Twitter Spaces and Clubhouse have changed the audio marketing landscape forever. Now everyone’s keen to make a mark in the audio sphere, with both social audio and voice tweets. But where to start? We invited audio expert Suze Cooper to help our community understand how to use audio marketing to boost their brand. Here’s a summary of our chat.
Guest: Suze Cooper
Topic: Using audio to boost your brand
Format: Eight questions directed at the guest. everyone’s welcome to share.
Audio marketing refers to using audio elements to promote your brand. As Rachel from Express Writers said, these could be radio appearances or ads, podcasts, or live audio chats like Twitter Spaces and Clubhouse.
A1: Audio marketing is using some form of audio content as part of your overall content strategy. It could be radio, podcasts, or even Twitter Spaces. #TwitterSmarter
— Express Writers | Your Content Writing Partner (@ExpWriters) October 28, 2021
The best thing about audio marketing is that you can now directly resonate with your audience. Because of the personal connection that audio content brings, it’s a great way to build relationships with your community.
A1b: Audio content in marketing is no longer just radio ads. Now we can create audio content on niche topics and communicate directly with our audiences. Audio is intimate and emotive making it a great connection builder #TwitterSmarter https://t.co/x5pw67EMCm
— Suze Cooper (@BigTentSocial) October 28, 2021
It’s also an ideal format to build your brand as you can demonstrate thought leadership. Our guest told us that on average, people spend 70 minutes a day on Clubhouse. It’s so hard to leave a room—that’s how attractive the medium is.
A1c: Audio is great for raising brand awareness, revealing thought leadership. It’s portable, on-demand and gets good engagement. Clubhouse reports users averaging 70 minutes/day on the app #TwitterSmarter https://t.co/x5pw67EMCm
— Suze Cooper (@BigTentSocial) October 28, 2021
Anyone who’s considering using audio elements as part of their marketing should have a clear strategy. It helps measure your progress and make modifications and improve your plans.
A2a: If you want to use audio as part of your marketing then you should have an audio strategy so you can see how and where you plan to reach your audience, how to target any messaging and so you know what success looks like for you #TwitterSmarter https://t.co/Bm2VdjdVAw
— Suze Cooper (@BigTentSocial) October 28, 2021
That said, see that your audio strategy ties in with your overall marketing strategy. At the end of the day, audio is only one part of your marketing, so you should know where it sits in the grand scheme of things.
A2b: An audio strategy should be integrated into a wider marketing plan and align with your brand’s objectives and aims. #TwitterSmarter https://t.co/Bm2VdjdVAw
— Suze Cooper (@BigTentSocial) October 28, 2021
Having an audio strategy can help you get the most out of your audio efforts. For example, what sort of introductory music you play on your videos or podcast introductions, what tone you project in Twitter Spaces or Clubhouse, and what tunes you associate your brand with, all depends on your strategy. When you have a clear pathway forward, you can then plan all your activities based on your strategy and maintain consistency.
A2c: What do people hear when they come across your brand? How does your podcast sound? What music are you using? What does someone hear when they ask Alexa about your brand? Audio is emotive & memorable – to use it well you need a plan #TwitterSmarter https://t.co/Bm2VdjdVAw
— Suze Cooper (@BigTentSocial) October 28, 2021
There are so many ways to incorporate audio into your marketing content, other than the usual Clubhouse and Twitter Spaces conversations. These include creating audiograms, adding audio elements to your blogs so that people can listen rather than read them, podcasting, and creating audio tweets if you’re on Twitter iOS.
A3a:
? Create a podcast
? Add audio to blogs
? Create a voice app
? Create social audio content – Clubhouse, #TwitterSpaces
? Create audiograms using @headlinerapp
? On iOS use Voice Tweets#TwitterSmarter https://t.co/TBAxOY33ju— Suze Cooper (@BigTentSocial) October 28, 2021
Jim shared a few more ways to establish your audio identity. In addition to creating your own content, get involved in other people’s content as well. For example, joining as a guest on podcasts, or a voluntary speaker in someone’s audio room, converting your live streams into podcasts, and more.
