Reacting to Podcast Feedback – PCI 364

Speaker 0 00:00:00 They're listening to you and they're fans, so they want you to succeed so that they want you to, to move up. So I think generally people give feedback in a way that isn't in the troll hate category, but for those that are for the

Speaker 1 00:00:11 Time,

Speaker 0 00:00:11 Yeah, for those that are those. 'cause some people just wanna create trouble and see a squirm, but don't squirm.

Speaker 3 00:00:18 You are listening to Podcast Insider, hosted by Mike Dell, Todd Cochran, and Mackenzie Bennett from the Blueberry team, bringing you weekly insights, advice, and insider tips and tricks to help you start, grow and thrive through podcasting. All with the support of your team here at Blueberry Podcasting. Welcome. Let's dive in.

Speaker 0 00:00:39 I'm Todd Cochrane, c e o, and founder of Blueberry. And

Speaker 1 00:00:42 I'm Mike Dell, VP of Customer Relations here at Blueberry. This week we're gonna talk about feedback specifically from your audience and how you react to good or bad feedback.

Speaker 2 00:00:56 Family

Speaker 0 00:00:57 Feedback, especially when it pertains to a medium as personalist. Podcasting is really essential for growth and connection with your audience. It's nothing like getting positive or even a negative feedback and, but we've got some steps and strategies from maning, both those, uh, great positives and sometimes negative feedback about your podcasts. And of course, one thing we always have to do, Mike, is be careful on how we react. So , I think we can start talking about the, uh, the active listening part of the feedback. And I've often got feedback before that. I was originally just kinda like, oh, and then I got to thinking about it a little more and I thought, okay, maybe part of this point or all the point is correct. And it kind of goes into this, you know, be willing to listen and, and ensure that you understand the feedback and, uh, lead, listen and read very carefully, uh, without trying to become defensive. You know, it's our reaction to do that when that that negative one comes in. But I think also sometimes when someone has listened for a long time, if they tell you they're a long time listener, that feedback to me is almost as more valid than someone that's maybe brand new to the show that maybe doesn't know the format.

Speaker 1 00:02:09 Yeah, for sure. You know, getting that first positive feedback is, is great. And then you're on cloud nine, then you get that first negative one and oh boy, . So you just have to make sure you understand what they're talking about. And you know, you may or may not agree with it, but definitely reading it, making sure you understand where they're coming from, definitely helps. But one of the things you, you, you have to acknowledge it, whether it's praise or criticism, you know, you should always acknowledge your feedback. Thank the person for taking the time to share their thoughts. And, you know, whether you agree or disagree with them, you don't maybe explain why what they're talking about may not change. Uh, but like I said, always be courteous about it, even, you know, unless it's somebody that's really trashing you and then what you want. But you know, you have to categorize the feedback. You know, some of it's constructive, some of it's just general praise, you know, no specific details. Hey, love the show, that kind of thing. And those are great, you know, always, uh, reply to those. And then general criticism, or then there's some trolls or harmful people. There's always, you know, some in every crowd . So, you know, take that with a grain of salt.

Speaker 0 00:03:26 You know, I had a, uh, listener in, uh, he was from Jersey. His name was Sal. And Sal came across as a true typical New York, New Jersey guy, pretty abrasive, you know, and, and if you live in New York and New Jersey, don't take that the wrong way. You just, you know, they kind of, the, you know, the, you, you can almost hear him talking, you know, and, and I think Sal was Italian too, so it was one of these, you know, you could just, you could just hear him, you know, in his emails. And he was, uh, he was one of those that was a, how should we say it, constructive slash general criticism. He never had anything good to say, but I always loved reading his emails in full to the audience because boy, just those that supported me. And he just, it just really kind of got the engagement way up.

Speaker 0 00:04:11 And, uh, I, I miss Sal. I wish he was still listening to my podcast. I think he finally got annoyed enough that he went somewhere else. But, um, you know, I think there, there's this fine line between someone that's a troll or harmful or someone that's constructive. We all want constructive feedback, you know? And, and I've got a, a listener that has been with the show for many, many, many years, and he sends very constructive stuff, and it's a list, and I'll read through it. And, and there's usually two or three things in that are, that are good, but we all love those general praises. But I think typically people will email or send commentary back the show when they really are super irritated and want, you know, some stick and rudder change. I, I think that's kind of how that works.

Speaker 1 00:04:59 Yeah, for sure. You know, actually in my case, I, I, I get feedback, Hey, where's your episode, ? Oh

Speaker 0 00:05:06 Yeah, I've had that happen too, .

Speaker 1 00:05:08 But, uh, you know, for the most part I get suggestions that are constructive or, you know, sometimes they get praise, Hey, that's a great topic, or, or something like that. And, you know, it's, it's just a good feeling, you know, even the negative ones are fun, you know, to a point. Now if they start attacking you personally, that's a whole different ballgame. But, uh, you know, when you respond, you know, to constructive criticism, you know, you express your thanks for the them taking the time. And, uh, even if you don't, uh, implement the suggestion they gave, you know, acknowledge that it is of value to you, that that's what they think, you know, general praise, you know, simple thank, thank you, works really good. Or, uh, you could ask them to share, uh, what about your podcast they like, or to leave a review somewhere, something like that.

