Podcasting during the holiday season is a fun time for many — but it also presents unique challenges and opportunities. You’ll need to balance your schedule, record podcasts in advance, and cut through holiday clutter with strong social media marketing.
This guide can help you stay on top of your podcasting game as the festive period approaches. Here are some general guidelines and podcasting tips to maintain consistency, engage your audience, and capitalize on the holiday spirit.
- 7 Easy Ways to Optimize Your Podcast During the Holidays
- The Bottom Line on Podcasting During the Holidays
7 Easy Ways to Optimize Your Podcast During the Holidays
Holiday podcasting has all sorts of potential — provided you know how to plan for it, that is.
Here are seven simple suggestions for optimizing your podcast during the holidays, starting with the biggest consideration:
1. Timing Podcast Releases
It’s hard to avoid getting lost in the holiday shuffle, especially as you reach the tail end of November. For instance, if Thanksgiving falls on a Thursday, podcasters might consider releasing their episodes a day earlier on Wednesday to maintain visibility and engagement.
Data shows that podcast downloads dip between November and December, so planning ahead will be key to staying consistent (and leaving yourself space for more holiday festivities).
There are a number of strategies you can try:
- Stick to your schedule regardless of the holidays.
- Shift release dates (like launching your episode on a Thursday rather than a Friday)
- Take a break and return once the holidays are over.
If you do choose to take a break, you may need to communicate this to your audience. An email blast may be enough for your show, or even a simple social media message could help.
2. Maintaining Consistency
A whopping 75% of podcasts eventually stop releasing episodes. The holidays might make this harder by pushing you out of your regularly scheduled ‘groove.’
To avoid breaking your episode streak and risking potential ‘podfade,’ you should find a way to drip-release content and ensure your podcast remains active and engaged.
Let’s take a look at recent studies. The numbers show that podcast downloads drop significantly during holidays such as Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s Day. However, research shows there’s a significant increase that occurs before and after these widely celebrated holidays.
Going completely dark during the holidays may not be a great idea, as it can lead to a decline in listener retention and engagement.
It may be wise to batch-record episodes to stay ahead of schedule and reduce stress during the busy holiday season.
Alternatively, you could consider shorter episodes or special holiday-themed content that requires less preparation but still keeps your feed active.
3. Generating Creative Content
The holiday season offers many opportunities to get creative with your content.
Here are several ideas to keep your podcast fresh and engaging:
- Best-of Episodes: Consider compiling clips from top episodes into a single “best of” show, with brief narrations introducing each clip. This offers a comprehensive recap of the year’s highlights and can help new listeners catch up on cornerstone content.
- Special Holiday Content: Create holiday-specific content that acknowledges the season and keeps your podcast relevant during end-of-year festivities. Perhaps you could record holiday-related topics that align with your podcast’s theme, or share personal holiday experiences and traditions.
- Guest Appearances and Collaborations: The holiday season is a great time to feature guest appearances or collaborate with other podcasters. You can invite guests to share their holiday stories or insights, bring fresh perspectives to your podcast, and authentically attract new listeners from your guest’s audience.
4. Engaging with Your Audience
Many of your listeners will appreciate the holiday season, and they’ll likely want to get involved with your content, too. Acknowledging the major celebrations shows that you see your listeners as real people, fostering a stronger listener-podcaster relationship.
This could be an excellent time to encourage listener interaction by asking them to share their holiday experiences, favorite traditions, or plans for the season. You can collect these stories through social media, email, or voicemail, then feature them in your episodes for everyone to hear.
Your listeners will feel like valued members of your podcasting family. Plus, you’ll be leveraging the magic of user-generated content to enrich your podcast.
5. Using Social Media Effectively
People engage with more festive content during the holiday season. For this reason, you should strive to create festive graphics and engaging captions that resonate with the holiday spirit.
Here are some suggestions to get you started:
- Use popular holiday-related hashtags such as #HolidayPodcast to increase your reach.
- You can also share teaser clips and countdowns to build anticipation for your episodes.
- Try sponsored or boosted posts to cut through the other holiday clutter.
Remember: effectively leveraging social media can help you reach a broader audience, drive traffic to your episodes, and keep your podcast in mind.
6. Leveraging Email Newsletters
Email newsletters are a great way to communicate with your audience and keep them informed about your latest episodes. They’re especially useful during the holiday season where you may need to communicate more often than usual.
Leveraging email newsletters can increase listener retention and engagement, as emails are less likely to be overlooked than social media posts. The easiest way to do this is to:
- Highlight your holiday content in your newsletters, including links to new episodes.
- Write special holiday messages wishing your readers a happy season.
- Use festive templates to imbue your newsletters with a strong holiday spirit.
7. Offering Giveaways and Contests
Holiday-themed giveaways and contests are effective ways to engage your audience and encourage them to share your podcast with others. They can also draw in potential fans who may not have heard of your podcast but still want to participate in the giveaway.
One strategy is to design a contest around your podcast’s theme. You could offer a prize for the best listener-submitted holiday story, or give away gift cards to users in exchange for positive reviews.
You could also leverage giveaways associated with podcast engagement. Audience members who share, comment, or listen the most in a given period could be eligible to win a prize (such as a free subscription to your podcast).
The Bottom Line on Podcasting During the Holidays
The holiday season offers a change of pace — both in good and bad ways. But by planning ahead and adapting your podcast accordingly, you can easily create more memorable holiday content.
Looking for more tips on successful podcasting?
Some of these resources may offer what you’re looking for: