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Podcast Charts Are Lying to You: How to Use Rankings Without Losing Your Soul · Your Mic

• 0:00
  I like podcast charts, but I also have a hot take about podcast charts.
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  They're vanity metrics. Here's another hot take. You should still try and be on them.
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  Because being able to say top 5% is like walking into a room in a tailored suit.
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  It doesn't do the work for you, but it buys you a few extra seconds of attention.
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  What you do with those seconds is what actually matters.
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  Most of the top whatever percent stats floating around come from download distribution data.
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  The rough math, it's marketing math really. If your new episode gets a little over a thousand
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  downloads in the first seven days, you're playing in that quote top 5% of shows worldwide bracket.
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  Top 10% is closer to 450 to 500 downloads in that same window.
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  That sounds huge. Top 5% globally feels like you should be cashing checks and dodging
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  paparazzi at Whole Foods, right? Wrong. Here's your reality check. That still might be a tiny
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  show in human terms. It just means that most podcasts are really, really, really, really small
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  and die fast. But here's where charts do matter. We got to give them their flowers for a second,
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  all right? They can't signal quality momentum. Seeing a show ranking in a category or rocking a
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  quote top 5% badge tells potential listeners this isn't some abandoned side project. It's social
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  proof. People are actually listening. What it also does is make cold outreach easier when you
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  pitch a guest a partner or a sponsor. You can say we're a top ranked show in whatever category.
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  It's going to open doors. It just does. It's a branding thing. It's psychology. It gives
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  nervous marketers and risk averse CMOs something concrete to cling to while they decide if you're legit.
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  What they also do is boost algorithmic discovery. Apple, Spotify, the third party charts,
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  they all use some stew of downloads, follows, and recent growth. If you spike, you get
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  surface to more strangers. That's extra oxygen. So yeah, charts are vanity, but they're elevated
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  vanity. They're a nice trophy to hang in the lobby. Now where they become a trap and here it is.
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  This is going to probably be a little hard for you to listen to. You start making decisions
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  for the algorithm instead of the listener. You're chasing hot takes and celebrity guests because
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  they'll spike downloads even if those episodes don't help your actual audience. You confuse
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  popularity with profitability. Don't forget popularity. That's for high school kids who don't have
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  anything to show for themselves. A show sitting in the top 50 of a category can have zero trackable
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  revenue while a niche podcast outside the charts by a long shot quietly closes six figures and
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  services because it speaks to 300 perfect people. You let the badge become your personality.
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  That's another one. You don't want to fall into that trap. Top 5% podcast goes in your bio,
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  your email signature, your LinkedIn headline, but there's no follow through no offer, no pipeline,
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  no system, just vibes and status. For B2B especially, there's almost no correlation between chart
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  positions and revenue. What moves money is the right listeners, the right relationships,
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  the right follow-up charts. Do not and cannot measure any of that. How do you treat charts
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  like the nice to have they are? Aim for them as a byproduct. Not the mission. Your main goal.
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  Build a show that moves people into your world, your email list, DMs, discovery calls, clients.
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  If you hit a chart along the way, cool, screenshot it, celebrate it, then get back to work. I'll give
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  you a little bit of an anecdote. When I was back in my previous radio career twice, we won the
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  Marconi Award. It's a huge award in the industry. When it was announced that my station won,
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  it was like, okay, cool. We announced it on Facebook and on Instagram. The next day,
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  it was just another day. It didn't really feel like much, and that's knowing that this award
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  is a big damn deal in the business, but there's still work to be done. That's the same mindset
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  that you should have whenever you just so happen to pop up onto a chart. What you could also do
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  with that chart position is use it strategically in your intros. Not everyone, but let's say,
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  for your mic, it's a top rank show in whatever category. You buy yourself some extra credibility
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  in as little as three seconds. You can use it in pitches. Hey, we've hit top 5% globally by
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  downloads and more importantly, our last season generated X client conversations. You pair your
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  vanity with actual substance. What you also want to do is balance your dashboard on one side,
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  downloads, followers, and rankings. On the other, email opt-ins from the show, sales calls that
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  started with, I heard you on . . . . And then revenue where the podcast clearly played a role.
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  If the left side is skyrocketing and the right side is empty, you don't have a podcast problem.
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  You've got a conversion problem. That's because charts are like abs. Cool to have, fun to show off,
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  but if your heart and your lungs are trash, you're still going to gas out when you walk up the stairs.
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  So, sure, chase that top 5% flex. Let it open doors. Are you a little envy? Make your dad proud.
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  Just do not confuse the trophy with the job. If you want to help building the other side of your
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  dashboard, grab the Speak Podcasting roadmap. I'll send it over to you. Shoot me a message
• 6:01
  ready with a Y at SpeakPodcasting.com. Thanks for listening.