How do you know that what you're saying to your audience is working? Right? How do you know that your message is actually resonating with your audience? This is what we're talking about today. And I'm so excited to share this message. I actually did a training a few weeks ago, in the Christian podcasters Association group. So shout out to Eric and his team over there, I was so honored that they asked me to come and speak in
their community. And it was so fun The presentation was, it was just really just full of lots of great questions that we had at the end. And I thought, You know what this message is so good that I wanted to bring it here on the podcast, because there were just a lot of things that were brought to my attention, even in
planning the content. And I'm like, Why have I not taught this to our community before, there were just some things that I like it was brought to the surface as I was planning it, and you should just know my whole, like, how I create presentations, it's a pretty in depth process where it's like, you know, scribbles, scrabbles and notebooks and post it notes. And then I put it in a Google Doc, and then eventually makes it into Canva. And I
create a presentation. So by the time I actually present it, I have it deeply ingrained in me of exactly what I'm going to say. And I just remember thinking, Pan, I don't think I've taught most of this on my podcast, I think it and I know it innately within myself, but I don't often preach it here on the show. So that's what we're gonna do today. So let's get right to it. Welcome to the profit podcast where we teach entrepreneurs how to
start launch and market their podcast. I'm your host, Krystal, Proffitt, and I'm so excited that you're here. Thanks for hanging out with me today. Because if you've been trying to figure out the world of podcasting, think of this show as the time saving shortcut you've been looking for. So let's get right to it, shall we?
So you may hear a lot of clicking in the background today. And that simply because I'm literally going back through the training that we did, I don't have the actual recording of when this was delivered live, because like I said, it was for someone else's organization. And we did it live on
Zoom. And it was just so much fun. If you're listening and you were there that day, then I hope that you remember this, like a whole event that we had with fond memories, because it was it was a lot of fun for me, and I love the energy that y'all brought. But I'm gonna deliver this as if we were all hanging out. And we were alive. I'm not even recording the video today. Because I was like, You know what, I just want to deliver this to you. Yes, you listener, this is just for you
today. And I think that this talk will be really impactful. If you've been wondering, how do I really know if my podcast message is working? And I just I need some markers, right? I need some roadmaps that will help me know what this actually looks like. And some just kind of indication that I'm on the right track. Because people will come to me and say, well, here's my numbers, is this good? And I'm like, oh, there's so many other measures of success when it comes to your podcast.
And we're going to talk about a few of those today. So are you ready? Like I said, we're gonna, I'm gonna pretend that we're I'm just delivering this as a brand new training just for you today, because we are talking about how to know if your podcast message is working. And the intention of what we're learning today is I want you to walk away from this training today with a better understanding of how to make sure your message is resonating with your audience. And it's on the right track.
So in today's training, we're going to be covering one is your message working to we're going to talk about understanding your analytics. And then three, we're going to talk about getting audience feedback, and what that looks like. And then for how to actually get feedback, because this is the thing is when I asked someone, Hey, are you getting audience feedback? They're like, I I don't know how I don't know what that looks like. So don't worry, we're
going to talk about that today. And this is where I would have an opportunity to share like hey, if you have any questions, post them in the chat, but since this is a podcast, I would love for you to reach out in our free Facebook community. Send me a DM send me an email if you have any questions about what we are chatting about here today. Because I really want this to sink in if you are struggling to know If your podcast message is working, okay, so are you ready? I want to I want
to like, yes nods. I feel your virtual nod right now. And you're like, yes, Krystal, let's make this happen. I'm excited. Or at least I am. I mean, I'm, I'm nodding and I'm excited.
So yeah, we're gonna dive right in. So is your message working? So if you're brand new to podcasting, but you know that you want to know more about messaging and content, I want you to listen to everything today, with an open mind of, well, what if? Or how can this work for me in the future, all right. And then if you currently have a podcast, I want you to explore some of today's training with a fresh eye and a perspective, that it's all about trying new things, and experimenting, whenever it
comes to your podcast message. This is really important, because I think that and I'm guilty of this as well, we all get complacent after a while. And I know I've gotten comfortable, where I'm like, okay, every Tuesday, I'm gonna have a solo
episode. And then every Thursday we'll have an interview, or we'll have something that's a little bit more hard hitting like, we get in this rhythm and this cadence with our podcast, and I want you to start thinking about things today, you may have heard some of these concepts before, but I want you to ask yourself, How can this work for me, okay, this is going to be just that real talk check in that we all need to know if your message is really working. So we're going to talk about
your gut feeling. This is really important, how you can know if your message is working, and some of the questions that you should ask yourself, but one of the big things that we're going to cover is, uh, following the breadcrumbs to success. All right, this is something that I say to myself all the time in my business, I look at my analytics, I look at my revenue, I look at my following. And I
say, Well, what is actually working? Right? You can look at your downloads your email subscribers, like what's, what's converting really well, and you want to follow those breadcrumbs of success. And that also includes your podcast. All right. So I would love it. And I know we're not here live, and there's no comments. There's no chat box. But I want you to ask yourself the question, Is your message working? Right? And I want you to answer yes or no, it's not yes, no. Or maybe it's a it?
