We've already talked a great deal about social media strategies when it comes to your radio station. Today, we're giving a small list of tips about social media promotion when it comes to the other kind of audio show format we love: podcasting!
In a sense, podcasting compliments the social media world more than radio does. Perhaps this is because podcasts have always been bred and born on the internet. Podcasting goes with social media marketing like bread and butter, and there are several strategies you can implement to expand your podcast's reach. Below are just five of them, and they apply to any social media platform you choose.
Ready to release a new podcast episode or new show and need some guidance about spreading the word? We hope the tips below offer some help.
Create Social Media Accounts Specifically for Your Podcast
This tip may seem like a no-brainer. But since podcasting is something almost anyone can do – even beginners previously unfamiliar with broadcasting – it should be stated. You know what they say: "everyone has a podcast these days." If you're one of the many people on planet Earth who desires to have their own show, make sure that show has its own social media accounts: not just promotional photos and announcements that appear on your personal Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter.
Giving your podcast its own social media account – not simply posting announcements on the Facebook page you've been using since you were twelve years old – is beneficial for two reasons. First, it allows strangers from across the internet to more easily stumble upon your work. Because your account for your podcast is separate from the account where you post personal family photos, you have the freedom to implement more marketing strategies: such as utilizing hashtags, turning the account into a business account, or uploading daily promotional posts. All of these things encourage growth.
Second, having social media accounts specifically for your podcast gives more credibility to the show itself. If you're only posting updates about your podcast on a personal Instagram feed and nowhere else, it may give off the impression your show is just a hobby and not something you're willing to expand. But creating a separate page for your podcast (and then spreading the word to friends and family via your personal social media) tells the people already following you that your podcast is something to be taken seriously.
To be clear, we're not saying you can't promote your podcast on your personal social media. It's actually helpful to do so. We're just saying your personal socials aren't the only place you should be promoting your show.
Post Every Time There's a New Episode
Artists create posters and hang them around cities/put them on billboards every time they're going on tour. Movie studios create trailers – uploading them to YouTube and making sure they appear before feature films in theaters every time they have a new film coming out.
Similarly, you should be implementing the same strategy every time you have a new podcast episode released.
Want a bigger audience to hear your brand new podcast episode? Spread the word! Your posts don't even need to be that fancy: just a simple post that includes a short synopsis of the episode and a link for fans to listen to it will do the trick. For loyal listeners, making an announcement across your podcast's social media pages every time there's a new episode helps them catch up with your show. Without making that announcement, they may forget to check your podcast altogether. Spreading the word helps them schedule listening time into their day.
Post Photos/Video, Quotes, and Sound Clips to Tease Fans
A good way to get your audience excited about an upcoming episode – and also a good way to introduce people who have stumbled across your social media page to your podcast – is by posting behind-the-scenes photos/video, quotes, sound bites, and other kinds of previews onto your social media pages. All of these things are interactive and can evoke a response from your audience, making them great tools to drum up attention for forthcoming releases.
Make sure your photos, quotes, and sound clips are exciting and have something to offer. They should make your audience ask questions...why are the podcast hosts laughing in this photo? What topic are these two hosts talking about that (insert host's name here) said this out-there sentence? This audio clip is really funny...I wonder what the full conversation is like? Y'know, questions like that.
Below are some examples of good podcast previews on social media. Get some inspiration below!
*New Episode Alert!*
— The 'Azeem Digital Asks' Digital Marketing Podcast (@AzeemDigiAsks) September 23, 2020
Introducing:
Azeem Digital Asks X SEO SAS Podcast!
When podcasts collide! My guests are the awesome co-hosts of the SEO SAS Podcast.
I think this episode is definitely going to brighten up your day!
Listen here:https://t.co/M8nFK8ZCcq#podcasts pic.twitter.com/eggiqXG6oP
Make the Most of Your Guest's Fanbase
Managed to book a guest on your show with a larger following than yours? You're in luck. Through social media promotion of your show and interacting with your guest's fanbase, you may be able to get some of their audience to cross over into your world.
The easiest way to do this is by kindly asking your guest to share the podcast episode they're in on their social media accounts once it's up. Once they've done that, you can reply to comments on their posts, re-share their announcement to your pages, and more. Don't forget to announce the appearance of your special guest on your pages too! There's a very special tool you can use to make sure their fans find your posts even if they don't follow you...
Never Underestimate the Power of the Hashtag
...Yes, the hashtag: probably the most underrated and powerful tool of social media. Say you got lucky and managed to get Taraji P. Henson as a special guest on your podcast. Make sure to put her name in a hashtag at the bottom of your social media post about it. Is your latest episode all about recycling? Hashtag it. Is your next episode going to be your show's season finale, and it will feature two guests you've previously had on the podcast before? Hashtag, hashtag, hashtag.
If you aren't doing it already, you need to make hashtagging a habit in your podcast social posts. Hashtags are like little doorways of the internet: they allow people hungry for your kind of content to more easily find you. If you want to grow your audience, you've got to find the right kinds of hashtags to go along with your posts. Who knows: a post could go viral due to one hashtag alone.
That's it for our tips so far. Make sure to keep checking the Live365 blog for future tips related to podcasts, broadcasts, and social media marketing. Happy podcasting!
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Article Image: While podcasting, a woman holds up a cell phone in front of her face to take a selfie. (DragosCondreaW via DepositPhotos.)
