A few years ago, if a podcaster came to me and said, “What’s an effective call-to-action I can use to help grow my show?” I would reply, “Make sure to tell your audience to subscribe to your podcast on their podcast app or wherever they listen to podcasts.”
New listeners (and sometimes even our longtime listeners) need the reminder that if they like what they’re hearing, they’ll probably want to know when new episodes as they’re released.
Some apps will even send your audience notifications when a new episode is available.
One of the most interesting things about being in the podcasting industry, which is still fairly new, is seeing the progression of language within the medium. Even as podcasting was in its infancy, there wasn’t always a lear consensus on the language, and for a few years, there was even a push to rebrand podcasts as “netcasts.”
That never did seem to catch on, but one term I DO see changing in the podcast space is the word “Subscribe.”
Many of the calls-to-action I’m hearing now are adding the word “Follow” in addition to “Subscribe,” or podcast hosts are even dropping the word “Subscribe” altogether and simply saying something along the lines of “Follow this podcast on your favorite podcast app.”
When Apple Podcasts listeners find a podcast they love, instead of the usual option to subscribe, they now see a prompt to Follow, instead. This is right in line with Spotify’s and Audible’s “Follow” wording, as well.
It might sound like a trivial change, but one reason for the change was the assumption from those who don’t listen to podcasts that subscribing means paying $$$.
But, hopefully, as you know, one of the best things about podcasts is they’re free! (Though, to add a bit more confusion to the mix, Apple now offers a way to create a paid/free podcast subscription.)
So next time you’re about to remind your audience to “Subscribe” to your show, consider adding or changing the word to “Follow” instead.
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