Speaker 1 00:05:58 Uh, you know, but always acknowledge them, uh, general criticism, you know, if they just say, Hey, your podcast sucks, eh, you know, ask for specifics. Uh, you know, just to understand what they think sucks about it. And then, you know, trolls or, you know, harmful comments or, you know, when they're attacking you personally, a lot of times it's best not to engage. So just be, uh, be mindful of that. You know, don't, don't get in a big war over it. Or if you wanna have some fun with it, maybe put it on your show . Yeah. Let let your audience tear 'em up. But, you know, that's probably not nice.

Speaker 0 00:06:36 I think trolls or those that are harmful, I, you know, and I've only had a couple of these over many, many years, I often will say, Hey, I got your email, thanks for your feedback. And I don't give 'em the pleasure of letting me read it, because oftentimes it goes beyond. And then you really don't wanna subject your audience, uh, to a troll or someone that's harmful. But I think constructive feedback, that's a general praise and, and general criticisms, I think those are all valid to talk about on the podcast. And if you have a segment where you're doing listener feedback, that's always a great place to do it. Now, sometimes I'll move up some feedback to earlier in the show if it's important and not, 'cause I have a certain segment in my show where I do that type of, uh, basically reflection and response mm-hmm. ,

Speaker 1 00:07:26 Especially for constructive feedback, you know, con consider the suggestion. Yeah. Is it gonna work? Does it align with what you wanna do? If yes, uh, you know, see if you can implement it. If no, you know, is there something you can do to move it towards what the, uh, constructive feedback was? But, uh, you know, don't, don't let your audience control the show completely. It's your show. That's part of the, the, the thing you know, is like, you might have several hundred listeners and only once complaining about this one thing. You know, you don't wanna change your whole show around to tick off the other, you know, listeners. So, you know, there's gotta be some sort of middle ground usually.

Speaker 0 00:08:07 And again, if the feedback is, is actionable and aligns with what your show vision is, you know, make some changes, you know, just do, you know, and again, do it in incrementally small, don't make a big, massive change from a single listener feedback. And sometimes you may wanna say, what do you think about, you know, who, let's say it's Suzy, what do you think about Susie's feedback? Do you guys agree with her and, or, or do does the audience agree with her and see if, if that comes back along, you know, there's, I also keep, um, basically most of my feedback comes in via email and, uh, I just, while we're, while you were talking there, I just loaded up the, the email folder and it's, uh, for my Geekness central show, it says G N C comments, and I have 12,062 emails over the past almost 19 years. So I have really 19 years of experience now. About 5,000 of those came in during my, when my father died on episode 200. So, you know, that's still though, 7,000 of those were non death related. So it's, it is interesting to, you know, as I look at it, the amount of feedback I've gotten over the years, which, you know, actually, I, I was actually kinda surprised to see what the number was. I'd never really paid attention to it.

Speaker 1 00:09:22 Yeah. Well it's, it's always good to keep track of all that, uh, you know, over the years too. You know, just, there may be something from a few years ago that, uh, you haven't looked at in a while, so it might be good to look through that once in a while and, you know, and make sure that you update your listeners on changes you've made based on feedback.

Speaker 0 00:09:40 Yeah, that's, that's a good idea.

Speaker 1 00:09:41 Yeah. Just, you know, say, hey, you know, a bunch of you said X and, uh, we're gonna do that. So, you know, and after you've pulled them and you know, said, Hey, what do you think of this? Or, you know, do some small changes, but, you know, let 'em know that, uh, if they leave some feedback, uh, especially constructive feedback that it may have some effect on, on your show.

Speaker 0 00:10:05 And, and it really goes into that growth mindset, you know, embrace this, understand that, you know, the feedback that you get is an opportunity to learn and refine your podcasting skills, but at the same time protect your mental health.

Speaker 1 00:10:19 Oh, for sure.

Speaker 0 00:10:19 Yeah. If you find that the negative feedback is affecting your wellbeing, consider taking breaks or seeking support from peers or specialists. Remember that everyone, no matter how successful receives criticism, you look at, uh, and I can't imagine the amount of stuff that Joe Rogan gets, you know, as popular as he is, he has a whole hate base as well. Yeah.

Speaker 1 00:10:40 Famously YouTube, uh, comments are, are toxic for a lot of creators because, uh, you know, they're sometimes anonymous and, uh, you know, so you just, if it really bothers you don't look at that stuff. Yeah.

