Are you leaving valuable listener feedback on the table? I've been thinking about that a lot lately, so today we'll talk about how to engage your audience, gather crucial feedback, and build a thriving podcast community — while making it as easy as possible.
You can send your feedback to https://podcastworkflows.com/feedback
Here are the main takeaways:
Ask for Feedback Early, Regularly, and Everywhere – The importance of actively seeking listener input through multiple channels like your mailing list, social media, and during your episodes. I shared tips on making it easy for listeners to give feedback, such as incorporating listener feedback segments.
Build a Community Around Your Podcast – Creating a community is crucial for getting feedback, generating content ideas, and building trust. I discussed how podcasting doesn’t have to be a lonely experience and why fostering a community can lead to better audience engagement and even monetization.
Use Engagement Tools – I reviewed several tools to help facilitate listener feedback and community building, such as YouTube, Spotify, Ripple.fm, Circle, and Fan List. Each offers different features for community engagement, feedback collection, and potential monetization.
- (00:00) - Intro
- (01:28) - How to get more engagement from listeners
- (07:28) - Why you should build a community
- (13:32) - Tools for Engagement
- (23:32) - Wrapping Up
00:00:04 --> 00:00:07 Welcome to Podcast Workflows, the show for people
00:00:07 --> 00:00:10 who love their podcast but spend too much time
00:00:10 --> 00:00:13 on it. This show will give you short tips to
00:00:13 --> 00:00:17 improve your process, grow your show, and save
00:00:17 --> 00:00:22 you up to 12 hours per week. You'll get deep
00:00:22 --> 00:00:24 dives on how the best podcasters produce their
00:00:24 --> 00:00:29 show, and you'll learn a ton. So let's get into
00:00:29 --> 00:00:34 it. I have been implicitly and explicitly teasing
00:00:34 --> 00:00:37 this topic for a while, but I've been thinking
00:00:37 --> 00:00:42 a lot about engagement with your listeners and
00:00:42 --> 00:00:45 how to get feedback from your listeners. And
00:00:45 --> 00:00:48 today, the three things I'm going to talk about
00:00:48 --> 00:00:52 are all around that. So the first thing I'll
00:00:52 --> 00:00:58 do is say I do have an article I put out a while
00:00:58 --> 00:01:02 ago and a podcast episode. called how to get
00:01:02 --> 00:01:06 feedback from your listeners. This was something
00:01:06 --> 00:01:07 I put out over the summer because I was really,
00:01:07 --> 00:01:09 I was thinking about it a lot, especially in
00:01:09 --> 00:01:14 the context of getting feedback for my other
00:01:14 --> 00:01:17 show, The Streamline Solopreneur. And so some
00:01:17 --> 00:01:20 of the tips I said, ask early, ask regularly,
00:01:20 --> 00:01:23 ask everywhere, and make giving feedback dead
00:01:23 --> 00:01:27 simple, which we're going to dive more into today.
00:01:27 --> 00:01:32 So let's first talk about maybe the first segment
00:01:32 --> 00:01:38 or topic here, which is getting feedback. How
00:01:38 --> 00:01:39 do you get feedback from your listeners? Well,
00:01:40 --> 00:01:43 I just, I just kind of gave away the high level
00:01:43 --> 00:01:46 overview in this article, how to get feedback
00:01:46 --> 00:01:49 from your listeners. But I think that really
00:01:49 --> 00:01:53 the biggest thing is that you need to ask for
00:01:53 --> 00:01:55 it, right? Don't ask, don't get is something
00:01:55 --> 00:02:00 I tell my Kids all the time, they'll look at
00:02:00 --> 00:02:04 something in the kitchen or they'll stare at
00:02:04 --> 00:02:07 the TV or their iPad, but they won't actually
00:02:07 --> 00:02:10 ask because they are afraid that I'm going to
00:02:10 --> 00:02:13 say no, which I may or may not, depending on
00:02:13 --> 00:02:16 how much they be in or how much screen time they've
00:02:16 --> 00:02:21 had that day. But they will definitely not get
00:02:21 --> 00:02:24 it or I'm trying to teach them. that they definitely
00:02:24 --> 00:02:28 will not get it if they don't ask for it. So
00:02:28 --> 00:02:34 when you are seeking feedback for your podcast,
00:02:35 --> 00:02:39 definitely ask regularly. One of the things that
00:02:39 --> 00:02:41 I'm trying to do with the Streamline Solopreneur,
00:02:42 --> 00:02:44 especially for the solo shows, is have a feedback
00:02:44 --> 00:02:48 segment. I think this is a really good way to
00:02:48 --> 00:02:50 get feedback because you're not just saying like
00:02:50 --> 00:02:53 write in with your thoughts, you're saying, Hey,
00:02:53 --> 00:02:56 if you write in, I might feature you on the show.
