Podcasts have exploded in popularity over the last decade, and for good reason. In addition to being a great medium for accessible content, they give businesses a way to authentically represent their brand. Podcasts also provide many ways to quickly produce good marketing content — if you know how to make use of social media.
That said, the idea of using a podcast to market your business can seem intimidating, or even potentially a waste of time. After all, there’s already so many podcasts out there — over 5 million, according to Demand Sage — and that’s a lot of noise to cut through. Who's to say your podcast will be able to reach your target audiences? And even if it does reach them, how can you measure its impact upon your bottom line? How will you know what’s resonating with podcast listeners and what isn’t?
All of these are good questions to ask. And at Casted, we’ve done our homework to provide you with those answers. Below, you’ll find some tips for how to promote a podcast on social media, as well as ways our podcast marketing platform can help you track metrics unlike anyone else. With our help, you’ll be able to craft a podcast social media strategy that is effective, consistent, and — here is the best part — easy to execute. Let’s get started!
It definitely can be! In fact, when executed well, a podcast can be the content marketing strategy for a business. But in order for that to work, you need to be able to do a few things, and do them well:
So, in short, are podcasts effective for marketing? You bet they are, provided you know how to repurpose their content, track success, and fully use the tools available to you. That’s where social media comes in.
Social media is an excellent podcast marketing tool, but only when done effectively and with a plan. Here are some tips for getting started on your social media presence:
In a perfect world, you would have a presence on every social media platform out there… but that requires a lot of resources, money, and time. If that’s not possible for your business, focus your attention on maybe one or two channels. What is the best social media platform to promote a podcast? Well, that depends on who you’re trying to reach, and what they’re using. If you’re not sure where to start, these platforms have a large user base, according to 2023 data provided by Statista and Demand Sage:
Of course, there may be other social media apps that are not as widespread, but far more relevant to your business. In the end, you should use the apps that will most easily connect you to your target audience — no matter how big or small those followings are. If you have a niche audience, look for online communities that center around those interests.
Once you’ve chosen your social media platforms, you’ll need to figure out the best way to promote a podcast on that platform specifically. This means understanding what the platform offers, but also how people use it:
Knowing the ins and outs of a platform can help direct the nature of your content. Instagram users, for example, are very drawn to videos. According to Sprout Social, 91% of Instagram users watch videos on the platform weekly, and almost half of social media users watch Instagram stories more than any other video content on the network. This likely means that if you want to see traction on Instagram, you’re going to need a lot of video content. You may be wondering, “Well, if video content is what works on Instagram, then what should I post on Instagram for a podcast?” Don’t worry, we’ll cover some ideas later in this article.
As you research social media platforms, keep in mind that just because a particular format exists on the app doesn’t mean it’s relevant. For example, while videos with sound are available on Facebook, Sprout Social reported that an overwhelming majority of Facebook videos (85%) are watched with the sound off.
Knowing facts like this from the beginning helps you understand how to increase podcast visibility on different social media platforms, and why certain methods may work on one platform, but not the other. Understanding how your audience uses each social media app is not just crucial to successful content, but using your time wisely.
Sure, sure — we hear this thrown around all the time, but what does “high-value content” mean, really? Simply put, high-value content is all three of the following:
As a final note, it may help you to consider the purpose of each piece of social media content. For example, how do you announce a new podcast episode? That’s a content idea in and of itself — a post can be made once, then used like a template every time you have a new episode. The more podcast Instagram post templates you have at the ready, the easier it will be to maintain a long-term strategy.
As you’re creating your high-value content, it’s also important to consider your plans for sharing it. This is true not just for your podcast, but the social media promoting your podcast. How often are you going to share social media content, and how will that line up with your podcast production? Sources argue on how frequently you should post, but regardless of the number, consistency is more important than anything else. The more reliable your content schedule is, the more easily you will build trust with your audience. It’s not necessary to always know what you will share ahead of time, but it is important to know when you will share it.
What’s a good pace for sharing content? That depends on your platform of choice. In 2021, the CEO of Instagram recommended two feed posts a week and two stories a day as ideal for their platform. You should do research on your platforms of choice, then weigh that against your podcast production schedule to determine the best pace for you. Again, consistency is more important than frequency; if you can only post one thing every two weeks consistently, that’s better than posting every day for a week then sharing nothing for a month.
The first half of this step is self-explanatory, but the second part is less so. As nice as it would be to set-and-forget your content, that’s just a piece of the equation. Your followers want to hear what you have to say, but they also want to engage with you directly. This can be as simple as liking comments or resharing posts that tag you. If you want to go bigger, you can have your followers participate in the making of your podcast, whether that’s by submitting questions, or inviting them to a live recording of an episode. There are endless ways to do this part, so don’t hesitate to get creative!
Lastly, you need to know how successful your endeavors were. This is where a platform like Casted really shines: with our advanced metrics, you’re able to see exactly what was successful for your podcast. Additionally, you’re able to use this data as you go back to the drawing board for future content. Our data allows you to see engagement in a way that’s far more granular than any other platform.
Here’s a great example of why that’s important. Let’s say out of your first 10 episodes, Episode 5 has the most downloads by far. This is helpful to know, but why does it have that many downloads? There could be any number of reasons; maybe it was shared more than the others, or maybe they really liked the guest. But if all you know is total download numbers, that’s all you can work with. And you’re forced to try to replicate that lightning in a bottle.
But what if we revisit that same “Episode 5” scenario with the Casted Insights platform? Well, if we did, we’d be able to see that there’s a particular moment in the episode that’s been played over and over, far more times than any other part. Turns out, there’s a really good quote in there that seems to be resonating with people! Now, we not only have an idea of what’s working, but with Casted, we can highlight that part of the transcript, and one click later, we’ve created a video post out of it. Now we can recapture that success as many times as we want!
Podcasts are popular for business marketing, but with the right tools at your disposal, it’s a lot easier to cut through the noise. If you’re consistent, have an authentic message, and offer a good product, then you’re already set up for success, but you might not know when you’re achieving it. With the help of Casted’s platform, you’ll be able to track engagement in a way that will give you a strong advantage over your competitors.
On our platform, some of the key features include:
Gone are the days where you post a new podcast episode and wonder “Is it working?” And long gone are the days where you run low on podcast Instagram post ideas, and are left to wonder “What am I going to share today?” With Casted, creating a social media post is as easy as highlighting some transcript text and clicking your mouse. Seriously — it’s that simple.
We could go on about how awesome our platform is, but it’s really something you should experience firsthand. Try a free demo today!