Speaker 0 00:10:53 But I think too, we should solicit feedback proactively, you know, encourage listeners to give feedback on a regular basis. And I, I do it throughout my show. I, I'll be talking about a topic and I'll be like, so what do you think? And if you agree or disagree with me, I'd love to hear feedback on, you know, a commentary that has just evolved . So again, I think doing it proactively throughout a show or within a certain segment is important. And then drop it in there, you know, you know, kind of mid through way the show in someplace where someone doesn't know what to expect, what you're gonna say, and, and maybe that'll trigger someone to, to go to give you feedback.

Speaker 1 00:11:32 Yeah. I listened to a podcast that's, uh, three hours, uh, weekly, you know, one show three hours. He does about an hour of his main topic, and then he gets at least two hours of feedback Wow. That he just reads the feedback and answers the questions. And I mean, I've never seen anything like this.

Speaker 0 00:11:51 That's amazing.

Speaker 1 00:11:52 But, uh, you know, he definitely engages his community if you're interested. It's an airline pilot guy. Anyway, he's the master of, uh, of getting feedback and, and answering it, you know, good, bad, indifferent. Uh, mostly it's questions, but still pretty cool that, uh, that, you know, a lot of his show content is built on the feedback.

Speaker 0 00:12:13 You know what, it'd be interesting there, Mike, is I'll have to subscribe to it because I think you can learn how to ask for feedback for those that have mastered it and he's obviously mastered it. So what was the show name again? It was airline,

Speaker 1 00:12:26 Airline pilot guy. It's Jeff Nielsen. He is a airline pilot for Delta, and he has three co-hosts usually. And, uh, they, it's all all about aviation. Wow.

Speaker 0 00:12:38 So that's definitely building a strong community and doing that through listener feedback. That's, that's definitely unique. And I don't know if I would want to read two hours of feedback or questions, but if it's mo, if it's a lot of questions then, you know, obviously it's from people that have come in that maybe have not listened to the back catalog. So he's probably addresses a lot of those questions by listening to episodes such and such, uh, where he is covered a lot of that.

Speaker 1 00:13:03 Yeah. Does a lot of that. He's, uh, but like I said, it's, it's quite the, quite the demonstration of feedback, right. Uh, the feedback loop that he's done and the community that he's built, uh, over the years. So, but just, you know, the, the bottom line basically is, you know, you can't please everybody. You know, I've always said that a podcast for everyone is a podcast for really no one. So, you know, don't try, you know, you, you, your podcast is gonna resonate with some listeners, but not all. And that's just fine. No problem. You know, focus on your target audience, be genuine. Just refine your craft. The more you evolve, the more your podcast will too.

Speaker 0 00:13:46 Getting feedback also is one of those things that, for those that don't get too much of it, 'cause I know some of you struggle with getting feedback, it can be quite the shot in the arm, basically a positive and negative. So I think you have to be aware that if you're not getting a lot of feedback and all of a sudden you get this negative email, don't, don't let it ruin your day. Yeah, for sure. But, you know, and again, you can turn that around and make it a positive on the, on the next episode, say, Hey, I got an email from listener so-and-so, and this is what they have to say. And I've taken to heart what they comment, it was kind of, you know, a blow to my soul. But, you know, thank you for, for your feedback. And then what kinda happens there is that oftentimes fans of the show, big supporters of the show will come back behind with more commentary for you. And oftentimes you'll get one negative and, you know, 10 to 20 positive just because of the, the negative email. Um, because everyone truly, I I think in this, in this space, really wants to see people succeed. They're listening to you and they're fans, so they want you to succeed so that they want you to, to move up. So I think generally people give feedback in a way that isn't in the troll hate category, but for those that are Yeah. Most

Speaker 1 00:15:02 Of the time,

Speaker 0 00:15:03 Yeah. For those that are those. 'cause some people just wanna create trouble and see a squirm, but don't squirm.

Speaker 1 00:15:09 Yeah. It's, you know, getting feedback on your podcast is, is kinda like, you know, back in the day, the radio guys, they'd, they'd have call-ins, you know, Hey, call to request a song or call for this. And if nobody calls, they feel like they're just talking into a microphone and nobody's listening. So getting a little bit of feedback, as you said, gives you a shot in the arm, be letting you know that somebody's listening

Speaker 0 00:15:32 . Absolutely.

Speaker 1 00:15:33 Anyway, and, and I guess this would be a good spot to put in. Hey, if you have any feedback for us , you can email us@mikeatblueberry.com, todd@blueberry.com, orMcKenzie@blueberry.com. And uh, we may use it on the show.

Speaker 0 00:15:49 Absolutely. So, Mike, I think we're at the end here.

Speaker 1 00:15:52 Yep, sounds good. And don't forget to send in your feedback. See you next week.

Speaker 3 00:15:56 Thanks for joining us. Come back next week and in the meantime, head to podcast insider.com for more information to subscribe, share, and read our show notes to check out the latest suite of services and learn how Blueberry can help you leverage your podcast. Visit blueberry.com. That's blueberry without the ease because we can't afford them.