Do you feel confident? This is the gut check moment, we have to have this gut check moment and be honest with yourself before you can move forward. Because if you're saying, Well, I don't maybe you're not going to listen and receive everything else that we're going to talk about here today, if you're not truly being honest with yourself. So give yourself a yes or no. Is your message working for your podcast? All right. Now, here's the follow up. If you answered no, your
message isn't working. Do you know why? Do you know why? Because there's no right or wrong answer here. Right? If you said yes, that's awesome. If you said no, that's great. We need to understand the yes or the No. And this is why I think that it's so important for us to get honest, whenever we're trying to understand where your message stands right now, because we can change things in the future. But we got to know where we're starting. So if you answered no, do you know why
your message isn't working? Because I have a few ideas. And we're going to talk about those in a second. But if you answered yes. How do you know that your message is working? Why do you think that your message is resonating with your audience? Is there something specific that stands out that you're just like, Yes, I'm freaking crushing it. Okay, Krystal, I'm doing amazing things. But how? What, what does that actually look like? Don't just tell me, you're amazing.
That's fantastic. We all think our podcasts are amazing. But is your message working? And like I said earlier, we're gonna talk about some of the ways that you can know, but we got to have this gut check moment.
Alright, so we're gonna talk about three ways to know if your message is working with your audience. So number one, and don't worry, y'all I have like I said, a whole presentation. I'm going to share the slides in the show notes for this episode. So KrystalProffitt.com/Episode314. And you can go download them and follow along here with me, like pause this, go download them and come back. But I think it's really important that we walk through these today at a pace that's going to help you understand like, let everything sink in. Like listen to this episode more than once if you need to, but this is but it's a mini training. We're in a mini course. Now, if you haven't already noticed, we're there. So the first question is, are are they engaging with you? Is your audience actually participating? Whenever you ask them, you're on social media on your email list or other places where you interact with them. If you ask them to do something, you make a call to action. are they actually doing them? Are they posting whenever you share a soundbite? Is somebody saying, Oh, my gosh, I can't wait to go listen right now, or liking it or saying something else? Or is your audience emailing you back? Whenever you ask them to reply to a message? Are you getting posts in your Facebook group that your message is working? Right? These are all the ways that you can kind of gauge is my audience engaging with me? And if you said, No, well, Krystal are not doing any of that. Okay? Well, it's not the end of the world. This isn't like a deal breaker. If your audience isn't currently engaging with you, it doesn't mean that we can't get there. But these are the real talk. I told y'all were getting into the real talk today, we need to understand if they are already engaging with you. And then the second thing we need to talk about because we're talking about three ways to know is are you getting those confirming messages, right? The confirming messages simply means are people responding to what you're putting out there. Your posts on social media, your post, wherever you're talking about your podcast? Is somebody saying, Yes, I needed this episode today, or today's interview was so good, or someone just reading a headline that you put out there and they say, I can't wait to listen to this episode. This is what I've been waiting for. And in a little bit, we're gonna dive into getting actual audience feedback if you're not getting these confirming messages, but I really just want to get in touch with what's actually happening right now with your audience. So this is another yes or no question. Are you getting these types of confirming messages where people are saying, just saying good things about your podcast or bad things? I guess, you know, they're still engaging with you. If they say bad things, usually like, oh, this was a terrible episode. Well, they listened to it. They're engaging with you. But I want to know, give yourself that gut check yes or no? Are people giving you these confirming messages? And then another, the third way to know if your audience is engaging with you? Here's a few questions to ask of your audience. All right. This is what I call the ask, then listen, piece of advice, or hate. Always follow up with questions after you publish something. Here's an example. Okay. What did you think of today's episode? Right? This is the question I would ask out to my community