Why Audiograms are an easy way to grow your podcast audience quickly
A Podcast audiogram is something that is becoming more and more popular so it’s probably a word you have heard. Most new podcasters I speak with want to get a podcast audiogram made. So, what is an audiogram and why do you need to think about it?
Essentially an audiogram is a podcast promo, usually shared across social media. Think of it as an advertisement or trailer for your podcast. All TV, streamers and radio stations do this to try and hook people in to watch or listen to shows.
Let’s take Netflix as an example. if you hover over a show or movie, it automatically plays a trailer (aka a promo), that includes bite-sized clips of some attention-grabbing moments of that show. Have a look next time you’re on Netflix, find a show you are familiar with and see what they use for the promo. The idea is the same as an audiogram.
In a nutshell, it’s a way to put bites of podcast audio and package it up with some visuals so that people can discover your show.
Do I need a podcast audiogram ?
If you do long-form (anything over 20 minutes) interview-based podcasts and you want to grow an audience then I would suggest that yes, you need an audiogram to promote your podcast.
Time is one of the biggest factors that play into a listener’s mind when they decide if they are going to check out a podcast they are unfamiliar with. Looking at the length of a podcast and seeing 60 minutes on the counter is a BIG commitment.
In 2021 people are very smart and very precious with their time. Words aren’t enough, you need to give them good evidence that it’s worth their time.
How often have you been scrolling on social media and spotted a video clip? The first thing you look at is the length because you want to know if you have the time to watch it and follow the message it’s going to give you. A 30 - 60 second clip is an easy commitment, people browsing will give 60 seconds of their time to almost anything. That’s 60 seconds of free attention, what are you going to use to convince them to listen to a 60-minute podcast?
What’s known as “hooking and teasing” is something that all podcasters need to keep in mind. Essentially it means constantly giving the listener a) a reason to listen in the first place and b) a reason to keep listening. Don’t ever assume that people will listen and keep listening just because you tell them it’s going to be good. You need to always be giving them reasons as to why.
I speak more about this in my article on how a podcast should be structured. The best way to hook a listener into a podcast is with good clips and editing…
How to get a good audiogram clip
Audio is the main part of a good podcast audiogram. After all, you are trying to sell a much longer version of the audio clips you include in an audiogram. You need to find clips that are exciting to listen to. My go-to step-by-step guide would is:
Find an impactful moment or story
A Podcast Audiogram should offer something impactful or valuable. Start by looking for a good moment, something you think will evoke some impact for a listener. Find the natural beginning and end of the piece, you want some sort of natural story arc. It’s fine if what you have now is quite long, even 3 or 4 minutes.
Start chopping
At this point just start listening and cutting. An easy place to start is with gaps, uhms and filler words. Next, you’ve got to lose actual content. This is a bit more tricky and takes practice and multiple listens. Listen to your clip again and cut another bit then rinse and repeat. Try to be ruthless, what is the absolute bare minimum the listener needs to hear to get the idea.
Take out something important (the secret sauce!!)
This for me is the secret ingredient to a good promotional clip. Don’t give the listener EVERYTHING. You need to provide a reason for them to go to the full episode. So a great way to do this is to edit out an important part of the clip or story. Let’s take a fictional example that will explain the idea:
“Hiring a podcast editor was the best thing I ever did, it really changed everything. Once I did that I was found I had more time to go back and focus on the things I am really good at. My turnover went up by 50% in the next 12 months because all my focus was on the business again and I was able to put that additional income into other things that helped promote my business even further. Things have just snowballed since that.”
Okay, so this clip on its own would be pretty good. It’s short and impactful, there’d but nothing wrong with using this, but what happens when you use the secret sauce and take out something important:
“It really changed everything. Once I did that I was found I had more time to go back and focus on the things I am really good at. My revenue up by 50% in the next 12 months because all my focus was on the business again and I was able to put that additional income into other things that helped promote my business even further. Things have just snowballed since that.”
I’ve taken out the part about what the speaker did that “changed everything”. This clip is now a perfect promotional clip because the impact of a 50% increase in revenue is still there but the listener needs to go and listen to find out exactly what this person did to achieve it.
You could also use compilation clips for an audiogram. Take 3 or 4 impactful statements from throughout your podcast and edit them together into a 1-minute mash-up. This is probably going to be more time consuming but it can work very well.
What does an audiogram show?
The visuals don’t need to be over-complicated, it is nice to have something that looks pretty but if you don’t have the budget to pay someone to design it for you, here are the main things you need to include:
Podcast artwork
Where to listen to the podcast
An animated waveform
Optional:
Guest name and title/episode title
Subtitles
Both Headliner and Waave offer user-friendly solutions to create audiograms for small fees. If you use a podcast editor or producer they will be able to do all this for you, just like we do here at Podlad…
Podcast Audiogram examples
Here at Podlad, we produce audiograms as part of our podcast production services. We can select your clips, using our 15 years of broadcast experience and knowledge of what makes a good promotional clip (some of our partners prefer to choose their clips which is cool too!).
We also produce custom-built visuals, our designer packages them up so that it fits with your branding and looks, unlike anything you would get from Headliner, Wavve or any other audiogram creator.
We can provide in varying sizes that fit all social media platforms.
We can also include music and subtitles on request.
Here are some of our podcast audiogram examples:
