In the past couple of years, podcasting shows explosive growth, especially amongst the USA population ages 15 and older. According to Edison’s research, 90 million people have listened to a podcast in the past month. The audio sector includes audiobooks, but other findings show that half of America’s population used YouTube for music.
These numbers look really good, but obviously, more and more people are listening to podcasts. But these big numbers also mean competition – the most recent research says that there are more than 750,000 podcasts online, with more than 30 million episodes. You might wonder if there’s room for you to carve and grow your audience.
The answer is yes. In fact, there are many steps you can take to increase your podcast’s visibility and listenership. Here’s a list of ways to do it.
1. Make Your Podcast Different from the Rest
Podcasts are a great way to connect with an audience. Instead of spending plenty of time on social media, you could create podcasts and engage with your audience. Podcasts are much more convenient than reading blog posts. People can listen to podcasts any time of the day; when driving, working out, or doing household work. Here are some ideas to use if you want to start your own podcast today:
- Use your own imagination to create a podcast concept
- Identify your podcast goals
- Pick a podcast topic
- Give your podcast a name
- Make it easy for people to find your podcast by using keywords
- Choose your podcast format
- Develop a connection with your listeners
- Create a habit for yourself
Once you’ll have an idea of how your podcast should look, consider yourself ready to invest in your podcast equipment.
2. Optimize Your Podcast with SEO to Improve Visibility
As the popularity of podcasts increases, so is the competition; and for good reasons. Consider using keywords for each one of your episodes. It’s vital to pay careful attention when creating titles for your podcasts episodes. If you want to help improve ranking, optimize your podcast episode title to attract more listeners. Also, share and reshare your podcast episodes on social media, but first, learn how to create audiogram for podcast. Just because you share a link on social media does not mean that your listeners will click and listen to your podcast.
What is an audiogram for the podcast? It’s a short teaser of your podcast that allows users to get an idea of your podcast episode. Create a piece introducing your podcast to promote it across social media platforms, like Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and so on. Tease your podcasts episodes with eye-catching videos and attract new listeners, and also, add subtitles. It’s an important matter that not too many people consider doing it.
3. Podcast Software
Once you will record your podcast, it’s time to make new edits and adjustments, so that you can get the best sound quality. Luckily, there are many options when it comes to editing your podcast for small screens, and the good news is that the podcast editing software is actually affordable.
4. Instagram Marketing
Choose Instagram as a marketing solution for your podcast. The platform is visually-based and it can be a great way to market and grow your podcast. Finally, people can see that Instagram is not just for sharing artsy pictures and selfies – it’s so much more than that. And since everyone spends time on Instagram, why not publish your podcast there?
5. Facebook Marketing
Promoting your podcast on Facebook is almost just like promoting it on Instagram. But we do have to say that it is essential to sort out your goals. Once you’ve sorted down your goals, you can create a podcast page on Facebook and upload your video clips. But first, don’t forget to share a 15-20 seconds video teaser.
6. Nail Down Your Email Strategy
When new episodes of your podcasts go live, make sure you email all your list and let them know. Email marketing is one of the easiest and most effective ways to drive the audience to your new podcast. Include links in your emails so people can download your podcast and listen to it everywhere. Share your most popular episodes – if this doesn’t bring you great ROI, then what else? Email marketing is one of the best ROI out of all digital marketing solutions. It’s simple, and straightforward – just what you need to connect with your audience.
7. Hack Your Way to Thousands Podcast Downloads
Back in 2016, Neil Patel and Eric Siu, the online SEO Gurus, grew their podcast to 750,000 downloads/month in just two years. They’ve applied everything they know to attract listeners to the podcast, and experienced new and better tactics – this helped them achieve 750,000 downloads per month. Now, they enjoy shooting for their first 1,000,000 downloads/month.
In fact, their podcast started with no listeners and zero downloads on the first day. Don’t lose hope if your podcast does the same. Podcasters are achieving 10,000 podcast downloads in a month. It does sound too good to be true, but podcasts are starting to go mainstream. Where you are in your podcast journey makes a big difference in the tactic you take to hack more podcast downloads.
8. A Successful Podcast Delivers Consistent Worth
Albert Einstein once said: “Don’t become a man of success, but rather a man of value.” Of course, Einstein didn’t talk about marketing strategies, but his advice is magical for marketers. You’ll want to make a podcast that delivers constant value. Start by interviewing your podcast guests – find topics that you can discuss with your guests on your podcast.
Be sure to sound professional all the time! And don’t worry, you don’t have to break the bank to create high-quality podcasts with all the affordable equipment options available on the internet.
Last, but not least, find guests that fit your niche. After all, there’s nothing an “author” loves more than talking about their work.