How to grow your podcast using social media

Your podcast is a big investment of your time and effort. But it also offers an incredibly rich and flexible source of content that with a little upfront planning, you can cut, dice and repurpose in many different ways to market your podcast on social media.

A few key things to think about first:

Social media platforms change quickly but you don’t have to be everywhere. Whatever your podcast topic, niche or area of expertise, check out the places where people are talking about these things, listen in and join the conversation. If you are just starting out, pick one or two platforms and focus on building your community there.

Get the basics right. Ensure you have strong visual branding, and that your social media handle works and makes sense.

Different social media platforms lend themselves best to different types of content eg short or long video, live audio, text, or graphics and visuals so think about the format before you create.

Commit to creating enough content so that you can post consistently and multiple times a week. If you are short on time, resource or expertise, focus on nailing one platform first and build it from there.

Test, test and test. As with all social media content, you need to see what resonates most with YOUR audience. You don’t want to be doing things just for the sake of it or because you think you should!

Tried and tested ways to ensure you get the biggest bang for your podcast content on social media:

Build your community

Focus on building your community first and foremost. Be generous. Create content that they value and want to share. Engage with them by liking and commenting on their posts and use the DMs to continue the conversations and interactions you are having to build your relationship further. Get them involved by asking questions. Let them and their stories be seen too.

Show your face

Building your personal brand is a must even if you are more comfortable behind the microphone. After all it’s you the listeners are buying in to so lean in to sharing a little of what you’re up to behind the scenes. Sharing video clips and updates are great for posting in between episode drops and if you’re on Instagram or Facebook, work really well on stories. 

Create different types of content

Waveform audiograms
Your podcast is hopefully packed with killer soundbites that you can use to create snappy audio clips with eye-catching waveform using tools like Headliner and Wavve. Don’t forget to include captions (subtitles) for accessibility and visibility – most people still scroll with the sound off.

Quotes
Tools like Canva make creating standout graphics and visual images fairly straightforward with their templated designs ready-made for social media. One of the simplest types of content is to pull a really great quote from your episode that makes a statement, offers a tip or advice or taps into a particular mood or popular hashtag

Incorporate video
Video is still huge on many platforms so capturing some video as part of your recording set up can be useful in a number of ways – you can edit clips for IGTV, upload short or long clips to YouTube or even the whole episode.

Live audio
Clubhouse is leading the charge right now but there are others hot on its heels such as Twitter Spaces. Whilst these are still in their infancy it’s worth keeping an eye out  as they do offer some interesting options for podcasters who might be looking to connect and speak directly to listeners.

Encourage sharing

Make your content as shareable as possible and prompt people to do so. If you have guests on your show ensure you are tagging them. And if you have a website or landing page, tools like Click to Tweet can be a quick win. Ultimately there’s no better marketing tool for your podcast than referral and social proof for bringing new listeners to you.

For a deeper dive into how to market your podcast using social media, our social media marketing masterclass led by Brian Hollingsworth is available now over in the members area. Find out more about member resources and how you can join the Club here.