27 Ways to Promote Your Podcast in Under an Hour
Promoting a podcast is difficult.
It’s not like other mediums with inbuilt recommendation systems like YouTube videos. It’s especially hard if you don’t know where to start or what to do. So I collected 27 different ways that you can promote your podcast in under an hour. Each of them are very simple and most will take only a few minutes to do.
To help you navigate, I’ve broken the post up into some categories
- Social media
- Passive Links
- Podcast community
- Outside the box options
Social media
Social media is where everyone’s attention is, and as more networks focus on algorithmic recommendations, a quick post can lead to reaching a whole host of new listeners.
If you need a start, share the story behind your podcast or five similar podcasts you love listening too.
1. Share your podcast origin story on Twitter
Twitter is over represented when it comes to podcasters.
That makes it a great network to connect with other podcasters and which can lead to greater promotional opportunities.
2. Discuss your last episode in a Twitter Space
Twitter spaces are audio channels where you can invite guests to speak too.
This allows you to recieve and answer questions from listeners. If you don’t have any listeners yet, then discuss the topic rather than the episode or share a summary of your episode to encourage people to check it out. People might not join the “post-[your podcast name] AMA show” but they might check out the “Did X kill Y post show”.
3. Set up an automation to share every new episode on Twitter
This is a great “set it and forget it” action.
There are lots of tools that offer this including some social media management software. If you don’t want one of those, sign up for a free zapier account, add your RSS feed, and your Twitter account.
Now you’ll share every new episode with no effort.
4. Automate your Facebook posts too
Why stop at Twitter?
If you have a Facebook page (or just your own profile) you can automatically post there too. Just add it to your set up and never worry about it again.
5. Share a video snippet on Twitter
Videos are like a new novel virus on social media.
You might think that a podcast isn’t a great format for video, but you’d be wrong. “Audiograms” are captioned video clips from podcasts. There are dedicated tools to create these clips but some podcast editing software like Pompom can create these during the editing process.
6. Share an audiogram on TikTok
Now you’ve got your captioned video, it’s time to put it to use.
Sharing a captioned video of the key moments or profound insights can be a great way to entice new listeners to subscribe. And TikTok’s algorithim can make even a first time video go viral.
7. Preview your next episode on Instagram
Previews can help build excitement for your next episode.
While instagram’s posts aren’t the centre of the app anymore, if you post a preview of each episode, your profile will soon contain a catalog of each show.
And you can share them to stories too.
8. Share a highlight from your latest podcast as an Instagram Reel
Hey remember those audiograms you made (sharable videos snippets)
Instagram loves ’em too!
Reels are being favoured at the moment so share your audiogram as a Reel.
9. Share your podcast as a video on YouTube
YouTube wants to promote your content.
It loves long content that people engage with from start to end and podcasts are great content at that. It’s also one of the fastest growing podcast listening platforms.
Even if you don’t record a video, you can share your podcast as a video on YouTube by using your podcast artwork and a simple image as well as adding the audio file.
10. Share video snippets as shorts on YouTube
Once you’ve got your video on YouTube, you can quickly turn moments into shorts.
Just open up the video, go to a good moment, and press “create short”. Alternatively, if you made an audiogram you can upload that (which may be more engaging as it has changing captions).
11. Share your podcast in a Facebook group
There are Facebook groups for podcasters and podcast lovers.
Most have some conditions (like limiting the days when you can share your episode) but many let you promote yourself from time to time.
Even if you can’t promote right now, you can write your promo and set a reminder to share it on the right day. Here are a couple to check out:
12. Share your podcast in a Reddit group
Reddit has some of the best community on the internet.
Podcasting is no exception.
Groups like r/podcasting will give you advice on editing and gear (and if you ask the mods kindly, you might even be allowed to share your podcast). Subreddits like r/PodcastPromoting and r/podcastpromoterare for the dedicated purposes of promoting podcasts.
Pro tip: ask for advice and feedback when starting out and you’re more likely to get support.
13. Set up an email automation
Some listeners want to be emailed when new episodes drop.
Mailchimp, Mailerlite, Convertkit, and other platforms will accept your RSS feed, craft and send automated emails for you. Some will just pull from your content, but others let you adapt them before you send.
Passive Links
Passive links are set and forget tools that keep promoting your podcast while you sleep.
Simply set them up and then you never have to think about them again. Here’s a few examples.
14. Add a link to your website
If you have a website, there are few places you can place links.
