How To Promote Your Podcast On Social Media

Summary

In this informative video, Craig Hewitt from Castos shares strategies for effectively promoting a podcast on social media. He emphasizes the importance of providing value to the audience and engaging in two-way dialogue through platforms like Zoom meetings or Facebook groups. Hewitt suggests identifying a primary social media channel for optimization and then using secondary channels to expand reach. He provides posting frequency recommendations for major platforms, such as Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and TikTok, and highlights the utility of tools like Buffer or HootSuite for content scheduling. The video also covers the significance of using hashtags, mentioning guests, and leveraging their audience for mutual growth. Hewitt strongly advocates for the creation of short-form video content, such as YouTube Shorts or Instagram clips, to increase engagement and build a stronger connection with the audience. He concludes with a call to action, encouraging viewers to like and subscribe for more valuable content.

Takeaways

• 🎯 **Value First**: Always consider what's in it for your audience (WIIFM) when creating content to ensure you're providing value.
• 🤝 **Engage Your Audience**: Use social media for two-way communication; ask for feedback and involve your audience in content creation.
• 📈 **Primary Platform Focus**: Identify one primary social media channel to optimize and use others as secondary platforms for broader reach.
• 📅 **Posting Frequency**: Post more frequently than you think; use a schedule to maintain consistency across different social media platforms.
• 🛠️ **Use Tools for Efficiency**: Employ social media management tools like Buffer or Hootsuite to streamline and automate your posting process.
• 📣 **Promote New Episodes**: Tease upcoming episodes to build anticipation and keep your audience engaged.
• 📝 **Leverage Hashtags**: Utilize appropriate hashtags for your content to increase discoverability on social media platforms.
• 👥 **Mention Guests**: Tag and mention your podcast guests to encourage their involvement and promotion of the shared content.
• 📚 **Media Kit for Guests**: Provide guests with a media kit to simplify sharing your podcast episode with their audience.
• 📹 **Short Form Video Content**: Embrace short form video content like YouTube Shorts, TikTok, or Instagram Reels for higher engagement and audience growth.
• 👍 **Encourage Interaction**: Ask your audience for topic suggestions and feedback to foster a sense of community and involvement.

Q & A

What is the primary consideration when promoting a podcast on social media?

The primary consideration is to always answer the 'what's in it for me' question for your audience, ensuring that you are providing value with every post and piece of content you share.

Why is it important to engage in a two-way dialogue with your audience?

Engaging in a two-way dialogue is crucial for getting feedback and understanding what your audience likes and dislikes. This helps in tailoring future content to provide more value and encourage audience growth.

How can social media platforms facilitate audience feedback?

Social media platforms allow for a two-way street where you post content and receive immediate feedback from your audience through likes, comments, and shares, helping you understand their preferences.

What is the recommended posting frequency for different social media channels?

The recommended posting frequency varies by platform: Instagram (3-4 times a day), LinkedIn (once a day), Facebook (once a day), Twitter (2-3 times a day), and TikTok (4-5 times a day).

Why is it suggested to have a primary social media channel and post on others as well?

Having a primary channel allows you to focus your optimization efforts, while posting on other channels ensures your content reaches a wider audience. It's about finding a balance between specialization and broad reach.

What is the significance of using hashtags and at-mentions when posting on social media?

Hashtags and at-mentions increase the visibility of your posts by connecting them to trending topics and directly involving the people you're mentioning, which can lead to more engagement and shares.

How can leveraging your guest's audience help grow your podcast?

Leveraging your guest's audience involves encouraging them to share the episode with their followers. This cross-pollinates your ideas with new audiences, increasing the chances of gaining new listeners.

What is the benefit of providing a Media Kit to your podcast guests?

A Media Kit simplifies the process for guests to share the episode by providing all necessary assets like cover images, audiograms, and links. It makes it easy for them to promote the episode to their audience.

Why is short-form video content important for social media promotion in 2023?

Short-form video content is highly engaging and popular across social media platforms. It allows for higher fidelity interactions and can significantly boost audience growth and engagement.

What are audiograms and how can they be used to promote podcast content?

Audiograms are visual representations of podcast audio, often including captions or key quotes. They can be used to create short-form video content that can be shared on social media platforms to attract attention and promote the podcast.

How can teasers for future podcast episodes benefit your social media strategy?

Teasers create anticipation and engagement among your audience. By posting a teaser a couple of days before the episode goes live, you can increase the likelihood of listeners tuning in when the episode is released.

