Last month, we talked about the benefits to hosting a podcast, and gave you the rundown of the different types of formats hitting streaming services. This month, we’ll dive into how to market and promote your podcast now that you’ve gotten it started. Now that you’ve put in the time and effort to record and produce your podcast, you want to make sure people find it and listen to it, right? Here are our top strategies for marketing your podcast, growing your audience, and standing out in the crowd.
1) Know Your Audience!
This might seem obvious, but knowing your audience before you launch is key to a growth strategy as soon as you go live. Who is your intended audience? The more narrow you can make this, the better you’ll be able to target this specific demographic. Even if you’re convinced your podcast is applicable to everyone, growing a dedicated and loyal audience means finding your specific niche. What value does your podcast bring to a specific group of people? Getting this right means not only will they find your podcast, but they’ll be more apt to subscribe and come back episode after episode. This might mean narrowing your focus and losing more of a generalized feel, but in the long run, that’s not a bad thing. Utilize analytics from your hosting platform to get this even more targeted, then cater your content and advertising towards the target demographic. What hashtags are they following? Where in the world do they live? What else do they listen to? What entertainment do they follow? How old are they? Knowing all of these key stats will help you narrow down both your content and marketing.
2) Produce at Least Five Episodes Before Going Live
We know you’re probably THIS excited to launch, but we recommend having at least five episodes ready to go before you hit the publish button. Even better? Up to 10 fully produced episodes. This helps your audience get to know you right away, and if they’re into the content, they’ll likely download all of the available episodes, and are more likely to hit the subscribe button for future ones. This also means less pressure on having a perfect first episode. Chances are you’ll get the issues and bugs worked out within a few episodes, and having a handful available right off the bat means you don’t necessarily need a flawless first attempt.
3) Research SEO Strategies and Help People Find Your Episodes
The internet and podcast world is a crowded space these days. No matter how great your content is, if no one can find your podcast, there isn’t much point to putting one out. Use the right keywords, photo captions and alt descriptions, titles, and headers. Each description on the front end or admin side really does matter when it comes to SEO. These strategies are always changing, and working with an algorithm can be tricky. Nip these issues in the bud by researching the best current SEO strategies for both major search engines like Google as well as the internal search engines on whatever platform you’re hosting your podcast on.
4) Advertising Works!
Deciding where to spend your money is never easy, but putting a few bucks behind your podcast is a good way to make sure it gets off the ground. Social media ads are a great place to start, including targeted Facebook and Instagram ads. Research the best keywords for your target subject and audience, and then you can also experiment with Google Adwords. On a trade basis, cross-promoting your podcast on a friend’s show or website is a great way to spread the word, and offer to do the same for them.
5) Encourage Social Sharing
A proven way to grow your audience is by encouraging social sharing. The social algorithms are more likely to show your post if it has audience engagement, so promote a contest or giveaway where part of the entry is by tagging a friend, commenting, or sharing. Offer additional entries for each share, and you can even bump this up by putting some money behind the contest via a sponsored ad on social media. Offer a prize in partnership with a local business or affiliated organization, and be sure to share the winner via social media to encourage even more sharing.