A3. Some audio strategies
? Livestreams into podcasts
? Guesting on podcasts
? Attending targeted @TwitterSpaces or @Clubhouse rooms or hosting your own
? Sending voice messages in DM #TwitterSmarter https://t.co/KSnAsvvnFa— Jim Fuhs #DealcastersLive #DigitalMarketing (@FuhsionMktg) October 28, 2021
Oh, and if you hadn’t considered it already, think about sonic branding. This refers to how your brand sounds online. For example, think about adding intro and outro tunes to your videos or podcasts. This is a good way to establish an audio logo of sorts for your brand.
A3b: Sonic branding! Think about the sound of your brand & all the places people will hear your content. Consider coming up with a sound logo to use at the start and end of your audio content so listeners can recognise your content instantly. #TwitterSmarter https://t.co/TBAxOY33ju
— Suze Cooper (@BigTentSocial) October 28, 2021
As with the first step to anything, know your audience. Well. Very well. The more you know what your audience wants, the more relevant your content will be to them.
A4a: Know your audience! Go deep finding out who they are, what they do and what they are already listening to and why. #TwitterSmarter https://t.co/T5lWlDFgZY
— Suze Cooper (@BigTentSocial) October 28, 2021
Once you’ve figured out the best ways to reach your audience and the ideal messages to convey to them, think about where your audio elements will sit in your overall marketing funnel. For example, as we discussed earlier, audio is one of your marketing tools so place that alongside other tools to help your audience convert easily. If you have 2- or 3-minute audio clips about a service you offer, consider placing that where your audience is most likely to engage and take the action you want.
For example, you could have an audio tweet pinned to your profile with a link to the contact page on your website. That way, people will hear your voice and they can directly get in touch to discuss further. At that particular moment, a voice tweet might be more convincing than a text tweet.
However, to make that judgment, you need to know what your audience genuinely wants. Consider how your audio content impacts your listener.
A4c: Know why you are making the content and why audio is the right way to convey the message you have. What is the impact audio will give you that other mediums don’t?
For example…
Podcast allows multi-tasking
Social Audio allows live discussion #TwitterSmarter— Suze Cooper (@BigTentSocial) October 28, 2021
As Madalyn added, if you’re venturing into audio chats, it’s also worth outlining your medium-long term goals with these platforms. Both Twitter Spaces and Clubhouse require a lot of time. If it’s a powerful medium to reach your audience, then dive into it. But first, plan out what sort of topics you’ll discuss and how they’ll relate to your overall brand’s messaging.
A4b: For me it's been podcasting and with the introduction of Clubhouse and Spaces, I ventured into those as well. My favorite is Spaces so each week I co-host three different rooms and I absolutely love it! #TwitterSmarter
— Madalyn Sklar Digital Marketing Since 1996 (@MadalynSklar) October 28, 2021
And if you find that these media work for you, make it official. Consider investing in some good tools and equipment to help you create high-quality output.
A4c: If you’re serious about audio content, you may want to consider investing in audio equipment (like a microphone) to improve quality. #TwitterSmarter
— Madalyn Sklar Digital Marketing Since 1996 (@MadalynSklar) October 28, 2021
Why, with Twitter Spaces, of course! The rules are simple: get involved, be nice, listen, share, learn, and make friends that last a lifetime. As our guest said, if you listen carefully, you’ll also get a lot of good topics for blogs and podcasts from the questions people ask and discuss in Spaces.
A5a: #TwitterSpaces! Go live on Twitter and start a conversation. Meet people, build connections. Talk but also listen. The questions being asked could be content gold. You can build upon questions to create podcast episodes, blog posts and other content #TwitterSmarter https://t.co/FEk8KJSpRq
— Suze Cooper (@BigTentSocial) October 28, 2021
Another great way to amplify your Twitter presence is to send voice tweets. With 140 seconds, you can get in so much more content, tone, and characteristics than 280 text characters.
A5c: You can not reply using a voice tweet… (yet…) but you can send someone a voice tweet. Make sure you have something to say and make your connection memorable #TwitterSmarter
— Suze Cooper (@BigTentSocial) October 28, 2021
Twitter has also released a new section on the app where you can find Spaces and hosts that might be relevant to your brand. Jump in!
