Madalyn Sklar

Twitter for Podcasters: Strategies and Best Practices

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Twitter for podcasters - best practices and strategies - Twitter Smarter chat with Megan Powers on August 22, 2019

Everyone seems to have their own podcast nowadays. From business, marketing, and finance, to sports, music, books, and even random swear words, podcast topics come in a wide range. People listen to them at commute, while cooking at home, and at work. They’re so ubiquitous that you can’t not run into a podcast fan.

Have you ever wondered what it’s like to publish a podcast? Or perhaps you’ve always wanted to but wasn’t sure where to begin. Well, welcome. We invited Megan Powers, a long-time podcaster and a marketing and communications strategist, to help us understand how Twitter can help promote podcasts.

Here’s a summary of our chat.

Topic: Twitter for Podcasters: Strategies and Best Practices
Guest: Megan Powers
Format: Eight questions directed to the guest. Everyone’s welcome to share.

Q1: Do you publish a podcast? If so, tell us about it. If not, share podcasts you listen to.

We chose our guest wisely. 🙂 For the last two years, Megan, along with Jen Cole, has been publishing Making a Marketer, a fun and engaging podcast about what it takes to be a marketer in today’s times. Episode lengths vary from 30 to 60 minutes, but they’re all light-hearted and educational. Check it out here: Making a Marketer podcast and Twitter handle.

That’s not all though. She was recently hired to run a more specific podcast for event marketers and professionals in the industry. It’s called Inside Events, and you can check it out here: The Event Profs on Twitter.

Our amazing community also has a bunch of podcasters like Jim Fuhs, Dan Willis, and Jen Cole. And we also got some interesting recommendations from people who listen to podcasts regularly.

  • Millennial Minutes by Dan Willis
  • Successful Failures by Dan Willis
  • Bruce Lee podcast and The Great Escape, as recommended by Matt (his own podcast In the Business of Social is coming soon!)
  • Twitter Smarter podcast by Madalyn Sklar – In case you didn’t know, the podcast came first and inspired the Twitter chat and community!
  • Communities That Convert by Madalyn Sklar and Kami Huyse
  • Welcome to Nightvale and Buried Truths as recommended by John Cloonan
  • Enjoy sports? Our chat regular Jack Appleby is putting together a podcast about basketball. He also frequently guests on podcasts—so he knows what he’s doing. Follow him for updates!

As a leadership coach, Gene Petrov shared a bunch of his favourites: Zig Ziglar, Entre Leadership, StoryBrand, Jordan Harbinger, UnmistakeableCreative, John C Maxwell, and Brian Buffini.

And of course I have to mention Joana, our fantastic multi-lingual member who listens to podcasts in both English and Portuguese. She even shared her Twitter list of podcasters. Check it out here.

Inspired to create your own podcast? Hold your horses a minute: Melanie gave us some excellent advice about starting your own podcast. Not every business needs one. And unless you’re passionate about the topic and know what you’re doing—and have enough viable material for a long-standing series—you won’t be able to sustain it. So first, know your why and think it through.

Q2: How can you promote your podcast on Twitter?

Megan prefers to do a teaser post after she’s recorded an episode. She shares a photo, along with an iTunes link to the podcast, and encourages people to subscribe for upcoming episodes.

It’s a great way to show your audience what you’ve been up to, because it helps them relate to you and your work.

She also suggested sharing a graphic with photos of your guests. That way, you can also tag your guests who’ll re-share your post and give you a much wider reach.

And don’t be afraid to share snippets from your podcast. What are the takeaways for your audience? Make a note of things listeners will gain by listening to your episode and post them one at a time or as a list. It’s important to leverage the reach and engagement of your existing audience too—ask them to share, retweet, and reply with their observations. The more engagement your posts get, the more popular Twitter considers it, and suggests it to similar audiences.

