How to measure success in podcasting

In today's episode, you'll learn three key metrics to use when measuring the success of your podcast. Welcome to podcasts and q&a, where you learn the best tips and strategies to launch, grow and monetize your show. Whether you're in the beginning stages of your podcast journey, and you're releasing episodes on a regular basis, or if you've been podcasting for some time now, you might be curious, what's the best way to measure the success of your podcast. Of course, success is defined differently for all of us. So your goals and definition may differ from the next person's some podcasters value episode downloads, while others like to gauge the show's success on interaction and feedback from the listeners. Or you're like me, and you view success in this space by how many new opportunities are presented to you because of your podcast. In this episode podcast q&a, we're going to talk about some helpful metrics to help you gauge the success of your podcast. The most obvious and use metric of success for any podcast usually starts with the number of downloads your episodes get if you're hosting your podcast on a platform like Buzzsprout. A download counts for your podcast anytime your audio file is requested from Buzzsprout from a podcast player like Apple, podcasts, Spotify and more. Other platforms may count or measure downloads in different ways. Or to find downloads as the number of listeners per episode Buzzsprout collects and organizes your stats on a dedicated section on your dashboard, and consistently tracks the number of downloads you get for every episode, and the total number of downloads for any given period. The Buzzsprout global stats page is a great tool for any podcaster to use. What's great about this page is that you can see what the average number of episode downloads other podcasts on that platform get in the first seven days, which means you can gauge your download numbers against the average downloads of over 107,000 other podcasts on the platform. Metric number two is ratings and reviews ratings and reviews are another helpful metric to use when thinking about your podcast success. rating and review serve as written testimonies from listeners about what they think of your show, you can receive valuable feedback and insight from your listeners, which can encourage you to keep up the great work or lead you in the right direction to make necessary improvements. Apple podcasts offers listeners the ability to leave a star rating up to five and a written review. Spotify now offers a star rating system as well. So if you're receiving a lot of five star ratings and positive reviews from listeners, it probably means you're doing something right. Convincing listeners to rate and review your podcast is no small feat and serves as not only a great metric to measure success, but can also be a great source of motivation, and personal validation who doesn't like being told they're doing a great job. Metric number three is interactions and feedback. The next one is similar to ratings and reviews, but focuses on direct communication received from your audience members. direct interactions and feedback from listeners can let you know how well your podcast is resonating with the people who listen to your show interactions and feedback can come in the form of verbal communication, emails, direct messages, or left as responses to posts related to your podcast. I personally don't take these lightly because they mean that I'm doing something to evoke a response out of a listener, especially if I'm receiving consistent and positive feedback or interaction on an episode. Whether it's one listener, or 10, or 100 direct interaction and feedback means that it was important enough for them to take the time and effort to express their thoughts a few about your podcast. And it's safe to say that no podcast gets to be successful without having some form of interaction feedback from the listeners along the way. Monetization can also be a metric to use to gauge your success if monetary gain is one of your podcast goals. Monetizing podcasts usually come in the form of Patreon sponsorships. Patreon is a popular platform that allows creators to earn financial support from the patrons listeners and sponsorships come from businesses or advertisers who pay you to promote their goods and services over one or more podcast episodes. These two things are typically used by podcasters with a massive following, or shows that receive a very high download numbers every episode, which means these metrics aren't for everybody. Only a very small percentage of podcasts actually see significant returns or success on Patreon. According to a recent report by backlinko.com, only 697 creators on Patreon received sponsorship from more than 2000 patrons. When you consider that 697 creators make up for only point 33% of the total number of creators on Patreon, you start to understand how competitive that market is. And based on the business or advertiser sponsorships can be just as competitive, sometimes requiring a podcast who have 1000s of downloads per episode to even be considered for one. Patreon and sponsorships are a major milestone for most podcasters who are seeking to monetize their show. But just keep in mind, these avenues could add way more complexity and way more work for your existing audience. As process at the end of the day, there are multiple ways to define success in podcasting, and the metrics we shared in today's video are just a handful of tools at your disposal. Each of us define success differently. There is no right or wrong answer. And it's all about your unique sense of purpose or goals for being a podcaster. For me, success in podcasting is all about getting to enjoy new opportunities, like being able to interview interesting guests being invited to speak at cool events and conferences around the country, and getting to share my hobbies while entertaining people around the world. Remember, the vast majority of podcasts today are made by hobbyist because it's fun. And the emotional return from podcasting, as well as the ability to maintain their shows in addition to everything else they got going on, is the only metric of success that really matters. Now that you've learned some helpful metrics to help you gauge the success of your podcast consider watching this video explaining how to get more podcast ratings and reviews. Thank you so much for watching, and as always, Keep podcasts