Well, for starters, create audiograms using tools like Wavve or Headliner, add captions, and then share it across your personal handles. Then, send it to guests who appear on your podcasts so they can also share your audiograms, and widen your reach.
A6a:
? Create an audiogram using @headlinervideo or @waave
? Have captions switched on so it is accessible
? Add branded image & customise font and colours
? Publish on your own account but also make available to podcast guests and ask them to share them too. #TwitterSmarter https://t.co/LYf3uVShnh— Suze Cooper (@BigTentSocial) October 28, 2021
It’s also important to actively talk about your podcast—outside of your podcast. On Twitter, that means creating voice tweets and chatting about it in Spaces.
A6b: Talk about your podcast! Create some voice tweets telling everyone what it is about and include a link to the podcast. Spin up a Twitter Space and talk to people about the topic you have covered and then direct them to the episode #TwitterSmarter
— Suze Cooper (@BigTentSocial) October 28, 2021
Our guest also told us about podfollow, a tool that lets you create short URLs for your podcast and automatically redirect your audience to different content based on their device.
A6c: @podfollowhq creates a magic link for each podcast episode. It directs the audience to a different podcast player depending on which device they’re on. You can customise redirects for iOS, Android & desktop & can even point them back to your website #TwitterSmarter
— Suze Cooper (@BigTentSocial) October 28, 2021
Jennifer shared a great tip as well. She suggested joining an audio challenge like the National Podcast Post Month. The greatest benefit of participating in community events is that you get to interact with contemporaries, learn from them, and expand your audience.
A6: If I may be so bold, consider joining a 30-day audio challenge like National Podcast Post Month #NaPodPoMo which has a vibrant community of podcasters all rallying around a singular focus: 30 podcast episodes in 30 days.#FailFastGetGood #TwitterSmarter
— ? Jennifer Navarrete (@epodcaster) October 28, 2021
Add captions to all your audio content. That’s the best and most straightforward way to make sure your audio content is accessible to a wider audience. You can use an AI-powered transcribing tool like Otter.AI to automatically convert your audio files into text. You can then go through the text file and fix any errors before uploading them. If you’re on Spaces, turn on automatic captions so it’s easier for your audience to follow what you’re saying.
A7: Create transcripts of your podcasts or audio content. Upload your audio file to @otter_ai and get an editable transcript that you can copy to your website, newsletter…. Make sure you share the link widely so people know where to go to read the content. #TwitterSmarter
— Suze Cooper (@BigTentSocial) October 28, 2021
Both social audio (Twitter Spaces and Clubhouse) and podcasts have their benefits and challenges. While social audio is great for immediate connections and authority building, podcasts give you greater control over your content database.
That said, however, both involve a lot of work. So before you dive into audio, make sure you know where your audience is and where they’re most active. Knowing that will help you prioritize your audio strategy effectively.
A8: Both social audio & podcasting can build community but you can’t do everything so find out where your audience is and put your energy there. If you have the audio tech know how you can always multi-task and record your live social audio to turn into a podcast #TwitterSmarter
— Suze Cooper (@BigTentSocial) October 28, 2021
If you have the energy and the resources, you might do what our friend from ASI Central suggested. You can repurpose your Spaces conversations into podcasts.
A8: Spaces first! I can repurpose Spaces for podcasts. Then podcasts next, followed by CH. #TwitterSmarter
— ASICentral (@asicentral) October 28, 2021
Many of our #TwitterSmarter community members who effectively use audio do this, including our guest Suze and our own Madalyn Sklar. They host a space every Wednesday at 4pm ET called #AllThingsAudio. They also release it as a podcast, available everywhere you get your podcasts.
Well, folks, that’s all from me this week. Thanks so much for reading through, and for more great insights from our chat with Suze, have a look at this Twitter Moment that Joana put together. And if you have some spare time next Thursday, join us live for our next #TwitterSmarter chat. We’ll be on from 1pm ET. Catch you then!
About me, Narmadhaa:
I write all the 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