- Your header/footer with social media links
- A dedicated page about your podcast
- Your about page
- Your homepage
15. Add links to your social media bios
Most social platforms let you put social links in them.
- BeReal
- TikTok
- Snapchat
Make sure you’ve got your podcast feature their. You could link to a page on your website, to your podcast hosting platform or use one of these social bio link tools.
16. Add it to your email signature
Promote your podcast every time you send an email.
Use a tool like emailbadge from appsumo to create an attractive email signature highlighting your podcast.
Podcast Community
You know who is most likely to want to listen to your podcast?
People who already listen to podcasts.
So going to the existing podcast community is a great way to help build your audience. Here are a few practical ideas. Beyond sharing in groups on Facebook and Reddit.
18. Sign up for a guest swap
Go on someone’s podcast, and they come on yours.
This can work well within your niche and outside it. People in your niche are more likely to have interested listeners, but going outside your niche can help bring in listeners who aren’t overserved by podcasts like yours.
There are websites and online communities that help facilitate guests swaps including
- Buzzsprout community on Facebook
- Podcast speaker swap community
- Podcast Guest Exchange on Reddit
- Podcast Guests on Reddit
19. Join a podcast guest website
You what interview podcasts need…Guests!
Eventually they’ll have gone through all the obvious guests and it can be a real advantage to get a lesser known guest. Enter you!
There are free and paid Podcast guest websites that will help put you in touch with podcasts looking for guests. Unlike a swap, there’s no expectations for you to host them as well.
20. Promote another podcast
Promoting another podcast, even a rival one, can be a way to build a relationship.
And when the rule of reciprocation works. By doing something nice for them, they feel more willing to do something nice for you. Plus, they may want to humble brag on social media and reshare what you said.
The best way to do this is simple tag their account and offer some praise. Most algorithms will then put your post in front of a small portion of their social media following. If they like and respond to your post, it will show it to even more of their followers.
21. Run an advert on another podcast
Podcast ads can be pricy but that’s because of the high returns they bring.
Although some listeners will object to any interruption (Don’t they realise free to consume isn’t free to make!) the majority pay attention. And when you find a good cross over with your topic, you can gain a string of new subscribers.
22. Run an advert in overcast
Overcast is a free to download podcast app that has ads of podcasts.
Some paid users enjoy these ads that there’s even a toggle to turn them back on! If you are looking to get your podcast in front of people hunting for their next show, advertising overcasts is a good choice.
23. Apply to join a podcast network
Not all podcast networks are equal.
Some will promote your show through their network and do other marketing. Others are scams which will charge you a ton of money and use you to promote their scam.
If you can join a good network, it can help you get in front of your audience and save you a lot of time (they may even help produce your show too). The bigger the network is, the more selective they will be and the more they will want an existing audience.
The smaller the network is, the more you should be prepared for a scam. I’m not saying all small networks are scams, but most scams are smaller networks.
Out of the box
Okay, the next few ideas are less common but can be extremely effective.
24. Get your friends and family involve
It’s amazing how many people create a podcast and never tell the people they know about it.
If you are starting out, sharing with your friends and family can help you reach your first listener milestones and get feedback to help you improve your podcast.
Just send a quick message and link to a few confidants and you’re on your way.
25. Publish a guest post
No one reads blogs anymore.
Except, people do. And guest are a great way to get in front of an existing audience. That can help you get new subscribers as well as find connections for collaboration.
Just pitch a relevant topic to a publication that overlaps with your podcast topic.
26. Run a giveaway
You know who likes freebies? Everyone!
A giveaway can help attract new subscribers but only when done right.
Most giveaways fail because there’s no incentive to spread them. This means they rely on normal distribution methods and all the challenges those face.
But using tools like gleam and kingsumo you can reward users for sharing your giveaway and include actions that encourage entrants to subscribe to your show. Just make sure you choose a prize that people who listen to your show will like.
27. Share an seo friendly transcript to every episode
Give search engines a helping hand and they’ll reward you.
Publishing a transcript with your podcast episode helps a search engine understand what it’s about. And it helps the listeners check details and find out what was in the episode.
Some podcast editing programs have transcription services built in either taking from credit you have for the month or that you can buy in packages.
Pompom gives you free transcriptions with no subscription required making it a great choice to get started.
Ready to promote your podcast?
With all these options, there’s sure to be something for you.
Pick an option (or use a random number generator to pick one) and get started.