Outlines

00:00

📢 Promoting Your Podcast on Social Media

Craig Hewitt from Castos discusses strategies for effectively promoting podcasts on social media. He emphasizes the importance of understanding the audience's needs ('What's in it for me?') and providing value. Craig suggests engaging with the audience through two-way dialogues, such as Zoom meetings or Facebook groups, to gather feedback and tailor content to their preferences. He also advises identifying a primary social media channel for optimization and using tools like Buffer or HootSuite to streamline posting across multiple platforms. Craig provides posting frequency recommendations for various platforms, including Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and TikTok.

05:02

🎥 Teasing Episodes and Audience Engagement

The script outlines a strategy for promoting podcast episodes on social media. It suggests dropping teasers of upcoming episodes to build anticipation and engagement. Craig talks about the importance of posting consistently on the primary channel and across other channels multiple times a week. He also highlights the value of getting audience feedback for content ideas and using hashtags effectively. Mentioning guests and providing them with a media kit to simplify sharing the episode is another strategy discussed. The script also touches on leveraging guests' audiences to grow the podcast's reach.

10:03

📹 The Rise of Short-Form Video Content

Craig emphasizes the significance of short-form video content in 2023, mentioning platforms like YouTube Shorts, TikTok, and Instagram. He encourages podcasters to create video content, even if they are not producing native video, by repurposing audio content into audiograms or clipping interesting segments for social media. The script advises on the importance of including captions as many viewers watch without sound. Craig also stresses the higher engagement rates associated with video content and how it can enhance audience growth and connection.

Keywords

💡Social Media Promotion

Social Media Promotion refers to the strategic use of social media platforms to increase the visibility and reach of content, such as a podcast. In the video, it is the primary focus, with Craig Hewitt discussing various tactics to effectively promote a podcast on platforms like Instagram, LinkedIn, and Twitter. It is integral to the video's theme as it forms the basis of the advice given to podcasters.

💡Value Provision

Value Provision is the concept of offering useful and meaningful content to an audience. It is a cornerstone of effective social media promotion for podcasts, as mentioned by Craig Hewitt. The idea is to answer the 'what's in it for me?' question for the audience, ensuring that every post provides something of worth. This concept is repeatedly emphasized throughout the video as a key to engaging with the audience.

💡Two-way Dialogue

Two-way Dialogue is a communication approach that allows for interaction and feedback between a content creator and their audience. In the context of the video, Craig Hewitt suggests using social media platforms to facilitate this dialogue, which is crucial for understanding audience preferences and tailoring content accordingly. It is exemplified by starting weekly Zoom meetings or having a Facebook group for audience interaction.

💡Primary Channel

A Primary Channel is the main social media platform that a content creator chooses to focus on for optimization. Craig Hewitt stresses the importance of identifying one primary channel based on where the audience is most engaged. It is a strategic decision that helps in concentrating efforts and resources for maximum impact, as discussed in the video.

💡Content Scheduling

Content Scheduling is the process of planning and timing the release of content across social media platforms. The video provides a formula for posting frequency on various platforms, such as Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and TikTok. This keyword is significant as it forms part of the operational strategy for consistent and effective podcast promotion.

💡Teasing Future Episodes

Teasing Future Episodes involves creating anticipation for upcoming podcast content by sharing sneak peeks or previews with the audience. Craig Hewitt mentions this as a method to engage the audience and keep them looking forward to new episodes. It is used as a tactic to maintain audience interest and engagement between episodes.

💡Audience Feedback

Audience Feedback is the input or responses received from the audience regarding the content they consume. In the video, Craig Hewitt encourages podcasters to solicit feedback from their audience, either through social media or direct interaction, to better understand their preferences and improve future content. It is depicted as a vital component for content refinement and audience growth.

💡Hashtags

Hashtags are words or phrases preceded by a hash symbol (#) used on social media to identify and categorize content. They are discussed in the video as an underutilized tool for increasing the discoverability of podcast content. Craig Hewitt advises using relevant hashtags for each episode's topic to reach a broader audience on social media platforms.

💡Guest Leverage

Guest Leverage is the strategy of using the audience of a guest who appears on a podcast to expand the podcast's reach. The video suggests providing guests with a media kit to simplify the process of them sharing the episode with their audience. This method is highlighted as an effective way to grow a podcast's listener base by tapping into the existing networks of guests.

