Podcast

Podcasts have become quite a trend nowadays. People’s busy lifestyles and more travel time make listening to podcasts while traveling or driving more preferable than videos. Listening to an audio series on the go is very convenient. It's also a go-to source for dual purposes, whether people need entertainment or want to learn something new. Passing time while long drives to work or back home become easier this way. More and more people have started to make podcasts in addition to blogging, vlogging and other methods of sharing their knowledge. As the number of people making podcasts is rising constantly, the competition increases. It is, therefore, necessary to find out the best way to market your podcasts. And what better platform than social media? A majority of your audience is at this moment using social media to learn about trending events, gain knowledge or get entertained. It’s an ever-growing platform of communication for various kinds of content. It's also a great place to connect with your target audience and build and nurture relationships. In this article, we will discuss some useful tips to efficiently promote your podcasts on social media. Choose The Right Platforms The first step is to make a choice of one or more social channels where your audience is most likely to be present. It is not very hard. See which category group your podcast series belongs to. It can be business advice, pregnancy tips, motivational, crime-thriller, or educational. Let's take a look at some of the most popular social media platforms: LinkedIn is the best platform to reach businesspersons. It’s an excellent way to build relationships with them. Join groups and post your podcasts on relevant threads on this platform. Twitter and Snapchat can be used in the case of an entertaining podcast series. You can share short snippets or episodes here with your audience so that they can understand the flavor of your podcasts. This approach is perfect for generating curiosity and encouraging them to tune in. Instagram is the best platform to use if you want to connect with your audience on a personal level. You can use creative visuals and videos to give your followers a sneak peek of your podcasts. You can also use hashtags to make your content more discoverable. Additionally, Instagram can be used to reach Millennials and Generation Z. You will not find many seniors on Instagram. Facebook is like an all-rounder, so marketing here would be suitable for just any genre of the podcasts. You can use this platform to create a page for your podcasts and share relevant content to engage your audience. You can also run ads on Facebook. You can choose any one platform apt to the series. But in this case, it is possible to miss out on reaching relevant audiences. Thus, marketing on two platforms will give you a wider reach. Another method for this is to gather some basic information on your target audience. With this information, you can easily determine whether they are business-persons, school children, senior citizens, pregnant mothers, people under depression, fiction-lovers, etc. It's also essential to note that adapting podcast recording software can benefit your podcast creation process. This innovative tool can help you record, edit and publish your podcasts with great ease and quality results to engage your audience even more. Share Trailers Once you are done identifying the most suitable set of social networks, you can move ahead to the next step. This will take place before you have released any episodes or before uploading a new season. Share trailers on social media. You can post audio clips, images, video clips, or short articles related to the upcoming episode. Making the teaser viral a day before the release will give you the best results. Apart from short trailers, you can share behind the scene events with your audience through the new story features. Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat stories that last 24 hours are a good way to generate the curiosity needed. If a celebrity is going to be featured in the podcast, you can share fun facts about them in the stories or posts prior to the release date. This will amplify the excitement in viewers and make the audience eager to listen to the whole podcast. Hashtags can be used to target specific interests. By researching Hashtags and using a combination of popular and less-competitive hashtags, your posts will appear in searches of a larger chunk of the population. Also, Sharing such content is easy, giving you a higher number of eager listeners organically. Thus, making it a cost-effective marketing technique as well. Share When the First Podcast Is Live In the teasers, you can mention the release dates. Give information about the time and place that your podcast is going to be live. Give details about the episode. Itunes is the best place for podcasters. You can also give an outline for the chapter, or a guest that you are going to interview. This generates interest. Creating impatience among people with limited information is a great way to get more individuals to listen. Place Links in Posts You can explore different post patterns to include podcast links. You can pin the segment in a tweet, a Facebook post or Instagram story. You can also write a blog supporting the topic and attach a link to the podcast along with the blog post. Creating relatable quotes with applications like Canva or Pablo can also get you the attention you need. You can cut out short audio clips from the podcast and share it as a podcast with the URL of the complete episode. With Twitter SoundCloud, users can directly play the audio from their Twitter feed. It is possible to create an image and link it with the series in the caption or as Alt Text. Short videos can also be used. This will be more effective than any other method as visual content works best in driving attention. Use high-quality graphics, special effects to make it as visually appealing as possible. You can put up a photo of your guest, or yourself recording along with the guest post or go solo. Human faces attract more eyes in comparison to inanimate objects. You can share usable tips supporting your series. People love useful advice especially when it can make life easier for them. Mention trending issues, ideas or news in context to the topic of your podcasts. For example, a psychologist can share tips to lower depression among youngsters and attach a link to the whole podcast in the comments. Beware not to beat around the bush. Do not stray away from the topic just to get attention. Release More Than One Episode at Launch You have successfully generated interest in the listeners. On the day of release, people are excited to hear the full piece. But with all the excitement, it would be a disappointment if they only got to listen to a single episode. Long wait time for the next chapter can reduce enthusiasm. Popular podcasters like Rand Fishkin have recommended releasing at least 3 episodes together. You can release the episodes on consecutive days too. Conduct Giveaways Everyone likes discounts and gifts. With contests or random prize distribution, you can motivate the audience to promote your series. Discount coupons for the subscription or free episodes can be given to the winners. In exchange for these gifts, reviews can be requested. More reviews will boost awareness and get more people to notice your series. Moreover, reviews and positive comments from people are the best forms of social proof of excellence. Go Live Use the live features of Facebook and Instagram to connect with social media users. Answer to the commented questions. Give advice on problems. And resolve queries when you go live. Live interactions build trust and generate reliability. Plus it makes your audience feel that they are also taking part in the conversation. Making them believe that they are part of the show. At some intervals, you can promote your podcasts by mentioning them as a complete solution for the questions asked. Ask for the followers’ opinions. Everyone loves sharing their thoughts publically. There is a little drawback here. The feedback can be positive as well as negative. So be prepared to get some criticism too. Handle it well and convince the audience about your ability. However, resharing the old chapters of your podcasts is also effective to keep getting views on previous episodes. These tips will help you plan the social media marketing strategy for your digital audio series. In addition to this, it will encourage the audience to share the podcasts with their friends, giving you natural promotions. Share your ideas for marketing podcasts in the comments below.