118: 7 Creative Ways You Could Be Sharing Your Podcast to Find New Listeners
You asked, and I’m answering! Today’s topic came from a poll I posted on Instagram, and it’s a topic everyone seems to be trying to figure out right now: How can I share my podcast in a way that actually gets my content in front of new listeners?
To be honest, this answer is going to vary a little bit for everyone, just depending on your audience, but I’ve gathered some tried and true ideas from friends, clients, AND from strategies we’ve used for my own business, Wild Home Podcasting. At the end of the day, you need to share where your people are, and you need to share often and creatively.
So without further ado, here are my seven creative ways that you can share your podcast, get in front of your ideal audience, and connect with new listeners. Let’s dive in!
1. Video is still king.
Some kind of video component is really important. I'm talking about Instagram Reels, Tik tok, etc –wherever you can share videos. These short video teasers are one of the best ways to share your podcast. You can of course share clips of video from your recording sessions, using really catchy or impactful moments (which are hopefully easy to find from your show notes). But, another great idea is just making a short Reel on a topic related to a recent episode, and then sending listeners back to your episodes to hear more at the end of the clip or in the caption. Again, get creative! There’s not a perfect method, but you can’t leave video out of your sharing strategy.
2. But Instagram posts and carousels can be a great option too.
We just talked about how, if you have really good show notes, you can literally pull a bullet point and create a video. This is the same for graphics and carousels. Pulling a great quote or doing a short explainer from your most recent episode in a carousel is such a helpful way to get your content in front of more eyes (and ears!) While Reels are great for finding brand new listeners, carousels and catchy, shareable posts make it easier for your current audience to do the work for you by sharing your work to their own audiences.
And don’t be afraid to reuse content! Remember, most of your audience is probably not seeing every piece of content you put out anyway, so reuse that great idea from a Reel and drop it in a static post too!
3. Make your life easier and schedule those posts ahead of time.
Scheduling posts through a program like Later or Tailwind (or any of the other number of scheduling tools) means that your content can be more thoughtful and less rushed. It means that you can work ahead of time, in batches if you want, AND it might just mean that you get a strike of inspiration while you’re working on ways to share. Either way, having consistent content to share your podcast means you’ll have better engagement and an easier time growing your audience.
In addition, using a scheduling tool means that you can push the same content out to multiple platforms really easily. That way, you can reach different audiences that hang out in different places. Facebook and Instagram are obvious for most podcasters, but what about Linkedin? Pinterest? Tiktok? The list goes on. And just because you schedule ahead of time, that doesn’t mean you have to use a specific formula or get stuck in a routine. Just keep using a mix of content and see how it goes!
4. Make friends with other podcasters (so you can support each other through interviews, cross-promotions, and partnerships.)
Just as you are making connections with your listeners, it’s important to connect with other creators. By building community with others who have a similar audience or one of your target audiences, you’ll have the opportunity to connect with other podcast hosts too. These relationships can turn into interview or promotional opportunities for you both, or possibly even partnerships down the road. The opportunities are endless, and don’t pigeonhole yourself by being afraid to reach out to potential new friends!
5. Organize a live event or host a webinar.
As you continue to build up your audience, you can organize a live event or host a webinar. By hosting free training or speaking on topics related to your podcasts, you can get facetime and have back and forth interaction with your audience in real time. I know a lot of my clients like to do Zoom sessions– like a happy hour type or a morning coffee meet up for their listeners. Think about finding ways where you can bring people together to talk about something that you've been covering on your podcast and always direct them to your podcast for more content.
6. Consider a subscriber-only podcast!
A private podcast can be a great way to promote a program or build an email list, but you don’t have to stop there. You can develop a short series and require listeners to sign up to get access. The private podcast can be a great way to explain an offering and build trust with listeners while also directing listeners back to your main podcast for even more content. Never miss an opportunity to make the most out of one of your opt-ins!
