How to use Spotify’s listening features to grow your show
There are a number of ways Spotify improves the podcast listening and discovery experience. Here’s how you can use them to your advantage.
Our goal at Anchor isn’t just to empower everyone to share their voice by starting a podcast; we want your show to reach as many people as possible, and for it to altogether thrive. With over 1 million show launches on Anchor in 2020 alone (which is great news!)–not to mention content outside of podcasts vying for people’s attention–it can be difficult to organically find an audience and keep them engaged. Likewise, it’s becoming tougher for listeners to discover their new favorites. But that’s where Spotify can help: There are a number of recent Spotify features that creators can leverage to ensure you’re delivering the optimal listener experience–and help grow your Anchor podcast audience.
Ask listeners to turn on episode notifications so they never miss out
If a listener enjoys a podcast, chances are they’ll want to be the first to know when a new episode from that podcast is released. It used to be a surprisingly arduous task, but new episode notifications now make it one-tap-easy for listeners: When following a podcast for the first time, they can toggle on notifications for new episodes; existing users can just tap on ‘FOLLOWING’ from a show’s page to open up settings and turn on notifications. Long-term, this can help creators build loyalty, improve engagement, and increase the number of listens for new episodes–while for listeners, episode notifications are seen as a staple of the audio-consumption experience. It’s a great way for your biggest fans to stay up-to-date and not worry about missing anything.
How to add them to your show: Simply ask your listeners to follow your podcast and turn on notifications for new episodes so they never miss one!
Make listeners a mix with podcast playlists
A big part of the fun and autonomy of discovering music on Spotify is the listener’s ability to create playlists. Did you know you can also create podcast episode playlists featuring your show(s)? Especially handy for podcasters with a long back catalog, or podcast networks with multiple shows, creating podcast playlists can be the perfect way to help new listeners get started with your content. You could highlight your best-performing episodes that give listeners the best taste of what your show’s all about in an “Intro to” or “Starter pack” playlist–or group episodes together that fit under one category. You can even customize the cover of the playlist with your own branding and edit the description (on Web or mobile), and you can easily share your playlists on social media or link to them from show notes. Another option: Add fellow creators’ episodes in with yours to collaborate on a playlist and cross-promote it–which can introduce your show to even more audiences.
How to add them to your show: Create a podcast playlist by tapping the ‘…’ next to any episode and selecting ‘Add to playlist’–or tap ‘Create playlist’ in the Music tab of Your Library.
Your Episodes: an easy way for listeners to bookmark
Podcast episodes should be as listener-friendly as songs from an album: Easy to save for later, in case there’s no “in the moment” time–a frequent occurrence! Until Spotify launched the Your Episodes feature in November, it wasn’t so simple for listeners on the platform to recall that “aha” moment of podcast-episode discovery. And for creators, that moment might’ve been the product of hard-fought promotional efforts. Now, a listener can tap ‘+’ on any episode so they can bookmark it for future listening, just like the familiar “hearting” of a song in Spotify. After bookmarking the episode, listeners will see a ‘Your Episodes’ playlist pinned to the top of their Podcast Episodes tab–making it feasible for the listener to actually try out a new episode and explore more.
How to add them to your show: Next time you have a new episode, ask listeners to tap the ‘plus’ to add it to their episodes if they can’t listen right away.
Spotify offers podcasting tools that make it easier for you to reach listeners, and for listeners to find you. Take advantage of them to amplify your podcast–and don’t forget these additional Spotify podcasting features that can help your show thrive.
- Add any Spotify music to your Anchor podcast–for free
- View expansive audience analytics, powered by Spotify
- Spotify’s new podcast charts can help your show get discovered
- Get even deeper insights into your episode performance with drop-off chart metrics from Spotify
- Create custom Promo Cards to share your podcast on social media
Still thinking about 2020? Understandable! Check out our Anchor year in review and your Wrapped for Podcasters.
