Spotify for Podcasters: How To Grow Your Podcast

Published June 9, 2023

So, you’ve started your own podcast and published your first few episodes… what now? Growing a podcast and increasing your listener base takes more than just making your content available. 

Soundtrap is a perfect tool for recording, collaborating, editing, and distributing your podcast efficiently. But when it comes to understanding your audience and interacting with it to create even better content, Spotify for Podcasters is your best friend! 

In this blog post, we’ll take you through the fun and practical features that Spotify for Podcasters offers. From analyzing your performance metrics to engaging your listeners through in-app Q&As and polls, Spotify for Podcasters has groundbreaking tools to help you understand and nurture your audience as you grow your podcast.

Getting access to Spotify for Podcasters

Spotify for Podcasters is a powerful platform for podcast creators to grow their shows and reach an even bigger audience. Regardless of if you host your podcast on Soundtrap or any other service, you can still sign up for an account and get access to S4P’s powerful analytics tools and fan-engaging features. This will help you better understand your audience and optimize your content. 

To get started, all you need to do is sign up for a free Spotify for Podcasters account and link it to your podcast's RSS feed. Once you've done that, you'll be able to track user data like engagement, retention, demographics, and more. You will also be able to engage your listeners with interactive Q&As and polls so that you can get to know your fans even better.

Use insights to get to know your audience

Podcast analytics involves understanding data and insights from your listeners. This data includes things like location, age, and other demographic info. By understanding this information, you can make better decisions about future episodes and marketing efforts. And with the Spotify for Podcasters Dashboard, you don’t have to be a data scientist to understand the insights presented. 

Here are a few examples of listener data that you can get from the S4P dashboard: 

Age & Gender

This data set lets you know which age group and gender the majority of your listeners consist of. There are a lot of strategic actions you can take based on this information, for example; if the majority of your audience is comprised of females in the age range of 23-27, it would be beneficial to create episodes or invite guests who are pertinent to this group.

Geographic location

Geographic data can tell you where in the world people are tuning in to your podcast. This can help guide the kind of content you make and how you promote your program. If you find that your podcast has a big following in a particular city or area, then consider inviting guests who have connections to that area. 

You can also plan an appearance or record an episode in a place where you have a lot of fans. If you want to expand your international audience, then check which countries your show is popular in and focus your efforts there. This could be through targeted advertising campaigns or by working with an influencer.

Top episodes

Spotify for Podcasters reveals your most popular episodes in your chosen period of time. You should be proud of all the content you create, but having insight into which episodes did especially well provides you with guidance on how to create content that listeners will enjoy.

For instance, if most of your episodes feature guest interviews, but one solo episode gained more plays than you anticipated - why not add more solo episodes to your content schedule?

Was there a certain topic that got a lot of plays? You can always revisit that topic from a different angle. Did a certain guest bring in a lot of traffic to your podcast? You can book them again or find someone with similar expertise or personality.

Listening platform

The listening platform analytics can give you information on which apps and devices people are listening to your show with. This information can be used to tailor your show to the preferred device, whether it be mobile or desktop.

By syndicating your podcast across multiple platforms, you can reach a larger audience. Utilizing these analytics can help you identify which platforms are the most beneficial for you, regardless of whether it is Spotify or another platform.

Audience retention and drop off

Spotify for Podcasters' streaming tech provides a second-by-second breakdown of listener engagement throughout an episode. Examining drop-off data gives you ‌insight into which segments are the most engaging and which need improvement. To view this data, click on an episode in your dashboard to generate a performance chart. Drop-off periods indicate where listeners either skipped or stopped playing an episode, helping you to refine future shows.

For example, if the drop-off is at the beginning of the episode, consider refining the first minute with compelling content or a teaser to hook listeners. Also, compare drop-off across multiple episodes for patterns. For example, if listeners tend to fade around the 45-minute mark, consider shortening your episodes.

Engage your listeners and give them a voice

With Spotify for Podcasters, you can use interactive Q&As and polls to engage with your fans, then share their favorite replies on social media to maintain engagement with your episode.

Use your Spotify followers to find out what topics your audience is most interested in and which guests to bring on. By doing this, you'll be able to create a more personalized experience for your fans and provide them with a sense of ownership over your content.

Create a trailer for your podcast

Podcast trailers offer a targeted audience a preview of what your show has to offer. Just like movie trailers, these trailers can be an engaging way to excite audiences and showcase the features of a show. Spotify for Podcasters makes it easy to create an effective trailer for both new and existing shows, no matter the length or style.

Reach new listeners on Spotify

Spotify is a hugely popular streaming service for both music and podcasts that has brought in millions of new listeners from markets worldwide. Creating ‌a show and episode descriptions, a trailer, and promotional assets can help attract new fans and keep your podcast in front of new eyes. Fans can follow your show and receive notifications about new episodes, which helps keep your podcast top of mind for those who are interested. 

Spotify for Podcasters is an exciting platform for podcast creators to grow their shows, reach a larger audience, and better understand their listeners with powerful analytics tools and interactive features. From analyzing performance metrics to engaging with listeners through in-app Q&As and polls, Spotify for Podcasters offers groundbreaking tools to help podcasters nurture their audience as their show grows. Visit their website and learn more about poscasting here.