💡Short-form Video Content

Short-form Video Content refers to brief video clips or segments that are typically under a few minutes long. Craig Hewitt emphasizes the importance of short-form video platforms like YouTube Shorts, TikTok, and Instagram in the current social media landscape. He encourages podcasters to create video content, such as audiograms or clipped segments from podcast episodes, to increase engagement and reach on social media.

💡Media Kit

A Media Kit is a collection of resources provided to guests that includes cover images, audiograms, short clips, quotes, and suggested links related to a podcast episode. In the video, Craig Hewitt describes how offering a media kit to guests makes it easy for them to share the episode with their audience, which in turn helps in promoting the podcast and growing its audience.

Highlights

The importance of understanding 'what's in it for me' for your audience when promoting your podcast on social media.

Engaging in two-way dialogue with your audience through social media platforms to understand their preferences.

Having a primary channel for optimization and posting on other channels as secondary.

Posting frequency varies by platform: Instagram 3-4 times a day, LinkedIn and Facebook once a day, Twitter 2-3 times a day, and TikTok 4-5 times a day.

Utilizing social media management tools like Buffer or HootSuite to streamline posting across multiple platforms.

Teasing future podcast episodes to build anticipation among the audience.

Encouraging audience feedback to inform content creation and engage them in the podcasting process.

The underutilization of hashtags and the importance of using them appropriately for each post.

Mentioning guests on social media posts to increase engagement and encourage them to promote the episode.

Leveraging the guest's audience by providing them with a media kit to simplify sharing the podcast episode.

Setting expectations with guests about sharing the episode on their social media and including it in their newsletter.

The rise of short-form video content on platforms like YouTube Shorts, TikTok, and Instagram as a significant trend in 2023.

Creating video content or audiograms from podcast episodes to increase engagement on social media.

The preference of viewers to watch captions rather than listen to the audio in video content.

The impact of short-form video content on audience growth and the relationship with the audience.

Providing resources in the video description to aid podcasters in their social media promotion strategies.

The call to action for viewers to like and subscribe to the channel for more content.

Transcripts

hi there Craig Hewitt here from castos

thanks so much for joining me back on

the YouTube channel today we're going to

be talking all about how to effectively

promote your podcast on social media

let's dive in

[Music]

