Grow your podcast audience in 10 easy steps
Starting and maintaining a podcast is no easy feat. But the work doesn’t stop there. Once your pod is up and running, you also need to be strategic about how and when you promote it in order to gain and grow a followership. Below are 10 steps that are sure to help you grow your audience.
1. Ask
This one is both easy and possibly the most powerful. Throughout your podcast, you should ask your listeners to subscribe, like and review your work. This will help your show gain exposure on most podcast apps. You should also ask your listeners to tell their friends about your podcast. Nothing is more convincing than a personal, unpaid testimonial from a trusted source and that is exactly what your listeners would be providing to potential audience members.
2. Partner with other podcasts
Assuming you are connected to other podcasters with similar or related formats, ask them to participate in some mutually beneficial promotions. This could mean appearing as guests on each other’s shows, or just mentioning one another’s shows in the course of your episodes and encouraging your listeners to check it out. Intentional cross promotion allows you quick and easy access to a whole new audience of podcast listeners who may be willing to add your show to their line-up.
3. Interact
One of the reasons why podcasts are so popular is because listeners often feel a very personal connection to the shows and their hosts/creators. A good way to encourage this vibe is to interact with your listeners on a regular basis. Responding to listener comments and messages on social media is one way to do this. Another way is to set up a podcast email address that you regularly announce on your show. Invite listeners to reach out with comments or questions. You should not only respond to these messages, but also reference then on your show from time to time to let listeners know their input is being acknowledged.
4. Call to action
You may (should) already be sharing links to your podcast episodes on your social media channels. Take that effort one step further by including a call to action. This could be as simple as asking your followers to share the link to your show with their followers. You could go even further by making it a contest or competition in which you offer some sort of podcast-related reward for people who share your link farthest.
5. Follow others
Many people have a follow-back policy whereby they will return follow anyone who follows them. So, an easy way to up your followership is to use your podcast social media channels to follow other accounts that relate to your show’s subject matter.
6. Hashtags
Anytime you post to social media about your show, remember to include keyword hashtags at the end of your post. These keywords should relate to your show content, subject matter, target audience and themes. This will help people searching for related subject matter find your post and, thereby, your show.
7. Ask guests to promote the show
Many podcasts feature guests either regularly or occasionally. One benefit of inviting guests on the show is to ask them to cross promote their episode of your show to their audiences. Ask your guests to share the link to their episode on all of their social media channels. Guests should include a call to action asking their followers to listen to the episode and to share it with others.
8. Preview your next episode
Instead of just dropping episodes when they’re ready, consider previewing them at the end of the previous episode and in the days leading up to their release. To do this effectively, you must have a pre-planned production schedule and you must have more than one episode recorded at a time. Take a few second of compelling audio from your upcoming show and set it up at the end of the previous episode to entice listeners to come back to hear the rest. You should also use the set up and “sneak peek” audio on your social media posts to encourage followers to tune in to the latest episodes.
9. Interact with other social media feeds that have similar audiences to your show
If you are attuned to your audience, you probably know what other social media feeds they follow. You should closely monitor those feeds and, using your podcast feeds, interact with them regularly. Do this in a way that is appealing and conversant so as to attract members of their audience to your feed and your podcast.
10. Try out social media features
Facebook has groups, LinkedIn has polls, Twitter has moments – these are just some examples of social media features that can draw attention to your posts about your podcast. Trying these out in relation to your podcast is another way to engage your existing audience and attract attention from potential audience members.
Mandy Minick is the principal and founder of Minick Public Relations, LLC. She is the immediate past chief communications officer for the Ohio Department of Education and has 20 years of public relations and entrepreneurial experience. Find Minick Public Relations on LinkedIn.