Speaker 1: In today's episode, you'll learn how to use Patreon to better serve your podcast audience. Welcome to Podcasting Q&A, where you'll learn the best tips and strategies to launch, grow, and monetize your podcast. Today's question comes from Jacob.

Speaker 2: Hi, this is Jacob from Saft Podcast. I was wondering in what podcast specific way, be it for our audio podcast that we upload in the directories or the video podcast that we upload on YouTube, can we make use of the patron only exclusive features on Patreon? Thanks in advance for your response. Thanks for your question, Jacob.

Speaker 1: Patreon is a popular platform that allows creators to earn financial support from their patrons and listeners. So in this episode, we'll show you how to use Patreon to monetize your podcast. And then we'll show you how to use Patreon's private RSS feed to deliver bonus content to your supporters. Patreon is a great way to encourage your listeners to support you financially and help grow your show, as well as offset some of those costs that come with podcasting. Now, typically you would create multiple tiers that have corresponding perks and rewards. So for example, I have a Patreon that supports my podcast. I have a tier as low as a dollar a month that offers shout out by name on episodes, as well as early access to our weekly episodes. And then I have a $5 tier that offers bonus episodes and behind the scenes content that isn't readily available to the public. Brainstorm some incentives that you can reasonably offer your listeners in exchange for their financial support, but be smart about it. You don't want to overcommit or take on more than you can handle. You don't want to find yourself solely dedicated to creating content for Patreon that you neglect growing your podcast audience. One perk that works really great for podcasters is that Patreon creates a custom private RSS feed that is only available to the patrons of your choosing or to those that are signed up to the corresponding tier with audio post. A private RSS feed is only available to your patrons and no one else. So consider populating this feed with content like bonus episodes or exclusive audio that won't be available to the public. If your patrons are using the Patreon app on an iOS or Android device, they can subscribe to that private RSS feed from any compatible podcast app on their device from within the Patreon app. To set up your private RSS feed, click edit page under the page section on the left hand ribbon menu and then click page settings in the top ribbon. From there, scroll all the way to the bottom and check the box labeled enable RSS feed. If you like Patreon to email your current patrons their private RSS links, click the box labeled notify your patrons. Patreon is a great option to offer your podcast listeners who might be interested in helping you grow your show and pay some podcast bills. To use Patreon effectively, we'll leave some helpful links to articles in the show notes below. Thanks for your question Jacob. If you have a question that you want us to answer on a future episode of the podcast, go to speakpipe.com slash buzzsprout or click the link in our show notes to leave a brief audio message. Make sure that you're subscribed to the Buzzsprout YouTube channel for future episodes of podcasting Q&A or subscribe to the show on your favorite podcasting app. That's it for today. Thanks for listening and as always, keep podcasting.