10 Ways to Promote your Podcast
You’ve started your podcast, you have a few episodes and a few listeners. But how do you grow your podcast? As with any other product, you need to do some marketing or promotion to make people aware. If you are unsure of how to start promoting your podcast, this list will give you 10 tips on how you can go about it.
1. Launch with at least 3 episodes
Have a launch for your podcast and if you can, try to have at least 3 episodes to release on the launch day. The reason why this is important is that your listeners could start enjoying your content, but feel slightly disappointed if they can’t listen to more episodes immediately. Let’s blame the binge-watching culture :)
2. Promote on social media
Social media is an essential tool to use in the promotion of your podcast. There are several ways you can use social media, such as sharing the link to your podcast or particular episodes, can create content such as images, videos, and audiograms. With videos being so popular and crucial to getting exposure, such content can help you gain a new audience. You can also make sure your podcast link is pinned in the bio of your social channels to provide easy access.
3. Tease your next episode ahead of time
TV shows usually have teasers for the next episode. The same will work for podcasting. Get your listeners excited for what is to come. This can be done by sharing an audiogram or image on your social channels. The anticipation will have them waiting for the moment your episode drops.
4. Ask people to subscribe
Do not be shy in asking listeners to subscribe. Some podcasters have claimed that they have followers who will consume all their content but will not subscribe. It might be tricky to get the masses to subscribe but as long as you explain the benefits to them such as being notified as soon as the episode drops, they might.
5. Submit to all major directories
Give your podcast as much exposure as possible by making it available on as many podcast directories as possible to help with visibility. Some of the popular directories which allow you to submit your podcast for free include; Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Podbean, Castbox, Tune in, Amazon Music, and in Africa, Afripods.
6. Create a website/landing page for your podcast
To grow your podcast show, you might want to consider setting up a website for your podcast that can act as a blog to complement your podcast being in a directory. Here you can have more details about your podcast like the back story and where and how interested listeners can access your show. This can also improve your SEO and make your podcast more visible when searched on google.
7. Publish consistently and at strategic times
Consistency is often overlooked, but this simple act can help you maintain listeners when they can depend on your episodes dropping at a predetermined time and day. As you publish more episodes, take a look at your statistics dashboard. Afripods offers one of the best statistics dashboards in the industry that provides insight to make better decisions on the days and times to publish, based on your listener's behavior.
8. Join podcasting communities
There are several podcasting communities online such as Naijapodhub, and Zambian Podcasters Hub. Find one that suits you to engage with like-minded creators. These communities can also be good platforms to cross-promote your show and learn more about podcasting to improve and grow.
9. Be a guest and invite a guest
Following the previous point, networking with fellow podcasters can help promote your podcast. You can invite each other to your podcasts for an interview and this way, you’d be able to leverage your new podcast friend’s listeners and vice versa. It doesn’t hurt to share listeners right?
10. Start an email newsletter
Having a newsletter as a companion for your podcast is gaining popularity with platforms such as Substack. Email marketing will help you connect with your listeners and they will get “more” from you. It allows you to alert those on your email list when you have published an episode and it also encourages the conversation to continue, post-episode.
With these 10 tips on promoting your podcast, you can now go ahead and start implementing them to watch your podcast grow!