So, you’ve started a podcast and got a few episodes under your belt. Now, how do you get people to listen to your content? If you want more subscribers than just your mom and grandma, you’ll have to start marketing your podcast on social media.
Using social media to market your podcast has a lot of benefits: It’s free, all your fans are there, and you already know how to use it. However, marketing takes time and persistence if you want to succeed. In fact, marketing your podcast might take more time than developing the core content. However, if you do it right, you can save time and money while growing a steady following of fans.
Below, we’ve compiled some of the best tips for getting your podcast promotional engine started on social media. We’ll tell you how to manage your social accounts, create posts that drive engagement, and turn every podcast episode into a marketing machine.
How to Use Social Media to Market Your Podcast
Don’t wait to establish your podcast on social media. Create profiles before you release your first episode to define your presence from the get-go. Here’s how to get started.
Diversify Accounts Across Social Media Outlets
If you want to maximize your fanbase, you need to be present on more than just the biggest social media platforms. Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter are the obvious picks, but there are dozens more outlets where your potential fans hang out.
Now, this is a contested opinion. Some say that you should cherry-pick your platforms and focus on just a few. While that is somewhat true, marketers need to expand their social reach more than ever.
A few years ago, the biggest social platforms captured most target markets. Now, there are 17 platforms with over 300 million users and dozens more with millions of users. So, you should have profiles on at least 8-10 networks to start.
How do you choose which platforms to use?
You can start with the big ones that we mentioned above: Twitter, Facebook, and IG. YouTube is also highly recommended if you make video content (more on that below). To determine the rest, you’ll need to do some target research (get to know your potential fanbase) and go to where your fans are.
If your podcast is about gaming, you might want to have a presence on Reddit and Discord. If it’s about productivity or self-improvement, LinkedIn is a must. For a podcast on books, try Goodreads and Medium. For movies, Letterboxd.
Here’s a hint: Joining a small social network in your niche is potentially much more valuable than a large one without a topic focus.
Use Hashtags, Handles, Tags, etc.
Use the tools that each social media platform gives you to make your posts more visible. When you use a hashtag, you don’t just tell your fans what you’re ranting about in a post. You also make that post searchable.
Use new and trending hashtags in each post to stay relevant. You should also create your own branded hashtags to use with all of your posts so your fans can add your hashtag to their posts.
Mention your branded hashtags during your podcast and develop new ones to build awareness of events in your podcast universe.
Don’t forget that social media isn’t you against the world. Tagging posts with guests and fans automatically shares your content on additional pages and increases the likelihood of going viral. Just remember not to tag anyone without their permission.
Posting Often vs Posting Value
The hardest part of marketing your podcast on social media is staying active. It takes a lot of work to create engaging posts on a number of platforms, and it’s easy to lose sight of what kinds of posts are actually helping your brand.
You have to find a happy medium between posting often and creating value. For example, you can post every day about what you had for lunch, but this isn’t valuable activity (unless your podcast happens to be about lunches). On the other hand, you can make an amazing post once a month, but that might not be enough to hold fans’ attention.
One way to find a balance is to plan effectively. Try to plan 3 relevant social media posts for each podcast episode. Your social planning should occur at the same time as your episode planning—before you ever hit record. You might even hold some bits from each episode and turn them into social posts instead, creating super-valuable social content that feeds directly into your pod content.
Incentivize Engagement
Now that you’re creating valuable content, fans will start to frequent your social pages. How do you keep them coming back for more? And more importantly: How do you get them to spread the word about your awesome pod?
You need to give them incentives to participate, like, and share. No, that doesn’t mean slipping them some cash. There are plenty of incentives you can give for free.
Try some of these:
Interact with listeners: Your fans like you and think you’re cool. If they get a personalized message, @, or comment on social media, it will reinforce their loyalty and incentivize further activity.
Ask for feedback: Asking for feedback isn’t just a way to unleash hordes of internet trolls upon your page. It’s also an invitation for fans to take part in the creative process. Learn what your fans what to hear in future pods and then deliver on their requests.
Reference user-generated content: If you interact with fans, they’ll post all sorts of stuff on your pages—photos, videos, love letters…. If you see something relevant to a topic or an especially creative post, talk about it on your podcast. That fan will feel really special, and other fans will be eager to post too, in hopes of their content being featured on a future episode.
Surveys, contests, etc.: There are lots of ways to “ask” for engagement on social media without it coming off as needy. Use social media tools to create surveys, polls, contests, and more. These are all ways for fans to stay engaged without having to do much work.
Network with Guests and Fellow Podcasters
Ironically, it can be easy to feel like you’re all alone on social media. But there are many other content creators in your niche that would love to collaborate with you. Cross-promotions are your best friend, and they’re as easy as creating a post with another podcaster.
Don’t be afraid that you’re promoting your competitors. The truth is, most listeners can’t get enough content, and they’re always looking for similar podcasts to the ones they love. If you tell short scary stories on your pod, you can gain an audience quickly by collaborating with another podcaster doing the exact same thing; competition isn’t a big issue for many podcast niches.
Spread your social wings and become a member of your niche community. It might grant you a huge audience in no time.
Make Videos
People listen to podcasts on the go. When they’re home, they might prefer to watch YouTube. Filming your podcasts opens up a new realm of content for your social media empire. It can also become a new revenue stream if you get enough subscribers on YouTube.
You may not want to show your face on camera or create unique content for every video (especially if your pods are hours long). That’s ok! If you don’t film your podcasts, you can make a creative intro video and then post your audio on YouTube with still images and royalty free music. It’s super easy to do, and it allows you to engage with billions of YT users.
Buy Ads
Buying ads is a great way to boost viewership if you don’t mind spending a bit of cash. Luckily, ads on social media are very affordable, and you can choose how much you want to spend per month.
Another benefit of ads is that they’re highly targeted. That means ads will be delivered only to people that are likely to enjoy your content. In essence, platforms like Facebook are doing target research for you and delivering you fans that may, in turn, bring even more fans themselves. That’s definitely worth the .20 cents or so it costs per click.
Simplify Social Media Marketing for Your Podcast
The tips above are a roadmap for establishing your podcast on social media and using it to grow your fanbase. Once you’ve learned the ropes, you can simplify the process by scheduling your social media activity.
You can also automate posts, replies, and more with omnichannel software and social media tools. This will help you to keep your focus on the core content your fans love—your podcast.
This is a sponsored post for Videvo.