The Goal: Get Naked French on the Apple Podcast Charts
Naked French is one of the fastest-growing French language communities on the internet.
After I helped build their community of 80,000+ Instagram followers, they were ready to go beyond quick tips and create a more in-depth language learning resource.
The Naked French team were tired of boring French podcasts that put listeners to sleep or were full of lessons they wouldn’t use in real life.
So they created the Naked French Podcast – a bilingual show that explores life, love and all the stuff in between with everyone from French reality TV stars to high-school sweethearts.
The Strategy
Most of the hard work had already been done by building an engaged online following on Instagram.
But to ensure the podcast had the best chance of hitting the charts, the team needed to nail the planning and launch.
This included:
1. Designing each episode’s storyline before recording
I worked with the team to create storylines that were entertaining and engaging, with relevant themes for a wide audience. This helped inform the way they captured raw content, ensuring the process was as efficient as possible.
2. Developing and executing a distribution strategy
Rather than simply relying on the Naked French Instagram and newsletter, I cultivated a network of French language influencers and bloggers to help build hype for the podcast’s debut.
Once episodes were coming out on a weekly basis, the team could leverage this network to promote the release and get as many listens as possible in the first 7 days.
3. Co-creating with the Naked French community
Ultimately, the success of this podcast would come down to its listeners.
So I consulted with the Naked French audience, getting live feedback via Instagram stories, polls, and the newsletter. This allowed the team to see what was working, what wasn’t, and iterate.
For example, the team decided to include English narrations throughout episodes based on audience suggestions. This allows listeners to check their comprehension of the French being spoken and follow along even if they don’t know 100% of the words – something the Naked French audience finds quite useful.
The Results
The Naked French Podcast debuted in the top 10 of Apple’s Language Learning charts in 12+ countries. With listeners in 101 countries, the podcast has attracted a truly global audience.
These listeners are also quite active – the Naked French podcast is one of the most widely shared in the world.
With new episodes getting more than 443 downloads in the first week of release, the Naked French Podcast is in the top 10% of all podcasts.