whether I was on a live stream, it's in a Facebook group, I would say Hey, what did you think of today's episode, or just a conversation and a DM or talking to a friend of mine that said, oh, you know, I love the podcast today. Ask, right. What do you think of today's episode? And then listen, okay. The listen part is me saying, Oh, you loved it. What was your number one takeaway? So it's kind of like ask them, listen, then follow up, if we want to be really specific about it, but it's me asking, What do you think? And then it says, I'm just saying it was great. You say, Oh, you loved it. That's awesome. What was your number one takeaway. So take it a step further, don't just stop at someone saying your episode was great. Because great doesn't really mean anything. It does, right? It's a compliment. It means maybe you're on the right track. But you need some more concrete feedback. And this is a great marketing tactic. If you aren't a marketing nerd like I am. We'll just hang around with me and we'll get you there eventually. But you need to ask the follow ups of Well, what was your number one takeaway, or Oh, you love today's guest? Is there another one you would love to see on the show as things that aren't open ended? Right? I mean, as things are, hang on, let me rephrase that. Ask questions that are open ended, not just yes or no, because then you can get that feedback. And it's just a great way to start those conversations with your audience. Okay, so I'm going to recap these real fast. The three ways to know if your current message is working with your audience, one, are they engaging with you, too? Are you getting those confirming messages? Three, asking those questions to your audience and getting some of that follow up. This is going to be how you know instead of just asking, Did you love today's episode? Oh, we loved it, it was great. It's just not that helpful. Like I said, it's great. It's validating, maybe it's an ego boost. But it doesn't help you understand any more about your audience. So little marketing secret there for everybody that's been wondering like, Well, how do you get more information? You just got to keep Ask, ask a better question.
Right.
So let's move on to understanding your analytics. Because understanding your analytics is so important. Oh, my gosh, and I have some graphs that are included in today's slideshow that, um, like I said, it's going to be in the show notes, but I'm going to reference them. And I know that most people in the audience will know exactly what I'm talking about. But if you do feel any lost, at any point, please go get the slides, and you'll be
able to see exactly what we're talking about. But it's a really important part of following those breadcrumbs to success. Okay, you must know your numbers. Okay, what are your numbers mean? So downloads and stats are super important, but they are not the total measure of a podcast success. Let me say that, again. Downloads and stats are super important. But they are not the total measure of a podcast success. All right. So this is really, really important for those of you that
are always bugging me about your stats. Are these good? Like, here's my numbers, can you look at my numbers? Can you tell me if they're good? It's not the most important thing. Yeah, they're important. But they're not the all encompassing, you're either a success or a failure based on your stats. So I want to make that really clear. And I hope that everyone here can share that sentiment, because that's how I feel about your stats, but
they are fantastic clues to success. So the four things we're to talk about today is what stats you should be looking at listener behavior, which I'm really excited, we got another episode that's just about listener behavior coming up soon, that's it's gonna be so good. So keep an eye out for that. And then measuring marketing initiatives as well as how a message missed the mark. Okay. So I want, I want to make sure that you pay attention to what is going to matter most to you. Because
like I said, these are really important. All of these are really important to me. But some of these will be kind of like standing out as a ding, ding, ding, like, oh, yeah, I really want to pay attention to that, or that is a higher value than something else that we talked about, just like pay attention, make a mental note, or an actual note, if you're taking notes right now, of what is the most important to you. Okay, so these are the
different types of podcast stats. And if you are a Buzzsprout user, this is what I use, you can go to KrystalProffitt.com/Buzzsprout. This is my podcast hosting site that I've used from the beginning. And their terminology is what I'm going to be using today. Basically, it's going to start with if you're looking at your stats dashboard, and you go over to all stats, you can look at the cumulative numbers, which means everything from Day Zero to today, you will see this upward trend
