I say it in every article, and I'll never tire of repeating it: for a podcast to realize its potential fully and achieve success, you need to plan a proper strategy that combines various factors.

Among them is the use of social media channels, which is the most powerful weapon a podcaster has to assure maximum visibility for his content and increase or keep high engagement.

If you think of using this social media world to your advantage, here's the right place for you.

In the next lines, we will explain why to do it, how to do it, and how to get winning results for your podcast almost immediately.

Why is it important to promote my podcast on social media?

Market research is clear: social media is the new engine of communication. It's impossible to know someone who doesn't have at least one account on one of the major platforms, or on more than one.

If that's not enough to understand the potential of this incredible sharing channel, know that about 40% of respondents stated that they discover new podcasts precisely because of their presence on social media.

And before you ask, this trend benefits not only video podcasts but also audio ones. There are tools out there that allow you to create short videos even from audio files, and artificial intelligence has opened the doors to endless possibilities.

Once you understand the numbers we're talking about, what's important for you as a podcast creator is to comprehend how to establish a significant presence among the hundreds of contents that users are exposed to daily.

What are the most popular social media channels?

The most popular platforms in the world include the following:

• Facebook

• Instagram

• Pinterest

• Twitter

• TikTok

• LinkedIn

• YouTube

• Snapchat

• WhatsApp

• WeChat

• Telegram

Which social media should I choose for my podcast?

My general answer is that you should choose more than one, but the first thing to evaluate is the type of content you produce for your podcast.

The second is the typical user demographic of the platform. The greater popularity of a platform may not correspond to the type of user receptive to your content.

But let's go back to talking about numbers and make some clear examples!

In the chart below, you can see the percentage of users in the United States for each platform. This percentage may vary from country to country, but the platforms remain the same.

In this chart, instead, you can see the billions of active users of each platform.

Now you know that when we talk about potential in a general sense, we're really talking about endless possibilities. Obviously, these are generic information, and not exclusive to the podcasting field. And now that we have the user data, let's talk about the platforms.

Not all platforms are the same: there are indeed differences regarding the main purpose (some were born as instant messaging platforms), the average user, and content display.

Let's briefly examine some of them:

• Facebook is followed by users of all ages, but the predominant category of active users includes Generation X, followed by Boomers. It was the first platform to revolutionize the sharing of various contents such as status updates, photos, links, and videos to the general public. Its strength lies in group functionalities and strong community interaction. It allows many options for targeted and selective advertising.

• Instagram is particularly followed by young adults (the so-called Millennials) and Generation Z, but it also has many teenage users who prefer this platform for its strong visual component. Instagram focuses on short videos (Stories and Reels). Great for influencer marketing and brands that leverage a strong visual impact.

• TikTok, predominantly followed by Gen Z and Generation Alpha, is a Chinese-origin platform specialized in short, viral videos with a high degree of content customization, thanks to a particular algorithm. It has become popular for its ability to create trends and challenges.

• LinkedIn is a platform for professional networking directed exclusively at entrepreneurs and operators of all ages and sectors. It allows you to create a user profile similar to a CV, share career updates, articles, and network. Geared towards B2B and job searching, today, it allows promoting your content like any other social network.

• YouTube has no rivals regarding the user base of its audience: it indeed spans a broad age spectrum and offers content that attracts various demographic segments. YouTube dominates in long-duration video content, with options for tutorials, reviews, and entertainment. It's at the forefront of video-based content marketing strategies.

How to Promote Your Podcast on Social Media Effectively

And now, let's get to the heart of this article by analyzing the main points of the strategy you will need to implement to achieve winning and immediate results.

Avoid launching into the void and play ahead:

1. Know the Platform

The first step to being able to use a broadcasting tool is to know it well. Understand what advantages it offers in terms of diffusion, the possibilities of use, the type of average user, the terms of service… everything that can be useful to choose the most suitable channel for your content.

Moreover, it can be beneficial to check which platform hosts other podcasters similar to you and competitors, the audio or video formats they favor, and the type of content they generate.

2. Know Your Audience

To choose the platform that represents you better, you must deeply know your audience. This is a fundamental factor for the success of a podcast.