00:02:56 --> 00:03:02 And as Pat Flynn has said in numerous episodes
00:03:02 --> 00:03:05 of his podcast, people love hearing the sound
00:03:05 --> 00:03:09 of their own name and it makes them feel more
00:03:09 --> 00:03:13 connected to the show. So one of the best ways
00:03:13 --> 00:03:16 that you can get feedback is by making it explicitly
00:03:16 --> 00:03:19 clear that you will integrate that feedback.
00:03:20 --> 00:03:23 Something that I'm trying to do more with both
00:03:23 --> 00:03:24 of my shows, and I'll talk about this more when
00:03:24 --> 00:03:28 I talk about the tools, is getting voice notes
00:03:28 --> 00:03:33 for feedback. That way I can actually feature
00:03:33 --> 00:03:39 listeners in the show, right? And depending on
00:03:39 --> 00:03:41 the type of feedback or how much of the contribution,
00:03:42 --> 00:03:45 a shout out is fine. Maybe you can tell them
00:03:45 --> 00:03:49 where the person giving the feedback can be found.
00:03:49 --> 00:03:52 But I find that just saying like, Listener Jane
00:03:52 --> 00:03:56 wrote in to say that she's been using this tool
00:03:56 --> 00:03:59 to get feedback and it's been really good for
00:03:59 --> 00:04:02 her right and so Or you know listener Jane Smith,
00:04:02 --> 00:04:05 whatever if they provide their their full name
00:04:05 --> 00:04:11 so definitely ask for it and Ask early ask early
00:04:11 --> 00:04:14 in the episode say hey today. I'm talking about
00:04:14 --> 00:04:18 now this could you don't want to be clumsy about
00:04:18 --> 00:04:21 this, right? I didn't open the show with if you
00:04:21 --> 00:04:24 want to provide feedback right because there's
00:04:24 --> 00:04:28 nothing to provide feedback for So you don't
00:04:28 --> 00:04:31 want to ask right off the bat, but maybe After
00:04:31 --> 00:04:33 the first opinion you give right like at the
00:04:33 --> 00:04:35 end of this segment I might say hey head over
00:04:35 --> 00:04:37 to podcasts workflows comm slash feedback and
00:04:37 --> 00:04:40 let me know what you think right and so ask early
00:04:40 --> 00:04:42 after you deliver the first piece of valuable
00:04:42 --> 00:04:48 content or a major question and also early in
00:04:48 --> 00:04:51 the sense that you want to ask before you need
00:04:51 --> 00:04:53 the feedback right so something that might not
00:04:53 --> 00:04:57 work is like tweeting or posting on social media
00:04:57 --> 00:05:00 the day before hey i'm recording an episode tomorrow
00:05:00 --> 00:05:04 about x y and z i'd love to hear your thoughts
00:05:04 --> 00:05:08 right uh because just by the nature of social
00:05:08 --> 00:05:12 media people are not going to you know only a
00:05:12 --> 00:05:14 small percentage of your followers will see that
00:05:14 --> 00:05:18 so Did post something I'm gonna post it again,
00:05:18 --> 00:05:21 but you know I'm working on a new episode of
00:05:21 --> 00:05:22 the streamlined solopreneur where I would love
00:05:22 --> 00:05:26 feedback and You know, I posted a bunch of stuff
00:05:26 --> 00:05:29 on social media and apparently like unless it's
00:05:29 --> 00:05:32 inflammatory Twitter doesn't like that. So I
00:05:32 --> 00:05:36 did post a question and I posted it on YouTube