of every single one of your podcast downloads. But if you toggle that little button to over time, you'll still see a snapshot of all of your downloads. But you'll have these peaks and valleys, valleys based on every month. Right, so I launched my podcast in oh, gosh, I just totally blanked June 2018 is when I first launched my very first podcast. So I have peaks and valleys. Actually, it looks like it almost like flatlined. If you look at the stats, you'll see what I'm
talking about better in this presentation. But it looks like almost a flatline for several months when I first got started. And then there's still even to this day, some peaks and valleys in my numbers. So if you really want to get a deep dive on that, go check out the presentation slides. But some of the other important stats are 90 days, 30 days and seven days. And we'll talk about why each
one of these are important. So the all time cumulative numbers are it's basically the least complicated graph that you'll see in podcasting because everything on this chart is going up into the right, right, it's exactly what you want to see with your show over time. Because these are all of the downloads that your show has gotten since day zero, it's every single number so if even if you just get one more your your graph is still going up and to the right. But then all time
over time. This shows a more realistic point of view for my podcast specifically because there are clear peaks and valleys in my content and you can See where things went totally sideways. If you're looking at the chart, you will see, there was a very big dip in February of 2021, where I'm just like, what happened, what how like, I mean, we're talking about a very significant loss in downloads in February of 2021. And I'm like, I don't even I don't even know what happened. I don't even know
where everything went wrong. The only thing I can think of was, I was working on a launch around that time. But even still, it wasn't a massive launch that I did later on in the year. So it's really interesting to look at the numbers and see how they trend over time. So understanding your stats are just going to be super, super important. So then we have 90 days. So your 90 days stats can show me what it's been like for the last three
months. And I really like to look at these graphs at the end of a quarter to see which of my marketing initiatives paid off the most. So I've been talking of on the potty report, and I mentioned it a few times here on this podcast that I'm going to be guessing a lot in 2022. So I'll be able to track Oh, I guessed it on five podcast in the last quarter, did that make a difference in my numbers, and I can track that based on my 90 days
stats. So that's why those are important. But then as we keep like layering down and getting further and further, we get into our 30 Day statistics. So this is when, like I said, we keep layering down. But I can understand more about my audience by knowing when they listen to my podcast. So if you're a Buzzsprout user, and you can see your 30 day statistics, I can see those clear listener spikes on Tuesdays and Thursdays, which is
whenever I publish new episodes. So this tells me that you and the rest of my audience listeners like you're listening right when a new episode is published. Now, if I had a huge spike on Fridays, then well, that would tell me that people are listening as soon as my email newsletter goes out, because I send a weekly email every single Friday. And that would indicate like, oh, people are listening. Because of they saw it on the email when the email goes out. They but it's funny,
because that's not how y'all are, y'all. I know that that's true for other podcasts. But I think y'all Listen, as soon as they come out every Tuesday and Thursday, that is the consistent peeks for my 30 Day listener stats. And then for seven days, right, this is our last stat that we're going to talk about. But the seven day statistics, I can see that Thursdays are usually more popular.
That's really when people listen to the show. And that doesn't mean that people are only listening to that Thursday episode that comes out, it just kind of tells me that on a regular basis, in a seven day period, Thursday is going to be my most popular day of the week. So that lets me know. And we'll talk a little bit more about listener behavior, like I said, but if I'm going to drop something really important, maybe I should do it in my Thursday episode, and not in my Tuesday. So
that's just something to think about. And something that I when I'm looking I'm actually looking at the graph that reminds me to think about that whenever I'm launching something, or I'm going to have an interview or anything like that, that I want to make sure my audience really hits home with them. Maybe I should release it on a Thursday. Okay, so that is just a brief overview of stats. If you have more questions, please don't hesitate to reach out. But I want you to go
download the presentation slides. That way, you can actually go through all of this and see exactly what I'm talking about.