7. Take advantage of Q&A opportunities.
The last thing I would really encourage you to participate in and find people who may want to do a live Q&A, if you want to speak somewhere. This is, again, where making authentic connections with other people on social media is so crucial. Not only will you be able to share your podcast and business, but you’re also learning from your peers and seeing what works for them. It’s a chance to grow as a podcaster and business owner, and by creating relationships, you’re also creating more opportunities for yourself and others.
Are you ready to start strategizing your podcast and simplifying your marketing? Download our free guide to do your Podcast Audit!
Links:
Ep. 102: Make Friends in Your Inbox! Using Email to Create Connection with Liz Wilcox
Ep. 101: Six Simple Ideas to Connect with Your Listeners Beyond Your Podcast
Ep. 86: Instagram and Beyond: How to Show Up Authentically Online with Melanie Lea
Join the waitlist for the Strategic Podcast Academy!
The Transcript for Podcast Your Business:
118: 7 Creative Ways You Could Be Sharing Your Podcast to Find New Listeners
[00:00:34] Caroline Hull Are you ready to start a strategic podcast for your business and share your message in a way that feels wildly authentic? This is the place. Welcome to Podcast Your Business, where each week I share the strategy behind having a podcast that helps grow your business. I'm Caroline Hull, podcast manager, strategist and consultant, and I've seen the power of podcasts can have for your business. Let's get started.
[00:01:03] When we talk about marketing or sharing your podcast, what we're really talking about is getting more ears on your podcast, right? But also getting the right ears and bringing more awareness to the fact that, hey, you have a podcast and that library of knowledge that I love talking about so much. We've talked a lot about trends this year and some of the shifts that we're seeing in the podcast industry, and I keep mentioning about listeners wanting more connection. And so today what I'm going to do is talk about sharing more. But part of this conversation really needs to be about how are we creating connection, How are we getting to new ears? How are we finding people who want to listen to our podcast, right? Just posting on Instagram. Hey, I have a new episode like we'll only get you so far and I've talked about this a lot and needing to have a content plan and repurposing your content from your podcasts in many different ways. Because if you just post once and you say, Hey, I have a podcast, how many people are actually going to see that, right?
[00:02:19] So this was a requested episode from a poll I actually did on Instagram. And so let me share some creative ways to share your podcast. I think the word creative here is really, really important because it is becoming more important to be creative, to stand out, to show your personality, to create that connection. And we can sometimes get in a rut with how we share our podcasts. I do think, like, let's share a little bit of truth here, some hard advice, but it is not enough anymore to just have a podcast. Like, yes, consistency matters and having really great content, but you have to have a plan for how you're going to get that content in front of people. And if you're just posting your podcast episode every week and not doing anything with that content, you're probably not going to see the downloads that you want to see. And so getting creative and sharing your podcast in more ways than one is really, really important to bring that awareness in to get more ears on your podcast. I've really been experimenting with this over the last couple of years because you did used to just be able to post your podcast episode and share it a few times and people listened and they just, I think I think online business in general, I mean, you can totally disagree with me, but I just feel like you have to get a little bit more creative and not be afraid to put yourself out there a little bit more to be seen and heard. And the first thing I want to say before I talk about creatively some creative ways to share your podcasts is you need to share where your listeners are. I did a whole training on this in my Close friends, and it was totally Disney theme.
[00:04:13] So I always say like, I need to be where the people are, who it's just from Little Mermaid, but you really do. You need to understand where your listeners are hanging out, where they like to be and where you like to be. You know? Where do you like to share? Where does it make sense for you to share and to get the right clients and the right listeners for you? And so kind of considering all these factors as we go into, okay, how can I share my podcast creatively? And some of these are probably things that you've thought of, maybe you've tried and some of them may not be things that you've thought of or tried. So let's dive in.
