2021 Podcast Trends and Advice

If your podcasting strategy doesn’t work, check out 2021 trends and see what exactly is efficient on the market nowadays. Although 2020 was quite tough, this year, everything is going to change for the better. 

If you consider starting your podcast in 2021, check the trends and really helpful tips first. You should keep developing that idea since nearly 76% of the USA citizens are currently familiar with podcasts. While the industry keeps changing and growing, be sure to catch up with it. 

Consider the experience of your audience

The data show that 80% of listeners listen to the whole or almost the entire episode. This is a very high engagement rate, but along with that, you should evaluate your audience’s listening experience and produce top-notch content all the time to keep them engaged.

One of the ways to save your time on producing more content is to use a great podcast transcription service. You may not only craft new content all the time but also transcribe audio or video to text. This will give you more content and more visibility at the same time. 

Here are a couple of tips on how to keep your listeners engaged:

• Pick only up-to-date topics for your content;
• Stick to one subject per episode not to confuse the listeners;
• Strive for educating your listeners and let them learn at least one new thing from each episode;
• Let your audience track highlights they might have missed by summarizing key points from the podcast;
• Remove blockers to let your audience access the content easier;
• Use audio to text transcription to let your potential users find your podcasts much easier.

Top-notch podcast content quality 

As for February 2021, there were 1,750,000 podcasts and 43 million episodes. Nearly 76% of the American inhabitants are listening to podcasts already. The group of the most active podcast listeners is aged 12-34 years old. 

It means that your current and potential listeners are overwhelmed with content. It also means that the competition among podcast companies and providers is extremely growing. Thus, your audience must be constantly inspired to keep listening to your content. Inspiring them is only your business and core task. 

Producing compelling audio content is a must this year. Don’t think that producing more content will help. Think not of the quantity but creating a high-quality podcast. Not only should your topics be interesting and captivating to users, but the content quality must be perfect in all aspects.

Once again, audio transcription might help because it gives you extra points. You do care for your users, and it is always rewarding. Your audio must be clear and understandable. People must be able to hear it well, even when being on the go or being busy with their chores.

Use media schools in 2021

Podcasting offers many opportunities, and if you are going to try it, it will surely be rewarding. Before you try this great option, you should gain a good education first. Finding a great media school somewhere not far from you would be wonderful. You can also try your luck online. Distant education is more than convenient nowadays.

There are some outstanding media schools in Ohio, Miami, Colorado, and Illinois. They open tons of opportunities to everyone who wants to start a career in media. You will learn not only how to start a podcast but also how to build a huge network and keep your users engaged.

SEO tools are a must

Even if you have really outstanding content, keeping a high engagement rate with your target audience is impossible without using efficient SEO tools due to high and extremely growing competition. Do not think that boosting your SEO rankings will be quite cost-consuming.

For the beginning, you can properly transcribe your audio podcasts. Professional human transcribers can do a great job and increase your rankings a lot. The truth is people search for podcasts with transcription. They can read before listening whether it is what they need or not, and they prefer such content.

Moreover, it increases your Google rankings when your transcribed content contains the necessary keywords. Each time your potential listeners are looking for some content and type one of the keywords, they will see your podcasts. 

Transcribing audio to texts is one of the best ways to increase your potential users. For example, many deaf people or those with difficulty hearing are looking for content, and if your audio or video doesn’t have transcription, they will not start listening to it because they are not able to hear. 

When you let such users read your podcasts, you gain more audience and more engagement. Therefore, don’t be lazy to do it and stand out from the crowd of your competitors.

Live Broadcasting

One of the latest 2021 trends in podcasts is the growth of live broadcasting. It allows to increase the audience engagement and monetize (of course, if this is your goal). Live episodes are broadcasting this year.

You can see such live broadcast options like YouTube Live, Zoom, Twitch, and Facebook Live in 2021.