Christmas holidays are just a month away, so what are you doing to prepare?
Preparing your podcast for the Christmas and New Year break means a little more than just giving it some extra cheer. If you are already an avid listener of podcasts (as we can safely presume you are, if you have your own show), you will notice a lot of shows going dormant over the holidays. That’s fine to do, but you do risk people finding someone else to fill that slot while they are away enjoying their hot cocoa.
Here’s what we recommend to do to avoid losing your listeners during the happiest time of the year:
- Curate and/or Create a Magical Playlist
If you hadn’t thought ahead for the holidays in your content planning when you first started the show – we have a solution for you. Whether you are an interview pod or a chat show between two best friends, likelihood is – everyone has share some sort of holiday-related transformative/hilarious experience on the podcast. Simply go back through your podcasts’ transcripts and find that nugget of holiday gold and put together episodes that people can listen to to get in the festive spirit.
- Don’t Get Wrapped Up with Too Much Holiday Content
Saying that, also don’t get too obsessed with rebranding your whole podcast to be holiday-themed. Not only is that unnecessary effort and time on your part, but it can also be a huge distraction for your listeners. First of all, not everyone celebrates Christmas and New Year and second, even if they do – some people are simply looking for a break! If you already have a schedule of exciting episodes coming up, just releasing those is ALSO a great strategy. People’s listening habits do change over the holidays, but being the constant reminder of the great content that they can unplug too away from their family and friends is going to serve you well, too.
- Trim the Fat and Get Straight to the Cheer
Precisely because people’s listening habits can be quite different during the holidays, consider how you are editing and releasing your content too. If, for example, you have a lot of swearing in your eps, consider releasing beeped Christmas specials that can be enjoyed with the whole family. Explaining this in your marketing by saying ‘This holiday season, we are releasing family-friendly eps, which means these are safe for your children’s ears to enjoy in the car as you go to meet Santa’ might just be the way to convince people to listen to your podcast anyway, even if they lose their usual commuting time to and from work. Similarly, think about releasing shorter eps that can be enjoyed while your listeners are cooking instead of sitting on a train for a whole hour.
- Ring in the New Year
Once Christmas is behind you – this is the time to release your ‘best of’ eps. We are constantly telling people not only to put these together for your feed, but to also keep them in your back pocket for awards. You will always be asked for the most interesting parts of your podcast to be submitted as a single audio file. Putting something together that not only serves your listeners, but later makes your life so much easier when award entries roll around, it’s a real win-win!
- Set Your Resolutions
And finally, any break from the ordinary posting schedule is a good time for you to reflect. Look at your analytics, check out your socials, think about your guests. You would be surprised by just how much you are managing when you finall get to take a small break. For all creators, time to think is hard to come by – so if you are able to take some time off this holiday season – use it to your advantage. Recharge, take a step back, and come back with some fresh ideas of what you would like to focus on in the future. We know that planning, recording and releasing a podcast is a lot of work so celebrate all you’ve done, too!
You never have to do any of this alone, either. We are very happy to help you figure out the next steps. We offer full MOT services that give you strategy and actionable steps beyond it to refresh your feed and bring your more listeners.