the first and most important thing to

think about when think about how to

promote your podcast effectively on

social media is remembering with them

what's with them Greg what's in it for

me right you have to be answering the

what's in it for me for your audience

every time you think about posting

across all the different channels and

across every different piece of content

that you're trying to promote answering

what's in it for me what's in it for

your audience is going to inform a lot

of the copywriting and image and

audiograms and short clip decisions that

you'll make because you really want to

be providing value that's what all of

this is about right that's why we're

podcasts why we have a YouTube channel

that's why we blog that's why we post on

social media is we want to provide value

for your audience and answering what's

in it for me is the Cornerstone of how

you're going to get started in

consistently delivering value tree

audience if you don't know what's in it

for your audience then talk to them

right start weekly Zoom meetings or have

a have like a Facebook group or

something like that where you can get in

there and have like two-way dialogue

with your audience the beautiful thing

about social media is uh it allows for

this kind of two-way street a lot of

times right whether it's Instagram or

SnapChat or Tick Tock or whatever uh

you're posting you're getting feedback

from your audience on on what they like

podcasting is is largely like a one-way

Street like we talk and they listen and

so you need to find a way to encourage

this feedback loop to get feedback and

guidance of what your audience likes and

what they don't so that you can provide

them more value in the future let's talk

about where to post and when right this

is the the meat of the issue and I want

to address this first because this is

what a lot of you are watching for right

so I believe there is a single answer on

where to post and when and how often and

we're going to dive into that now and

the beginning of the answer is it

depends right and this is not me trying

to be an accountant and say it depends

and kind of skirt an issue but it

depends on you and where your audience

already is it might be that you're

already involved on Twitter and that you

want to post there because your audience

is there and you have a lot of

Engagement and dialogue already that's

great it might be that you're taking a

more video first approach and you're

using YouTube or YouTube shorts and

posting there or Tick Tock right it

might be Instagram it might be Facebook

it might be LinkedIn it depends is the

answer right I think something that's

very important from talking to Jonathan

Reed in our webinar before and we'll

have a link to that webinar Replay in

the show notes Here the most important

thing is to have one primary channel

that you're optimizing for and then post

everywhere else is where as well maybe

Tick Tock is your channel right so

you're gonna think about oh I gotta

create short form video content first

right that's great but that doesn't mean

you can't also post that to Facebook and

Linkedin and Instagram it might be the

hey uh short text content and threads or

what I do so I'm going to think about

posting to to Twitter first that's cool

you can also do like LinkedIn carousels

uh for that so adult

exclude other channels just because

you're optimizing for one but I very

much believe you should have one in mind

first and then the other should be

secondary after that okay when and how

often to post right this is the question

I wanna I wanna post I want to get my

stuff out there everyone's attention

span is super short these days most

posts that everybody makes don't ever

get get kind of visualized and seen by

your audience the algorithms might

suppress them who knows write all these

questions that we don't have answers to

but you want to post probably more than

you think right and here's the here's

the formula that we've come up with so

I'm going to cover the major five

channels right Instagram first we like

to post on Instagram three or four times

a day when we're advising our clients on

on how to get traction and and really

move their audience uh growth on on

Instagram three or four times a day

LinkedIn once a day Facebook once a day

Twitter two or three times a day right

it's a little bit variable kind of like

Instagram Instagram through a four times

a day Twitter two or three times a day

and Tick Tock more alright four or five

times a day right and I think that these

shorter form places uh Tick Tock

Instagram M Twitter all kind of have

something in common you're gonna post

more often because it's shorter content

right something on LinkedIn or Facebook

you might have a longer post once a day

maybe twice a day on Facebook and and

Linkedin are fine but that's how we like

to think about our primary posting day

and what that schedule will look like

using a tool like buffer or HootSuite or

one of these that let you post to

multiple places all at the same time is

a great way to organize your content

calendar uh and we have links to those

in the description below but just think

about using a tool don't think I have to

go log into these six different places

every day use a tool concentrate

everything in one place so you can draft

all the content you might have to adapt

it slightly because there's character

limits depending on on what you're using

but but use a tool to to kind of

automate this so that's on um say like

episode release date right we're talking

specifically about how to promote your

your podcast on social media this is on

the day an episode goes live but let's

rewind a little bit one thing that's

really cool is to tease future episodes

so think about okay if my episodes are

coming out every Wednesday Monday I'm

gonna drop a little teaser right on all

these platforms just once and say hey

new episode coming Wednesday here's a

sneak peek at what to look forward to

this is great because it gets the

audience looking forward to engaging

with you on Wednesday when you post that

new that new clip or that new episode

it's just a great way to keep the

conversation going in the meantime okay

so we have kind of the the Preamble

right and we have the day the episode

goes live and then you want to keep

posting on your primary channel for sure

and I think really on each of the

channels three more times in the coming

week this is assuming that you're doing

a weekly podcast but this way you'll

have the the teaser right a couple days

before you'll have the day the episode

goes live and you'll have three more

posts pretty evenly spread out through

the subsequent week leading up to that

teaser episode so you're really

publishing about every business day on

the weekends too maybe depending on what

Channel you're on it's kind of thinking

about teaser did the episode goes live a

couple of more spread out pretty evenly

through there more on your primary

channel right so if your primary channel

is Twitter think about posting kind of

every day there amongst your other kind

of content you'll be promoting for your

brand

one other approach we really love is I

and I alluded to this earlier is getting

feedback and involvement from your

audience so maybe you're having a tough

time coming up with an idea for your

next next episode

ask that right post it on social media