[00:04:53] So the first thing is, I hate to say it, but video really is becoming king and videos everywhere. Now, I don't think it's like the end gap here. Like it's not the last thing you do is post a video. But I do think some kind of video component is really important. And those short video teasers are like one of the best ways to share your podcast. I'm talking about reels, Tik tok, wherever you can share videos. I even have really good luck with some of my short teaser videos, my audiogram's on Pinterest and I think that's very interesting. And I'm going to talk a little bit more about some of the things we've been trying. And I will talk about Pinterest for a second, but those little short video snippets are are just so great for getting people interested. And what I like to do is not only just do a audiogram, right, which is like the, you know, where you have like a wave form or a short clip from the episode. I actually like to make other videos as well that are related to the podcast episode. So a really good example of this is last week I did an episode on the summer and maintaining momentum for your podcast, and so I actually recorded a separate reel that was about maintaining momentum and posted it. And now I know what you're thinking. That's not directly about your podcast, and you're absolutely right. But the cool thing is, at the end of the video, I can actually direct people to the podcast for more. So we're giving them like little teasers, little snippets of what's going to be in the episode. And it doesn't necessarily, like I said, have to be from the episode. You can literally sit down right now and just record a little hot take from the episode or a little snippet, a little piece of information that you are excited about and create a video for that and post it.
[00:06:53] And you know, I've talked before about like how important it is to simplify your marketing. And this is like one of those areas where if you have really good show notes and you have bullet points, you can literally just pull a bullet point and create a video. But I find that these do really well for getting people excited and grabbing people's attention and enticing them to listen to the full episode. So let's keep talking about social media for just a second. The other thing that I really love is to use like, quote, graphics or even create carousels from the episode and again, directing people back to the episode, things that are shareable, right? Things that people are going to save and want to share. So this can be an impactful quote. Or perhaps you shared some like really solid tips in creating a carousel from those and then directing those back to the episode.
[00:07:50] So what we're doing here, right, is we're creating these little crumbs that are really tasty, these really tasty crumbs that are going to lead people to the episode. That is one of my favorite analogies to you is when I talk about sharing your podcast episode. Outside of the episode itself is like, we want people to follow the crumbs to the episode. And that's why I say like, it's hard for me to say like that. It works to post once because sometimes it takes a couple of posts for somebody to see, to get excited and to know that you have a podcast. And so really making sure that you're mentioning the podcast, you're leading people back to the podcast and you're choosing things from the podcast to share. So let me just talk for a minute about some creative things we've been doing on our end with social media to get more ears and eyes on my podcast.
[00:08:43] So I use later right now to schedule Instagram. And then I've actually started scheduling posts on LinkedIn that direct back to the podcast episodes and Pinterest. And I have found that this is really helping. Again, it's interesting because on my Pinterest account, the posts that get the most interaction and engagement are posts that have to do with my podcast episodes. And so I usually do a quote, some kind of carousel and then an audiogram and then like a real each week. There's not like a formula that I'm using. I'm just letting you know what I like to do. And I have found that this has really helped since I started posting more and sharing more. We have seen an uptick in downloads. And so I really do think there is a correlation between those two things. And I'm not reinventing the wheel here. I'm literally opening up later and scheduling something in several places because the same person is not going to go to all those places and see it, right. So it's totally fine for me to post a quote, graphic on my Instagram, on my LinkedIn, on my Pinterest, on my Facebook page like that. That's totally okay. And that saves me from having to do a lot of legwork. And now I've just like, made a piece of content work a lot of different places.
[00:10:07] Is your podcast Growing Your Business? And if you don't know the answer to this question or you think the answer might be no, it's time to take an audit. Your podcast can be so much more than a hobby. It can be a way for you to attract your ideal client and establish yourself as an authority. But you need a strategy. And the best place to start is with an audit. And I have a free guide that helps you perform an audit of your podcast, gives you my top tips for having a strategically aligned podcast and a playlist of podcast episodes. For more insight, you can head to Wild Home podcasting dot com to download your free audit guide today.
