Podcast Marketing: How to Promote A Podcast on Social Media

Every business has at least considered launching a podcast by now — Spotify alone boasts four million podcast titles. If your business wants to grow your podcast audience and build your brand affinity, you need a strong podcast marketing plan and social media promotion strategy.

In this guide, you’ll learn how to make a podcast social media strategy and create podcast social media posts to share on social media pages to grow your audience.

1. Record a podcast trailer

Every new season of your podcast (or episode) you drop will land harder if you take the time to build your audience’s anticipation levels first.

Record a podcast trailer video to promote an upcoming season with video and audio clips that highlight some of your upcoming guests. A podcast trailer teases the topics you’ll be covering and reveals moments that will make them laugh, think, and share with their friends.

If your brand has a good sense of humor, share something funny from the podcast recording to connect with your listeners. Once you have a few episodes under your belt, create behind-the-scenes clips or a blooper reel to https://wistia.com/learn/marketing/podcast-promo-kit on social.

2. Create podcast clips

With a little podcast editing magic, you can create clips from your podcast to highlight a juicy nugget of insight from the latest episode. Pair the short video clips with a social media post that gets your podcast listeners excited to tune in for the whole conversation.

You can use Wistia’s video editing features to clip the buzzy hook that will draw your readers in and generate word-of-mouth promotion. Or, if you don’t video your podcasts, try a tool like Headliner for creating a short audio clip.

To see a great example of this, take a look at this post from our friends at Privy.

3. Repurpose podcast content

To repurpose your podcast, try turning the podcast show transcript into a blog post. This maximizes the return on all the time and resources it takes to produce a successful podcast by boosting your podcast SEO to make it easier for search engines to find your content. And, it doubles as another way to promote your podcast.

Turning show notes into blog posts also makes your quality content more accessible to a wider array of people. After all, some folks learn better by reading. Others may be hard of hearing, so they need another way to learn from your great content.

4. Post on multiple platforms

For most businesses posting their podcast on social media, LinkedIn is a more professional setting for buttoned-up content, while Instagram is a great place to showcase your brand personality. There’s no rulebook for this, though!

Here are ways to dial in your tone when crafting brand content to publish on multiple social media channels:

• Formality - The level of formality you bring to your social media posts depends on the channel where you’re publishing. Generally speaking, brands can get away with being more playful and funny on TikTok, while they tend to be more straightlaced on LinkedIn.

• Purpose - Keep in mind why your followers are on any given social media channel. People on Twitter might be keeping tabs on breaking news. Over on LinkedIn, users are more likely to be networking and looking for a leg up in their careers. Tailor your posts to fit with your target podcast audience’s mindset on each channel.

• Language - TikTok’s audience skews younger, while older generations tend to use Facebook more. The language you use in each channel should reflect these differences. If your Gen Z lingo sends your Facebook audience running to Google to parse what you said, your engagement on that platform will suffer.

5. Ask guests to share

Always ask your podcast guests to share the episode with their own social networks. Your podcast brings exposure to your guest’s brand and ideas. If your guest happens to be a respected industry influencer, that exposure can go both ways!

Make it easy for everyone who contributes to your podcast to spread the word by providing them with great promotional assets:

• Create social media graphics
• Write copy for social media posts
• Create video clips of audio snippets
• Include relevant hashtags and links

When you provide your contributors with a promotional asset kit for their podcast episode, it makes it really easy for them to effectively get the word out about your podcast.

6. Add a CTA

After someone has been hooked by your social content, they’re going to want more. Include a call to action (CTA) to invite them to listen to more episodes. You can direct them to a landing page on your site, a branded channel, or a podcast app like Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

“A strong Call to Action is a key element to podcast marketing on social media.”

Here’s how to nail the call to action:

• Use verbs: Incorporate engaging language and use action words like “click,” “follow,” “learn,” and subscribe.

• Make it personal: Speak to folks directly by using words like “you.” Make it clear how the information you provide addresses the pain points that your audience faces.

• Add urgency: Employ a little psychology. Most people want to score a deal, experience the latest thing, and belong to a group. Use words like “free,” “new,” “exclusive,” “limited,” and “join” to show your audience the social benefits of following a link.

Check out this Twitter post where Zendesk directs their followers to “grab your earbuds” to “queue up” a YouTube video of the new episode of their “Sit Down Startup” podcast.

7. Utilize platform features

Every social media platform has unique features to help you promote your podcast in different ways. Here are a few examples:

Collaborate on TikTok

TikTok has two features that make cross-promotion easy for both you and your guest’s brand at the same time.

1. Stitch: Use Stitch to add your video to the end of another user’s video. Create a TikTok promoting your podcast and ask your guest to stitch their own take on it!
2. Duet: Use Duet to make a split-screen video with another TikTok. This is a great way to have your guests “react” to your promotional videos.

Pin tweets on Twitter

On Twitter, you can pin a tweet about your podcast to your profile to boost conversions. Pinning a tweet automatically keeps that post at the top of your feed so that it’s the first thing someone sees when they get to your profile.

Pin a tweet with your podcast trailer or one of your best podcast episodes. If it’s what people are going to be seeing at the top of your profile, you want to make sure you’re putting your best tweet forward.

Go live on LinkedIn

LinkedIn Live is a great way to announce the debut of your podcast and grow your professional audience. LinkedIn Live gives you the opportunity to interact with your network about your podcast — you can answer questions, talk about episode topics, and explain why your brand decided to start a podcast.

Use Instagram’s countdown feature

When promoting your podcast on Instagram, use Instagram Stories. Make a Story before your next podcast episode drops and add the countdown sticker. Your followers can tap on the countdown, set a reminder for when it finishes, and get a notification when your new episode is released. You’ll even be able to see how many followers tapped it!

Make a podcast social media strategy

You don’t need to go all in on all platforms at once, but start promoting on your strongest channels to get started. Take what you’ve learned from this podcast marketing guide for social media and do what works best for your brand. Don’t be afraid to try new things or pull back on what’s not working!

With these tips and tricks, you’ll be well on your way to creating a successful social media campaign for your podcast. If you’ve truly got a great podcast, start promoting it on social media platforms, find your target audience, and make your niche the most entertaining corner of the internet there is.