A deep knowledge of the demographics of your users will allow you to create content targeted to that type of audience and to publish it selectively, so that it reaches exactly whom you want. Remember that it's better to have a smaller number of active users rather than a totally apathetic audience.

Buying followers would end up with inactive users who not only do not help your engagement but pollute the demographics of your actual audience, making it difficult to understand how, where, and to whom to direct your content.

3. Study Trends

Social media trends are a train you'll want to jump on: you've noticed content that repeats from creator to creator with small variations, and you've wondered what sense it makes to copy…

Copying makes no sense, the first rule of a content creator is to be unique and produce original content, but among the millions of videos offered and the billions of users who view them, there's room for everyone. If you want to make yourself known by drawing inspiration from a viral video, go ahead, but try to give it a personal touch and make it relatable to your character or your podcast.

4. Develop Viral Content

To break through in the world of social media, you need content that stands out. Here’s how to create it:

Be Authentic: Share every moment of your journey with your audience: behind the scenes of your podcast, there's a fascinating world made of challenges and not just successes, of exhausting shifts and malfunctioning equipment, of fun moments and personal sharing with guests or your team. This is what your audience wants to see: your human side, your authenticity, who you are when you step away from that microphone.

Give the Audience What They Want: As we repeat every time, uniqueness is an indispensable characteristic for the success of a podcast. Simultaneously, you should try to understand what the audience expects from you and what they would generally like to receive from the context in which you operate. So try to find a balance between what you want and what your audience wants. Make sure to find a winning compromise and convey it in your content.

Use Every Format: Don’t limit the range of possibilities in terms of format and duration: use short clips and longer videos. If you present an audio podcast, experiment with audiograms (videos created from audio files that combine static images with dynamic movements, such as audio waves or animated transcriptions). These will make your audio more interesting. Diversifying your content also allows you to understand which ones are more attractive and what the audience wants from you.

5. Produce Quality Content:

For the material produced for social media to be effective, you need to plan the production both technically and creatively.

Here’s how:

Utilize the Show Notes: Highlight in your script the moments you would like to extract from the podcast and use as material for social media channels. This will facilitate the work for you and your team once the episode is produced. If you don’t know how to create a complete script, read here.

Create Content in Advance: Time is an integral part of planning a podcast. And it also applies to publishing on social media platforms. But we'll talk about this later. What I wanted to tell you is that you should carefully plan the temporal production of your videos, making sure you always have enough to satisfy your audience in case of an incident. The same rule applies, when possible, also for podcast episodes, so play ahead.

Cut Viral Moments: Knowing in advance which segments of your podcast you want to transform into clips will allow you to plan the material you need during each episode. Users love clipped moments from behind the scenes, seeing you move within the recording studio, witnessing the synergy between team members. Many have no idea how an episode is produced or edited, and showing it is a great way to demonstrate how vital the audience's support is. Even when made up of small gestures, it can be crucial for the continuation of your project. Make sure to capture these moments when you have the opportunity. Potentially, even a glass spilled at the wrong time can become a viral video.

6. Convert Audio to Video

You’re a podcaster and possess many interesting audio contents. However, you can't directly upload audio files like MP3s to social media because they are not supported. Moreover, as audio files might not be very engaging on their own, better then convert your audio into a video.

Doing so will allow you to include visual elements of your brand and to automatically start the video when someone scrolls through their feed. There are also software tools that help you transform audio into video by adding images, text, and wave animations, optimizing the content for sharing on social media.

7. Produce Standalone Clips and Videos 

Remember, when you create video content derived from your podcast or in general, it must be understandable to anyone who views it, not just those who know you or follow your podcast.

In short, every content produced for distribution on social media must stand on its own, even when it's part of a series. It will be up to the followers to try to combine the parts when you have captured their attention.

8. Leverage Infographics 

Use charts, tables, diagrams, and everything that can improve or simplify the understanding of a topic. When you allow users to learn effectively and easily about topics that might not be within their reach, you will definitely have a great return in terms of engagement.

A 2019 market study reveals that about 60% of a podcast's audience dedicates its time to a particular program mainly to learn and increase their knowledge of the discussed topic.

This might not be true for social media, whose contents are not created specifically for that purpose, but you are promoting a podcast, and consequently, you share information and knowledge. Do the same also via social media. Use fascinating graphics and colors to also capture the audience's attention with those.

