How To Get More Listeners To Your Podcast
You have launched a podcast! Congratulations! The first few weeks after a launch are exhilarating, and you may be filled with optimism. However, things might slow quickly after the first launch. That is when you go from starting a podcast to running and learning how to build a podcast.
Download the first chapter of The Storytelling Series: Beginners’ Guide for Small Businesses & Content Creators by Obehi Ewanfoh.
Part of having a podcast is advertising and marketing it so that your podcast audience grows! Promoting a podcast is a lot of work, but it’s also a lot of joy, especially when you start seeing listener numbers climb.
Do you want to know how to increase a podcast audience? We’ve got your back!
There is no silver bullet for podcasting success, but there are a few strategies you may take to develop your podcast.
Keeping your audience involved through email and social media, receiving positive feedback, networking with other podcasters and industry leaders, and putting your podcast in different directories are all excellent strategies to increase your listenership.
Improve your podcast quality
The first, and perhaps most significant, strategy to expand your podcast audience is to ensure that your podcasts are of the greatest quality. If you don’t work on generating great podcasts, no matter how amazing your other efforts are, they won’t pay off.
Setting up a fully equipped podcast studio and collaborating with top podcast hosting providers are both wonderful strategies to increase the quality of your podcasts. Make sure to choose a hosting business that can meet all of your requirements. Otherwise, organizing your podcasts would be difficult.
Communicate with other podcasters for co-promotion
The podcasting community is a welcoming one, and if you want to get recognized, you must play nice. Do not consider other podcasts to be your competitors. Consider them to be your peers!
Podcast listeners consume an average of seven different episodes every week, so there’s plenty of place for your podcast as well!
There are several podcasting Facebook groups where active podcasters share their expertise, seek support, and trade insights.
If you discover a podcast that you enjoy, share it with your audience because others may enjoy it as well. You’re making friends with another podcaster and expanding your network of supporters.
Collaborating and co-promoting with other podcasters can be a great way to expand your audience and increase your reach. Here are some tips on how to effectively communicate with other podcasters for co-promotion:
- Find relevant podcasters: Look for podcasters who share a similar niche or target audience as your podcast. This will make it more likely that your co-promotion efforts will be successful.
- Reach out to them: Once you’ve identified potential podcast partners, reach out to them via email, social media, or through a podcasting community or forum. Be clear about your intentions and how you think collaborating could benefit both parties.
- Be specific: When proposing a co-promotion opportunity, be specific about what you’re looking for and what you can offer in return. For example, you might suggest cross-promoting each other’s podcasts on social media or including a shout-out at the beginning or end of each other’s episodes.
- Make it easy: Provide your podcast partner with any necessary graphics, audio clips, or other promotional materials that they can easily use to promote your podcast.
- Follow through: Once you’ve agreed on a co-promotion strategy, make sure to follow through on your end. Promote your partner’s podcast as agreed and provide any support or materials they need to promote yours.
- Thank them: After the co-promotion is over, make sure to thank your partner and let them know how much you appreciate their support. This can help build a positive relationship and make future collaborations more likely.
Overall, co-promoting with other podcasters can be a great way to expand your audience and reach new listeners. By following these tips, you can effectively communicate with other podcasters and create successful co-promotion strategies.
Pitch yourself as a guest
Once you’ve established such relationships, you may pitch yourself as a guest on other related podcasts. You may even negotiate a reciprocal swap in which you appear as a guest on their program and they appear as a guest on yours.
This is a smart strategy as long as it is not solely promotional. You want to add value to the audience of someone else. As a result, the presenter can offer a high-quality program while also exposing their audience to your expertise, which may stimulate their interest in your podcast.
Invite high promoted guests
Having high-profile guests on your show that have a significant social following can be a smart approach to building your audience, but you can’t rely on it alone to draw in the numbers.
Getting new listeners via someone else’s social account is dependent on how engaged and interested their following is, and just because someone wants to view someone’s Instagram pictures doesn’t guarantee they want to listen to them on a podcast.
Make it easy for your guests to share your episode
When you have guests on your program, make it as simple as possible for them to share the episode with their audience. Tag them on your own social media so they may repost, and urge them to share on their own.
It’s a good idea to produce photos and swipe files for each social media so your guests may quickly promote their episode.
There are several ways to make it easy for your guests to share your podcast episode:
- Provide your guests with easy-to-use sharing links: When you release a new episode, send your guest a link that they can easily share on their social media platforms. You can use tools like Bitly to shorten the link and make it easier to share.
- Create social media graphics: Create graphics that feature the guest’s name, photo, and a quote from the episode. These graphics can be shared on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and other social media platforms.
- Use a social sharing plugin: If your podcast is hosted on a platform like WordPress, you can use a social sharing plugin that makes it easy for your guests to share your episode on their social media platforms.