Okay, now we're going to get into audience feedback and why it is so so important. Y'all This is crucial. It is so crucial, because how else do you connect with your audience? Right? This is a podcast, I'm doing a solo podcast, you can't see me. I can't see you. You're probably walking your dog driving in your car, you're running. Like there's so many different things you'd be doing right now. But I've got to get this feedback. And this is one of
the things that I feel very passionate about. But I think not enough podcasters put the effort into this because it's not always easy. But I really, really want you to pay attention to this over the next 12 months. You need to get some feedback on your podcast and it doesn't just need to be your mom or your spouse or your best friend that tells you you're amazing. Yeah, you're doing a fantastic job you need feedback from the people that listen to you. And you could ask yourself all of these
questions that I'm about to share with you. But it's better to actually hear from your audience, rather than make assumptions. And I can tell you, we're gonna talk about surveys here in a little bit. But there are so many times when I have been wrong, so dead wrong about what I think my audience wants. It's true. I mean, I, there was a survey I recently did in our Facebook group that I was like, I know exactly what they're gonna say, I don't even know why I'm making this poll. I was
dead wrong, dead wrong about so many things. And I had a pretty good response rate people that actually answered the poll. And so I'm like, Man, I just, you just can't make assumptions. Alright, so we're going to talk about listener feedback that I've received things that I've actually heard from people in our audience, and then how to actually get feedback and what that looks like. But I want to give you a quick reminder that you
can't make everyone happy. So don't try. Don't try to please everybody, because you're going to, in the long run, end up making yourself unhappy. So I just wanted to like really point that out. And I hope that that hits home, that you're never going to be able to make every single person in your audience happy. But you should definitely be open to getting some listener feedback. So what this looks like this has been. So these have been messages that I've received. They're all
anonymous. I didn't put their names in here. But here was one it says, The past few episodes have been for beginners. I already know all that. I will come back for more advanced content. So this person was basically telling me like, yeah, Krystal, I've heard all the things that you've been talking about, like, I don't need what you're putting out. It's too it's, she didn't say this, but I thought of it like Oh, it's too babyish. You know, it's like, when a kid gets older, they're
like, that's for babies. I don't need that anymore. I'm looking for the big kid toys. Now. That's how I took it. And I'm like, Man, I really needed to hear that. Because my audience isn't just beginners anymore. That's how it started. But there's a lot of you that have taken action, and you're actually going and doing the things now you're like, Krystal, I'm looking for the next step. So having this feedback was so important to help me really strategize and figure out what type
of content I'm going to deliver and where. So here's another piece of feedback I've gotten, you are in the middle of a promotion, I came back when it was over. So someone actually offered up to me like, oh, I stopped listening to your podcast, like, and I remember, it was like a grimace face. Like, oh, sorry, I as I stopped listening to your show, but But I came back, I came back whenever
you were done with a promotion. So that gives me a few kind of like, okay, I need to pay attention of how promotion heavy I get with some of my episodes, or I could consider well, maybe I'll just do dynamic content in it. And I won't do so much baked in promotion, it just helps me understand as a marketer, how I'm annoying my audience and how to avoid that, so that they don't take these long breaks for my show, because then they may never come back. All right. So that's
another listener feedback. Then another one I got was with the kids going back to school, I didn't have time. This was another person kind of admitting to me. It's funny, because I feel like I'm a therapist, and they come to me, like can like, air out their grievances. Like, I'm so sorry, I stopped listening to your podcast. But whenever the kids go back to school, I will, I will look okay, that's great. That's great. Another ones, they said, I'm not commuting to work
anymore. Y'all. This is honest feedback, we were talking about real talk. And people have been like, I don't listen to podcasts that much anymore. Because I don't commute, I work from home, or do a hybrid model. And I just don't have time to listen to a bunch of podcast, it's okay, we have to be open to hearing this type of feedback, because it is crucial. It's so crucial to help you pivot and move in a different
direction if you need to. And then someone else told me, I prefer your interviews over solo episodes. Now this goes back to I can't please everybody. And I have to ask the question of well, what kind of content do I want to create? Right? This is really, really important that you don't lose sight of what you want as a creator, because like I said, you won't be able to please
everybody. So if someone says, oh, I would love to hear hour and a half long episodes, and then the next person says, Well, I like it when you just do 20 minute episodes, like there's just two polar opposites or I want you to do all solo podcast, I want you to do all interviews. You're never going to make everybody happy. But I like to know like I said the actual comments that my audience has and not just making assumptions, because getting your audience feedback is crucial. I wouldn't know any