00:05:36 --> 00:05:38 as well, which YouTube has never really been
00:05:38 --> 00:05:45 like a good Place for me to get feedback suspect
00:05:45 --> 00:05:48 like there's probably better avenues, but you
00:05:48 --> 00:05:50 know that's kind of the second piece of advice
00:05:50 --> 00:05:55 is Ask everywhere or ask in ask in multiple places
00:05:55 --> 00:05:58 right don't necessarily just ask on your show
00:05:58 --> 00:06:02 especially if it's just in one episode right
00:06:02 --> 00:06:05 people might miss that episode or They might
00:06:05 --> 00:06:07 be listening and have a thought and then forget
00:06:07 --> 00:06:11 to write in I And you know, this will be different
00:06:11 --> 00:06:14 if you have a massive audience, right? Like the
00:06:14 --> 00:06:17 people at Upgrade constantly get feedback. They've
00:06:17 --> 00:06:20 kind of trained their listeners over 10 years
00:06:20 --> 00:06:25 to easily go to a place to provide feedback.
00:06:26 --> 00:06:29 And even then, I'm guessing they get a very small
00:06:29 --> 00:06:31 percentage of people writing in for feedback.
00:06:32 --> 00:06:35 So I think the key is, you know, another key,
00:06:36 --> 00:06:40 ask everywhere, ask early, ask often. Ask everywhere
00:06:40 --> 00:06:42 and everywhere is going to be your mailing list
00:06:42 --> 00:06:45 social media the place where you're already engaging
00:06:45 --> 00:06:50 with your listeners or target audience I Got
00:06:50 --> 00:06:52 really good feedback across social media for
00:06:52 --> 00:06:54 one question I asked because it was like the
00:06:54 --> 00:06:55 only thing I asked on social media that day so
00:06:55 --> 00:07:01 maybe more people saw it but this is This is
00:07:01 --> 00:07:03 something really important that you should do
00:07:03 --> 00:07:05 my mailing list has been really nice for feedback
00:07:05 --> 00:07:07 lately I don't know if I've just like found the
00:07:07 --> 00:07:10 right alignment or what But it's been really
00:07:10 --> 00:07:13 good for that. And then the last thing, which
00:07:13 --> 00:07:16 again, I'll get to later in the show, is make
00:07:16 --> 00:07:20 giving listener feedback dead simple. This was
00:07:20 --> 00:07:22 a problem of mine for a long time. I'm like,
00:07:22 --> 00:07:26 oh yeah, social media or email. But I have been
00:07:26 --> 00:07:29 seeking better ways to get feedback because I
00:07:29 --> 00:07:33 want more feedback. Now, before we get into that,
00:07:33 --> 00:07:36 I want to get into the second. Kind of segment
00:07:36 --> 00:07:39 or second piece of advice for for this particular
00:07:39 --> 00:07:44 topic for podcast engagement, which is Why should
00:07:44 --> 00:07:48 you build like I think building a community is
00:07:48 --> 00:07:51 really important you building capture community
00:07:51 --> 00:07:56 podcasting can feel lonely and If you're not
00:07:56 --> 00:07:59 getting feedback or you're not building a community
00:07:59 --> 00:08:02 and like if this is just a hobby for you fine
00:08:02 --> 00:08:04 But if you're trying to build a business or if
00:08:04 --> 00:08:08 you're trying to leverage your podcast as a way
00:08:08 --> 00:08:12 to elevate your status or make money, right,
00:08:12 --> 00:08:14 frankly, like, I mean, podcasting costs money.
