Building Online Relationships 2.0
Social media is an important tool to build meaningful relationships with your podcast listeners. But you’ll want to make sure you’re doing it right. The skills required to build online relationships are different than the skills needed to promote your podcast online. In previous Podcast Insider articles, we have shared tips and tricks for using Instagram and Twitter to promote your podcast (expect more tips and tricks for other social media platforms soon).
In this article, we are going to share 10 tips for connecting with your podcast audience on social media.
- Dedicate time cultivating relationships on your social media platforms of choice. Real relationships take time to develop. You should dedicate time specifically toward interacting with your listeners. If you only have limited time to do so, consider limiting the number of social media platforms on which you engage with your listeners. For instance, be all-in on Twitter, or Instagram, or Facebook, rather than dabbling on all three. Once you choose your platform, simply tell your listeners where you spend your time, they will follow.
- Be genuine. When creating your podcast, you have the power of post-production editing to make sure that the words people hear are exactly what you want. While you can also thoroughly review and edit yourself before each social media post, there is an easier way. Simply be sincere and genuine as you interact with people on social media. By composing relatable posts and tweets, you are setting a solid base for natural relationship building to occur even if not every word you share is perfect.
- Be positive. While online, sarcasm and snark rarely come across as intended. This often leads to hurt feelings and anger. You can avoid this in your social media interactions if you simply stay positive in your messages.
- Retweet or share your listener’s posts. When building a face-to-face relationship with someone, nothing establishes a connection with the other person like telling them that you agree with what they just said. When building a relationship over social media, retweeting or sharing their post lets them know you support their stance. Use this tool frequently.
- Comment on your listener’s posts. Imagine you are checking your feed and someone you admire comments, ‘Well said,’ or ‘I laughed out loud at this.’ You would feel proud of that post and appreciate the other person even more for the compliment, right? You can boost people’s feelings about themselves and strengthen a connection by commenting on what they have to say. That simple action goes a long way in relationship building.
- Initiate conversations with those whom you have interacted. Once you have retweeted, or commented on someone’s post, feel free to initiate a conversation with them. Ask them how things are going. Follow up with them about what you discussed before. Initiating conversation will strengthen your growing online relationship.
- Ask if you can use people’s jokes, anecdotes and stories on your podcast. As a podcaster, you have a larger platform that you can use to elevate other’s thoughts and opinions. If you read a post that is exactly what you think or feel, consider sharing it on your podcast. Before you share, reach out to its originator and ask permission. Commenting on listener’s posts is good; highlighting others on your podcast is great.
- Make introductions. Feel free to connect your podcast listeners with each other if you believe they have shared interests or complementary needs. They will thank you.
- Always respond. As a podcaster, your listeners will reach out to you. Unless they are trolls, you should always respond. Even a brief personal message is better than nothing. Responding when someone reaches out to you is the first step in building a true online relationship.
- Remember details of your interactions. In their emails, messages or posts your listeners are going to share information about themselves. Remembering details about a person is important. You might have a strong enough memory to keep everything straight mentally. For the rest of us, you may choose to use a tool to help your memory. There is no shame in keeping an excel spreadsheet of key details on the podcast listeners you interact with. Further, there are loads of free, online CRM (customer relationship management) systems you can use to keep all the facts straight. Consider these tools as hundreds of people start to reach out to you.
Have you found other ways to engage and build relationships with your audiences using social media? Let us know in the comments. Do you still need to start your podcast? Choose Blubrry as your podcast host to get going, and benefit from our tips to build online relationships with your listeners.