Our goal at Spotify for Creators isn’t just to empower everyone to share their voice; we want your show to reach as many people as possible, and for it to altogether thrive. With Spotify's global audience of over 600M, it can be a unique challenge to find an audience and keep them engaged. But that’s where Spotify can also help: There are a number of Spotify features and ways to optimize your show page that creators should know about to ensure you’re delivering the best listener and viewer experience—and help grow your show's audience.
We’ll be walking through each of these in more detail but the most important things to call out are:
- Clips and thumbnail previews: Edit and upload short video snippets from your episodes and upload custom thumbnails to reach new audiences across the Spotify app, including on your show page.
- Best place to start and Host recommendations: Your chance to personalize your show page and drive new listeners to your best content
- Follow button: Followers will see your new episodes on their Home tab and in the What’s New feed
- Podcast Ratings: Users can rate your show and your overall average rating is displayed on your show page for everyone to see
- Bell icon: Tapping the bell icon enables new episode notifications so listeners and viewers will be notified when new episodes drop
- Show settings: Tapping the gear icon will take users to the settings for your show, where they can enable auto-downloads of new episodes.
Get discovered by new audiences with clips and thumbnail previews
Before we dive into the features that will look and feel the same for every podcast show on Spotify, let’s touch on the ways you can uniquely customize your show page to fit your show’s brand.
Let’s start with clips. Whether you’re an audio or video show, you might already be editing and creating short, vertical video clips from every episode to upload across social media. Now, you can upload them directly to Spotify, so you can reach new audiences where they are already looking to discover new shows. Your clips can then be recommended across various places in the Spotify app like the Home or Podcasts feed, Browse, the Now Playing View, and your show page.
Clips is now available in beta to creators in select markets. To get started, head to any Episode in Spotify for Creators and find the clips tab. There, you’ll be able to upload clips. Some things to keep in mind:
- You can only link one clip per episode, so choose a clip that best reflects the content of your episode
- Clips should be 9:16 in the vertical format to optimize for viewing on your phone
- They must be under 90 seconds so choose a part of the episode that can quickly hook potential viewers
Next, let’s talk about thumbnail previews. Custom thumbnails are an important part of your show’s brand and a way for you to draw potential viewers in to learn more. For those with a video show, you can now customize and upload your own thumbnail previews (or choose one of our auto-generated thumbnails) for every video episode.
To upload thumbnails head to any Episode and find the Details tab. There you can see the current episode thumbnail preview and replace it with your own file or by choosing one of our auto-generated stills. Thumbnails will be optimized and appear throughout various places in the Spotify mobile, desktop, and TV apps.
Personalize your presence on Spotify with our show page customization features
Using Spotify for Creators, you’ll be able to designate an episode as the “Best place to start” which is featured more prominently on your show page to help convert more new listeners and viewers into fans. This is especially helpful for creators that have a large back catalog of episodes and makes it easier for new listeners to jump directly into your best content.
We’re also letting you curate your favorite content recommendations across Spotify with a feature called “Host Recommendations”. You’ll be able to choose up to two different pieces of Spotify content (another podcast show, a music album, a playlist, or audiobook) that will be pinned to the top of the More like this tab on your show page. While there are plenty of creative ways to use this space, here are some ideas of how you might use “Host recommendations”:
- Cross-promote with another show to reach a new audience
- Promote another show within your podcast network
- Show off your personality by building a custom playlist of your favorite songs and/or podcast episodes
- Amplify another podcast, album or audiobook where you or a guest are featured
To set your “Best place to start” and “Host recommendations” just log-in to Spotify for Creators and find the Settings tab. Locate the “Only on Spotify” heading to find where these options are. Then, simply choose an episode from your library as the “Best place to start” and search for any content across Spotify (or paste in the Spotify specific URL) to set your “Host recommendations”.
Get listeners and viewers to rate and follow your show
Gaining new followers are the key to growing on any platform and Spotify is no different. Getting listeners and viewers to follow your show is the best way to ensure they stay in the loop when your new episodes drop. Followers will see new episodes in the Home feed and the What’s new page.
Ratings make it easy for you to get a quick pulse check and see how much your show is clicking with audiences, and use the numerical snapshot to potentially make changes. But, your rating is also another way to potentially attract new listeners. The higher the rating, the more likely they are to give your show a chance. In other words, it’s helpful for everyone: you, your existing listeners and viewers, and your prospective fans.
Give your audience encouragement to follow and leave a rating—not just via your social media channels but directly in your show’s audio: intro, outro, or anywhere in between! Here are just a few ideas that can be tailored to incorporate your show’s voice and tone:
- “Thank you so much for listening to/watching [show name]. Make sure to rate and follow us everywhere you listen to podcasts, including Spotify.”
- “Thank you for listening to/watching our show. If you like what you’re hearing/seeing, make sure to rate and follow our show on Spotify.”
- “Do you like this show? Let us know by giving us a follow and leaving us a rating on our Spotify show page.”
Ask your audience to turn on episode notifications and auto-download so they never miss out
If a listener or viewer enjoys a show, chances are they’ll want to be the first to know when a new episode is released. New episode notifications now make it one-tap-easy for audiences: they just have to click the bell icon! Long-term, this can help creators build loyalty, improve engagement, and increase the number of listens and views for new episodes–while for audiences, episode notifications are seen as a staple of the audio and video-consumption experience.
For your biggest fans, auto-download goes one step further by automatically downloading your new episodes for easy offline listening. Offline listening means your audience can tune into your show even if they don’t have service or wifi (like when you’re on a plane!). Turning it on is simple: just tap the gear icon and enable the auto download setting. Auto-downloaded episodes will then appear in Your Episodes.
Your Episodes: an easy way for listeners and viewers to bookmark your show
Episodes should be easy to save for later, in case there’s no “in the moment” time–a frequent occurrence! Users can tap ‘+’ on any episode so they can bookmark it for future listening or watching, in Spotify. After bookmarking the episode, users will see a ‘Your Episodes’ playlist pinned to the top of their Podcast Episodes tab–making it feasible for them to actually try out a new episode and explore more. Next time you have a new episode, ask listeners and viewers to tap the ‘plus’ to add it to their episodes if they can’t listen right away.
Help your audience find the most relevant content for them with Podcast Chapters
Now that you know how to keep fans in the loop when new episodes release, let’s talk about how to better engage them once they press play. Podcast Chapters are one way to help the audience understand and jump to parts of your episode that are most relevant to them.
To get your chapters setup, just follow our step by step guide. Once set up, chapters will be displayed in the now playing view and in the episode page for easy discovery.
Spotify has the tools you need to help grow your show
Spotify offers creator tools that make it easier for you to reach audience, and for listeners to find you. Take advantage of them to amplify your show or podcast–and don’t forget these additional Spotify features that can help your show thrive.
- Add polls to your episodes to interact with your fans, and build community on Spotify with comments
- Launch video content on Spotify to give your audience a new way to engage with your show
- Understand how your content is performing with insights and analytics, powered by Spotify
- Learn how search works on Spotify so that you can craft more compelling episode descriptions
There are so many different opportunities to use the tools at your fingertips on Spotify to grow your audience—try different levers and monitor which lever advances your show the most.
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