of these things, y'all. These things are so specific that things that people told me were so super specific to their individual experiences, I wouldn't have known any of these. So don't assume that you know why or why not? People are listening to your show, get comfortable asking follow up questions for your content. And also some people like would would hear these comments and think, oh, my gosh, I need to change this or do that in order to make all these people happy. I look at
them. And I say, You know what, I'm still on the right track. I'm creating the variety of content that I enjoy creating. And I know that I'm not going to make everybody happy. It's something that I've come to that conclusion several years ago, and it's okay. None of this feedback has me going, Oh, my, doesn't have me shutting down and saying, I just need to stop. I'm a terrible podcaster. I'm awful at this. No, no, this is really good. It's
very honest. And I really appreciate that sometimes, we really, really, really, really need that. And other some of you listening right now, they're just like, oh, my gosh, I can't take it, it makes me sick to my stomach to get real, honest feedback, you're the ones that need it the most, I'm gonna be really brutal with you for a second. Because if you have your head in the sand, and you just have people surrounding you that are telling
you, you're doing great, you're amazing. They're either lying to you, or they don't actually listen to your podcast, and they can't give it give you some helpful feedback. So surround yourself with people that will give you that brutal, honest feedback. So Krystal, I can't listen to your show anymore. Because you know, there's too many weed eaters and blowers going on from the lawn crew that comes to your house every few weeks, like I can't, I can't handle it. But I need that I need
that. So if you're going to be open for feedback, you have to be prepared for the audience, or for the honest answers that you're going to get from your audience. Okay, so now let's talk about how to actually get feedback. All right, we're going to transition this is the final piece that we're going to talk about today. And getting audience feedback goes back to the ask and then listen. And I get feedback from surveys. Now, I've mentioned
this before, but I am a marketing nerd. And one of my favorite classes in college was market research. It was just, it was like, Oh my gosh, this is my favorite like two of my favorite things combined into one, statistics, and marketing. And now that you're kind of familiar with all these
aspects of why feedback is so important. I want you to really focus on a few ways that you can get it and like I said earlier, if you're brand new, I want you to start thinking of, well, maybe I'll implement this after the first quarter that I have
been podcasting or maybe the first six months. But if you've been podcasting for a while, and you've never surveyed your audience, I challenge you to do this in the next in the next three months in the next quarter, I would love to see you survey your audience.
And there's a few ways that we're going to talk about how to do that. So one is you could create a community, to social media polls, actual survey is number three, and live interactions and how they help. We're going to talk about all four of these today. But I want you to learn and observe what can work for you. I'm not telling you to do all these tomorrow, I'm saying here are a few ways that I have done it and how I encourage you to try some of these out
as well. So number one is create a community. So most of you all know this, and you're probably part of our Facebook group. We have a free Facebook group for this podcast. It's the profit podcast online community, you can go search us up, or you'll find a link in the show notes. But I love our community. And I put polls in there all the time. I talk about podcast episodes, I get feedback, there is a community for ongoing
engagement with my audience members. Right. And I think it's important to interact with people even when you don't need anything from them. That's what's really important. We have posts that happen on certain days of the week. We have Monday Mindset Tuesday Tips, Wednesday is an opportunity for everybody to plug their podcast Thursday is just a silly storytime or something that it just involves story. And then on Fridays, we do an
action item. And I'd set this up a long time ago as I was building out the Facebook group because I knew I needed some kind of structure. And I wanted to offer value without constantly adding asking something, don't get me wrong, I will do promotions in the group, I will share some of my affiliate links I will share whenever I have a launch going on. But for the most part, that community is meant for other podcasters to engage
and get feedback and ask questions. But if you don't want to have a Facebook group, there's a few other options. You could do monthly zoom chats with your listeners where you could just put a link in your episode description and say, hey, you know, every third Thursday of the month, we do a zoom chat, I'm going to be in there and you can just show up for an hour or so and say, I'll be
there. If you have any questions, you want to just come hang out, come join our zoom call or any other platform where you talk to people on a regular basis. If you want to create a Slack channel if you want to create a circle or Basecamp. All these are great ideas. But I just love the idea of creating a community because this helps you engage with your people. And it can help make sure that your content is on the right track and even give you some new content ideas. Y'all.