How else can you promote your podcast? Our community overflowed with ideas:

  • Use your podcasts in Twitter replies. If you have an episode that answers a question someone’s asked on Twitter, share a link to it.
  • Join a community of podcasters and fans of your topic so your episodes always has a relevant audience.
  • Repurpose your episodes as quotes, short videos, and downloadable content. You can link them all to your podcast and ask people to subscribe.
  • Create and share audiograms of your podcast. Madalyn recommended Wavve.
  • Ask your audience what they want to hear in future episodes. You can do polls and gather topics, guest lists, and even exact questions that your community wants answers to.
  • Find great guests who can help you boost your credibility and your reach. By using their influence, you can gain your own.
  • Link it in your bio. And pin your promo tweet to your profile. Sometimes, the simplest of activities get the most recognition.
  • Find people who’re interested in topics similar to yours, and send them a well-intended direct message. Beware though, this is a tight rope. If you come off as spammy, it’ll only hurt your reputation.
  • And if you’re feeling ambitious, take John’s advice: Make a live video feed (on Facebook or Twitter) as you record your podcast, and answer questions people ask in real time.

Q3: Should Twitter video play a role in promoting your podcast?

Of course! Video gets a lot of attention on a text-only feed. You can use it to your advantage. Megan explained how, for Making a Marketer, they record it on Facebook Live so they get a video and audio in one go. Smart work always wins.

For the other podcast, Inside Events, they use Zoom and cut out snippets of the video for YouTube promotions. Megan even suggested trying Wave Video and Headliner Video to create shorter audiograms.

While you’re at it, remember an important tip Jen shared: A lot of people watch videos while commuting or in public places. You can’t be sure they’ll always have their headphones on, so add proper captions to your videos so people can follow.

Feel free to be spontaneous with video. Talk about upcoming videos, ask your audience what they want to hear, and even sprinkle in some of those insanely valuable behind-the-scenes content. (If you’re wondering why and how they’re valuable, check out this summary post of our previous Twitter chat.)

That said, don’t force yourself to do videos all the time either. Like our friends from The Karacher Group pointed out, videos are a personal medium of content, and being fake, uncomfortable, or unnatural won’t reflect well on your brand.

Q4: Can you promote old episodes on Twitter?

You certainly should, if you don’t already!

A great idea Megan shared is to re-share old episodes with new relevant hashtags. Twitter recommends using not more than two per tweet. So every new hashtag you add brings you a different type of audience. And they vary by episode too, so you’re not limited to a handful of keywords. The more you think about what each episode discusses, the more hashtags you’ll come up with.

Like blogs, podcasts have evergreen topics too. Make good use of them by sharing them consistently. Watch for trending topics on Twitter too. It could just be a topic you’ve already covered on your podcast.

If you’re away on holiday, use the interim period to promote your older podcast episodes.

And don’t forget to include a link to your podcast in your Twitter bio. Have a separate Twitter handle? Add that too. It’s the best and easiest way to help people identify you and your work.

Perhaps you’re re-interviewing a guest you had a long time ago. As Matt pointed out, that would be a great time to share the older episode, and remind your audience why they should listen to the newer one as well.

Q5: Why should you have a hashtag strategy for your podcast?

You should always have a strategy. Social media and your podcast aren’t any different.

When it comes to Twitter, it’s essential that you have a branded hashtag that people can relate to and identify. However, it’s also important to use relevant generic hashtags to promote your podcasts. That way, your tweets will show up in casual searches as well, so that a majority of Twitter users notices your posts. A good example is Megan’s own podcast, Making a Marketer. She uses generic keywords like #marketing and #podcast so that even marketers who’ve never heard if her podcast before will discover it.

That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t have a unique brand hashtag. By all means, like Megan’s #InsideEvents, you can have one too. But also consider adding supporting hashtags—such as #eventprofs and #eventmarketing for a podcast about successful event management.

