunately, there are about six other books with a similar title. If you made a subtle change to the title, you end up with the wrong book.
If you have ever searched Amazon for anything, you know how challenging it can be.
We added a redirect with his website that takes people straight to the book. Rather than searching for it, people could go straight to a URL and get the book. One step and super easy.
When you ask your listeners to connect with you, you might be using social media, your website, e-mail, voicemail, or a number of other methods. Simplify it.
Create one contact page on your website containing the info to avoid the need for a laundry list during your show. Then, always provide that one contact source. You can see my contact page at https://podcasttalentcoach.com/contact/.
NO ENGAGEMENT CHOICE
By using that one page, you also prevent your listener from getting caught in the decision paradox.
If a listener is given the choice between multiple options, they don’t want to be wrong. So, they make no decision to avoid making a mistake. Only give them one option.
Also, make your questions specific, so they don’t have to think. Give your listener a question to answer or specific piece of information to provide.
My client I just referenced would end his show by telling his listeners to email him if they have any questions. We restructured that to ask a specific question around the topic of the episode.
If he was talking about motivating a team, he would invite listeners to reach out with their motivation struggles. This is much more specific.
If your listener isn’t forced to be creative and “work” to create content for your show, you will have more success creating engagement.
3. BE A STORYTELLER FOR SUCCESS
As you create your podcast, become a great storyteller. Great storytellers create fans.
One of my favorite podcasts to learn the art of storytelling is Speak Up Storytelling with Matthew Dicks. Matthew is an internation bestselling author. He has been published in many magazines. But best of all, he is a 56-time Moth StorySLAM champion and 9-time GrandSLAM champion.
Matthew is hilarious. And his stories are amazing. You can learn a lot about storytelling by listening to his podcast.
https://matthewdicks.com/podcasts/
Your podcast cannot survive on information alone. Artificial Intelligence has the information market cornered. You need to separate yourself by using your story and personality. That’s how you become unique.
Interest in your story never remains constant. Your information can only become entertainment when interest is rising.
If interest is falling, the show is becoming boring and is no longer entertainment. A great story continues to develop the plot and raise the interest.
Have you ever sat through a long, monotonous story that never seems to end? You stare and wonder if the speaker actually has a point to this monologue. You pray for your cell phone to ring and save you.
That scenario is exactly what you want to avoid with your podcast. Practice becoming a great storyteller.
Stories help define your character and personality. You should always be yourself. It is difficult to play a character consistently and tell great stories. Your true feelings and identity will always be revealed in the stories you tell.
If you are successful hiding your true self, you simply are not telling great stories. Vivid details and interesting points that stir emotions in your listeners can only come from your true feelings. Reveal your true character.
Storytellers create raving fans.
4. FOCUS ON HELPING OTHERS
Zig Ziglar had many great quotes. One of my favorites is, “You can have anything you want in life just as long as you help enough other people get what they want.” How true that is.
As you turn your information into engaging entertainment with your podcast, keep in mind that helping people is part of the foundation of a strong relationship.
If you take, take, take, your relationship won’t last long. If you are there to give and help, you will develop friends for life.
Ziglar is a great example of helping people. His speeches always offered great tips to improve your life, sales or attitude. He also had great books, CDs and other products he sold.
I’m currently reading “Secrets to Closing the Sale”. I had the great fortune of seeing him live before he passed away. His recordings fill my library. He has so much good stuff.
However, most of Zig’s time was spent on helping others. There is a lot of free Ziglar information available. He would always help others and eventually sales would come his way.
Get what you want out of life. Focus on helping others.
5. MAKE ENGAGEMENT ABOUT THEM
If you want people to engage, there has to be something in it for them. Make them care.
Have you ever had a conversation where the other person only talks about themselves?
We had a competitor in radio. He attended a lot of the same events we did.
Everytime we would run into him, he would always steer the conversation to him. He was the kind of guy that couldn’t read a room to save his life.
One time we were backstage to meet an artist. There were about 10 of us in the room waiting for the band to come in. We were all standing around making small talk.
Finally, the band came in and started their introductions with him. Big handshake and hug as if they were best friends.
The band makes their way around the circle and finally get to us. Now, my wife and I had known these guys for years – well over a decade. They know our kids, we know their kids. We were there when one of them started dating his wife, who we knew her before he did. We really go way back.
He asks us about our kids. We mention that the last one just graduated high school. He says he can’t believe it. It was just yesterday they were this high. You know how time flies.
My wife says, ?Yeah, you’ve seen them grow up. It’s crazy. And you’re expecting your third child.” A big smile comes over his face.
Just then, the competitor guy jumps in. “Yeah, we go way back to the club days, remember that? Remember when you played Bob’s Country Bunker?” Or whatever the club was.
CELEBRATE OTHERS
Here was a great time to celebrate this artist and a huge moment in his life of expecting another child. In fact, it wasn’t really general knowledge. He was a bit surprised that we knew. My wife has just chatted with his wife about it on Facebook.
So instead of making the moment about the guest of honor, radio guy jumps in and makes it all about him.
People don’t want to hear about you. They want to hear about themselves.
Here is a great video about making your message about your audience. This is from BJ Bueno, author of “The Power of Cult Branding”.
https://cultbranding.com/ceo/mirrors-vs-bullhorns/
This shows the great power of focusing on your listeners and clients rather than focusing on you.
6. TEASE AND SET UP THE NEXT EPISODE
Prepare your audience to participate. Let them know the topic for next week.
Then, ask them if they have a question about that particular topic. If you have a guest, ask if there is a question they would like you to ask. Michael Hyatt does a great job at this on his podcast.
I had a morning show team that would say, “We are interviewing Blake Shelton tomorrow. If you have a question you’d like us to ask him, send it to us.”
This would create great engagement with the audience. It promoted the interview on the next show. But more importantly, it got the listener invested in the interview. They were part of it.
Even if you don’t use the question, you still create engagement. You can’t use every question. But you can interact with every email.
7. THANK YOUR AUDIENCE
Thanks for listening. I appreciate the time and help you give me every week.
It is such an easy way to strengthen your relationship with your audience. Your listeners have given you something they can never get back. That is their time.
Show your appreciation. A simple thank you will go a long way with your listener. If they know you are honestly grateful for giving you their time, the chance they will listen again goes way up.
It must be honest and authentic. You can’t thank them like gas station attendant who will never see you again.
You must deliver your thanks from the heart. It should be the kind of thank you that you would give a stranger who stopped to help when you ran out of gas.
I once saw Michael Buble in concert. Toward the end of his show before his last number, he stopped and addressed the audience.
He told us he knows how hard we work for our money. And times are tough. He gets that.
Michael then says he couldn’t possibly thank us enough for spending some of that hard-earned money to see his show and support his family. His wife and kids at home appreciate it. He appreciates it. And he can’t wait to come back and do it all again.
He then rolls into “Song For You”, which he sings partially acapella. If you have never experienced it, check it out on YouTube. It is amazing.
The most powerful part is Michael’s authentic gratitude to his audience.
Your listener is your lifeblood. Without your listener you have no show. She has many, many choices when allocating her time. Let her know you appreciate her for spending her time with you.
THANKS
… And thank you for stopping by. You have done a ton for me just by being here.
If you don’t have a mentor who can take your hand and walk you every step of the way, go to www.PodcastTalentCoach.com/apply, click the button and apply to have a chat with me. We will develop your plan and see how I can help and support you to achieve your podcast goals.
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