- Ask your guests to share: Don’t be afraid to ask your guests to share the episode with their audience. Many guests are happy to promote the podcast they were featured on.
- Provide pre-written social media posts: Provide your guests with pre-written social media posts that they can copy and paste on their profiles. This makes it easy for them to share the episode without having to spend time crafting a post themselves.
Overall, making it easy for your guests to share your podcast episode is crucial for increasing your reach and growing your audience. By using these tips, you can make it simple for your guests to promote your podcast and help it reach new listeners.
Make your podcast available in many directories
This is low-hanging fruit in terms of how to grow a podcast audience. You’d be shocked how many folks overlook this step!
Make it simple for people to locate your podcast. You’re most likely subscribed to Apple Podcasts, but there are also Google Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, TuneIn Radio, and PodChaser.
While you’re submitting your podcast to various directories, perform a short audit to ensure that your audience can find you everywhere.
Do you have a website or a landing page for your podcast? Is there a complete episode list or an audio trailer? Are there any connections to these directories on your social media or website?
These are simple techniques that are easy to ignore, but they might be the difference between someone finding your podcast and giving up.
Don’t forget to transcribe your episodes
Do you want to appear in search results? You must be an SEO expert! Okay, you may not be able to perfect it, but you can do a few things to boost your search results, one of which is transcribing your episodes and putting the transcript in your show notes.
When you transcribe, you make it easier for Google to locate all of the crucial keywords that you mention during your episode.
Make show notes out of your transcripts. They assist your readers in locating a certain point of interest to return to. To attract new listeners to your website, share transcription excerpts on your social media accounts.
You can also share previous episodes. Just because something is done and dusted doesn’t imply it’s no longer important. That one you did two years ago could be exactly what someone needs to hear right now.
Try social media advertising
Sometimes you need to do something extra to break through the noise, and social media advertising is the perfect method to do it! Choose the platform where your target audience spends their time for your adverts or the one that is most relevant to your podcast.
The value of social media advertising resides in its targeting, so be particular in your approach! You may retarget people who have already visited your website if you already have a company or an established website or blog.
Lookalike audiences can also be created based on your existing following, email list, or website traffic. This method is great if you already have a following and want it to increase.
If you’re just starting out, you may target people based on certain keywords or hobbies linked to your podcast. For instance, if you have a digital marketing podcast, you may target social media managers.
Be creative with promotes
Because no one will know about your program unless you tell them about it, you must develop the practice of advertising each episode several times.
It may take tweeting about your show 20 times before someone notices it or decides to give it a try, so sending a single tweet when your episode is out isn’t going to cut it.
Being innovative with how you market your program and attempting to come up with various angles for each episode increases the likelihood that someone will be intrigued enough to push play.
Don’t forget hashtags
This may seem obvious, but adding hashtags while sharing your podcast can help get it in front of people who are looking in your niche but do not know you directly.
Make sure to investigate which hashtags are most suited to your content so that you can increase your reach beyond your personal social feed. Now that you’ve learned how to grow a podcast audience, it’s time to put your newfound knowledge to use.
Above all, remember to be patient! You’re not going to become number one overnight. However, with excellent quality and consistency, you will begin to notice an increase in download numbers. Your growing podcast audience will become loyal listeners who will start promoting you for you!
Using hashtags in your podcast can help increase your visibility and attract new listeners. Here are some tips on how to correctly use hashtags in your podcast:
- Use relevant hashtags: When choosing hashtags, make sure they are relevant to the topic of your podcast episode. For example, if you’re discussing entrepreneurship, you might use hashtags like #entrepreneurship, #startup, or #smallbusiness.
- Keep it concise: Don’t overload your podcast description with too many hashtags. Stick to 2-3 relevant hashtags that accurately describe the content of your episode.
- Use popular hashtags: Using popular hashtags can help increase your visibility and attract new listeners. However, be careful not to use hashtags that are too broad or generic, as this can make it difficult for your content to stand out.
- Create your own branded hashtags: Creating your own branded hashtags can help increase your visibility and build brand recognition. Use your podcast name or a memorable phrase from your episode as a branded hashtag.
- Use a mix of trending and evergreen hashtags: Including both trending and evergreen hashtags can help increase your reach and attract new listeners. Trending hashtags are popular topics that are currently getting a lot of attention, while evergreen hashtags are relevant year-round.
- Don’t overuse hashtags: Using too many hashtags can make your content look spammy and unprofessional. Stick to 2-3 relevant hashtags and use them strategically.
Overall, using hashtags in your podcast can be a great way to increase your visibility and attract new listeners. By following these tips, you can use hashtags effectively and help your podcast stand out in a crowded marketplace.
Download the first chapter of The Storytelling Series: Beginners’ Guide for Small Businesses & Content Creators by Obehi Ewanfoh.
