Using Fan Mail to Engage with Your Listeners

Send us a text

Engagement is the key to building a meaningful relationship with your podcast audience, and Buzzsprout's Fan Mail feature makes connection simple and effective. In this episode, we break down the Fan Mail feature, how to use it on your podcast, and strategies for engaging with your listeners. 

Have a topic or question we should address on a future episode? Text us or email the Buzzsprout Podcaster Success Team at [e-mail]

Keep podcasting!

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to Podcasting Q&A brought to you by the
people at Buzzsprout.
I'm your host, cara Passetti,and I'm bringing you the best
tips and strategies to keep youpodcasting with confidence.
This week we are focusing onengagement.
We see podcasters reach out tothe support inbox all the time
asking how do I engage with myaudience?

(00:22):
And it's a fair question,because it's very difficult to
record on a microphone, staringmaybe at yourself on your
computer and then publishingthis episode that you've
recorded on the directories,only to maybe hear crickets and
see download numbers.
And while download numbers aresuper reassuring because it
means that people are listeningto your content, hearing back

(00:43):
from them sure would be nice.
Ratings and reviews arewonderful tools, again to just
get some feedback, but we'retalking about really connecting
with your audience.
So the cool thing aboutpodcasting is that you're
actually always engaging withyour audience, so you are
communicating with them.
Every time you release a newepisode, they are hearing you,

(01:05):
but how do they respond?
And I want to put the totalhighlight on a Buzzsprout
feature called fan mail.
This is the easiest way foryour listeners to engage with
you as the podcaster.
So first let's start.
What is fan mail?
Fan mail was created out of ourown pain point on an existing

(01:26):
Buzzsprout podcast.
Maybe you've heard of itBuzzcast Albin, kevin and Jordan
talk about.
They were always searching forengagement.
They tried things likeboostagrams and Twitter and
email and so many options forhaving their listeners reach out
to them, and some of them weresuccessful.
But some of them took a lot ofwork to check, and so Albin, I

(01:48):
think, initiated a text optionand so he put it out there on an
episode and it took off.
Listeners were engaging withthe podcast, they were
responding and it just was verynatural to grab your phone that
you were already listening toyour podcast on and send a quick

(02:09):
text to your favorite podcaster.
And so fan mail has been agreat hit.
We've seen a lot of podcastersusing it in Buzzsprout.
It uses an SMS to give listenersthe ability to text your show
directly.
Fan mail will automatically adda text link in your show notes
when you enable it inside ofyour Buzzsprout account, and
listeners will see that nomatter what directory they are

(02:31):
listening on, and they can clickthat link and send a text
message to you as the host andthat will show in your
Buzzsprout account If you don'twant to send us a text link at
the top of your episode shownotes.
You can always choose to dropit down to the end of your show
notes.
It'll show just at the end ofyour description and right

(02:51):
before your episode footer ifyou have anything added there.
You can also customize what thetext link says.
So the default and the mostwidely used version of this is
send us a text.
That makes it really simple foryour listeners to know exactly
what they're doing.
So when they click that link,they're not surprised when their

(03:12):
messaging app appears and theyare prompted to send a text.
It keeps it really simple andvery straightforward on what to
expect.
With that said, there is anoption to add some customization
here.
So I've seen a couple ofpodcasters change the wording to
their link, includingBuzzsprout Weekly.
We have an Ask Megan section ofour newsletter, so Megan went

(03:34):
ahead and changed her link tosend us a question for Ask Megan
and that way listeners can sendin their text message, ask
their question and then Megancan answer it in the next
episode.
Now you can always keep thestandard send us a text link.
That works just fine, but justknow you have options.
So what are the best uses forfan mail.

(03:54):
One of the most popular ways ofusing fan mail is for a call to
action at the end of yourepisode.
So you can use fan mail tosolicit questions, so you can
ask your listeners to send inthe questions that they want to
see answered on the next episodeHint, hint, like on podcasting
Q&A, or you can solicit answers,and so if you have a question

(04:18):
and you want to know maybe it'seven for episode ideas what do
you guys want to hear from me?
Or did that episode reallyresonate with you?
What did you learn from thatepisode that I released last
week?
You can put that out in yourfan mail call to action and your
listeners can respond.
And so, again, it's sorewarding to get that fan mail

(04:39):
and that's a great way toconnect with your listeners.
Another awesome way is just toshare the love.
We even have the option ofsharing those messages on your
Buzzsprout website.
So there's a way to post them.
You can share your fan mail andit will be populated right
there on your Buzzsprout websitefor your listeners to see.
I know, as a listener, if Isend a message into my favorite

(05:00):
podcaster and then theyhighlight that message, that is
a win.
That's very exciting and willdefinitely encourage me to write
back again.
If you are listening to this andyou have a favorite podcast and
you happen to see that, send usa text link in their show notes
.
Please send them a text.
Let them know how much youappreciate and love the podcast.
I know it encourages podcastersand so they would love to hear

(05:21):
from you.
So if you have questions aboutfan mail or any questions for
the Podcaster Success Team, youcan reach out to us at any time
at support at buzzsproutcom.
Now, I bet you saw this coming,but if you have a question that
you want answered on apodcasting Q&A episode, please
click the send us a text link inthe show notes.
I'd love to hear from you and Iwould love to answer any

(05:43):
questions you have.
Podcasting Q&A is available inyour favorite podcast app, so be
sure to join us every Monday tokickstart your week.
Thanks for listening.
Have a great week and, asalways, keep podcasting.