00:08:14 --> 00:08:17 And if it's going to be a business thing, then
00:08:17 --> 00:08:22 you should figure out a way to monetize that.
00:08:23 --> 00:08:26 Right. And building a community is a good way.
00:08:26 --> 00:08:31 The really the and I should say because I. I've
00:08:31 --> 00:08:33 I've got feedback on this that some I posted
00:08:33 --> 00:08:35 like why you should try to make money with your
00:08:35 --> 00:08:37 podcast and someone was like You should never
00:08:37 --> 00:08:38 try to make money with your podcast and that's
00:08:38 --> 00:08:43 just like an incredibly absurd thing to think
00:08:43 --> 00:08:46 Podcasting could be a very good way to make money.
00:08:46 --> 00:08:51 You shouldn't alienate Your audience you shouldn't
00:08:51 --> 00:08:59 put money above your audience but saying that
00:08:59 --> 00:09:03 podcasts should never make money is like saying
00:09:03 --> 00:09:07 teachers should never make money, right? Teachers
00:09:07 --> 00:09:12 should teach for the love of the game. No, teachers
00:09:12 --> 00:09:15 are grossly underpaid and they should make more
00:09:15 --> 00:09:20 money than they actually make. So, you know,
00:09:20 --> 00:09:23 I just want to, that's feedback I've gotten and
00:09:23 --> 00:09:27 podcasts should make money. And if you are providing
00:09:27 --> 00:09:32 value, for a community, that's a really good
00:09:32 --> 00:09:35 way to make money. Again, to cite Upgrade and
00:09:35 --> 00:09:37 Relay in general, I think they've done a really
00:09:37 --> 00:09:40 good job of building a community around their
00:09:40 --> 00:09:43 podcasts, all of their podcasts, and they have
00:09:43 --> 00:09:45 a way for listeners to kind of intermingle with
00:09:45 --> 00:09:48 each other. A couple of months ago, maybe in
00:09:48 --> 00:09:53 May, they announced that they were making the
00:09:53 --> 00:09:57 first price jump in a long time. Maybe ever.
00:09:57 --> 00:09:58 Right. Their membership was always five dollars
00:09:58 --> 00:10:02 per month per show. If you know for each show
00:10:02 --> 00:10:05 that you subscribe to and they were raising it
00:10:05 --> 00:10:09 to seven dollars per month per show. And I was
00:10:09 --> 00:10:13 insanely supportive of that. Right. I will happily
00:10:13 --> 00:10:18 pay upgrade seven dollars per month because I
00:10:18 --> 00:10:20 feel like I get value out of that or cortex.
00:10:20 --> 00:10:23 Right. Which is really seven dollars a month
00:10:23 --> 00:10:27 for one show. Right. But it's also like a two
00:10:27 --> 00:10:30 and a half or three hour show. Right. It's like
00:10:30 --> 00:10:32 it's less than a movie. It's less than going
00:10:32 --> 00:10:35 to see a movie. And I find it more valuable than
00:10:35 --> 00:10:38 most movies. And so but there was a lot of backlash.
00:10:38 --> 00:10:40 Right. They were like that's a 40. People were
00:10:40 --> 00:10:42 saying that's a 40 percent increase. Like that's
00:10:42 --> 00:10:46 like OK. Right. If you raise it from 50 cents
00:10:46 --> 00:10:49 to a dollar 25 that's a 75 percent increase.
