As the popularity of podcasts continues to skyrocket with no signs of slowing down, marketers are wondering how to capture more of that coveted “share of ear” in an increasingly crowded space. With an expected 424 million podcast listeners worldwide by the end of 2022, many are curious about what the future of podcasting may hold. Molly Beck runs Messy.fm, a software company that builds internal podcast networks for large organizations. Her experience working with podcasters every day offers her a unique lens into the industry. In fact, she has a few surprising predictions about where podcasts are heading as we embark on a new year.
Molly Beck, Founder of Messy.fm
“Weekly podcast listeners in the United States listen to an average of eight podcasts per week,” Beck points out. “But the most powerful thing about it is that when someone’s voice is in your ear, it feels so special and intimate.”
That intimacy piece is what has experts like Beck predicting that the future of podcasting is heading in the same direction as other social media trends, where experiences will be more privatized, exclusive and gated.
“Let’s compare the rise of private enterprise podcasting to the rise of social media walled gardens,” Beck says. “In both cases, creators are speaking privately with an audience. Internal communications managers at large companies are using private podcasting to speak directly to their employees. Influencers are using closed communities like Mighty Networks or Patreon to speak directly to their fans.”
Beck attributes this shift to creators craving more control over their audiences. They also want more information and a better understanding of that core audience. “I believe the future of communication in general is much more focused on communications that feel more real,” Beck says. “That’s why we’re called Messy.”
But in a world that seems to favor large audience numbers over more intimate experiences, what is the benefit of “private podcasting?” Why would influencers or executives want to only speak to a closed community through their podcast?
“You have a built-in audience from day one,” Beck says. “Privately available shows can easily outperform a publicly available show.”
This might be true if marketers start favoring engagement over reach as their biggest driver of success. That’s why we’re seeing this happen at large organizations trying to make employees feel more engaged.
“There’s a reason we feel like we are best friends with our favorite podcasters,” Beck says. We feel like we’re listening in on a private conversation.”
That insight is inspiring employers to use this medium to foster employee engagement in a big way, something that’s clearly needed with 70% of employees saying they feel disengaged at work. As organizations continue to expand their remote or hybrid workforces, there’s a real benefit to creating this intimate experience to keep employees connected to the business.
“It’s great for employees to feel that connection to their executive team who they will never meet in person,” Beck says. “Your CFO is never going to crack a joke on an investor call but maybe they’ll make a self-deprecating remark on a private podcast.”
Plus, employees are already spending parts of their workday listening to podcasts. A recent Edison study concluded that 6 out of 10 Americans listen to podcasts while multitasking, most people between 10 and 2pm on weekdays.
Private company podcasts also offer a level of accessibility that blogs and newsletters don’t. “Consider your front line workers who are in their cars all day who don’t have time to scroll,” Beck says. She also suggests repurposing content you’ve already created and turning it into a podcast. “It’s an ‘and,’ not an ‘or.’ You might send an email, write a newsletter, or create a video, so why wouldn’t you put all that content into multiple formats? Messy also generates automatic transcriptions of all episodes so that level of accessibility is also factored into the process.”
Orkin, a pest-removal company, uses podcasting to reach their employees for that exact reason. “Our Orkin Pros are on the road every day serving customers,” says Marketing Director Lia Vaughn, “And we wanted an easier way for them to receive company updates without having to stop and read emails.”
So if podcasting is the key to employee engagement, how do you choose who should be the host of your company’s podcast? “Think of the people at your organization whose Slack messages hold a little more weight,” Beck says. “They are your internal workplace influencers. Identify and deploy them to push out messages on behalf of your company.”
An employee may never get one-on-one time with senior executives, but if the executive were to be on their internal podcast, suddenly that same employee could find themselves in a position to have an executive's undivided attention for a full hour.
The benefits for taking on this role are exponential. Consider the extra layer of job security. “If you are the host of your organization’s internal podcast and you spend your time interviewing executives, you’re less likely to be on the chopping block when layoff decisions need to be made,” Beck says.
If Beck’s predictions are correct and these large enterprises are setting the trend, then podcasting will follow the rest of the social-media sphere, heading towards more privatized, gated, controlled yet intimate environments.