Benefits of having a strategic approach to your hashtag game:

  • Consistency – The more you use certain hashtags (think #TwitterSmarter and how Madalyn uses it for her blogs, podcasts, chats, and general tips), the more you show up as a popular account for searches related to those hashtags.
  • Listening tool – When you have a hashtag specific to you, you can follow the conversation it generates. It’s an excellent way to get feedback from your community, hear their problems, and answer their concerns efficiently.
  • Finding targeted audience – Proper hashtag use will boost impressions on your tweets. Even if not by a thousand in a day, sometimes even small growth makes a big difference. Be persistent.

Remember, though—

With Twitter’s many updates, hashtags aren’t the only way for people to find you. Because hashtags are so overwhelming, sometimes people may overlook the value of your tweet. That’s why, as Jack cautioned, it’s important to make every word in your tweet count. They’re all searchable and will show up when someone’s looking for content. So make sure the copy of your tweet is useful and speaks to the audience you intend to reach.

Q6: How frequently should you promote podcasts on your Twitter profile?

Ah, if only there were one right answer!

What matters most is that you’re consistent in your promotions. Use various ways to achieve this. Megan suggested posting about an episode at least once a day, as well as asking your co-hosts and guests to retweet your posts.

You can even have them tweet separately so there’s a healthy mix. Consider each person sharing a different episode, so that you constantly get clicks on all of your podcasts. That way you’re not annoying your audience by overdoing it.

Like Dan, if you’re engaging in multiple communities a day and have varied conversations, you might end up talking about your podcast a lot more than once. But even then, you’ll be sharing various episodes and not the same on over and over. Know your audience, their questions, and the time they’re on Twitter and talk about your podcast then. That’s the secret to getting the most out of your promotions.

Q7: Should you have a separate Twitter account for your podcast?

It’s probably one of the more controversial questions we’ve had in our tweet chats. But, like most things, it depends on your business and your audience. And whether you have enough content to share on a separate Twitter account without boring your followers.

Sometimes, having a separate account is a way to get more exposure. Some podcasts, like Megan’s, have co-hosts. In that case, having a separate account lets the hosts keep their podcast as an individual entity. Of course, they also promote the episodes from their personal accounts to boost reach.

In some other cases, like Roger’s, a podcast is a way to establish yourself in the industry. If you’re trying to build yourself as a subject matter expert around a specific topic, and a podcast is one of your various channels of doing it, then you probably don’t need a separate account.

On the flip side, not all of your followers care about your other content. Some might be fans only of your podcast. You could be a marketer who publishes a music podcast. If that’s the case, a separate account gives your music fans exactly what they’re looking for. It can serve as a community itself, fostering niche conversations and engagement that your regular account doesn’t need.

Don’t forget that Twitter is time-consuming. And social media can be a full-time job by itself. If you don’t have the capacity, the energy, and the time for separate accounts for each podcast you publish, then don’t.

Not having a separate account won’t affect you negatively. Having separate accounts that don’t respond properly, will. Choose wisely.

Q8: Name some podcasters using Twitter efficiently.

According to our guest’s observation, Twitter is still an untapped resource for podcasters. She pointed out that both her podcasts are aiming to glean the most from Twitter. If you’re a podcaster reading this, now’s your time to get started on some serious Twitter marketing. There’s so much to do and so few people doing it.

Here’s an example of a great use of Twitter to promote a podcast:

In this post, Megan pointed out how the podcaster explains the topic and gives you a clear picture of what to expect, all the while supporting the tweet with a great visual banner.

Another effective promotion is using audiograms, as this one does.

Other community favourites and recommendations:

 

Well, folks, that’s the end of this summary. If you enjoy these chat recaps, do tweet out to me or Madalyn and let us know. If you have any suggestions on how we can improve, share those as well. We’re all ears.

Oh, and if you have some time on Thursday, join us at 1pm ET for our next #TwitterSmarter chat.

 

About me, Narmadhaa:

I’m a writer of all things—technical and marketing copy to fill the pocket; haiku and short stories to fill the soul. A social media enthusiast, I’m a member of the #TwitterSmarter chat crew, and always happy to take on writing gigs.

Say hello: Personal blog | LinkedIn | Twitter

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