[00:10:44] Okay, so those you may have already known about and that's fine, but I wanted to reiterate them because I think they're really important and I think they've really worked well for us. And if you want to know more about how to repurpose your content, I did do an episode on simplifying your marketing and we'll link that in the show notes. You can go listen to that episode as well. So let's talk about some more like Creative Out of the Box ways to share your podcast. And let me say like if you have an idea that I do not mention, my encouragement to you is to try it out and see what happens. See if that works for you and for your listeners and for your audience. Again, I think we kind of get into these ruts where we're like, I'm going to send an email, I'm going to post an audiogram and I'm done. And I think when we do that, people expect those things and then they kind of swipe over or like, Oh, there's her weekly newsletter again and the exact same delete. I do try to like kind of change up those things a little bit. That's why we don't use the same artwork for everything either, because it is important to see something. If you see something multiple times like you'll just start to ignore it. And so we do try to like freshen it up often and kind of change up the way things look. And I'm not talking about like completely redesigning anything. It's just like switching colors or restructuring the newsletter a little bit differently one week or trying a little bit of a different summary of the episode and the newsletter.
[00:12:16] So trying to do those things as well. But yeah, if you have something creative, definitely share it. So one of the things that I do that I think is pretty creative and helps is I use the podcast episode to inform free content that I give in other places. A really big example of this for me is my close friends list on Instagram. So this is kind of a community that I'm building on Instagram as opposed to like having a Facebook group and I do free trainings a couple times a month and I usually use my podcast episode to build on that. And I will mention the podcast episode a couple of times. Like you either need to go listen to the podcast episode before you watch the training or go listen and come back and that kind of thing. And so that's one really creative way that I do that. And I think like if you had a Facebook group or something like that posting the episode and then like encouraging discussion around it I think is huge because somebody may have missed it and then you may have people discussing it and they see a comment and they're like, Oh, that sounds like something I need to go listen to and then go and listen to it. The other thing is, you know, you can cross-promote with other podcasts. This is something that I'm seeing more and more because we're all trying to. Finds listeners. So one of the things you can definitely do is just go and be on other podcasts, right? And talk about your podcast and share that with them. But another thing is to identify podcasts that have a similar target audience and reach out to the host and see if they would be interested in promoting mentioning each other's podcasts, maybe mentioning an episode that's related in their podcasts or even doing like a podcast swap.
[00:14:03] And so, like, I could reach out to somebody and say, Hey, I would love to have you on my podcast, talk about X, Y, and Z can also be on your podcast, that kind of thing. I love this. I think it makes so much sense for us because if we're trying to grab more podcast listeners, what better way than to advertise them on their podcast, right? Because you're talking to people who are already actively listening to podcasts. So it's going to make so much sense for them to hop over and add another podcast to their list. So definitely think about that if you haven't done anything like that. The other thing that I love is, you know, organize a live event or host a webinar host of free training and do them related to the topics covered and your podcasts. And you can promote these events on your podcast and social media. And what it's going to do is start to build that community around your podcast. Again, we're talking about creating connection and people want to talk to you in other places and other ways, and this is a really great way to do that. And it doesn't have to be this super produce thing. It can be something really easy. I know a lot of my clients like to do like Zoom sessions, like a happy hour type thing or a morning coffee meet up for their listeners. Think about something like that where you could bring people together to talk about something that you've been talking about on your podcast and make sure you're directing them to their podcast.
[00:15:34] So like, Hey, at the end of it, what's the next step here? What if you want more of this? Be sure to go subscribe and follow my podcast. And then, you know, some other kind of creative ways to share or get people excited in your podcast is to develop like a series or almost like a short Oh, I know where we're getting we're doing that to talk about private podcasts, you know, developing like a short series or something that people can subscribe to to get some more content from. You can even be used as a way to promote your podcast. I haven't talked a lot about private podcasts on here because I've had mixed experiences with them. I've tried to have a few before and I'm not like super in love because they create more work for me and then I have to promote it. But what I do love and I'm seeing a lot of are people doing the like short series as an opt in. This is a great way to get people not only used to listening to you, but now they're interested in listening to more. And so using that as a way to promote your podcast. And if you have like your customer path figured out and your funnel all figured out, this is a great way to funnel people to the podcast and then funnel people from the podcast back to your business.
