Podcast Reviews – PCI 341

0:00 Or if you've got feedback, you know, maybe if you've got negative feedback, you ask 'em to say, Hey, can you send that? If you've got negative feedback, can you send that via email. ? There's nothing wrong with that. . That's right. You know, the constructive criticism comes by emails. The raves and praise Go is to, uh, to Apple Podcast. That's kind of a good, good combo that, you know. Yeah, no, that's, that's wonderful. Self-preservation right there. . That's right. You're listening to Podcast Insider, hosted by Mike Dell, Todd Cochran, and Mackenzie Bennett from the Blueberry team, bringing you weekly insights, advice, and insider tips and tricks to help you start, grow and thrive through podcasting.

0:41 With all the support of your team here at Blueberry Podcasting, welcome. Let's dive in. This is Todd Cochran, CEO and co-founder of. Blueberry. And I'm Mackenzie Bennett, marketing specialist here at Blueberry. Today, we are going to talk about podcast reviews. What are the best practices for how to use podcast reviews? Now, there's a lot of things that we can go into on this topic, the benefits of podcast reviews, how you can use them, some, maybe some ideas that people have about them that are incorrect. So we just wanna start out with some of the benefits of podcast reviews for your show. And first things first, the most simple and obvious one.

1:26 It gives new listeners an idea of how good your show is. , that's all. You know, I've, I've been doing podcasting a long time, and it's been a long time since I ask my listeners to do a review, but always smile when I listen to a podcast that's asking for them, cuz it tells me that they're, they're, what they're really trying to do is they're trying to build some feedback from their audience to be able to give those, at least come in through Apple Podcasts, the ability to be able to see what the show is about a little bit. But, you know, oftentimes I tell podcasters, be careful to ask for those reviews too early when you're a brand new show and you're just getting your feet wet, and maybe you should get some episodes underneath you and get your, get your voice refined just a little bit because those bad reviews could impact you. Now, you know, friends, family, they're, they're all going to give you great reviews no matter what.

2:23 So those are the folks you should definitely ask in those early, early days. And they kind of ask, is x is a little booth here, a boost there? But, you know, people won't know because they'll just see a, a first name. And, and I think it's, uh, a good way to, to kind of kickstart it. But as you said, Mackenzie giving new listeners something to build upon. I, I think it's a good idea, but I just tell podcasters use a little caution in the, in the very early, uh, stages of doing this show, but it does build social proof over time. Yeah, I definitely agree with you there. You can be kind of kicking yourself for putting yourself in that situation if things happen too early. One of the most common things that we hear is people record their first episode and they're just, they're so unhappy with it and know that they can do better.

3:11 And so what we tell them is, go re-record. And you do have the ability to remove the episode and put a new episode out there. You know, you can, there's no reason that you have to do all of this all at the same time. So while it does, you know, having the reviews does allude to a more reputable and listen to show. You wanna make sure that you have a good show first. So that social proof that you're getting, you want to ensure that you're on good footing for that point. And at the same time, you know, we look at reviews. I know when I'm buying something on Amazon and I'm not really that square with a vendor, I'll, I'll go look at the reviews and oftentimes I've chosen not to purchase something based on some reviews that maybe was a customer experience or something broke early.

4:03 So I think that people do put a lot of weight behind reviews. So I think it's important in those early days of podcasting to, you know, make sure again, that you're refined enough that those reviews are not gonna hurt you because it could stop when someone from listening. And again, usually the reviews for you as a podcaster can be used several ways. You know, number one, they give you little bragging rights when you, when you get a number of good ones, they're available in our stats system now so that all your reviews are, are pulled down and you can actually use those in your, in your social promotion. So I think a good review can help you grow your show.

4:46 But again, I guess for the better word, don't get hung up on it. You know, it's just one piece of many for your show. Yes, yes. And especially the, the fact of don't get hung up on it, that comes into play. If you do have a bad review, odds are you're gonna get one. Everyone has, everybody does. Everyone has a bad review and you just, I mean, you're gonna respond how you're gonna respond, but at the end of the day, it's best if you just let it roll off your back. If it's worded well and politely and critically, give it some thought and consider, is this person correct? It might not be. There's a very high chance they're just not going to like you.

5:27 That'll happen every once in a while. But it's similar to with your podcast statistics. You just have to, you know, have that confidence with yourself and not get too hung up on it. O one thing I found in the very, very early days when reviews were available via Apple Podcast was I had found some success and with that success came, well, some folks that were a little jealous or even haters, and they purposely wrote one star reviews largely because, well, they just were, they were haters. And I embraced the hate and talked about it on the show and, and did do the reflection. Are they saying what they, or what they saying is valid and made small adjustments where needed.