9. Create Synergies 

Guests are important, not only because their presence increases the possibilities of downloading the episode, but also because creating synergistic relationships with them will allow an exchange of favors.

They will share the episode and talk about you, and you will do the same with them. The same applies when you are the guest. Moreover, colleagues help each other: influencers will be happy to work with you and promote you if you do the same with them.

Always remember, even when the counterpart is somehow a competitor, if a mutual exchange is applied and it is done positively, everyone comes out winning. The universe of social media is large, and there really is room for everyone.

10. Plan Sharing 

The audience is habitual, and creating a routine with shares on social media must be the norm, just as it is for the episodes of your podcast.

Create a calendar with the planned release dates of your videos, for example, every Tuesday and Friday short and fun clips, Wednesday long behind-the-scenes video, Monday and Thursday presentation of the episode, etc.

11. Increase Engagement by Publishing on Social Media

Now that you have the guidelines to improve the production phase, let's move on to those details that can help you increase the engagement of your followers:

1. Include a Call-to-Action: Your contents are now visible to a wide audience: it's time to leverage the call-to-action. Invite your followers to follow the podcast and your channel, to share videos, to subscribe for exclusive content, to sign up for the mailing list, or to purchase a product or service. The call-to-action should be managed so as not to seem like an imposition, not to give the impression to the audience of being just a target of consumption. But you will be amazed to see how many devoted fans will want to support you, financially or just by increasing your engagement.

2. Keep Expectations High: Leaving your followers breathless always works. Use the cliffhanger strategy, that is, interrupt the video at a moment of high tension, thus stimulating the curiosity of the audience. Create a snippet, or a teaser of the next episode or the next video, or simply, at the end of the video, tell why the next one is unmissable and when it will be shared.

3. Interact with Your Audience: If you want to create a united and loyal community for your podcast, you must create a bond with your audience. Only by responding to comments, emails, and other types of messages will you be able to create an empathic bond with your followers. Invite them to contact you directly, to ask you questions, or to participate in live shows through your videos actively. And when they leave comments, do your best to respond as much and as fast as possible, or promote interaction among followers and create moments of discussion.

4. Encourage User Sharing: Here's a really effective call-to-action. Sharing your content by users serves to make your videos go viral, and shows a high rate of engagement. But inviting users to share their content related to your podcast can have an even greater impact, demonstrating socially the popularity of your podcast. For this process to be successful, create a specific hashtag for this operation.

5. Use the Right Hashtags: The days of displaying dozens of hashtags under every post are gone, which is why you should limit yourself to choosing those that are relevant. Opt for those most used in your sector and create one of your own, which serves to identify your podcast and your social media channel.

6. Leverage SEO for Your Texts: For content to be successful, you must be able to communicate with the search engine. This happens by using a special language, called SEO, which involves the use of keywords or phrases and other tricks that will make your texts web-friendly. If you want to learn more, refer to my article "SEO for Podcasts: How to Become Number One in 13 Steps."

7. Learn to Use Each Platform: Platforms are not all the same. Understanding which contents or functionalities are favored by each platform, the search and distribution algorithms, and the typical user will allow you to take full advantage of each sharing channel. This way, you can customize your contents and fully engage the typical user base of the platform.

8. Interpret Analytical Data: Another important phase not to be overlooked for your podcast to achieve the success it deserves is the interpretation of analytical data. Platforms offer the possibility to analyze metrics such as the increase or decrease of followers, growth curve, number of downloads, etc. Analyzing the performance of your social media will allow you to implement the winning promotional strategy and thus increase your engagement rate.

Here we are, at the end of the article. It has been a long and intense read, but now you know how to make the most of the visibility potential of major social media platforms.

By synergistically integrating the points discussed and creating a consistent marketing strategy, your podcast will soon achieve the success it deserves.

Author's note:

If you want to elevate your podcast and see immediate results, look no further: try PodcastAI. 

This revolutionary software equipped with integrated AI features allows optimizing every phase of your production, simplifying the process and improving quality. 

Let PodcastAI transform your way of podcasting, giving you a competitive edge in the world of digital audio. Try it today and discover the potential of your podcast.