“How many downloads do you get?” It’s a question often asked of podcasters. “What’s their social media following like?” That’s a regular inquiry that people will ask when considering whether or not to extend a potential opportunity to a performer. “How many books have you sold?” That gets posed to so many authors.
Someone recently said to me, “Some podcasters say that they don’t know what their download numbers are.” And it makes me think of the scene in the classic comedy movie “Caddyshack” when someone in the clubhouse asks Chevy Chase’s character how he shot (golf) that day, only to be met with, “Oh, I don’t keep score.” And when they further questioned him with, “Then how do you measure yourself against the other golfers,” he replied, “By height.”
| Related posts: |
| A Case for Creating on an Uninspired Day |
| Put Creative Back in Creativity |
| Eleven Years Today - Let's Keep Podcasting |
Ironically, this is the first blog of June, meaning that we just finished Mental Health Awareness Month. Yet, there are creators that beat themselves up regardless of what month it is, fearing that their career isn’t going anywhere.
This is where I strongly encourage you to look at your stats. Otherwise, why are you doing it?
My PR agency, Now Hear This, has run Facebook ads – for specific episodes of our weekly “Now Hear This Entertainment” podcast but also for some of our clients. That is a great example of tangible data that you can sink your teeth into. Did the ad work? Was there a return on your investment? Go into the dashboard and look at the results!
There is a service that allows podcasters to boost an episode of their podcast. I am in the middle of such a spend with that company as I write this blog. And guess what? When that finishes, they email me to say that the campaign has ended and then I log into their site to see how many downloads the episode got, from where, the number of impressions, and so on.
Similarly, I’ve also got an ad campaign started today on a podcast app that’s going to advertise my other weekly podcast to users of their app in the show’s category. And then two weeks from today a different campaign will start on their app for NHTE in, obviously, the Music category.
You see engagement, you see real numbers, you see inspiration for carrying on and continuing to do what you do.
An author client of mine recently asked me if Now Hear This has done Amazon ads for clients as well as my thoughts on audiobooks. Sure, the bottom line is that the client wants results but ultimately, you’re looking to see if what you’re putting out there – a podcast, books, music, YouTube videos – is resonating with someone.
How can you make an informed decision about whether to stay on the path that you’re on without having some real data to back up your conclusion?
I also encourage you to have a sufficient sample size. If you make an unboxing video on YouTube and it gets very few views, maybe it just means people who visit your channel don’t have an appetite for that type of content, that they’d rather see you stick with what you usually produce. In other words, don’t say, “I just need to stop spending my time making YouTube videos,” when you’re really only reacting emotionally to the low response to one video.
I would also caution you not to get too excited the other way.
If you’ve been putting out pop song after pop song after pop song and put out one Christian single and it does well, don’t let that influence you to say, “Wow, this is it. I guess I’m going all in as a Christian artist from now on.” It might’ve been a fluke, quite honestly. Try a second single. Not an EP and not a full album.
I’ve also had author clients do lots and lots of book signings. If you do one and you sell two books, don’t decide, “That was a waste of time. I guess I won’t be doing any of those anymore.” Do five or six and then decide. I’ve seen clients sit for two hours and sell three books. But I’ve also seen clients sit for two hours and sell upwards of fifteen books! (P.S. – Either way, it’s three books – or fifteen books – more than you would’ve sold if you just sat home and did nothing.)
For more than twenty years I have been helping indie music artists, authors, actors, entrepreneurs, podcasters, filmmakers, small business owners, and more. What challenges are you having in your creator career that I can lend some insight to? Connect with me so you can take advantage of all my experience, and I can help and keep you moving forward.