Note: This is a guest post written by Dan Martin
We lived through the Vine era and witnessed the rise of Musical.ly. The time when MySpace was the IT thing and poking your friends on Facebook was considered cool.
However, trends changed and evolved, and now is the era of podcasts, TikTok, and reels.
They gained popularity when the whole world went into lockdown. People began recording podcasts in their homes and creating TikTok and reels on their phones.
Today, we will focus on podcasts and how your podcast can grow with the help of social media.
6 Ways Social Media Can Help in the Growth of Your Podcast
A rising podcast industry and a low barrier to entry mean that there are several podcasts out there. There are currently 5 million podcasts as of 2023. This shows how big of an industry this is.
The market for podcasts is saturated, and it can get difficult to grow in a situation like this. This is where social media comes into play. Social media is a powerful tool. Here are 6 ways you can utilize the full potential of social media and reach a larger audience through it.
- Create an Account on Patreon Alternatives
Podcasters need a subscription platform that offers them all kinds of tools and online support to run their subscription service. If you’re a vlogger or podcaster, you must be familiar with Patreon. While the platform is popular, it supports many different kinds of content creators—not just podcasters.
This is where investing in Patreon alternatives focused on providing support to podcasters only may be a much better option. For example, a platform like Supercast is tailor-made for podcasters, offering you more opportunities to find your target audience. Plus, you can use only relevant tools, eliminating the need to pay a high subscription fee for unnecessary services.
- Build an Online Community
Engage, interact, and connect; your listeners are your assets. Connecting with them on a deeper level can do wonders for your podcast. Here’s what you should do regularly:
- Curate your own community of people where you can have inside jokes.
- Encourage participation.
- Gain their trust by being your true authentic self.
- Have engaging conversations with them.
Once a month, you can even call someone from your listeners as a guest on the podcast.
- Have a Strong Presence on Social Media
Make sure to have an online presence apart from your podcast channel. Have a public Instagram account, where you can share behind the scenes and upload interactive stories such as polls and question stickers. Also, produce fun reels as Instagram algorithms seem to prefer video content on its app.
TikTok is another great platform to reach a large audience. With TikTok, you never know which video will blow up and get millions of views. It is fairly easy for videos to go viral on Tiktok.
Post TikTok videos on current trendy sounds that align with the nature of your podcast as well.
- Keep a Check on Current Trendy Topics
Use social media as a research tool. You can get an insight into what is popular these days by looking at Twitter’s top trending or having a thorough look at Instagram explore. After researching and analyzing the recent trends, you can record episodes built around current trends.
- Gather Feedback
Gather feedback by looking at the comments on your videos and going through your inbox to note what your audience seems to like the most about your podcast. What kind of topics gets the most engagement and which videos do not perform as well?
Having thorough data on what your audience is fond of and what the audience does not like can help you give a better idea of what kind of episodes to record in the future.
- Collaborate With Other Content Creators
Collaborating with other content creators will help you expose your content to a wider group of people, especially if they are content leaders in their niche. This will help improve your visibility and increase your reach.
It can also be a fun and rewarding experience. You may learn new skills and techniques that you can implement in your own work.
Additional Tips for Podcasters
Here are 4 additional tips that you might benefit from, especially if you are just starting a career in the field of podcasts.
Email Marketing
Email marketing is an efficient promotional tool. Create a newsletter and send out weekly emails to the subscribers of the newsletter. Make the email fun and catchy to read. You may add a suspense element in your emails regarding what the next episode could be about and let the people guess who the guest might be.
Plan and Prepare Beforehand
Create an outline or script for each episode to help guide the conversations and give you a better idea of what to talk about. However, if the conversation changes direction, let it be. Do not be keen on following a strict structure as it may come off as fake and inauthentic to the audience listening to the podcast.
Invest in Good Equipment
Good lighting and a proper sound system can make or break your podcast. Investing in good studio lights, high-quality microphones, and recording software will help ensure that your podcast sounds professional.
Define Your Target Audience
Knowing your target audience is very important. As then, not only will you create content accordingly, but your promotion plan will also be based on your audience. Once you know the target audience you will be able to create content that resonates with them and attract more listeners.
The Final Takeaway
At the end of the day, do not run in the rat race of views, likes, and comments.
Record podcasts on what you are passionate about and topics you love talking about, equip it with the right kind of promotional strategy, and TaDa! Your recipe for a successful podcast is prepared.
Do not be afraid to leave in natural conversation and “mistakes” – these can make your podcast feel more authentic. Stay consistent and do not shy away from experimenting with new things and always keep a strong belief in yourself. Stay true to yourself, your work, and your audience, and you will be able to attract your own tribe eventually.