say hey wanting to talk about this topic

what would you like me to cover and

people will chime in and they'll say oh

do this or interview this person or

cover this I've never heard you talk

about this I'd love to hear you know

your your thoughts on this topic it's a

great way to to get really authentic and

dynamic feedback and engagement from

your audience and it'll it'll grow the

the kind of connection that you have

with them offline right because the

podcast I consider like online right

offline off podcast being social media

it's just a great way to continue that

conversation in between episodes in

terms of the mechanics of of posting uh

one thing that I think is underutilized

are hashtags right there kind of

ubiquitous across all of the channels

use hashtags that are appropriate for

the topic that you're talking about and

a lot of times these are always the same

hashtags for all of your episodes but it

might be that you have a topic on

monetizing your content or growing your

audience or thought leadership or

something like that those might vary

right so you might want to just have

this little note document hey these are

the hashtags I always use and these are

the ones that are going to be unique for

for certain episodes right and I would

say the same thing if you're if you have

guests on your show if it's an interview

style or a round table format 100 always

mention those people if they're on the

platform that you're posting on find and

mention those people hands down the best

way to get them involved and you

promoting the content of their episode

and it brings me to my next point which

is leverage your guest audience this is

I think hands down the mark for me as as

a guest on other people's podcasts when

I say oh this person's a pro is when

they provide me a Media Kit it takes all

of the guesswork out of it for me to say

oh I have to go find this thing on the

website and the link open Spotify

no it's all taken out of the equation

they send me an email with like a zip

file or something like that or just the

assets cover image for the episode

audiogram or short clips a couple of

quotes maybe a couple of links that they

want me to mention and it's all done for

me I just take copy put it into Twitter

and I'm off right it makes asking your

guest to share the content with their

audience super simple right and so

that's really I think the most

straightforward way to grow your

audience if you have an interview based

show is leverage your guest audience and

I think setting the expectation up front

when you invite them onto the show say

hey love to have you on the show it's

going to be this day here use calendly

or Savvy Cal or something like that to

schedule the episode when this episode

is live I would love for you to share it

out on social media include it in your

email newsletter if you could and link

to that episode from your website those

three things if you can do those

consistently over time and you publish

52 episodes a week a hundred percent

you'll have a successful podcast right

because you are cross-pollinating your

ideas and your message with other

people's audiences 52 times a year and

the chance of picking up a new listener

here and a new listener here and a new

listener here is really really good

right if you're doing your job and

creating good content but you have the

systems to leverage and involve other

people's audiences and your stuff a

hundred percent you'll be successful so

we talked about about where to post

right always one primary place when to

post and gave the schedule there we'll

have a link to to resources uh that that

go into in depth on all this in the

description below we talked about uh

hashtags and at mentions always mention

a guess or anyone you have on your

podcast is a great way for them to get

involved and like or react or retweet

your post and then the mechanics of like

Get It Get a tool right get HootSuite or

buffer or something like that height

Fury to to do this consistently so you

don't have to go in there and and

manually do this all the time you can do

this you can have someone on your team

do this and set it and forget it so that

you can focus on creating more content

and engaging with your audience so be

remiss if I didn't mention short form

video touched on it and I want to I want

to really dive in here because it's

super important here 2023 this is hands

down the biggest kind of movement in

social media is short video content

YouTube shorts Tick Tock Instagram right

these are the places that popularized it

but every social media platform has

these they're all really popular and you

get a ton of engagement on them I would

highly encourage you to create some sort

of video content for your podcast even

if you're not recording what we call

native video like this uh when you're

recording your episodes we really like

that you can put the whole long form

thing on YouTube right it's a great way

to repurpose content from the start and

then just have an audio podcast that

goes out for Apple podcast and Spotify

but really clipping out the most

important and interesting and dynamic

segments from that for use in social

media is fantastic right so these clips

are between 30 seconds and a couple of

minutes depending on which platform

you're optimizing for there's a whole

that's a whole other topic but I would

really strongly think about you know at

least creating audiograms we have a tool

in castos that lets you do this for free

within our growth and pro plans or just

capture native video like this and clip

out little short segments and publish

those separately from the rest of the

long form content I think if you get

into the habit of creating video one way

or the other right whether it's native

video or using the tool like ours for

audiograms and just publish that to you

to your social channels I think you'll

just see a lot more engagement I think

the reality is video content is just

higher Fidelity right you can see my

face I can see your face we have the

captions running across you know an

interesting thing about that is very few

people actually listen to the the audio

part of video content they just they

just watch the captions so just best

practice as you're creating this short

form content make sure you have the

words on the screen because a lot of

people don't listen so that's my that's

my bit of a rant about short-term video

content we just really strongly believe

in it so if you're not doing it today I

would suggest finding a way to do it

doesn't have to be your face on the

screen you can use audiograms and things

like that and there's a lot of great

tools that help you do this so I hope

this is helpful in in kind of laying out

a framework for how to think about

publishing on social media the exact

kind of best practice mechanics that

that we believe in terms of the schedule

on a per episode or per week basis uh

best practices in terms of hashtags and

app mentions things like that and then

gotta mention short form video it's

fantastic and it'll transform your

audience growth and your relationship

with your audience because they can see

you and and that's just really wonderful

links to all the resources we mentioned

are in the description below and if

you're enjoying the Channel please like

And subscribe and we'll see you next

time

[Music]