First off, there was no post yesterday as there have been a lot of developments recently, all of which I’ll explain in this post. It’s all very exciting, and I think each of you will get something from reading this.
The Problem
iTunes, after several weeks, only shows thirteen 5 star reviews, and I know that number is incorrect. I have personally been emailed and had conversations with people who left reviews, then realized that their review was never actually posted despite having submitted it. I’ve reached out to iTunes, and they say that all the reviews are up and that if people are having problems, they should reach out to iTunes themselves. I feel like this is asking a lot of my listeners since you all are already taking time out of your day to write a review. Now, they’d ask you to screenshot the review you want to post and send it to them just to ensure it goes through. Where is the sense in that? That isn’t right and it isn’t worth your time. It should be easy for everyone to leave honest reviews. Couple that with me not getting all of the numbers that I should be seeing, which I need to make the podcast better and see what is resonating with you all, and you can start to see the severity of the issue.
Additionally, iTunes has not put me on the New and Noteworthy section, which I’ve applied for several times now, even though we have great reviews, great episodes, and great people listening to them. There are people on the “New and Noteworthy” section that have not updated with an episode since last year. I’ve also messaged iTunes about this and have yet to hear back.
One final thing is about the numbers I can see as far as how listeners access the content. 95% of listens come from the people I’ve reached out to: Reddit communities, Facebook, and Twitter. Almost none have come from the distribution centers, such as iTunes. I can see why iTunes has been slowly trending down in podcast listens. This is something that I am continuing to work on.
The Solution
I believe that “doing good by doing well” is an adage we all should live by, so I will be making a giveaway system (several hundred to several thousand dollars worth) starting soon that you all can enter by submitting honest reviews, taking a screenshot, and sending it to me (among other ways, such as joining the email list, Facebook likes, sharing, and following on Twitter). Basically, instead of any of you having to do the extra step of waiting around for iTunes, I will handle any troubleshooting, and as a thank you for taking your time, you will get the chance to win some cool stuff (will announce prizes soon). I have been in talks with a number of companies that would like to help promote biotech and science-related topics, and are sympathetic to the iTunes issue. I, hopefully, will be finalizing everything very soon, so each of you can start earning points! 🙂
We all want to learn and see this podcast grow. When you share, tell people, and leave reviews, you all have my thanks. Wasting peoples’ time is something I never want to do, so when you take the time to do anything that I mentioned previously, and it doesn’t even make its way through whatever weird system is on the other end, then I know that’s something I need to fight against and work to resolve.
Benefits to You
To listeners, guests, and science enthusiasts, the benefit to you is that I will make sure everything you contribute gets as wide a distribution as possible. Whether that is reviews, shares, or being a guest on the show. I want each and every one of you to be happy that you did so. I want to think big, bring amazing guests on this show, and cover really interesting topics, like advances in cancer research and Alzheimer’s treatments. I cannot do that without each of you reading this and listening to the podcast. Let me know what types of things will get you all excited for the future of this podcast! 🙂