6:18 So, uh, again, if you get that one star, don't worry about it. It's usually, uh, nine out of 10 times as someone that's just wants to cause trouble and, and give you pain. And, and, and that's why today, after many, many years of doing a podcast, I don't ask for reviews anymore. And once in a while we'll get one. And I'm kind of surprised to see it come in and it makes me smile. But. It's not something you're looking for. I think there's this myth that more reviews are gonna help you gonna get you into new and noteworthy. We. We've heard that for years and it just, we all just kind of roll our eyes at it because that is not how it functionally works within Apple.

7:03 . And matter of fact, apple has published the guidelines on their policy on how you can submit to be a new and new noteworthy, and it takes a little groundwork on your part. They basically look at shows that have been submitted to them by podcasters or the companies that are representing them. So there's clear data on how this is affected for new and noteworthy over on Apple Podcast, uh, in the podcast connect area of their website. So, uh, again, don't believe the myth that more reviews are going to, uh, mean you're gonna be in a new and noteworthy. Uh, yeah, it's, it's not gonna happen that way.

7:45 People think it gets new and new and noteworthy because your downloads are going up and all of this jazz. But if you're getting more reviews, that might just be a correlation to you getting new listeners because if you do have that influx of reviews of people saying, oh, this is good, it might show up, it might make a difference when people are viewing your show in an app and deciding, do I wanna listen to this? So it's not necessarily behind the scenes, it's just how users are actually responding, like how listeners are responding to your show within the app. And like I said, uh, a little bit earlier, you can find your Apple Podcast reviews in the blueberry Statistics dashboard. It's under audience and Apple Reviews. And uh, what will happen there, just so you know, is if someone post a review, it usually takes a couple of days for that to surface at Apple.

8:40 I don't know what kind of process they have over there, but it's not instant for that review to show up on the website and when it shows up, then it takes us a few days to pull that in. So if you see a review that's on Apple Podcast and it's not in our review section, don't worry, they'll be synced up in short order. But that's something you could see that there could be a delay of a couple of days before it shows up in your dashboard. You know, that makes me question, uh, the private shows or the premium episodes that Apple does. I wonder if you can leave reviews for those shows, you know, if you're a paid user or a paid listener or a subscriber or whatever it is. I really don't know. Yeah, you can because every show on Apple has an origin point.

9:26 Every listing on Apple essentially equal when it comes to reviews, even if they have, if they're purely premium. So you still can leave one for a premium podcast. That's cool. Yep. You know, apple isn't the only one that does reviews. I know Spotify, you can leave. I don't think it's a review, but you can leave a rating and I think even that rating might just be a thumbs up or a thumbs down . But overall, the idea of the podcast reviews just reminds me that by far the most important way that people are gonna find your show is word of mouth. And that that's essentially a podcast review as well. Yeah, and I, I think that is important to remember as a podcaster, if you're not asking your audience to share your show with friends and family and people they know that think that they might enjoy the podcast, you know, you're missing out on a huge opportunity because it's really boils down to everyone that listens to your show is going to know different people. And they, and those circles are usually not interchanging, what is it, six or seven degrees, a separation between people usually. Yeah.

10:31 And what Mackenzie listens to or what I listen to are obviously probably completely different podcast types and she's gonna recommend certain shows to her friends and that I would not, it just kind of percolates out. And if you can rinse, wash, repeat that and getting your audience, they, they will, they will help you grow your show faster than any, any posted review on Apple Podcast or any thumbs up on Spotify for sure. But again, you know, if you want more reviews, you have to ask for them. And depending on where you wanna do that in your show, it could be just a casual mention, Hey everyone, don't forget if you love the show, you know, drop a review over an Apple podcast or give us a thumbs up on Spotify.

11:14 That could be as simple as you need to go. You don't have to hammer it home. Just a gentle reminder that, hey, if you love the show, go give us a review. A different way to do it is to also work with other podcasters. There's, this has been happening since probably the beginning of podcasting, but you find another podcaster similar to your show or, you know, not even similar. It's, it's just, go ahead, listen to that show and leave a re honest heartfelt review that helps them that, you know, is, is gonna give them that boost. And it's just, just, it's just a nice swap. It's easy.

