5 ways to Promote Your Podcast on Social Media

5 ways to Promote Your Podcast on Social Media

Capturing attention and establishing thought leadership is crucial for businesses and professionals who want to stay top of mind. Thankfully, podcasts have emerged as a powerful tool for achieving these goals. Business owners can access a flexible and engaging platform to share valuable insights and compelling brand stories with real people.

However, creating a podcast is only half the battle; getting listeners is where brands might have to struggle a little— especially since there are over 5 million podcasts in the world.

Promoting your podcast on social media can remarkably increase your reach and listener base. Social platforms like Instagram, TikTok, or X allow you to truly connect with your audience and gather genuine followers— which often requires a strategic approach on your part. 

Does this interest you? Keep reading as we reveal 5 key ways to promote your podcast on social media. Let's get started!

1. Find your audience and choose a platform

Before choosing a social media platform, you want to define your audience. Generally, you may choose to target your podcasts at listeners within a particular age bracket, gender, or topic of interest. With this broad idea about who your audience is, you can commence deeper research to uncover which social platform has more potential followers for your podcast. Here’s how to do that:

Look at other podcasters in your niche. Check which platform has their active profiles and how they connect with their listener base. Also, consider searching for keywords or topics associated with your podcast on top social media platforms. Look for which platform has more conversations around those topics or themes. 

For instance, if you search for "Lead generation podcast" on X, formerly Twitter, you’ll find some podcasters who have posted something about the topic. See the examples below:

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Tools like Mention, Hootsuite, or Buzzsumo can make your research easier. Preferably, you want to go for a platform that’s already working for podcasters and topics in your niche.

Making your podcast sound better is really important to keep your listeners interested. There's a tool called Audio Enhancer at audioenhancer.ai that can help you do just that. It can make your podcast clearer, balance the sound, and make it nicer to listen to. It can make your podcast, and your episodes sound great, and your listeners will want to hear more. 

Also, choose a platform that aligns with the central theme of your podcast as well as your audience demographics. For instance, if your podcast is about fashion and lifestyle for young people (say, ranging from 18 to 30 years), you might want to choose Instagram, where you can show off visuals and attract people in that age bracket. 

Alternatively, if you'd be talking about things like marketing or entrepreneurship you might choose a platform like LinkedIn or X where you can network with other professionals.

Finally, you don't have to start on multiple platforms, you could begin with one major platform and spread out you gain follower growth. That way, your podcast promotion wouldn't be such an overwhelming venture for you.

2. Use social media to build a community

Now that you've found the right platform for your audience base, it's time to invest in building a thriving community. Prioritize sharing high-quality content to boost engagement rates from your active followers. For instance, @brewwithabdu is an entrepreneur's growth podcast. On Instagram, they share original video reels on topics that are relevant to the target audience.

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You should also actively engage with your Tiktok, X, or Instagram followers. You can do this through interesting discussions that are related to your podcast. Invite listeners to share their thoughts, opinions, and questions on a particular subject. Consider creating posts, polls, or stories on social media platforms that encourage conversations and audience feedback.Tracking the number of likes on these Instagram posts can give you an indication of what content resonates most with your followers.  

You can also ask active users about topics they want you to cover in your next podcast. This is one way to keep your mind fresh with ideas and continue to share original content that matches your audience preferences.

Hosting live sessions is a great community-building strategy too— especially if you want to chime in on current trends in your industry. Share some behind-the-scenes content as well. Try different content types like photos, short videos, or stories that show memorable moments from your recording session.

Additionally, engage and relate with your audience by responding to comments promptly and thoughtfully. Keep in mind that building a community of real followers takes time so you may need to be patient with the process. Also, endeavor to maintain a consistent posting schedule so that you can keep your audience connected. In due time, you'll start to gather authentic followers who seamlessly connect with you.

3. Use hashtags

Hashtags are a great tool for discoverability. They’re like keywords that help future followers find your podcast—especially on platforms like Instagram and TikTok. But, randomly throwing in popular hashtags won't do the trick. A better approach would be to use hashtags that are relevant to your content. Choose hashtags that are more specific, descriptive, and meaningful to your podcast.

Also, use hashtags that’ll help you take advantage of trends as opposed to outdated hashtags. This way your posts can reach a broader audience. Tools like Hashtagify, Ritetag, or Keyhole can help you find potential hashtags that are relevant. 

You can also run a simple search on your target social media network. Here's an example of a Hashtag search result on Instagram.

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Finally, consider using a branded hashtag that reflects the name of your podcast or a catchy slogan that's associated with it. In the above example, Ecommerce Fastlane uses a branded hashtag #ecommercefastlane. This hashtag is often used by guests who feature on any of the podcast episodes. 

Bonus tip: Don't overload your posts with dozens of hashtags. Focus on 5-10 highly relevant and effective ones. A curated selection increases the chances of attracting the right audience.

4. Convert audio to a YouTube video

Another effective way to promote your podcast is to repurpose your podcast episodes into short-form video clips for YouTube. YouTube is the second-largest search engine in the world.  So creating video content related to your podcast can help to expose your show to a wider audience who might not have discovered it through audio alone. 

Also, repurposing existing audio content into video saves you significant time and resources. It’s a lot easier than creating entirely new video content from scratch. Your videos could highlight key points from your sessions. Like the example below, you could also share YouTube shorts prompting people to visit your podcast.

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Remember to use a catchy content title, a compelling description with related keywords, and relevant tags for your video. You should also create a custom thumbnail that stands out and attracts clicks. 

5. Find partners to mention

Find other podcasters in your niche and team up for cross-promotion. For example, marketing professional Niel Wilkins does a podcast with Eric Eden who’s also a product marketing expert, and promotes the episode on X.

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You can partner with relevant social media influencers, content creators, and thought leaders too. Use tools like BuzzSumo, Podchaser, or Listen Notes to find credible profiles to connect with. You can also join online communities, such as Facebook groups, Reddit forums, or X-spaces related to your podcast’s topic and network with other podcasters or influencers.

It’s advisable to go for micro-influencers or podcasters who have a smaller following and may also be looking to grow their audience base. Popular creators, podcasters, or Macro influencers may be hard to reach because of their large following. 

Once you have a list of potential partners, you can contact them via email or their preferred social network. Introduce yourself and your podcast, and explain why you’d like a partnership. Be polite, professional, and respectful. Don’t spam or beg for attention. Instead, provide value and show interest in their work. You can mention how their podcast has impacted you personally or simply give an honest compliment.

Depending on your goals and resources, you can propose different types of collaboration ideas to your potential partners. Some examples are:

a. Mutual mentions on your podcasts or social posts. 

b. Guest appearances on podcast episodes

c. Joint live streams on your YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, or TikTok profiles.

You can also exchange content with each other, such as blog posts, newsletters, or social media posts, and feature them on your platforms. Overall, the idea is to pitch your collaboration as a mutually beneficial relationship. 

Conclusion

Social media is a strategic tool for connecting with a loyal audience and amplifying your podcast. However, it takes an effective plan to maximize its benefits.

To promote your podcast on social media you first need to define your audience and choose the right platform. Then, build a loyal community and use relevant hashtags to boost your content visibility. Also consider repurposing your audio as a YouTube Video and partnering with other podcasters, influencers, or thought leaders.

By implementing the effective strategies outlined in this guide, you can use your social media presence to gather high-quality followers for your podcast. Remember, it may take some time but consistently showing up will help you build organic growth over time. Good luck!