Q: How Can I Engage My Audience in August?
How are your audience numbers looking this summer?
Are they flat? Or even down?
Americans love their summer trips and getaways to the beach. They also love tuning out when they can. Who wouldn’t if you got a chance to stare at this beautiful sunrise every morning in Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina?
Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina
If your audience numbers are slipping, what can you do to pick them up?
August is such a wonderful month for testing engagement tactics before things heat up in September. So here are some ideas:
DOs
Fire up the call-to-actions in your episodes and invite listeners to take you and your show on vacation (CTA: Just remember you can listen to this podcast while staring at the ocean or sitting by the pool…)
Encourage listeners to send voice memos while they vacation (Remember how people would send postcards while on vacation? Modernize the idea with voice memos from your listeners)
Encourage your vacationing fans to post on their social media and tag you and your podcast (Hey Johnny, wish you were here in Scotland!)
Come up with an August contest whereby you reward the most creative listeners who engage with you while on vacation (Maybe you interview them or feature them on social media or YouTube)
Incorporate your ad sales team. Find a sponsor for your travel-related listener segment. Think Travelocity, Hotels.com, Trivago or Airbnb
Have a Plan B for coverage in case you decide to go on vacation and major news breaks. Who will host your show if you’re unable to get back from Milan quickly?
DON’Ts
Do not recycle “best of” episodes without telling listeners why you have chosen to bring back old material. Re-voice the top of recycled episodes and tease a coda at the end (maybe a funny outtake) so you encourage higher completion rates
Do not leave town on vacation without checking in with your sales team. They could have something brewing last minute, requiring you to voice new copy
Do not check out entirely and go D.B. Cooper on your podcast network or sales rep. Make sure someone knows how to reach you
Do not leave your audience wondering where you are. If you decide to suspend publishing episodes while on vacation, then let your audience know exactly when you’ll be back and be specific with the return date
Got a question? Got something you want me to investigate?
Drop a note to John@JohnWordockMedia.com and include Hey Woodchuck in the subject line.