[00:16:58] So maybe you should have somebody come on and talk about private podcasts. Note to self. Note to self. The other thing I would really encourage too, is to participate and, you know, find people who maybe want to do a live with you, a Q&A if you want to speak somewhere. These are all opportunities to share your podcast. And so when you go and do an event like make sure you talk about the fact that you have your podcast, that should be the opt in, right? That should be the buy in for people. Like if you just gave a workshop at a live event saying like, Hey, if you want more of this, definitely go listen to my podcast. And I think we forget that sometimes, like, Oh, they'll just find my podcast and they won't. You got to tell them about it and you have to tell them about it many, many times. And so, like. There are many other ways that you can creatively share your podcast. You know, for me, it's what's really worked recently has been a combination of doing more posting of of content that's directly from the podcast episode and linking back to it and not creating extra work for myself. It's been hosting like a free workshop that worked out really well and we saw a bump in downloads as well. And then also being on other podcasts. And those kind of tend to be the things that work the best for me. And I'm excited to dive in and try some of these other things. And as my podcast grows even more, I think that's really key. Like what I want your big takeaway to be from this is that consistency is absolutely key here. Like not just consistent episodes, but consistently sharing it can get very easy to forget to share, to get burned out. And that's why having a plan in place is really, really important and constantly looking for new opportunities. And one strategy is not necessarily the answer. Like the answer is not just quote, graphics. It really is a mix of things and finding the right mix that works for you. And so whether that is doing a couple of cross promotions a year, doing a couple of, you know, doing a quote, graphic, doing an Audiogram or doing a reel each week, having a plan for that in place, doing a couple of free workshops, seeing what live events like. It's all working together, right? All of these things, all of these ways that we are putting ourselves out there and creating more visibility are going to help bring more ears and eyes onto our podcast.
[00:19:40] And so just be open. Be open to possibilities. Stay consistent. Stay consistent in your episodes. Stay consistent and regularly promoting and sharing your episodes. And, you know, just be open to what can come your way. And I think that's been a big lesson for me because, you know, I've really refined my messaging and I've worked really hard and the last couple of years to get more ears on my podcast as well, because that is the main driver for business for me beyond referrals. And it really has been like finding a creative mix of these things. And then now it's so great because I've reached this point where now some of these things are starting to come to me and it took some time to get there. And remembering that podcasting is a long game, but if you stay consistent and you stick with it, it can have some really amazing benefits for you and your business. So I hope this help and I would love to hear if you have any other creative ways of sharing your podcast. I love talking about this and I love seeing what other people are doing and we are constantly trying to improve and expand on what we do here at Wild home Podcasting. And so even seeing like the videos that people post or how they talk about their podcasts or the cross promotions, seeing all those things is really fascinating and fun for us. And yeah, so if you have anything cool that you think we would enjoy seeing, please send it our way. And then I would love it if you would let me know if this podcast is helpful to you.
[00:21:14] And the best way to do that is to go and leave me a review. I am not a huge review asker and I usually am directing you to some kind of call to action, which is really important. But as we start to build up our audience, asking for reviews is going to be a part of what I'm going to be doing. And I just want to share this with you because this whole podcast is about podcast strategy and knowing when to share what. And so at this moment it is important for me to share that I would love some reviews. So we will put the link in the show notes. And yeah, I would just love to know like how has this podcast helped you? How has it inspired you to work on your podcast? Have there been any changes that you've made because of this podcast? I'd love to know all of these things and I thank you so much for listening and I cannot wait to be back next week with a new episode. Thank you for listening to podcast Your business. For more podcasting tips, follow us on Instagram @wildhomepodcasting. If you're ready to launch up level or grow your podcast, head to wildhomepodcast.com To get started today.
