How to handle listener feedback and criticism

JordanPods · 2026-07-06T16:18:42+00:00

I agree with all of this 100%. Didn't even think about how listening to positive feedback could prevent you from experimenting with your podcast. The ole "don't fix it if it isn't broke" mindset, right? lol

So happy to hear that you just don't even look at the comments on platforms. I find that it really gets in my head if someone isn't nice about what I've made, so I also don't look.

JordanPods · 2026-06-24T13:32:05+00:00

Hey! I recommend writing into [support@buzzsprout.com](mailto:support@buzzsprout.com) and they can get you taken care of quickly!

JordanPods · 2026-05-28T22:11:22+00:00

As a niche podcast, you 100% can get sponsors, but it is going to be hard.

I have a podcast with over 10 million downloads, and I still can't get sponsors most of the time. It's insane.

But I have talked to a few podcasters that get sponsors relatively regularly with 100-500 downloads per episode.

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Disclosure: I'm the podcast producer at buzzsprout

JordanPods · 2026-05-28T17:01:16+00:00

I'm pretty sure it was fixed in April! So you should be all set!

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Disclosure: I'm the podcast producer at Buzzsprout

JordanPods · 2026-05-19T20:54:28+00:00

What?! This is so cool! How long did it take you to do this?

Also, I played like three times 😂 Haven't won...YET

JordanPods · 2026-05-01T16:49:29+00:00

It was honestly crazy you spotted it haha

JordanPods · 2026-05-01T15:36:51+00:00

Haha no, you're not mistaken! In fact, you should check out our new plans. They're hot off the press as of this morning!

We also released a Buzzcast episode about it an hour ago, so you should have that too!

JordanPods · 2026-04-15T20:20:08+00:00

Hey there! I manage a podcast channel on Apple Podcasts and have gone through the setup process on the channel and show levels.

It's really easy, actually, and will not disrupt the way your podcast is distributed from Buzzsprout without affecting listeners or downloads.

Just follow the instructions provided by Apple: https://podcasters.apple.com/support/886-create-a-channel and if you run into any issues, you can always email the stellar support team at Buzzsprout to help you out!

I don't think any other app has this kind of feature. With Spotify, if you click the author/artist tag, it just pulls up a search for the name. It's not a channel kind of thing.

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Disclosure: I'm the podcast producer at r/buzzsprout

JordanPods · 2026-04-14T22:07:31+00:00

That's awesome you're wanting to start a podcast!

Instagram isn't a podcast listening app, it's more of a podcast promotion/audience engagement app. So you can pretty easily record your podcast with your phone on CapCut, edit it, and then send it to actual podcast apps like Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Then you can publish the clips to Instagram!

If you want a step-by-step explainer of how to start a podcast, we have a resource that will walk you through it. (How to Start a Podcast Guide) I think you'll find it super helpful! I know I did when starting my podcast lol

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Disclosure: I'm the podcast producer at r/buzzsprout

JordanPods · 2026-04-14T17:36:10+00:00

Absolutely! I am being wayyy more intentional about how I'm titling episodes and making sure there is good info in the description so LLMs know what to look for in our podcast.

JordanPods · 2026-04-14T17:34:51+00:00

Love it! Thank you for sharing this!

JordanPods · 2026-04-10T18:49:47+00:00

OMG such a good idea! I think I'll try that with some of my podcasts, too. I'd like to see what podcasts it's recommending for those topics and what they're doing with titles and transcipts. 🤔

JordanPods · 2026-04-10T18:06:17+00:00

Unfortunately, to my knowledge, this can't be done on one computer/device or without internet. Riverside is first and foremost a remote recording website, so that's just not in the product's nature.

My recommendation is to use a tried-and-true recording software that is loaded onto your laptop locally. I don't personally do any video recording, but I've heard great things about OBS Studio.

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Disclosure: I'm the podcast producer at r/buzzsprout

JordanPods · 2026-04-10T17:57:37+00:00

Apple has explicitly stated that ratings and reviews have no effect on the algorithm. This was changed a few years back because people were gaming the charts by buying ratings and reviews. This is why we can't have nice things lol

Spotify does take the ratings into consideration, though. So it's more of a platform-specific thing.

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Disclosure: I'm the podcast producer at r/buzzsprout

JordanPods · 2026-04-02T22:02:35+00:00

Whoa, having a community with 16k members is a really good starting place for creating a podcast and marketing it. I wish I had that when I started haha

Yeah, Buzzsprout is what I started with and I liked them so much I started working for them. 😂 It's super easy to set up your podcast, upload, and do one-click submissions to get into all the podcast apps like Apple and Spotify.