00:10:49 --> 00:10:52 Like that's it's just. Numbers that low like
00:10:52 --> 00:10:55 putting it in that way kind of feels obnoxious
00:10:55 --> 00:11:00 But by I'll say by and large Most people were
00:11:00 --> 00:11:02 very supportive because they've built a great
00:11:02 --> 00:11:05 community and they provide value And I should
00:11:05 --> 00:11:08 say that I don't even like get the full value,
00:11:08 --> 00:11:10 right? I'm like not in the discord discord scares
00:11:10 --> 00:11:15 and confuses me but the additional content that
00:11:15 --> 00:11:19 they put out Well worth it for me and they have
00:11:19 --> 00:11:22 I think they have a very good model, right? It's
00:11:22 --> 00:11:26 you pay for a show and then you get ad free extended
00:11:26 --> 00:11:30 episodes of that show You get bonus like there
00:11:30 --> 00:11:33 are network wide bonus episodes that go out to
00:11:33 --> 00:11:35 every member of every show and Then they also
00:11:35 --> 00:11:39 have the annual specials where each show that
00:11:39 --> 00:11:43 has a membership Or maybe it's each show in just
00:11:43 --> 00:11:45 in general, even if they don't have a membership
00:11:45 --> 00:11:49 puts out a bonus episode that, again, goes to
00:11:49 --> 00:11:53 every member regardless, right? So I am a member
00:11:53 --> 00:11:59 of Upgrade and Cortex, but I also get the bonus
00:11:59 --> 00:12:02 episodes for, let's say, Connected and the Pen
00:12:02 --> 00:12:06 Addict and some other ones, Mac Power users.
00:12:07 --> 00:12:09 And if I'm interested, I can listen to those,
00:12:09 --> 00:12:10 too. And that's a really good way to also be
00:12:10 --> 00:12:12 like, oh, hey, maybe this is something else I
00:12:12 --> 00:12:15 should subscribe to, right? You should build
00:12:15 --> 00:12:18 a community, but that's only one aspect of it.
00:12:18 --> 00:12:20 I guess right build a community because that's
00:12:20 --> 00:12:23 a great way to get feedback and create fans and
00:12:23 --> 00:12:26 connect to your fans and the community will be
00:12:26 --> 00:12:30 a conduit for feedback and for making your show
00:12:30 --> 00:12:34 better and for getting questions and for making
00:12:34 --> 00:12:38 content easier and if you can build a community
00:12:38 --> 00:12:42 whether that's on discord or slack, which I recently
00:12:42 --> 00:12:48 found out is like discord for old people. But
00:12:48 --> 00:12:53 if you can build a community somewhere, then
00:12:53 --> 00:12:56 you'll have an easier time getting feedback,
00:12:56 --> 00:12:58 coming up with ideas, and potentially monetizing
00:12:58 --> 00:13:03 it, right? I'm bullish that you should think
00:13:03 --> 00:13:06 about that from the very beginning of your podcast,
00:13:06 --> 00:13:12 but I don't think it should be your prime objective.
00:13:13 --> 00:13:16 Your prime objective should be serving your audience.
00:13:17 --> 00:13:20 And if you serve your audience, you'll have an
00:13:20 --> 00:13:22 easier time monetizing, whether that's through
00:13:22 --> 00:13:26 sponsorships, community, affiliate links, whatever,
00:13:26 --> 00:13:30 right? You need to build trust. So that's why
00:13:30 --> 00:13:32 I think you should build a community. So let's
00:13:32 --> 00:13:35 move on to the third thing, which is engagement
00:13:35 --> 00:13:40 tools, tools to help you do this. One of the
00:13:40 --> 00:13:45 reasons I've been thinking about this now is
00:13:45 --> 00:13:48 partially because of YouTube and Spotify, right?
