3 Proven Ways to Build a Loyal Podcast Audience That Connects With You

“Everyone at my school is reading it!” said my best friend Cristina.

We were on a family vacation in Orlando, which meant we had access to the holiest of holy places…

✨Barnes & Noble ✨

(We sadly don’t have it in Puerto Rico, so this was a big deal.)

Cristina dragged me to a table with dozens of copies of the same book, featuring a glossy black cover + ghostly pale hands holding a red apple.

“It’s about vampires!” she whispered excitedly, flicking her jet-black side fringe out of her face.

“OMG let’s read it together!” I yelled, clapping my black-nail-polished hands together.

So we bought the book, and as soon as we got to the hotel, flopped belly-side down on the same bed and turned the book to the first page.

We read the pages together one by one, waiting for each other before moving on to the next and savoring every single word.

Our eyes were glued to the page, and our hearts falling unconditionally and irrevocably in love with a vampire.

(At least I was always Team Edward; I suspect Cristina turned to the other, werewolvian side in New Moon).

Predictably, I went on to get a copy for myself, and when each book and movie was released, I was first in line to devour it.

Fast forward many years later.

My student (we’ll call her Marie) is sitting in front of me with her mom on Parent-Teacher Conference day.

We’re talking about Marie’s independent reading, and she’s telling me how she really wants to move on from graphic novels and comic books to “books without pictures,” but reading is difficult for her, and she feels intimidated.

Marie’s style is a bit like mine in high school — complete with a side fringe and black eyeliner. So I tell her, “I have a suggestion.” And I stand up and go to my cabinet.

“This is my original copy of Twilight from high school, as you can tell by the yellow pages. I think you might like it.”

Fast forward again.

It was the last day of school, and Marie wrote me a letter describing that moment I pulled my Twilight book from the closet and how much it meant to her.

So I responded with…

“I died with your memory of when I pulled out my Twilight book from the closet. I’m so happy that was such an important moment for you. If you want my original copies, I can gift them to you. I know you’ll take good care of them, and you really love them. Let me know!”

And she said…

“I feel SO HONORED you trust me with your original Twilight copies! I would love to have them, and I would literally put them in a glass box.”

The next day, she arrived at my classroom with the biggest smile, put the entire series in a bag, and went on her merry way.

This was one of my favorite moments of connection with a student during my nine years as a high school English teacher.

And the interesting thing is that it didn’t happen because of my lesson plans, assessments, or even during class time.

It happened in the in-between moments.

This principle applies directly to building a podcast audience. Your podcast audience will not feel connected to you because of something you meticulously planned or scripted. It will happen in the imperfect tangents, chaotic bloopers, and inside jokes.

What Makes a Podcast Audience Stick Around?

Anyone can get downloads, but creating an engaged podcast audience — people who actually care about your show, who binge every episode, who recommend you to friends — requires something different.

It requires connection.

Whenever I ask people what makes their favorite podcasts their favorite, they ALWAYS say something like, “It just feels like I really know the host. Like I’m their friend, and we’re sitting at a table talking.”

This is the difference between having a podcast audience and having passive listeners.

And if you want to build a loyal podcast audience surrounding your show, this is exactly the feeling you want to replicate.

But how? After all, you’re not seeing your listeners. You don’t know their names, their likes, what makes them tick.

When you record your podcast, it’s literally just you in an empty room with a microphone and possibly a co-host or guest. You don’t get your audience’s reactions in the moment, so it might feel difficult to know if your content is landing or not.

Here are three ideas you can implement right away to start building a podcast audience that’s genuinely engaged:

1. Use an outline, but don’t be afraid of short tangents.

When you’re first starting your podcast, you might feel like you’re clinging to your outline for dear life, but as you get more comfortable recording, I highly encourage you to add to it on the spot.

The phrase, “This reminds me of the time…” is your best friend. You never know how a tangent will turn out.

It could be that you follow it and create a funny, interesting, or insightful moment for your listeners.

Or it could be that it ends up being a dull or unnecessary flop. If that’s the case, you can always edit it out later!

Pro tip: If you say a joke and immediately make yourself die of cringe, clap really loudly so you can see the huge spike in your audio and remember to cut that part out later.

Take advantage of the fact that you don’t have a live audience in front of you and give yourself permission to experiment and yap, fearlessly!

2. Embrace a little bit of chaos.

Perfection is overrated. Your listeners don’t want to hear a flawless performance; they want to hear you, a real human being.

Two podcasts come to mind:

Good Hang by Amy Poehler

I love how she and her guests are always saying, “we’ll cut this out,” and then they just… don’t.

In the very first episode, there’s a HILARIOUS moment where Amy is doing a Zoom call with a bunch of her friends and Rachel Dratch is struggling to untangle her headphones. Once she finally gets them sorted, her doorbell rings, and her dog starts barking. The whole group cracks up, and they just laugh and laugh.

That moment set the tone for the whole podcast. Immediately, as a listener, I felt at ease and excited to see what would happen next.

Point of the Story by Sara Joelle

One day, my client Sara “messed up” in her podcast several times in a row, to the point that she said, “Adrienne, maybe you should add some bloopers at the end of the episode.”

MISSION ACCEPTED.

Now, some of Sara’s solo episodes feature a blooper reel at the end, and her listeners absolutely love it.

If you mess up or something funny happens, and you feel in your gut your listeners will appreciate it, go ahead and leave it in! Those unscripted moments of authenticity are what transform casual listeners into devoted fans.

3. Create a segment designed for people to get to know you and/or your guests.

Strategic vulnerability and personality-driven content don’t have to be random; you can build them right into your podcast structure.

My Favorite Murder by Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark

One of my favorite co-hosted podcasts ever includes a segment at the beginning where the hosts spend 10-15 minutes just talking about their lives. And they’re so funny and entertaining that it’s my favorite segment of the episode!

The Freak Show by Eva Couto

My amazing client Eva incorporated a segment into her guest episodes called “The Freak Show Audition,” where she asks her guests to state three things that make them a freak and qualify them to be on the podcast.

It makes the beginning of the episodes so much fun and serves as an effective hook to capture her audience’s attention right from the start.

Ideas for your own connection-building segment:

• Share a weekly win or fail
• Answer a listener question
• Do a rapid-fire “getting to know you” round with guests
• Share what you’re currently reading/watching/obsessed with
• Tell a quick personal story related to the episode theme

The key is consistency. When listeners know they’ll get that personal moment with you every episode, they start to feel like they’re part of your world.

Everything’s Good In Moderation

Enjoying a slice of rich, chocolate cake with real chocolate buttercream frosting and chocolate ganache drizzling down its sides is a dopamine-inducing moment of bliss.

But scarfing down an entire chocolate cake like that will make you sick.

My mom used to say, “Everything’s good in moderation,” and her advice also applies here!

Yes, you want to be authentic and show your personality.

But you don’t want to:

• Treat your podcast like your audio diary and share your deepest darkest thoughts and feelings
• Leave your episodes unedited for the sake of authenticity (don’t get me started on this, I could write a whole blog post about this misguided idea!)
• Go on super long tangents that are not relevant to your listeners at all

You get the idea. Deliver genuine value for your audience without striving for perfection, all while leaning into your humanness.

Want to Get it Right from the Start?

If you want to build an engaged podcast audience from scratch, I can help.

Saturday Morning Launch Plan is my podcast launch group program that will help you go from podcast idea you’ve been dreaming about to a clear, step-by-step launch plan you’ll actually be excited to follow.

Want more podcasting tips like this? Sign up to my newsletter Sounds Like Brunch and you’ll get them every Wednesday!

Thanks for reading! 🥂