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The value of social media platforms cannot be overstated, even with 2022 on the horizon. According to published findings, 90% of brands want to build brand awareness through social media, with 71% using them to manage and engage their communities.
Podcasting is an amazing way for you to share your passion for IT, arts, pop culture, or anything you’re excited about with others online. All you need is some soundproofing and a quality mic to get you started. (Click here to see the podcasting equipment Anita uses.) But how do you market your podcast to potential listeners?
With thousands of other podcasts available, how can a new podcast push its way to the forefront? Here’s how you can market your podcast using social media and reach like-minded listeners around the globe through Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and similar platforms.
Why Using Social Media to Promote your Podcast is a Great Idea
The greatest benefit of using social media to market your podcast moving forward is due to the inherent accessibility of these platforms. Everyone from young teens and college students to millennials, parents, and the elderly use social media daily. This means that your potential audience penetration far exceeds other marketing channels, most of which you will have to pay for.
You won’t have to spend hours learning how to manage your profiles or how to publish new content – you can focus on engaging your listeners. Here’s what you can look forward to if you decide to market your podcast via social media going forward:
- Easily reach a worldwide audience
- Gain first-hand access to listener insight
- Establish your podcast’s brand in the industry
- Attract other podcast creators for collaboration
- Directly engage listeners through various live events
- Diversify your content beyond the audio format
- Spend a fraction of the marketing resources you would otherwise
Promoting your Podcast on Social Media
Settle on your Podcast’s Branding
The most important element of marketing your podcast on social media is to make it unique through its branding. Your logo, visual elements, name, as well as any catchphrase or subtitle you settled on need to be displayed prominently.
You can consult a professional graphic designer or content creator to set these elements in stone before moving on with your marketing efforts. Podcasts such as Welcome to Night Vale and Myths & Legends are good examples of how branding can make a podcast distinct on social media. Don’t move forward with social media marketing until you settle on your branding.
Create a Launch Episode Backlog
If your podcast is in its infancy, you will have to work hard and fast to ensure that people stick around. A great way to avoid burnout and have enough time to create social media content is to record a backlog of episodes.
Create several launch episodes which you will publish over the next several weeks instead of recording week-to-week. This will give you plenty of time to spruce up your social media pages and create some marketing content to boot. Moreover, you will have time to answer audience comments and set up your pages properly for the future.
Reach out to Industry Veterans and Influencers with Guest Spots
A great way to drive traffic to your social platforms and generate interest from early adopters is to reach out to other podcasters and professionals. Influencer marketing in the form of podcast guests can do wonders for growing your listener base.
See if you can find several other podcast creators and representatives from the industry you’re covering. Talk to them about the possibility of collaborating on future podcast episodes in exchange for mutual exposure. This is a good way of penetrating an already existing audience of whomever you invite to be the guest of your podcast. Moreover, you can generate hype for their visit to your podcast weeks in advance via social media and attract even more people to your channels.
Write Episode Descriptions with SEO in Mind
As you publish new episodes, people will want to know which topics you are covering in each installment. This is where episode descriptions come into play. They are not unlike eCommerce product descriptions, meaning you will need to be succinct and use the right keywords. You can use PaperHelp to write, edit, and format great episode description content as well as proofread any social media marketing content you’ve created.
This is especially helpful if you don’t have a copywriter on the team and need to write plenty of content in a short time. Episode descriptions will attract more listeners to your podcast on social media and improve its overall SEO visibility moving forward.
Arrange for Live Podcast Episodes via Social Media
One thing that most social media platforms allow is for you to live stream and directly interact with your followers. In the case of podcasts, this is an amazing opportunity to host live podcast episodes and record them for later publishing.
Think of it as a live radio show with listeners calling in, only in the case of social media, people are commenting on your live stream. You can integrate follower questions, user-generated content, and other types of interactive elements into your live streams. Consider Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok as your primary targets for upcoming live events. You can also use YouTube and Twitch to live stream podcast recording sessions, but the former platforms are more “social” than the later ones.
Mistakes to Avoid When Promoting your Podcast on Social Media
Using social media to market your podcast can be overwhelming at times. Once you set up your pages and start posting marketing content, you’ll feel as if you’re managing a small business on social media. You must treat it as such, as marketing mistakes can backfire and lead to fewer listeners or lower engagement. To round things out, let’s address some key points which you should avoid in your social media marketing efforts:
- Avoiding cross-platform marketing altogether – you need to use email marketing, YouTube, and popular podcast platforms like Spotify to market your podcast properly.
- Creating generic social media marketing content – your marketing content should cater to the types of listeners you want to attract
- Marketing the podcast abruptly and sporadically – create a content calendar just as you would with podcast episode production and stick to it
- Failing to link your podcast episodes to social media posts – use every opportunity to link your website and/or podcast episodes on social media
- Not using user-generated content from social media – your listeners will come up with fan art, episode ideas, and write reviews – use them to your advantage
- Using copyrighted content without attribution – whenever possible, use royalty-free, stock, and free audio content with clear attribution to avoid legal issues
- Not creating short video snippet to promote your podcast – there are lots of programs to help you pick a short quote from the podcast and turn it into a video to promote on social media. Videos tend to get better reach and engagement than static images.
The value of social media for your podcast far outweighs any growing pains you might experience as you set up your pages and content plans. Make sure to align your social media content with the podcast in terms of branding and the general message you send to listeners and followers. Over time, people will learn to associate your podcast with social media and instinctively look for updates, news, and new episode announcements there.