You probably heard me mention it. I have mentioned many people on the podcast, they asked me a question of if you've heard any of our episodes where we do questions from the community, that's where they come from, they come from our Facebook
group. So shout out to all of you there in the profit podcast online community, if you're not there, I highly encourage you join us we have a lot of fun, but don't create content in a vacuum, where it's just you and you have no idea how your content is resonating with the people on the other side. Alright, so number two, social media polls. Keep it simple. Keep this super, super simple. Don't overthink it. Um, one of the things that I recommend is if you're brand new to polls, then I
advise you start on Facebook. That's actually the easier one because it's everyone's really familiar with Facebook and the way that you do it, you can say which episode resonated the most with you and you have two options, right? You can put the title of it or the episode number, and boom, people have options to choose one. Or you could do this in Instagram stories where you say, hey, which was your favorite episode, you could put the two different topics. Or you could say, which one do
you want me to talk about next. But I love this, like, quick hit of it's not too complicated for you to create. And it's not too hard for people to actually feel them out. It will just take two seconds of their time to vote this one or that one? Yes or no? A or B? Right. It's super simple. So social media polls is a second way that you can get some feedback on your content. And then we're talking about surveys, y'all surveys are so fun,
maybe I'm just super nerdy about this. But I have five questions that I want you to, like I said, go to the presentation slides. That's where they are. Um, but I think I'll have a screenshot of this in the show notes. So you can go and actually look at it. But I have five questions that I advise you put on a survey that's more in depth, but I don't want it to be too much to where that they see like
50 questions. They're like, Oh, God, this is gonna take me an hour and a half to do there's no, they just shut down. Not gonna happen. But if you make it short and sweet, where they're like, oh, this will take less than five minutes to do, they're more likely to do it. So the first one is, how did you find my podcast? This is actually what I asked in our questions for our Facebook group is like, how did you find me? This lets me know where
people are coming from. And if I have a marketing initiative out there, it tells me Oh, that's working. Or it's like, oh, man, like I got several referrals from Amy Porterfield momentum community and I'm like, oh, man, I need to make sure that I'm showing up regularly in that community and serving them that way. They continue to reference people back to my group, right so you can understand where your marketing efforts are really
getting noticed. And you just know I need to spend more energy I need to spend more time maybe more money if you're running ads and someone's like, Oh, I found you on a Facebook ad awesome. You get some more validation that those are really working. Okay, the second question is, what is your favorite episode? This for obvious reasons is great to know which one people really enjoyed and maybe you could put what is your favorite episode and why that would be a great kind of ask then
listen cut type of question. Number three is what are you doing while you're listening to the podcast? And I put a few options down there like a driving be walking the dog see folding laundry D working out, or he would be other? This again, just a really simple question. Number four is who do you want me to interview on the podcast? So for those of you that have solo episodes or solo shows, you could come up with another question.
reIative question, but I really like this because it gives me insight into who like other podcasts, I should actually go check out and listen, maybe I could guest on their show in the future. But also it gives me a little insight into who I should ask to be on the show. And number five is what's a topic to cover in future episodes. For obvious reasons. This gives me more content, more content, and it helps me understand my listeners better.
Like I've told I mentioned this several times, we're going to have a deep dive into listener behavior really soon. But this is one that you just understand so much more about your audience when you ask questions like this. So like I said, we're going to have a screenshot of this in the show notes. So KrystalProffitt.com/Episode314. And you're also going to be able to go and download the slides for everything we've covered here today.
So I have a few tools that I use. Some of these are free, some of them are paid. But the one that I default to is Google form. And I have an example of what a Google form looks like in the presentation slides. But y'all I recently did this. I'm working on another book idea. And I sent a simple Google Form in our Facebook group. And I was like, hey, for anybody that's like working on solo content, can you go fill out this quick survey? Let me see, I actually
have it pulled up in front of me. So 123456, I have six questions on the survey, I kept it short and sweet. Again, because I did not want it to be this overwhelming survey that people saw. And they just immediately are like, Oh, my gosh, I just do not have time for this. Don't feel like you're
bothering your audience. Because those of those people like if you're serving, and you're really delivering a lot of value, they're going to be excited to give you feedback and tell you their favorite things about your podcast or about what you're doing. But Google forums is one of my tools. Typeform is another great one, I have used it. But I just tried out the free version. I've never tried the paid version. But I have filled out countless type forms over the last two years.
Whenever I'm trying to be a guest on someone show I'm submitting to speak at a conference like I've just had nothing but great interactions with type form. Survey Monkey is another platform that I've used in the past. That's really good for longer form surveys. And to get a little bit like fancier. But your Google Form will work. It's free. It's simple. You can do some branding to it and make it look really nice. But I think if you're going to do a survey, that's the best place
to go with. I really just like a Google form. I'm biased. I have several of them. I've so many in my Google Drive. Okay, we are rounding the corner, we're talking about the last thing when it comes to surveying your audience. And for me, I really want to talk about live engagement. Because live engagement to me is priceless. I love speaking with my audience live. It's such a cool experience to get that real time feedback, I can ask
questions, I can answer questions. And it's just really helpful for what I want to do in the future. Because that real time conversation with your audience is everything. It's everything. It's why I do a weekly live stream every Tuesday, because it's really it's brought in new people into my audience to I go live on YouTube, LinkedIn, Facebook, my Facebook group. And it's just been so helpful because it gets me in front of new people, maybe brand new subscribers to my
channel, or people that join my group. And they can actually see me not just listen to the podcast, but I've started to see familiar faces that show up. And it's just really cool because it gives me a chance to interact with people who otherwise would just listen to me. But I can actually ask them questions and get real time feedback. I've done it where have gone live, and I just say, Hey, I'm thinking about doing this. Is
this a good idea? And I'll see in the comments like, Oh, yes, this is awesome, or Yeah, that's cool. But I'd rather you talk about this, this or this. So that automatic feedback. I mean, it's just, I don't think it's replaceable. Yes, the survey is great. It's gonna take you a little time to create it and draft it up and send it out and cross your fingers and hope that you get some feedback, but real live interaction with your audience. It's just it's it's just fun. I'll just
be really honest. It's fun. I love live streaming. I think it's, I think it's great. And I think if you haven't done it, this should be on your list for 2022. It should be on your goals list. Something that you're going to start trying, you're going to play around with it you're going to figure it out. You'll I have a fantastic friend. Go check out Melanie Diane how go subscribe to her YouTube channel. She just talked about live streaming. And she geeks out about it.
