Help me be a shameless (but respectful) promotion machine!
July 18, 2016 5:31 AM Subscribe
The podcast is finally up! I have three episodes and there will be more! But how do I get more listeners as well as make sure potential interviewees know about it?
Harpy Hour launched in late June; right now I can only commit to a bi-weekly release schedule, so I'm focusing on making sure I have content. But some of my potential interviewees have been very curious about stats. I counter with it's a relatively new podcast so I'm not sure. I have a Twitter feed that I don't update regularly enough--my personal feed is also kinda stagnant right now, but it's mostly because I have the kind of job where actively participating on Twitter would not be looked on kindly--and no other social media. I work full-time at a job I actively dislike, I also go to school part-time for a library tech degree, so I am frantic in trying to carve out time to make sure this podcast gets attention and love (not just from other folks, but me too!).
How do I build an audience? How do I get myself and podcast out there? I'm willing to put in the work, I just don't know where to start!
Harpy Hour launched in late June; right now I can only commit to a bi-weekly release schedule, so I'm focusing on making sure I have content. But some of my potential interviewees have been very curious about stats. I counter with it's a relatively new podcast so I'm not sure. I have a Twitter feed that I don't update regularly enough--my personal feed is also kinda stagnant right now, but it's mostly because I have the kind of job where actively participating on Twitter would not be looked on kindly--and no other social media. I work full-time at a job I actively dislike, I also go to school part-time for a library tech degree, so I am frantic in trying to carve out time to make sure this podcast gets attention and love (not just from other folks, but me too!).
How do I build an audience? How do I get myself and podcast out there? I'm willing to put in the work, I just don't know where to start!
Mod note: Hey, sorry, but I delinked the podcast (just our usual policy). You can go ahead and put it on your profile page, and anyone who wants to check it out can find it there.
posted by taz (staff) at 6:04 AM on July 18, 2016
posted by taz (staff) at 6:04 AM on July 18, 2016
I don't have a podcast but I wrote about them on a blog for a while and talked to A LOT of podcasters and was involved with a lot of people who are in your situation. Here's what I learned ...
Before you really dive into the hyper-competitive world of podcast promotion you should ask yourself (if you haven't already) what you want from the show and how important it is to have other people listen. That is: if it was only you and a handful of people would you still find it was worth your time? Regardless of the quality of your podcast it is can be hugely time consuming to try and get anyone to listen and I encourage anyone who is starting a podcast to really think about what success looks like and to set their goals accordingly.
I think the best way to grow your listeners is to know your target
audience and really get involved in that community. Be on message boards, subreddits, twitter lists, comment on blogs, and know who's likely to listen to your show and be with them. Don't go blathering about your show but speak intelligently about your subject and make sure you leave plenty of rabbit trails back to your podcast. Get a few core listeners and build a name for yourself within the community.
In addition to that:
- Second most important: Make sure you update regularly and have a few shows in the bank. As busy as your schedule sounds, I would say 3-6 wouldn't be a bad idea. Stagnation is death for podcast audiences unless you are Dan Carlin or a celebrity already.
- Update regularly on your preferred social media platform.
- Don't just update about your podcast, but the podcast subject
- Cross podcast as mentioned above
- If you have a budget for marketing you might want to buy a small add on one or two larger podcasts that might have listeners who would be interested in your show
- Don't waste time trying to get into iTunes New and Noteworthy lists; they give a short boost to numbers but don't usually lead to real growth (or don't lead to growth, necessarily).
Hope that helps!
posted by Tevin at 6:23 AM on July 18, 2016 [2 favorites]
Before you really dive into the hyper-competitive world of podcast promotion you should ask yourself (if you haven't already) what you want from the show and how important it is to have other people listen. That is: if it was only you and a handful of people would you still find it was worth your time? Regardless of the quality of your podcast it is can be hugely time consuming to try and get anyone to listen and I encourage anyone who is starting a podcast to really think about what success looks like and to set their goals accordingly.
I think the best way to grow your listeners is to know your target
audience and really get involved in that community. Be on message boards, subreddits, twitter lists, comment on blogs, and know who's likely to listen to your show and be with them. Don't go blathering about your show but speak intelligently about your subject and make sure you leave plenty of rabbit trails back to your podcast. Get a few core listeners and build a name for yourself within the community.
