Recording your podcast is just the beginning. Getting people to actually listen to it, that’s a whole different story. At We Are Podcast 2016, we had a panel of industry professionals that passed along their proven ways to engage social media audiences to grow podcasts. Here are a few of their top tips.
Promote your podcast on Facebook
Facebook’s robust targeted advertising system is perfect for podcasts that have a very specific audience in mind. For example, you can target an audience that is using an iPhone, if you want to boost your rank on the iTunes Store. Then you can additionally target people who are using Wi-Fi rather than mobile data, as they’re more likely to download your podcasts if they’re not paying for 4G. You can also find pages that are similar to yours and target that specific audience with your podcast, tapping into a new, but still relevant, group of listeners.
Get your audience to be your advertisement
Paid advertising is good, but social media is all about the potential for viral marketing and organic reach. The most effective advertising is where you can convince your own followers to shout their praises for you within their own social circles.
The best way to do this? Good content and engagement. Develop an easy hashtag, and get your audience involved. Maybe you can send a tweet asking them to send a selfie using your hashtag. It’s simple, but surprisingly effective. Those tweets they send out will be seen by their followers, further increasing your reach.
Bring people back to your website
Your goal should always be to bring people back to your podcast’s website. Unfortunately, anything you do on social media is owned by the parent company, and can be subject rule or policy changes. Avoid this by prioritising your website above everything else. That’s where you can capture email addresses and sell other products you have.
Use guests to engage with your audience
Your guests are arguably the most interesting part of your program, so leverage their influence by bringing them back to your social media accounts. You can have them do a Facebook Q&A, for example, or a live stream event where they interact with your followers. They could even just take over your Twitter account for a few hours and have a good time conversing and engaging with your tribe.
Focus on promotion
The work for your podcast starts when you finish recording. You need to make sure that promoting the podcast itself is your absolute top priority, and that you’re reaching people on as many platforms as possible. Social media is also a great place to advertise your backlog of episodes, as people won’t mind seeing a tweet promoting an old episode if it’s still relevant and interesting to them.
Listen to the entire podcast episode here.
https://mustamplify.com/shouldistartapodcast139/
Author: Ronsley Vaz
Ronsley is the founder & chief day dreamer at AMPLIFY. He is an author, speaker & serial entrepreneur.
He has a Masters’ degree in Software Engineering and an MBA in Psychology and Leadership. He is known as the creator of We Are Podcast – the first Podcasting Conference in the Southern Hemisphere, and the host of The Bond Appetit Podcast and Should I Start a Podcast. He has an audience of over 3 million in 133 countries.