Ways To Get Serious About Monetizing Your Podcast And Growing Your Audience

Increasingly, listening to podcasts is growing in popularity.

According to Statista, 55% of Americans have listened to a podcast this year. Every month, millions more are discovering podcasts.

Even celebrities are starting their own podcasts. Yet, when it comes to monetization, podcasting is still in its commercial infancy. The majority of independent podcasters however struggle to make a living doing what they love. The traditional advertising model that’s made multi-millionaires of some YouTubers does not work for most podcasters. Other revenue models may be far more lucrative for podcasters.

“If your audience loves you and the content you create, there is good money in podcasting. You just have to know how to make it work,” explains Alexander Riesenkampff, the chief executive officer of GetVokl, a live-streaming platform for podcasters.

“We created GetVokl to help podcasters monetize their podcast, by interacting with their audience. This is more enjoyable and certainly more lucrative than podcast ads.”

GetVokl, a platform that combines the best practices for direct monetization, offers an interactive format that helps podcasters build and foster a loyal audience. As experts in the field, they know what podcasters need to successfully earn money and grow a loyal audience.

Some of the things GetVokl suggests podcasters need to be mindful of include:

• Interact & Engage. Listeners generally appreciate podcasters and their content more than most other digital creators. Therefore even podcasters with small audiences have fans that would love the opportunity to interact more directly with the person they consider ‘that friend in my ear’. Given the opportunity, these fans will take any opportunity they get to engage with you. Creating a real community with and amongst these fans will make them your most powerful promoter. That’s why GetVokl allows you to host live talk-shows for your audience. They call this interactive podcasting and it’s the future. Building these communities and interacting with them is what gets podcasters paid. It’s this interaction with their audience that increases revenue and loyalty.

• Experiment & Adapt. Traditionally, podcasting has been a medium dominated by independent creators. Now with lots of celebrities and large capital coming into space, Indy creators will have to develop strategies to stay relevant. Podcast charts favor only the top podcasts, which means there are very few platforms that have effective discovery for Indy podcasts. It’s important to be open to change in order to be successful. Indy podcasters will need to embrace new technology and try new things if they want to grow their audience and earn more money.
• Promote & Get Paid. Many podcasters want to earn money from their efforts, and even make a living doing what they love but struggle getting paid. Podcast Ads only work for a select few podcasters and listeners typically don’t like them either. Indy podcasters shouldn’t be discouraged as they too have the ability to make money. Directly monetizing their audiences is something even the smaller podcasters can do. It’s important to let your audience know the ways they can support you financially. GetVokl’s platform makes it simple for podcasters to do just that and earn money. For example, fans can make virtual donations during live shows that get paid out directly to podcasters’ bank accounts. Fans can also purchase monthly subscriptions to a podcaster channel in turn for exclusive access to the podcasters and special events.

“We know exactly what it takes for podcasters to create a connection with their audience, as well as successfully monetize these efforts,”

added Riesenkampff. “With attention put toward the right tactics and tools, all podcasters can be successful.”