In addition to that:
- Second most important: Make sure you update regularly and have a few shows in the bank. As busy as your schedule sounds, I would say 3-6 wouldn't be a bad idea. Stagnation is death for podcast audiences unless you are Dan Carlin or a celebrity already.
- Update regularly on your preferred social media platform.
- Don't just update about your podcast, but the podcast subject
- Cross podcast as mentioned above
- If you have a budget for marketing you might want to buy a small add on one or two larger podcasts that might have listeners who would be interested in your show
- Don't waste time trying to get into iTunes New and Noteworthy lists; they give a short boost to numbers but don't usually lead to real growth (or don't lead to growth, necessarily).
Hope that helps!
posted by Tevin at 6:23 AM on July 18, 2016 [2 favorites]
Start a Facebook page. For some reason our podcast's social media followers really hooked into Facebook in a way they never did on Twitter.
Also, post it to Projects.
posted by griphus at 6:56 AM on July 18, 2016 [1 favorite]
Also, post it to Projects.
posted by griphus at 6:56 AM on July 18, 2016 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: Sorry about the self-linking!
My target audience is mostly women as there are tons of podcasts out there about guys talking about craft beer. I'm not sure how I could cross-promote what I'm doing--interviewing women in the craft beer/spirits industry--with similar podcasts as likely they are mostly male-produced and hosted.
I'm looking into using a Twitter app that can do automatic scheduled tweets during the day for me. I should set up a Facebook page--the radio show I host with my husband gets more traffic from our FB page than the Twitter feed--but have been lazy about it.
I am committed to making it work because I believe passionately in the concept, especially now more than ever, when women are becoming more and more prominent in the alcohol industry.
posted by Kitteh at 7:05 AM on July 18, 2016
My target audience is mostly women as there are tons of podcasts out there about guys talking about craft beer. I'm not sure how I could cross-promote what I'm doing--interviewing women in the craft beer/spirits industry--with similar podcasts as likely they are mostly male-produced and hosted.
I'm looking into using a Twitter app that can do automatic scheduled tweets during the day for me. I should set up a Facebook page--the radio show I host with my husband gets more traffic from our FB page than the Twitter feed--but have been lazy about it.
I am committed to making it work because I believe passionately in the concept, especially now more than ever, when women are becoming more and more prominent in the alcohol industry.
posted by Kitteh at 7:05 AM on July 18, 2016
I'm not sure how I could cross-promote what I'm doing
Do you listen to any other woman-run podcasts in the same general way yours is regardless of the subject of the podcast? There is a really serious dearth of them so reaching out to literally any of them would be worth the time if for nothing else but to a) let them know you exist and what your goals are and b) see if they have any advice for you. You might not get asked to be on one immediately, but after you get some inertia you'll already have those lines of communication open.
posted by griphus at 7:18 AM on July 18, 2016
Do you listen to any other woman-run podcasts in the same general way yours is regardless of the subject of the podcast? There is a really serious dearth of them so reaching out to literally any of them would be worth the time if for nothing else but to a) let them know you exist and what your goals are and b) see if they have any advice for you. You might not get asked to be on one immediately, but after you get some inertia you'll already have those lines of communication open.
posted by griphus at 7:18 AM on July 18, 2016
I should set up a Facebook page--the radio show I host with my husband gets more traffic from our FB page than the Twitter feed--but have been lazy about it.
I am committed to making it work
It seems like you're pretty good at answering your own question: take the things you say you've been slacking on (personal twitter, podcast twitter, facebook) and find a way to make those work for you within your existing timeframe/schedule.
I totally get that you can't tweet at work, but you can totally use something like tweetdeck to queue up tweets (maybe about timely things, industry things coming up, other female-run things) and then maybe hoot suite to cross-promote. Can you combine some of the podcast work with something you'd get credit for for school?
So I'd suggest a minimum viable product would be
- landing page website (build once with contact info, podcast links, etc). You can do these from free skeletons or start a wordpress blog/site
- facebook page (seed with new content, interact as your "brand")
- twitter account (use for interaction, find a way to make it work for you)
And yeah look to places that have some of the aspects your thing has and look at your thing as an extension of those. "Hey you like this but wish it were run by women? Here's my thing!" "Hey you like this ladypodcast but wish it were talking about alcohol? Here's my podcast" "Hey you like podcasts but are looking for ones with these specific characteristics? Here's mine!"
posted by jessamyn at 7:32 AM on July 18, 2016 [2 favorites]
I am committed to making it work
It seems like you're pretty good at answering your own question: take the things you say you've been slacking on (personal twitter, podcast twitter, facebook) and find a way to make those work for you within your existing timeframe/schedule.