00:13:49 --> 00:13:57 YouTube has been an increasingly big force in
00:13:57 --> 00:14:03 the podcasting space. Almost half, well, at least
00:14:03 --> 00:14:10 35 % of American adults YouTube to discover podcasts
00:14:10 --> 00:14:18 YouTube has all of the wonderful Features for
00:14:18 --> 00:14:21 community feedback and monetization built in
00:14:21 --> 00:14:25 with comments with community posts with the ability
00:14:25 --> 00:14:30 to Create a membership if your channel is monetized
00:14:30 --> 00:14:35 you can also do membership ads and merch So that
00:14:35 --> 00:14:38 could be very appealing to podcasters a one -stop
00:14:38 --> 00:14:40 shop. That's the second biggest search engine
00:14:40 --> 00:14:43 in the world But the problem is you don't really
00:14:43 --> 00:14:45 own your community right and the same thing goes
00:14:45 --> 00:14:48 for Spotify Spotify just recently rolled out
00:14:48 --> 00:14:51 comments This is not something I've been leveraging
00:14:51 --> 00:14:56 because my audience My stats on Spotify are not
00:14:56 --> 00:15:02 very good most of my listeners are in Apple podcasts
00:15:03 --> 00:15:08 And so, you know, while I can add video, I don't
00:15:08 --> 00:15:12 get a lot of streams or engagements. I'm not
00:15:12 --> 00:15:14 sure if I'm getting comments, right? I'm not
00:15:14 --> 00:15:17 getting any comments. I can add polls, but my
00:15:17 --> 00:15:20 audience does not live on Spotify. But if yours
00:15:20 --> 00:15:22 does, this is a great opportunity for you to
00:15:22 --> 00:15:25 start engaging. There have also been other tools
00:15:25 --> 00:15:33 that have come out for this exact thing. One
00:15:33 --> 00:15:37 is, I mentioned this before, but Ripple .fm.
00:15:37 --> 00:15:40 Something that bothers me about Ripple is that
00:15:40 --> 00:15:43 the founder, who I consider a friend, I think
00:15:43 --> 00:15:46 he does a lot of really good things, seems very
00:15:46 --> 00:15:52 distracted. It seems like he is launching a number
00:15:52 --> 00:15:56 of things and will pick the one that gets kind
00:15:56 --> 00:16:03 of the most traction. And while I can appreciate
00:16:03 --> 00:16:07 as a business owner why he would want to do that,
00:16:07 --> 00:16:10 as a podcaster who's trying to build a community,
00:16:11 --> 00:16:15 I don't want to build my community on a tool
00:16:15 --> 00:16:17 that might not exist in six months because the
00:16:17 --> 00:16:22 founder got bored with it. And so it looks like
00:16:22 --> 00:16:26 a really good tool. The ability to comment per
00:16:26 --> 00:16:29 episode, the ability to create private podcasts.
00:16:30 --> 00:16:33 think it's a really good tool where there's potentially
00:16:33 --> 00:16:39 good monetization for podcasters and for Brian
00:16:39 --> 00:16:46 the founder, but again like it's if it felt like
00:16:46 --> 00:16:50 it was launched and then on to the next one and
00:16:50 --> 00:16:54 When it comes to like for a task app fine, whatever
00:16:54 --> 00:16:58 but like for for something that you're going
00:16:58 --> 00:17:03 to build a community on that you want something
00:17:03 --> 00:17:07 that you know I'm not going to say has staying
00:17:07 --> 00:17:10 power because in six months like the financials
00:17:10 --> 00:17:12 might look terrible and it doesn't make any sense
00:17:12 --> 00:17:17 to keep investing in it but you you want I want
00:17:17 --> 00:17:20 to use a tool where the person who made the tool
00:17:20 --> 00:17:24 is as dedicated to it as I am at least right
00:17:25 --> 00:17:29 So ripple .fm, check it out. It's really easy
00:17:29 --> 00:17:31 to get started on. So you can definitely try
00:17:31 --> 00:17:33 it and see like maybe this does work for you
00:17:33 --> 00:17:36 and maybe Brian does decide to continue using
00:17:36 --> 00:17:39 like putting resources into it. I would love
00:17:39 --> 00:17:42 to see that, but I'm not convinced at this point
00:17:42 --> 00:17:45 that it's going to happen. And so I'm hesitant
00:17:45 --> 00:17:50 for that. Paid tools like Circle, they have like
00:17:50 --> 00:17:53 a $50 per month plan where you can build a community.
