6 Creative Ways to Promote Your Podcast

Unfortunately, Field of Dreams was wrong: if you build it, they will [not] come.

So, hopefully, you’re not taking marketing advice from ghostly voices in movies. In the real world of podcasting, it’s not enough simply to have a podcast. People have to know about it: where, when, how, and–most importantly–why to listen. Below are 6 creative ways to promote your podcast.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) for Podcasts

We’ve discussed podcast SEO a few times in the past, so won’t spend too much real estate rehashing it here. The short version, though, is that a solid SEO foundation and strategy can help you show up at or near the top of search results for questions your audience members might have. Be the one that answers those questions best, and SEO can work for you. Want to read more? Here’s a podcast SEO blog post, a PowerPress podcast SEO article, and (if you want to be an uber SEO nerd like we do) a beginner’s guide to SEO.

Social Media Marketing for Podcasts

If SEO is the Internet’s phone book, social media is the party. Sometimes it’s a networking breakfast (LinkedIn). Some times it’s a family or high school reunion that you have to pay to get into (Facebook). Sometimes it’s a wild night full of shouting, dancing, and other shenanigans (Twitter). Oh, and Instagram is like a bunch of “live your best life” gurus at a conference. Ok. That might seem a bit simplistic or cynical, but the point is that you need to understand what people expect on each of those platforms. Here are a few ideas for how to promote your podcast on each of the main platforms:

• Facebook: custom audiences. Within Facebook, you can target people based on your contact list, website visitors, and app users. In short, you can show Facebook who your audience is, and Facebook’s algorithm will serve your ads to folks like them. It can be fairly cost effective.
• LinkedIn: native video is key here. All the social platforms are prioritizing their native video offerings as a way to increase adoption. LinkedIn perhaps more than most. So, upload a short teaser about the most provocative part of your featured podcast episode. In the “What do you want to talk about?” section, be sure to include an even shorter–but keyword rich–summary and a link to your website or podcast location (Spotify, Apple Podcasts, etc.). Don’t forget the hashtags at the bottom of that dialog box either because they’ll help your content find legs and reach new audiences on LinkedIn.
• Twitter: Twitter chats are still a thing, so join them and be helpful. Most likely, there are already existing Twitter chats related to your podcast topic. Use the advanced search to really hone in on your audience and find chat’s they participate in. Then, the next time that Twitter chat is taking place, join in the fun! But don’t go in, guns blazing, “Hey!! Hey! You all! Listen to my podcast!!” Please. Don’t be that person. Instead, be helpful, be genuinely interested in the conversation and further the discussion. Over time, this can help establish you as an authority on the subject, which will then drive people to your podcast.
• Instagram: Blubrry has a fantastic partner for this one. Recently, we partnered with Audioburst to transcribe podcasts and prepare shareable “bursts” for social–complete with an image to share to Instagram. Even better? It’s free for Blubrry hosting customers.

Blog Posts

Top 10 blog posts. There’s a reason you see approximately infinity blog posts titled “Top X [insert topic/companies/people to list]” blog posts: they work. On your podcast blog, create a top 10 list of people/companies related to your podcast topics. Link to their websites or social profiles. Reach out to them via email or social and let them know how amazing you think they are, and include a link to the post. If the list is genuine (and people can smell a fake 10,000 miles away, especially through the internet), more often than not, they’ll give you a shoutout on social or on their blog.

Referral Campaigns for Podcasts

Who better to spread the good news about your amazing podcast than your existing listeners? They already love you and your point of view. They probably even talk about it with their friends, family, and colleagues. So give them even more reason to do so with a referral campaign. Some super important considerations, though: First, consult with your legal counsel about what contest and/or sweepstakes laws/regulations might be applicable in your area. Second, make sure you have proper terms & conditions and a privacy policy easily accessible. Third, keep the bar for entry as low as you reasonably can and proportional with what they might receive for participating. The goal is to get your audience refer as many people as possible in the shortest amount of time. For example, have people tag friends in the comments of a Facebook post for a chance to win prizes. The prizes could be swag, or access to your back catalog, or a personalized message for the voicemail greeting. The prize doesn’t have to cost you a lot for it to be valuable to your audience.

There are plenty more creative ways to promote your podcast. What has worked well for you? Share in the comments or on social.