11:55 Do it with however many shows you want. I think a lot of networks do this too, probably. Yeah. One thing that I've done is if I'm listening to a podcast that I really, really like, I will make a mention of it actually in my podcast. I'm listening to this podcast, I really love it. I'll put a link to it in the show notes and that is almost as valuable or more than any type of bot promotion. And then I often send the podcaster a note and say, Hey, I love your show, talked about it, my podcast, you know, you better tell them some details. You better be a true fan and not opposer. You wanna, you know, you wanna be very legitimate here, not use this as an opportunity to try to, you know, get a little, uh, review and return.

12:38 Because I don't necessarily want the show that I'm recommending to just do automatically do a response because do they really like the show? And if they do, then great. But I don't want something come across as, uh, half-hearted as well. Yeah. Especially if you are, you know, reminding people of this on social media or on your website or anything. Make sure that you're coming off as genuine and that you do want their responses and that you're asking for this for reasons that will, you know, help your show and not just come off as selfish and egotistical . Cuz people can tell.

13:21 I think in the radio industry they call it P one, that's like a, like the top 10% of your fans, they're gonna really do just about anything you ask them to do. They're, they're gonna respond via email to your questions and your queries. They're going to go and give you those reviews and those thumbs up and those fans, uh, the super fans of the show, they're the ones that really can help you grow over time. And, and you simply, again, I think the key is the ask. Uh, we're afraid to ask what we want our listeners to do on the show and, uh, or tell them, it might even be as direct as, Hey, uh, listen and you've been listening for a while. Go over and gimme a review.

14:02 You know, it's almost a little bit demanding, but those that are super fans are gonna say, yeah, but love, love this show. Uh, I'm gonna go ahead and do that. Or if you've got feedback, you know, maybe if you've got negative feedback, you ask him to say, Hey, can you send that? If you got negative feedback, can you send that via email ? There's nothing wrong with that. . That's right. You know, the constructive criticism comes by emails, the raves and praise goes to, uh, to Apple Podcasts. That's kind of a good, good combo, you. Know, that, that's just Yeah, no, that's, that's wonderful self-preservation right there, . That's Right. That's exactly what it's, and you know, I, it's making me think of WTF with Mark Maron. He has regularly included emails from his listeners over the years and basically every episode, or at least you know, years back he did.

14:50 And that's one of the things that you can say, if you leave me a review, like I'll give you a shout out on the show, I'll link you on social or something like that. It's, people aren't asking for a lot. Like they're usually happy to do it, but like Todd said, you have to give them that action item or kind of say like, Hey, this, I would really appreciate this as a listener because you know, I've been doing this for how many years. Like this is something that I want, can you actually help me out? So people are receptible, they just have to know the reason why a lot of the time. With our new value for value, we, um, now get what's called Boost Boost brands. Yeah.

15:31 And we can read those on the show when we're, when we're recording and give acknowledgement of feedback. It really is a slick way. And then, you know, for me on my show, I've always read listener email and, uh, some of those emails were, whew, pretty negative feedback I had. Matter of fact, uh, I joke I talked with Mike about this, is that I had, uh, a listener in Brooklyn, his name was Sal. And boy Sal just would put it to me about every episode and then I would read his email and then it would just generate this whole flood of pylons of the fans that came back and would say, Sal is wrong. But, you know, this kind of went back and forth for four or five years.

16:11 It was a lot of fun and, and oftentimes there was almost a wink, wink mode, uh, that we got into. But, uh, yeah, I miss Sal. Yeah, I think he finally got sick enough of the show. He left, but he , you know, but it, but it was good that back and forth, it built this interaction with the audience and it built, it really built a fan. A. Little inside joke. Yeah. People love. Those . It is. It reminds me, um, I wanna say it's Dave Jackson who if he gets a bad review, like the first one that you ever get, he kinda like celebrates it. Like he tells people to be like, okay, great. Now you're officially a podcaster, . That's right. You have your first official hater. Yeah.

16:51 Welcome to the podcasting space. . Podcast reviews are a lot of fun and they can be super helpful, but, uh, take 'em with grain of salt. They're a lot of fun. And just keep 'em fun. Yeah. That's the key. And I think if you make it fun in your show, it's gonna be fun in the review. Mm-hmm. . So podcast reviews, go get 'em. Thanks for joining us. Come back next week and in the meantime, head to podcast insider.com for more information to subscribe, share, and read our show notes. To check out our latest suite of services and learn how blueberry can help you leverage your podcast. Visit blueberry.com. That's blueberry without the ease.

17:32 We couldn't afford the ease.