Refining Your Craft with Podcast Analytics
Analytics is the science of analysis, but it does not need to be reserved for heavy-duty applications or especially serious work. Many podcasters have discovered that analytics can be used to make impressive progress in areas where it would otherwise be difficult to gain ground.
There are now some Podcast Analytics tools that anyone can easily put to good use. There are five especially good reasons to apply the discipline of analytics to podcasting, whether for rank amateurs or dedicated professionals.
1. Analytics Helps You Understand Your Audience
Many podcasts play to limited audiences that never grow. One of the most common reasons for such stagnation is a lack of understanding about who listeners are and what they are interested in.
Tools that apply the science of analytics to podcast-related data make it a lot easier to understand audiences. Many of the most significant recent trends in the realm of podcasting can only be accommodated and leveraged when a deep, detailed understanding of an audience is available.
Leading analytics tools allow podcasters to easily delve into basics like where audience members are listening from. They generally go beyond that point to allow access to more detailed demographic information. While there are other worthwhile and more personal ways to arrive at an understanding of a podcast’s audience, the related power of analytics should not be overlooked.
2. Analytics Highlights New Opportunities
Some podcasters fall into habits and routines that end up holding them back. This becomes particularly easy to do when information about how a podcast is being received is difficult to come by.
Analytics can help see how audience members respond to a podcast. From or discussions of particular topics. Once such a system is in place, a podcast can incorporate experimental assays, the effectiveness of which can later be easily analyzed.
That frequently makes it possible to figure out how to refine and redirect a podcast to make it more successful. Once again, paying attention to feedback on social media and the like can be helpful, but the use of analytics produces objective, verifiable insights.
3. Analytics Will Impress Advertisers
Even dedicated amateurs can see the revenue-generating upside to podcasting. Without analytics, convincing advertisers to come aboard is a notoriously difficult process.
Website hosts have it easy, by comparison, with companies like Google maintaining robust third-party advertising programs. There are now some analogs for podcasters, but they can be significantly more difficult to work with.
Having performance data backed by solid analytics will almost always make it easier to secure advertisers for a podcast. That is true of both programs that connect podcasters with third parties and for those who sign individual deals themselves.
4. Analytics Keeps You on Track
The one-way nature of podcasting can make it feel somewhat isolated. Even podcasters who have loyal audiences and large social media followings sometimes succumb to tunnel vision.
High-quality analytics provide reference points you can use to stay on track. Being able to look back at how a podcast fared in the past will make it easier to reproduce those results in the future.
5. Analytics Helps You Measure Success
It is not always clear just what counts as a success for a podcast. However, analytics can help cut through the confusion. Whether a podcaster aims for a steadily growing audience or prefers to keep loyal fans happy, analytics makes it easier to figure out what is going on.
These are five of the best reasons to consider using analytics as a podcaster. Just about anyone who enjoys enraging in this popular, rewarding form of content creation today will do well to consider adopting analytics.
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