How to nail your podcast social media
So you’ve got your podcast up and running and now you want to make sure you’re doing the best possible job of marketing your show through social media.
Do you need to create new accounts for your podcast or can you use your personal ones? Do you need to be on every single social media platform or can you choose one or two?
And how do you strike a balance between informing people about your podcast and annoying them?
Do you need an account for your podcast on every social media platform?
If you want to do your podcast social media well, the answer is no (I can hear that sigh of relief from here).
Having an account for your podcast on every social platform makes it hard to pay attention to each one individually. And there’s no point doing a bunch of things poorly when you can do one or two things really well.
Naturally, what you can manage will be different if you’ve got a team who looks after podcast social media for you.
But if it’s just you behind the scenes it can take A LOT of time to prepare, post and schedule content on one platform let alone many.
Rather than starting a million different accounts with a spattering of followers on each, you want to be on the platforms your audience are most likely to be.
If your content suits a visual medium and your potential listeners are on Instagram then just nail your Instagram page and grow your audience there.
If you know your audience is scrolling for content in your niche on Twitter then make sure you’re tweeting.
Do your research to find out where people who consume your content are, and start there.
You’ll have a much better chance of success if you grow from a single platform than if you try to take on everything at once.
Can you use your personal social media profiles to share your podcast?
Absolutely, but only if it’s a good fit.
Of course, it makes sense to tell your followers what you’re up to. But if your personal profile is the only place you’ll be sharing your show you need to make sure there’s synergy between your podcast and your personal brand.
The other thing to be mindful of is whether there are any clashes in the tone of your personal page and your podcast.
If your Instagram feed is chock-a-block full of photos of you doing tequila shots, it’s probably not the best place to be promoting your “Cooking With Kids” podcast.
Look at your feed with fresh eyes and think about what a new listener would think if they found it.
Would they get a sense of your show from your personal account? Or are there things on there that might confuse a listener or turn them off? If so, it might be a good idea to start a new one.
Do you have to share your show on social media?
If you want to do everything you can to grow your audience, the answer is yes.
Social media is great for sharing content with people who follow you but it’s also great for finding new listeners who are searching for content in your niche.
If you’re just starting out it might seem like things are taking a while to gain momentum and those early days can feel like you’re bleating into the cyber wilderness.
But like everything, social media builds over time and the more you share your show the more aware of it people will become.
Don’t be afraid to share your show multiple times
This is a mistake I see a lot of podcasters make…they share an episode on the day it’s released and never speak of it again.
If your content is evergreen, which means it doesn’t date, you should be sharing each episode multiple times the week it’s released and then on a regular basis for the rest of time.
Most of your followers won’t see something until you’ve posted about it for the tenth time because not everyone gets served everything you post. So come up with a posting schedule that doesn’t feel spammy and go for gold.
Even if your podcast contains topical content, which means it’s only relevant for a short period, you can still share it multiple times.
Remember some social media platforms are more forgiving than others so make sure you’re sticking to best practice strategies for every platform you’re on.
You might be able to get away with a higher frequency of similar posts on Twitter because it moves like the wind but not on Facebook or Instagram.
Think about where your audience is, what messages they’d like to see and then come up with a schedule that ensures your show gets in front of as many eyes and ears as possible.
Want to start your own podcast but need a little help? Download my “How To Start A Podcast” guide or sign up for my online podcasting course, PodSchool.
Got some time on your hands? Read the full episode transcript
Welcome to the show. Today, we're talking about one of the things I hate…social media. It’s unfortunately, a necessary evil if you’re going to be a podcaster. And it can be a bit of a conundrum choosing what platforms to be on, how much to post, whether you need a new profile or if you can just keep posting as opposed to your own personal profile. There are a lot of questions but you do need some social presence for your podcast if you want to share it and give it the best chance of success. Obviously, things like hastags are very important if you want to get in front of people who might not know you personally but who are looking for content in your niche. When it comes to starting up a new social media profile my advice would be to stick to as few accounts as possible. One of the things about social media is everybody thinks they should be everywhere, and then you end up doing everything a bit half arsed, rather than one or two things exceptionally well. You’re much better off thinking about where your audience is. If that’s on Twitter, but it's not on Instagram, then just have a Twitter account. If your audience is more likely to be on Instagram, and if your content is more suited to a visual medium, stick to Instagram and don't worry about Twitter. Or don't worry about Facebook. If you want to start up a brand-new profile, maybe start with one account and build it up from there. Also think about whether you can use your personal account or if you need something new. So, with my shows, I tend to use my personal account. Although I've just recently started up on Instagram account for @PodSchool after much nagging from people. Because I’ve worked in media for so long it made sense for me to share podcasting projects on my personal feed but where things started to get confusing was when I was sharing podcasting tips. People didn’t come to my personal page for that which is why I set up a separate account so that I could focus purely on the podcasting. Really you just need to think about what your content is and whether it matches with the brand of your existing profiles. If your Instagram is pictures of you partying and doing tequila shots that’s probably not the place to promote your “Cooking With Kids” podcast. Just a thought. So have a think about what your profile is personally, then think about whether it might be a good idea to separate it out, or whether everything can fit under the umbrella of your personal brand. If that’s the case, that's great because you won’t have to start your account from zero. The final thing I'll say about social media is that one of the mistakes I see a lot of people make is they feel like they can only share their show on social the day it's released and then they never speak about it again. The thing is, if you have a show that’s full of evergreen content that doesn’t date, so it could be listened to now or in three years time, and it would still be relevant you should be sharing that episode the week it drops, multiple times, and then you should be scheduling it for the rest of time because you want to constantly be getting new eyes and ears on that episode. The thing about social media algorithms, particularly on a platform like Twitter that moves so fast, it might take you posting about something 10 times before somebody actually sees it. Of course, different platforms are more or less forgiving so you can’t get away with the same frequency of posting on Facebook or Instagram that you can on Twitter but you can still be posting more than once over a period of time that feels like it’s not too repetitive. Even if you're doing a show that's topical, which means it does date, you should still be sharing your show multiple times the week it’s released and maybe even at the start of the week following if it’s still relevant. Think creatively about how you can share each episode in different ways so it doesn’t feel like you’re spamming people.
It takes a lot of chipping away at this stuff to build on audience. So, if you want to grow your show over time, you've got to keep sharing it and eventually you’ll see an accumulation of results. But in the early days, it can feel a bit like you're bleating into the wilderness. Don't worry, people will find you eventually it sometimes just takes a little time.
I hope that’s helped you think a bit more strategically about your social media and also given you permission to say you don’t need to be on every single platform. Let that be my gift to you because what a punished social media is. Look, you might love it. And if you do good on you, I wish that was me because it wouldn't be so painful but even when I’ve got really interesting things to say I still think “Am I bothering people?” I guess that’s a problem I’ll need to work on with my therapist.
If you would like some help, not of the therapy variety but of the podcast variety, come and check out my online podcasting course PodSchool. You can find all the details to everything that is included in the course at PodSchool.com.au. I take you step by step through every part of the podcasting process so you can pop out the other side ready to create a really solid show people will listen to and think “Wow! This is good! Where did you learn to do that?” and you can say “PodSchool!” Ok, time for me to get out of your ears. I’ll see you next week and until then, happy podcasting.
