Podcast Marketing and Promotion
Why Are Podcasts So Popular?
Podcast Marketing is important just like any other marketing. It might come as a surprise that having quality content or a successful business will not automatically translate into a substantial podcast following. The same case applies to personalities with strong online presence who venture into podcasting. It is easier to convince someone to follow you on social media that it is to convince them to listen or subscribe to your podcast. With this in mind, how do you promote your podcast, more so as a beginner?
I went to work, researching all available strategies, tactics and tips raised by experts and podcast veterans. My goal was to come up with a comprehensive guide on how you can get your podcast seen and downloaded by as many people and as fast as possible. Here is the result of months of intensive research, detailed analysis and wide ranging consultations. Feel free to experiment and report back on what works for you.
Create High-Value Show Notes
After you have recorded your episode, most veteran podcasters and experts advocate for creating some notes from the show. You can also publish an article on your site to inform your audience about the episode and then giving them a link to listen and/or download the episode. There are two ways to take these notes. You can decide to highlight key points and ideas from the episode or provide more details on the episode including listing related links and further resources on the topics addressed on the episode. On top of this, it is important to make the show notes highly valuable for your audience. Show notes can benefit your show in two ways. First, people can find you through your show notes. Secondly, your audience can visit your show notes after listening to you to seek additional resources or to continue the conversation.
Both uses are extremely beneficial but the latter is preferred for promotion. With this in mind, you can then leverage your show notes with some SEO so you can increase your chance of ranking on Google for your chosen topic. How do you optimise? It’s really quite simple. Take some of the main topics from the episode and craft searchable headlines around these topics. Better yet, incorporate the guests name in the headline so you can rank for the topic keyword searches and guest name searches. You can also go a step further by incorporating an optimised Meta Title that helps you to rank on the same or other keywords.
Other than using show notes to rank on Google, you can also use them to encourage your audience to share them and effectively your podcast on social media. There are two ways you can accomplish this; by making the show notes highly shareable and adding calls to action within them. To make the notes more shareable, we have to tap in to our blogging knowledge.
As is the case with blogs, make sure you have an optimised title, a detailed yet precise Meta description, and an attention grabbing image to go along with the notes. Social media websites such as Facebook and Twitter will typically feature the first image in your article unless you have specified an image in your SEO tool. My advice, keep things simple by having an interesting image appear first in your notes. Bonus idea; if you are conducting an interview, have this image as the image of the person you are interviewing. Lastly, make the show notes fun and interesting otherwise no one will share them or even read through them.
Place Your Episodes on Other Platforms
After uploading your episode on your host, you can still use the same audio clip on other platforms to promote your podcast and increase your listener base. The first platform to consider is YouTube and rightfully so having that it is the second most popular search engine after Google. To upload on YouTube, simply create a movie from your audio adding video to your episode title. You can then use your cover art or logo as the visual. Alternatively, you can record a video of you doing the podcast as a show by itself or as a behind the scenes.
The second platform to consider is SoundCloud that is if they are not your host already. The benefit is that SoundCloud opens up a new pocket of listeners and make it easier for you and your audience to share your episodes.
Lastly, social media platforms also hold huge potential for your episodes to tap into. Although you cannot fully repurpose your episodes for social media, you can still capture important quotations from the episodes, attach your logo and share them on social media networks. To be extra, you can create a unique graphic for each post, capturing an interesting quote from the episode. In essence this makes your social media posts about your episodes more shareable.
Host Famous or Popular Guests
For people with an interview show format, interviewing people with an audience is a cheap and highly effective way for your podcast to promote itself. Particularly in the earlier days of the show, hosting high caliber guests gives you priceless initial exposure to the masses.
Additionally, it makes an important statement that you will produce a high quality show. Crucially, this effort will only bear maximum results if the guest shares your show with their audience. As such, make it as easy as possible for them to engage their audience about what you did on the show.
Be Part of Other Podcasts
Although you might still be a podcast beginner, you can still offer valuable insight on particular topics. By appearing on other shows in your niche, you have access to ready listeners already interested in your expertise or insight. Reach out to as many podcasters as possible with plausible pitches as to why you should appear on their show. By appearing on these shows, you will not only woo listeners to your show but also woo other podcasters to your show. Gradually, you will build healthy relationships with people in your niche and encourage cross-promotion across podcasters. Do not worry about losing your listeners to your guests since audiences listen to several shows on the same topic anyway?
Tag People and Companies Featured In Your Show
If you have mentioned valuable players on your show, companies and individuals, it is worthy reaching out to them afterword. A creative way to do this is to tag them in your social media posts say on twitter or instagram. However, you have to make sure that you structure your post so in a way that makes it easy for them to repost.
Increase Your Reviews
When your show appears on podcast providers, it shows the number of downloads you have and the number of reviews. To get higher rankings, you must therefore seek to grow your reviews. One direct way is to simply ask your listeners, at the end of the episode, to subscribe and leave a review. Another way is to give rewards to your listeners in return for leaving reviews. Lastly, an age old trick is by using an email list to drive engagement. Apart from notifying audiences on new shows and updates, an email list also allows you to efficiently ask audiences to leave reviews, provide feedback and provide ideas for future episodes.
The ball is now in your court. Although this list is not conclusive, it provides you with a good starting point. It is also important to note that, not all strategies will work for everyone. As such, it is important to evaluate and experiment. Additionally, you can use these ideas to configure something that works for you. Don’t forget to come back and let us know of your progress.