00:17:56 --> 00:17:59 Which is becoming increasingly appealing to me
00:17:59 --> 00:18:01 for a couple of reasons. Lots of creators have
00:18:01 --> 00:18:03 their community on Circle, and Circle has single
00:18:03 --> 00:18:06 sign -on. So if someone's part of Jay Klaus'
00:18:07 --> 00:18:10 community, or my friend Chanel's community, and
00:18:10 --> 00:18:13 they use Circle, and they want to become a member,
00:18:13 --> 00:18:16 they don't have to get yet another account to
00:18:16 --> 00:18:20 become a member of my community. Which is, again,
00:18:20 --> 00:18:23 very appealing, right? It's also well built.
00:18:23 --> 00:18:33 Right? However, the better features for me at
00:18:33 --> 00:18:37 this time are not worth the cost. I think that
00:18:37 --> 00:18:41 as far as like building a free community goes,
00:18:41 --> 00:18:45 Circle is not a good tool for that. And maybe
00:18:45 --> 00:18:46 they don't want to be, right? And that's fine.
00:18:47 --> 00:18:52 But I think I'd be willing to pay for The $50
00:18:52 --> 00:18:57 a month plan if I got like some limited automation
00:18:57 --> 00:19:02 Where someone signs up for my membership elsewhere?
00:19:03 --> 00:19:06 And they get added to the community. That's literally
00:19:06 --> 00:19:10 the only automation I would want and If that
00:19:10 --> 00:19:15 were the case, I'd be I'd probably use that But
00:19:15 --> 00:19:20 you know, I think it just doesn't make It doesn't
00:19:20 --> 00:19:22 make sense for me. I've tried Circle in the past.
00:19:22 --> 00:19:26 I was on their $99 a month plan when it was $79
00:19:26 --> 00:19:28 a month. And so I was like locked into that.
00:19:28 --> 00:19:32 But it just it didn't make sense for me to do
00:19:32 --> 00:19:34 that. It could make sense for you, especially
00:19:34 --> 00:19:38 if you have like a another avenue for monetization.
00:19:39 --> 00:19:44 Right. So that's one thing. And again, Circle
00:19:44 --> 00:19:48 is a widely used tool. that supports single sign
00:19:48 --> 00:19:50 -on across every community you're a part of in
00:19:50 --> 00:19:52 circles. So that's a big benefit, right? Because
00:19:52 --> 00:19:56 we do want to make it easy for our users. Fanlist
00:19:56 --> 00:20:00 is another one I'm currently trying. This is
00:20:00 --> 00:20:02 actually the one I'm using to get feedback right
00:20:02 --> 00:20:05 now for both of my shows. I met the founder,
00:20:05 --> 00:20:08 Pat, at Podcast Movement. And I think if you've
00:20:08 --> 00:20:10 been listening to this or watching my YouTube
00:20:10 --> 00:20:15 channel, you'll know that I've said I don't like
00:20:15 --> 00:20:20 that a user needs to create an account to leave
00:20:20 --> 00:20:25 the feedback. But after speaking with Pat, he
00:20:25 --> 00:20:29 convinced me that this was the right thing to
00:20:29 --> 00:20:33 do. So it does leave people who maybe want to
00:20:33 --> 00:20:36 leave anonymous feedback in the lurch a little
00:20:36 --> 00:20:41 bit. But maybe there's another way I could offer
00:20:41 --> 00:20:44 that, right? You know people can certainly like
00:20:44 --> 00:20:47 I could put A link to my email address here and
00:20:47 --> 00:20:49 say like hey if you want to if you want to submit
00:20:49 --> 00:20:52 something anonymously email me and I I promise
00:20:52 --> 00:20:56 I won't Say your name and stuff. Um, but what
00:20:56 --> 00:21:01 was really appealing to me here is that listeners
00:21:01 --> 00:21:06 can record a message and I can send it in and
00:21:06 --> 00:21:09 I really liked that it was better than like speak
00:21:09 --> 00:21:13 pipe Which costs money and is I don't feel as
00:21:13 --> 00:21:16 very user -friendly And I also like fan lists
00:21:16 --> 00:21:18 monetization model too. This is again something
00:21:18 --> 00:21:20 I'm thinking about because I want these tools
00:21:20 --> 00:21:25 to be around and if they're not Making money
00:21:25 --> 00:21:27 in a sustainable way. They're not going to be
00:21:27 --> 00:21:30 around so I like that fan list is free to use
00:21:30 --> 00:21:36 and then You can monetize it through Perks or
00:21:36 --> 00:21:40 a membership or something else, right? They connect
00:21:40 --> 00:21:43 right to your Stripe account and you have the
00:21:43 --> 00:21:47 ability to make money that way. The last thing
00:21:47 --> 00:21:52 I'll mention here is your own website or something
00:21:52 --> 00:21:59 like Memberful. So I really love Memberful. That's
00:21:59 --> 00:22:01 what Relay uses and a bunch of other people use.