And she knows all the equipment. She knows all the setup like she's so much fancier than I am. And my friend Heather Sager, she does a fantastic job helping people show up live and share their message as well. But I just I love the fact that I can interact with my audience. So if you've never caught one of my live shows, please come join us every Tuesday, we have so much fun. But it's really so much about having that live component. Because it's a reminder that there are other
people on the other side of the mic, right? It's, it's the actual putting a face to a number, right? Most people will say put a face to a name. But let's be honest, you can go back and look at all the statistics and think, Okay, those are just numbers. But when I am live, and I'm interacting with people, it reminds me, no, no, those aren't just numbers. Those are actual people. Those are people on the other side of the microphone, those are people that are pulling out their phone and
choosing, choosing because it is a choice. They're choosing to listen to my podcast. And I honor that. And I'm so grateful for the community that we have here for the Prophet podcast and the amazing people that keep showing up every single week because it's what brings me back because of all the surveys I've done, because all the things that we're talking about here today, I know what I'm doing the message that I have on my show is
working. So if I were doing a gut check moment, like we talked about earlier, like is your podcast message working? Yes, mine is I have proof in multiple ways. But I know that it's working. So I want you to take everything you've learned here today. And have those hard conversations with yourself. Ask yourself those questions is what I'm doing, working, go look at your stats, go put an action plan together to survey your audience in the next three months and come back and share with
us how it goes. Come back and tell me like you know what Krystal, things weren't working for a few weeks or a few months. But now it is. And here's proof. Here's actual proof. I did some surveys and I started practicing the ask and then listen method. And I learned so much about my audience. These are the things I would love for you to share with me, send me an email, reach out in the group, send me a DM, whatever that looks like for you.
But I want to do a quick recap. Okay, so the recap of understanding if your podcast message is working, right. So there's four really important things we talked about today. Number one, we had the gut check moment of asking, Is your message working? Number two, we talked about why your analytics are super, super important. Number three, we talked about why getting audience feedback is important. And then number four, we talked about how to actually get
that audience feedback. And I want you to go grab the slides because I think that they're well most everything here could have been done without the visuals. There is a lot of power in this presentation. And I think especially seeing the statistics can be helpful. So you didn't know what what to look for in your own podcast. Whoo, y'all. This is fun. This was like I said, like a mini course it was a lot longer than I thought it was gonna be, but it felt good. It felt it was really,
really fun. I hope you enjoyed today's episode, but the show notes for today. KrystalProffitt.com/Episode314, go check those out, go grab the slides, grab this presentation. Reach out if you have questions. If something didn't make sense to you, or you want to know more, you'll be on the lookout for that listener behavior episode, it's going to be so good. This is something I've been wanting to talk about for a while. And I've just been pushing it off and
pushing it off. And I'm like, no, why aren't you pushing this off. I'm excited to talk about this. Let's do this. So be on the lookout for that coming up in the next few weeks. But that's all I have for you today. So if this is your first time tuning in, make sure you hit the follow or subscribe button wherever you're listening to this
podcast. And if you haven't, if you've never left us a rating and a review, I would so appreciate it, whether it's on good pies, and you're able to give us a star rating for this episode and leave us a fun comment. Or you're listening somewhere where you can give an actual rating and review for the entire podcast. I would so appreciate you leaving me a little bit about what this podcast has taught you. And it would just mean the world to me. I read every single one of them. But as
always remember, keep it up. We all have to start somewhere.