I totally get that you can't tweet at work, but you can totally use something like tweetdeck to queue up tweets (maybe about timely things, industry things coming up, other female-run things) and then maybe hoot suite to cross-promote. Can you combine some of the podcast work with something you'd get credit for for school?
So I'd suggest a minimum viable product would be
- landing page website (build once with contact info, podcast links, etc). You can do these from free skeletons or start a wordpress blog/site
- facebook page (seed with new content, interact as your "brand")
- twitter account (use for interaction, find a way to make it work for you)
And yeah look to places that have some of the aspects your thing has and look at your thing as an extension of those. "Hey you like this but wish it were run by women? Here's my thing!" "Hey you like this ladypodcast but wish it were talking about alcohol? Here's my podcast" "Hey you like podcasts but are looking for ones with these specific characteristics? Here's mine!"
posted by jessamyn at 7:32 AM on July 18, 2016 [2 favorites]
If your guests have active social media presence (or the companies/breweries they work for), be sure to ask them to promote it! Send them an email or something with the link so they have it handy. When you tweet/Facebook about it, be sure to tag them/their companies in the posts. That way people who already have shown an interest in those people will learn about your podcast.
posted by misskaz at 9:56 AM on July 18, 2016
posted by misskaz at 9:56 AM on July 18, 2016
The feminist/female-run pro-wrestling podcasts I listen to do most of their promoting on Twitter and that works really well for them. But that may be a function of how Twitter-focused the pro wrestling fandom is, plus they are able to be active participants in Twitter conversations throughout the day. If you do use Twitter, use hashtags (#craftbeer #podcast #womeninbeer etc) but not too many.
Also in your intro or outro of your podcast don't be afraid to ask listeners to subscribe, rate, and review on iTunes if your pod is available there. It helps with visibility for those searching iTunes for podcasts to listen to.
posted by misskaz at 10:00 AM on July 18, 2016
Also in your intro or outro of your podcast don't be afraid to ask listeners to subscribe, rate, and review on iTunes if your pod is available there. It helps with visibility for those searching iTunes for podcasts to listen to.
posted by misskaz at 10:00 AM on July 18, 2016
Lots of good advice above. I'd take a step back to to consider whether your goal is "traffic, fast" because your subjects are making choices about their own time vs. the promotional value of your podcast, or keeping the project manageable. Coming from a media background, I can tell you that even in an established brand, the nature of Internet content and Internet noise is such that we basically scoped work as 60% creation effort and 40% promotion effort. So for every 6 hours my team spent making great things, they spent 4 hours on social media posts, responding, networking, newsletters, site trafficking analysis, looking for opportunities to repromote, etc. I don't know how that translates to podcasts but it's worth thinking about.
posted by warriorqueen at 11:30 AM on July 18, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by warriorqueen at 11:30 AM on July 18, 2016 [1 favorite]
I'm not sure how I could cross-promote what I'm doing--interviewing women in the craft beer/spirits industry--with similar podcasts as likely they are mostly male-produced and hosted.
Cross-promotion doesn't have to be exactly with the same people who will be listening to your podcast. I would suggest casting a wider net. Male-produced and hosted podcasts would be a great place for you to point out that you're covering similar subjects with a different slant. Even if the listeners themselves aren't interested (and there's no reason a man who likes craft beer wouldn't be interested in your podcast too), they might tell a friend.
posted by chickenmagazine at 3:25 AM on July 19, 2016
Cross-promotion doesn't have to be exactly with the same people who will be listening to your podcast. I would suggest casting a wider net. Male-produced and hosted podcasts would be a great place for you to point out that you're covering similar subjects with a different slant. Even if the listeners themselves aren't interested (and there's no reason a man who likes craft beer wouldn't be interested in your podcast too), they might tell a friend.
posted by chickenmagazine at 3:25 AM on July 19, 2016
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by taff at 5:36 AM on July 18, 2016 [2 favorites]