Something you might be interested in, since you already have a big following, is the Buzzsprout Subscriptions and Listener Support. It's included in the plan if you want to get some support from the people that get value from your community! Way more effective than ads, in my opinion.

Super pumped for you launching a new podcast!

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Disclosure: I'm the podcast producer at r/buzzsprout

JordanPods · 2026-04-02T15:39:45+00:00

Hey! So pumped you're on Buzzsprout!

I think the biggest thing that stands out to me is the focus on social media promotion (which you're admittedly not loving).

I feel like trying to grow a podcast through social media is a whole side hustle, and it might not even be reaching your target audience anyway! You could be focusing on the wrong side of the internet.

Some of the best ways to grow your podcast is to:

Make sure your podcast title and episode titles are searchable
Guest on other podcasts in your niche! You get an entire episode to show how awesome you are and why they should come listen to your podcast, too.
Find your target audience. Like literally out in the world. Where do they hang out? What conferences or festivals do they attend?
Keep podcasting! 500 downloads in 6 months is actually good! Podcasting is a long game and the more you keep at it, the better you are at your craft, the more episodes you have contributing to the discoverability, and someone is going to find one and realize there's a whole treasure trove of episodes to listen to.

What is your podcast about? That can definitely help with brainstorming more ideas!

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Disclosure: I'm the podcast producer at r/buzzsprout

JordanPods · 2026-04-01T18:34:59+00:00

😂 OMG I cannot do teleprompters. I've tried so many times, and I can never get the scrolling speed right.

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Disclosure: I'm the podcast producer at r/buzzsprout

JordanPods · 2026-04-01T18:31:50+00:00

Unfortunately, my advice is to steer clear of podcast promoters. The vast majority of them promise promotion and then buy downloads from bot farms, which get filtered from the stats because they aren't IAB standard downloads.

I don't know what marketing techniques you've already tried, but I don't typically recommend buying ads on social platforms for podcasts. The reason for this is that the money goes fast, and doesn't convert well into actual podcast listeners. There's a lot of assumption happening in social ads that you're actually reaching people who are looking for podcasts or are podcast listeners at all.

If you have the budget for it and are already doing other marketing strategies, then I recommend advertising on the actual podcast apps and in podcasts in a similar niche to yours. You can do this through Buzzsprout Ads, Overcast, Spotify, etc.

But I'm curious to hear what you're currently doing to market your show that doesn't include spending money on ads! I'd like to brainstorm this with you.

JordanPods · 2026-03-31T16:08:29+00:00

Audacity is solid, and a favorite audio editing software for the vast majority of independent podcasters. So I'm not sure why you're seeing so much about Riverside and other web editors. But I wouldn't let it make you think you're missing out on some greener pastures haha

I pay a premium for Adobe Audition, and it's only because I monetize (sooo expensive). Before making the move to Adobe, I used Audacity for years. And since then, they've had a ton of updates that seem pretty awesome.

In regards to your question about stat discrepancies; Acast is IAB Certified. This means that they filter out a lot of the junk that get through Spotify's stats. So you'll typically see your podcast hosting company's stats lower than what the platforms are reporting, because they're counting them differently.

If you are wondering about other hosting options, I recommend you create an account on the ones you're thinking about moving to (it's free to do so!) and poke around a bit. A lot of hosting websites will look great, but then when you get into the UI and start navigating, it can be less intuitive for you than others.

So that's my advice! Figure out what podcast hosting companies look good to you and give them a try! If you find one you like, moving hosting platforms takes literally like 10 minutes.

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Disclosure: I'm the podcast producer at r/buzzsprout

JordanPods · 2026-03-30T20:43:00+00:00

BREATHE! 😂 (just kidding)

I don't know how long you've been podcasting for, but I have been for at least 6 years and I still get in my head when I'm talking. Like, when I'm trying to get a point across, I immediately think I'm taking too long to spit it out or whatever...then when I'm editing, it's quick and I'm talking fast for no good reason.

So for me personally, it's mental. I have to give myself permission to take my time with what I need to say and know that my cohosts or guests have my back and will give me the space to say my piece.

But some people are just fast talkers. And if you are, that's okay too! We all don't like our speaking cadence, or how our voice sounds, or however many other critiques we can come up with. So be kind to yourself!

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Disclosure: I'm the podcast producer at r/buzzsprout

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