To promote your podcast on social media, you need to have a plan, consider freelancers to pick up where you can’t pull all the weight, use contests & sweepstakes (where legal) to generate buzz, participate in groups on the various social media platforms, and use social media posting/listening tools to do some of the heavy lifting. Read on for details.
Wondering how to promote your podcast on social media? Below we’ve outlined 5 ideas to promote your podcast on social media. And, hopefully, they’re not the typical things you’ll find on the internet. It’s still a wild, wild west kind of place. Especially for podcasting. We’ve even included a free PDF download of a content strategy worksheet you can use to get yourself organized and focused.
- Have a plan. Sounds simple, yes. But simple doesn’t always mean easy. There are tons of marketing frameworks out there. One of them that has stood the test of time is from a book called The Groundswell in the early days of social media… back when it was called “new media.” But it’s super helpful, mostly because it starts with people. Literally. It’s called the POST framework, which is short for People, Objectives, Strategies, Technology (or Tactics). The idea is that if you understand your audience, you can define measurable objectives, develop actionable strategies, and implement effective tactics. Tactics can (and do) change more frequently than strategies. Strategies change less frequently than objectives. And objectives change less frequently than your target audience. Here’s a worksheet you can use to get organized and think through your content marketing approach.
- Freelancers. Another approach, if you don’t have the time, desire, or expertise to create your own podcast social media marketing plan is to get some professional help. Here’s how to do that without breaking the bank. Not quite to the point where hiring a full social agency to market your podcast on social media? Don’t fret. There are plenty of other resources. Sites like Fiverr, UpWork, and Guru have a huge resource pool to choose from. You can set up a profile for free, post your gig/job/project, and watch the proposals roll in. Even better, you can see reviews of the folks submitting proposals, and in most cases you can see examples of previous work.
- Contests & Sweepstakes. Enough with the planning and freelancers, I just need to get some ideas to build my podcast audience. Ok. Cool. We got you. You could create a giveaway, sweepstakes, or contest to promote your podcast on social media (but be sure to check and follow applicable laws!). For example, on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter you could have folks comment on the giveaway post, and have them tag a friend before a certain date & time. Then, you choose a random winner. Random.org is a great, free random number generator. This generates organic interaction on your posts, which is one of the signals the social networks’ algorithms use to decide when & where to show your content.
- Participate in groups. Linkedin and Facebook are both pushing their respective groups features. Join groups that are related to your podcast topic(s). But don’t go spamming all over the group once you’re in there. Be a good guy greg: be helpful and genuinely participate in the group discussions. This will help you build trust and awareness so that when you do share episodes and information about your podcast, people in the group will know you’re not just there for self promotion.
- Use posting tools like SproutSocial, Buffer, and even Facebook’s scheduling options. This can ease a lot of the burden of day-to-day social media management. If you sit down once a week, or even each morning, and schedule out your posts, you’ll be able to handle more interaction and get more done the rest of the day or week. Also, when you’re posting… don’t just be all spammy and blast only your own material. As a very rough, general rule, consider posting in thirds: 1/3rd other people’s stuff, 1/3rd loosely related stuff, 1/3rd your stuff. Try that for a while, see how it goes, and determine what’s working well (generating responses, reactions, shares, and link licks) and do more of it. Do less of what’s not working well… obviously.
Do you have any tips to share for how to promote your podcast on social media? It can be loud, crowded, and confusing out there. Just keep at it.