Regardless of whether you started your podcast as a hobby or a business, it’s not much fun when no one is listening. With the incredible numbers of podcasts being produced, cultivating a loyal listening audience can feel like an uphill battle.

One way to be heard over the noise is to step up your social media marketing game. By creating content your audience will love and sharing it on the platforms they already use, you could find yourself climbing the charts.

In this article, we’ll help you determine the best social media platforms to focus on. Then we’ll show you three ways to promote your podcast on social media. Let’s get started!

Selecting the Best Social Media Platform for Your Podcast

In a nutshell, joining every social media platform available isn’t the best idea. You’ll quickly burn out trying to create content for so many channels. It’s also difficult to engage with your audience if you’re spread too thin.

Chances are a fair number of your target audience already uses Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. As such, you can try to meet them where they already are and follow them to the platforms they frequent often.

While you’re researching this, check that the platform is appropriate for your content. For example, if your podcast is meant to engender many in-depth discussions, Twitter may not be the best option due to the character limit. However, Facebook could fit the bill nicely.

Your niche can also help you choose the best platform for your podcast. If your area of expertise is business and networking, you may want to focus your marketing efforts on LinkedIn, although taking a deeper dive into the platform’s niche suitability is a good idea.

Regardless of the platform you choose, you’ll want to create a strong profile with links to your podcast’s website. Having additional content and engaging show notes there can help turn a first-time listener into a loyal fan.

How to Promote Your Podcast on Social Media (3 Ways)

Once you’ve narrowed down your platform options, it’s time to get promoting! Note that there are some tips not featured in this rundown you’ll still want to consider. For example, using your guest’s audience as an extended targeted promotional opportunity is a classic approach.

Alternatively, you might create some video content that complements your podcast, which is arguably a necessary requirement. Video can be an effective marketing tool, even for podcasters. It’s an engaging, flexible format that provides a new way for you to entertain your existing audience and hook some new fans.

Without further ado, let’s show you three ways you can use social media to promote your podcast.

1. Run a Giveaway

Running a giveaway may require some investment from you, but you can tailor it to get the results you want. For example, if your current goal is getting more reviews for your podcast, you might ask that people leave a review to enter the contest:

If you already have some listeners, try announcing the giveaway during the podcast itself. To enter, you might ask fans to share a link to your show on a particular platform. This can be an effective way to spread the word about your podcast on the social media channels you’ve chosen to focus on.

2. Share Your Podcast Often

In short, don’t be afraid to promote yourself! When you drop a new episode, share it multiple times across all of your social channels. It’s unlikely that any single follower is going to see all of your posts. Of course, you also don’t want to irritate people into unfollowing you.

Exactly how often you post can vary based on what you want to accomplish. However, marketing research shows that for Facebook you should be posting once a day. On Twitter, where content has a shorter lifespan, you’ll want to aim for about five tweets per day.

When it comes to Instagram, Stories Highlights can help you hit the sharing sweet spot. While your Stories usually disappear after 24 hours, you can choose some to highlight and keep visible. Over time, you can continue to add to this highlight. The Last Podcast Network keeps an ever-growing gallery of fan art:

This tool could be especially helpful for a multi-part series of episodes, as you can expand the story with each new episode. Even if new followers missed the beginning of the arc, they could easily catch up from your Instagram profile.

3. Engage With Your Listeners

Remember – you don’t want to get so caught up in creating content that you forget to be social. As such, chat with your listeners regularly to help solidify a relationship with them. You might even find inspiration for the next episode of your podcast in one of these conversations.

Twitter is an excellent platform to ask for your audience’s opinions and thoughts. Once you have enough followers, you may want to try doing this as a live chat:

If you choose to go this route, you’ll want to set up a time and a hashtag for the event. Make sure you organize questions with a labeling system, as these fast-paced chats can get confusing. You’ll want to keep focused on a topic, so you may want to frame questions around the subject of your latest podcast. You might also ask participants for their opinion on any current events related to your niche.

Conclusion

Building an audience for your podcast takes time and effort. However, it can be gratifying to see your hard work pay off as you gain enthusiastic listeners.

Once you’ve picked a couple of platforms to zero in on, you might want to try one of the three strategies we covered:

1. Run a giveaway.
2. Share your podcast often.
3. Engage with your listeners.

As your social media presence grows, you may begin to get more traffic to your podcast’s website. We recommend having a look at our WordPress podcast themes to help your site look its best.