You’ve done your homework and started your podcast. You know what your audience looks like, where they hang out and what they talk about. This is not a case of “Build it, and they will come.” According to PodcastInsights, there are about 2 million podcasts globally. That’s not episodes, it’s different podcasts. Just think for yourself. How will you make your voice heard in this sea of voices? It might look impossible, but others have done it, and so can you.
Before we get into growth strategies, we’d like to stress something. Anything worth building takes time. It doesn’t just happen overnight. Like the convenience store on the corner, you have to be open when people arrive to buy something. If you’re not, they’ll stop coming. It’s much the same with podcasts.
What’s the big hoo-hah about?
If you’ve done extensive marketing campaigns to attract audiences to your podcast, you have to give them something worthwhile when they arrive. Don’t make the mistake of doing pre-launch marketing and luring listeners to only present them with one episode when they get there. They’ll feel cheated. Ensure that you’ve done at least four or five episodes by the time your marketing kicks in. Also, provide a ‘subscribe’, ‘like’, ‘review’ and ‘share’ functionality so that people can do just that. You’ll be amazed at how many podcasters miss these basics.
Play it forward
Most blogs and marketing gurus advise that you should put yourself forward as a guest on other popular podcasts. That’s easier said than done. How do you get an invite to appear on a podcast if the host has never heard of you? Well, you ask them to appear on yours first. They will reciprocate with a return invite. Then leverage their audience. People like sharing anything they feature in. Make it easy for them to share:
- Provide them with some pull quotes to use
- Prepare images ahead of time that they can share via social media
- Create links
- Write some tweets and status updates for them to use
It’s also a good idea to contact anybody you or your guests mention on your show. They might make an excellent guest for a follow-up show, or they’ll share your podcast with their audience at the very least.
Share everywhere
When you share episodes, always tag your guests. It will place you right and centre in front of your guest’s audience. Also, create various hashtags from sections of your podcasts so that you start appearing in searches for those topics. Your podcast has a better chance of going viral if you combine tags and hashtags.
Social
Videos and images drive engagement on social media. How do podcasts fit into the equation? Audiograms are the answer. Audiograms are posts on social media that include an image, video, caption and a short audio clip from your podcast. Use Headliner to make your audiograms, it’s totally free. Watch the video on the Headliner link to see how it works.
Convert your podcast to a Youtube video and name it “Interview with …” to increase your SEO. Speaking of YouTube. Another reason you should upload your podcast onto YouTube, it provides a transcription service that increases accessibility to your podcast if you don’t want to transcribe yourself. It will also rank higher in SEO if there’s a transcript and it will give you a quick resource for a podcast blog.
Syndicates, podcatchers and partners
Put your podcast on as many podcasting platforms as you can. It’s simple: the more places you upload your podcast, the more potential listeners you’ll reach. We’re talking about platforms like Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Pocket Casts, SoundCloud, Acast, and Spotify to name a few.
Beyond the obvious IOS podcatcher, there’s a host of others like Overcast, Stitcher, Podcast Addict, Podcast subreddit, PodcastLand (your podcast is automatically listed here if it’s in iTunes), TuneIn, Bello Collective, Castro, Podcast Republic and Downcast. Try each one for yourself to see how your audience will experience it.
One learns in life that certain things are more crucial than others. One of them is choosing good partnerships in almost anything you do. It applies to podcasts and can make or break your marketing. When you look for partners, look for the following:
- A successful show with a decent size audience
- The audience must share at least one interest with yours
- They must be open to accepting guests and doing guest shows
Make a list of all the podcasts you can find in your niche. Use the criteria above to select the most relevant ones, and then check their social media channels to make the final selection before asking them to appear as a guest on your show. Anchor’s Facebook group is a great place to start looking for collaborators. Make it clear to guests that they must share the podcast with their audiences at the outset. Not everybody will say yes, but those who do will expose your podcast to new audiences.
Truevo has embarked on the podcast journey with #TruevoTalks. If you want to follow our progress and all the episodes we’ve done, check out our webpage. If you want to subscribe to our broadcasts, sign up in the form below.