00:22:01 --> 00:22:05 It's a really great kind of central hub that
00:22:05 --> 00:22:07 can sit on top of a bunch of other tools you
00:22:07 --> 00:22:13 use and tie them together, which I love because
00:22:13 --> 00:22:18 it makes your membership portable. It makes it
00:22:18 --> 00:22:22 so that if I am selling memberships through memberful
00:22:22 --> 00:22:24 and I use Circle, but then Circle disappears
00:22:24 --> 00:22:27 tomorrow, I don't lose those members and I don't
00:22:27 --> 00:22:30 have to transfer them somewhere else. And then
00:22:30 --> 00:22:34 they do integrate directly with WordPress. And
00:22:34 --> 00:22:37 so for the community I'm building around podcast
00:22:37 --> 00:22:41 navigator, which is my I'll say flagship product.
00:22:43 --> 00:22:46 You know, I do have like a forum in there, which
00:22:46 --> 00:22:50 is like. It's a whole other episode, but if I
00:22:50 --> 00:22:53 want a community, I'm building a forum inside
00:22:53 --> 00:22:58 of WordPress. And so that's a that's a good place
00:22:58 --> 00:23:01 for you to. work if you're not paying for, I
00:23:01 --> 00:23:06 think, the highest level of Circle allows single
00:23:06 --> 00:23:09 sign -on with WordPress. That was also very appealing
00:23:09 --> 00:23:13 to me. But again, with memberful, you can have
00:23:13 --> 00:23:15 that single sign -on sort of function as well.
00:23:15 --> 00:23:18 People log into memberful, and then they become
00:23:18 --> 00:23:22 a user on your WordPress site. And so things
00:23:22 --> 00:23:25 can kind of integrate seamlessly. So... Those
00:23:25 --> 00:23:28 are a few options for kind of building community
00:23:28 --> 00:23:33 or getting feedback engagement. Those are the
00:23:33 --> 00:23:35 things that I'm thinking about. This is really
00:23:35 --> 00:23:37 fuzzy. I know I threw a lot of things at you.
00:23:38 --> 00:23:42 If you have questions or you want to provide
00:23:42 --> 00:23:44 feedback on how you're getting engagement with
00:23:44 --> 00:23:47 your podcast or how you're building a community
00:23:47 --> 00:23:49 for your podcast, I'd love to hear from you.
00:23:50 --> 00:23:56 You can head over to podcastworkflows .com That'll
00:23:56 --> 00:23:58 take you to the fan list page and you can leave
00:23:58 --> 00:24:00 a text or voice note and I will give you a shout
00:24:00 --> 00:24:05 out on the show. So thank you so much for listening
00:24:05 --> 00:24:09 to the podcast workflows podcast. I really appreciate
00:24:09 --> 00:24:11 it. If you're not on my mailing list, you can
00:24:11 --> 00:24:14 go to podcastworkflows .com slash join and sign
00:24:14 --> 00:24:18 up there. And until next time, I can't wait to
00:24:18 --> 00:24:19 see what you make.