In this information and entertainment peckish world, podcasts have proven to be an easy-accessible source.
The hands-free functionality of podcasts makes them one of the most popular content channels.
While video and written content needs to indulge at least 2 of the senses, podcast requires only one—allowing the consumers to multitask.
Even 2 years prior, podcasts weren’t as popular as they are now. As no one was taking it seriously and few had the understanding, it was predicted to be a failing idea.
Then the pandemic hit.
With lockdowns and availability of spare time, podcasts grew in both size and quality. And we started to understand how convenient it is. However, with podcasts rapidly making their way into the music and infotainment industry, it’s time that you understand how to compete against the increasing number of creators.
Promote Through Social Media and Relevant Podcast Platforms
Social media platforms are effective mediums to promote your podcast episodes. As you can find interested users through relevant groups, sharing your latest podcast links becomes much easier and less spammy.
If you already have a significant social media presence, you can promote your content directly. By sharing podcast trailers, interacting with users, and generating content ideas, you can lure more listeners to your podcast.
However, many social media groups become a spam factory due to their inactivity and lack of moderation. Most members of these groups are either bots or marketers who have no genuine interest in your content.
Hashtags can be pretty effective in these cases and even for general promotional purposes. This simple tool unites millions of users who have a particular interest. By using relevant and less-competitive hashtags, you can reach these individuals without spamming the groups.
Aside from social media, you can also use podcast subscription platforms to promote your podcast. These services work as subscription-based promotional media for your podcasts and let you broadcast the episodes even on Spotify. Your subscriber list, analytics, and monetary interests are also kept safe with the best podcast subscription programs.
However, note that not all platforms have the same audience reach. That’s why it is advisable to choose a podcast subscription platform that caters to listeners from multiple podcasting platforms like Spotify, Apple Podcast, and Google Podcast.
Develop Podcast SEO Strategies
If you’re trying to reach your audience by spamming and praying, it wouldn’t work. You need to make sure that the prospects find you.
And nothing’s better than making yourself prominent on the platform where everyone comes to find something—Google Search.
The best practices that can make your episodes appear at the top position are referred to as search engine optimization (SEO). SEO best practices often depend on the niche and the content type. You can’t expect to apply a proven strategy that worked for a gardening podcast to work for your wellness podcast.
However, some fundamental SEO strategies have been demonstrated to be worthwhile for individuals like yourself. Here are some of them that you must know.
Optimize Episode Titles and Descriptions
Titles and descriptions are the first elements that you need to consider when optimizing your content for Google. With any search, the page mostly reveals the titles and descriptions of the target websites.
A humongous title with over 60 characters or a cryptic one may harm you in terms of SEO. You need to clearly define what the user wants to know and what the crawlers can understand.
Additionally, as most users nowadays use their mobile devices to search for keywords, the need to shorten your episode titles becomes much more critical. If you must use a longer title, consider placing the keywords in the first part.
The same goes for descriptions. Include keywords in the description and don’t let it flow beyond 150-160 characters.
Provide Subtitles and Timestamps
Google crawlers can’t comprehend audio and video as much as they can understand written content. Timestamps, in addition to helping listeners skip to the interesting parts, helps Google refine the SERP ranking.
Since Google works for the users and not you, providing them with a smoother experience reduces bounce rate and helps you rank higher. Moreover, you can use additional keywords on the timestamps to optimize your podcast episodes further.
Subtitles are also quite effective for SEO purposes. Although it may seem counterproductive to include subtitles of something that’s intended to be heard, it helps with SEO.
Make Engaging Content
Every tip and strategy is redundant if you can’t make engaging content that your audience loves. You need to make sure that the listeners who end up on your channel stay longer and leave with a general feeling of satisfaction.
Even if you, hypothetically, manage to top some keywords, you’ll soon be dropped due to an increased bounce rate and less than adequate average time; if your content isn’t engaging.
Keyword Research
Growing your podcast audience requires understanding what your audience is looking for. Keyword research, search volumes, and competition can give you great insight into what your next episode should be on. While several keyword research tools are available for you to choose from, we recommend Ahrefs and Buzzsumo for podcasts.
You may already have a niche that you publish or plan to publish episodes on. Find out what your audience is looking for in that particular domain and give keyword research a go.
As a beginner in the podcasting arena, you want to target long-tail keywords that contain three or more words. You may not find much success in terms of traffic, but you’ll be able to build authority.
Make Blog Posts
Consider transcribing your podcast episodes in the form of written content. When writing the script for your podcast, use as many keywords as possible without making it too obvious or forceful. Publish these transcripts on your social media profile, website, and promotional mediums.
Why blog posts?
Because blog posts still make up the majority of Google search results. It may change in the future, but for now, it’s a great way to boost your SEO.
Throw Call-to-Actions
Call-to-actions are strategically-placed phrases that encourage your podcast listeners to take the intended action. The “action” can be anything from subscribing to buying a product that you’re affiliated with. As your objective, for now, is to grow your podcast audience, encouraging existing users to leave comments and share your content will be effective.
If you’ve ever watched a video, read a blog, or listened to a podcast, you mostly are familiar with the concept of CTA.
For best results, you must keep your CTA short and interesting. Even if you rely on a sponsor, don’t keep talking about their product mid-session without any context. It breaks the flow and involvement that you have been building throughout the episode.
Consider including CTA in every episode of your podcast. Alter between the objectives, but don’t fail to include them in any episode.
The Bottom Line
Grow your podcast audience by developing robust SEO strategies and by throwing call-to-actions in every episode. Social media platforms are also quite effective to reach relevant audiences by promoting your podcast episodes. Follow the tips mentioned in this article and tweak them as you go to make a significant impact on your podcasting journey.