By Megan McBride Many of us are probably hooked on one or two podcasts at the moment. Listening to them while we commute to work, cook or to help us fall asleep. Although they’ve been around since the inception of Apple iPods, the growth of podcasts has rocketed.
When COVID-19 hit, many artists, comedians, speakers and influencers couldn’t reach their live audiences in the traditional way they were used to, at a physical event. Organisations across all sectors had to cancel their events that brought their stakeholders together in one place, to share ideas or showcase and discuss new upcoming trends.
Podcasts therefore became a great way for people to reach their audiences at a time and place that was convenient for them – and with Zoom fatigue taking its toll across the globe, they also require less action from the listener; they can sit back and listen without having to watch slides on screen or nod along to a speaker.
According to Ofcom’s 2021 podcast survey, podcasts gain popularity during tasks such as walking or relaxing at home, suggesting podcasts are a more engaging medium i.e., people listen to podcasts when they can actually pay attention to them. When asked why they listen to different forms of audio, all mediums (music streaming, podcasts, audiobooks, and radio) were used for entertainment, but 20% more listeners use podcasts to learn something new or improve their understanding of something.
All in all, podcasts are a medium where listeners want to engage more actively with what they are hearing – and they fit well into people’s lives. They can actively listen and learn from a podcast while doing their day-to-day activities like walking, working out or driving to work. People can consume the content without disrupting their day, as would reading a blog post or watching a video.
For organisations in the public sector with thousands of stakeholders, podcasts are an incredibly effective way to engage with people on a more personal level. They can use it to engage with staff and partners, bring together innovators and providers to talk about their latest work or to highlight areas requiring improvement, or discuss hot topics or the latest policy changes and how that will impact different stakeholder groups. It can also be a way to address questions or concerns that your stakeholders have, giving experts in the field the opportunity to respond and delve deeper into issues that are occurring across the landscape.
We expect the podcasting trend to continue moving upwards as it has done the past couple of years and will become a prominent part of marketing strategies going forward. It’s a unique offer that can help organisations reach their stakeholders and engage them in a new and exciting way, and as a complementary addition to traditional comms channels.
It can be hard to know where to start, but here at Cynergy we can offer impactful series development by helping you define your niche, design episode format, production and editing, creating and publishing show notes, conducting research, and speaker sourcing and liaison. Whatever support you need, we’ll work with you to develop a podcast series your stakeholders will want to tune into for every episode.
Got an idea for a podcast or need some help forming a podcast strategy? We’d love to chat and help you start your podcasting journey! Get in touch with us at info@cynergy.co.uk or call on 01642 713211.