Show Notes: 5 Key Elements
Now you’ve got your podcast ready to go, you have guests lined up, topics planned out, and have started recording! But what’s missing? One very important part of your podcast is the show notes!
Show notes help listeners understand a few things about your podcast such as who you are and what the podcast is about. Show notes need to be created for each episode as they will give information to help your viewers understand what is being discussed. Show notes also help you attract new viewers or turn casual viewers into repeat listeners – think of it as a show synopsis on Netflix or the description blurb on the back of a book.
Great, we need show notes but what needs to be included in these?! Below we will discuss the 5 key elements of show notes and how/why to include each element.
1. Show Notes Introduction
The first key element of your show notes is your introduction. Your introduction is meant to give the viewer a quick understanding of what to expect during the episode. In this section of the show notes you should include these key elements:
Podcast Topic - What will you be discussing in this episode?
Introduce Guest (if you have one)
Who is the guest and why are they on your show? What are they an expert in? What makes them an expert?
Questions that may be answered during your podcast.
2. Key Take Aways (Summarize)
Now that you’ve introduced your show and any guests you have you’ll want to give a brief summary. In this section of show notes a few key elements you should include are:
Your main points - this can be done by including
Key quotes that will attract the viewer.
Statistics discussed
A unique view (yours or your guests)
A fact that you or your guest was surprised by
Feel free to add some description to these to make them make sense. But don't give all the information here - give the viewer a reason to watch/listen!
3. Resources (Help Learn)
You've introduced your episode, given information about your guest, and provided a summary. Now what? Well, you spent a lot of time researching your topic so why not help your audience learn? This section of the show notes should…
Include any resources that helped you learn (this could even be your own blog!) such as:
the guest’s podcast, book, website, etc.
your own website, blog, course, etc.
Any resource that helped you learn more about the topic discussed
This can almost be seen as a little 'work cited' portion.
4. Social Media (Direct)
One super helpful way to attract and keep viewers is through social media. Sometimes viewers might find your social media first which will guide them to your podcast. But pointing your viewers to follow your social media accounts in your show notes helps keep them involved and may turn them from casual viewers to regular ones. It's important to include all of your social media so that your viewers can follow the platform that they prefer!
Include:
Each viewer is unique, therefore, each viewer will use one platform more than another. By utilizing each platform you are allowing the potential for a more broad audience.
5. Conclusion (Call to Action)
At this point, you've given the viewer all the information they need to know whether they want to listen, where to find more from you, ability to further research the topic. Now, let's give them a call to action to help your show!
In this call to action, you can redirect your viewer to do one or all of the below:
Like/follow your podcast
Follow your Youtube
Leave Feedback
Join Patreon
Purchase your product/service
Follow your blog
Etc.
Use this section of the shown notes to push your viewer to support you!
The Way You Write Matters
Great, now you understand the key elements. But it would be a miss if you did all of this work and didn't utilize SEO (Search Engine Optimization). SEO utilization helps attract new viewers to your show note by using keywords and easily readable material that will pop up in searches. We are strong believers in SEO use and by focusing on this in your show notes you make your work more easily found - hence attracting more viewers!
We will have more to come on SEO use in the future - so stay tuned.
Conclusion
Now you know why show notes are important, what to include, and how to write them. You may think, great more work! But remember this doesn't need to be long and use information you already have from creating the podcast! Again, think quick synopsis.
What would attract you to view a podcast you've never heard before?
Hav
P.S. If you are looking for more tips and tricks as a business owner or podcaster, check out our blog!
This blog post was updated November 28th, 2023
