Podcasts are an increasingly popular way for businesses to connect with their audience. One of the primary benefits of podcast marketing is that podcasts help position a business as a thought-leader in their niche, which ultimately drives leads and conversions. As such, podcast marketing should be a core element of any marketing strategy, especially now that Google indexes and ranks podcasts like traditional content. With that in mind, we’ll look at how to market a podcast with a specific focus on SEO.
How to market a podcast: The basics
Use keywords
Just like with SEO for written content, keywords make a big difference. To maximize your exposure, ensure that your podcast is something that people will want to listen to. A good starting point is to figure out your niche and how it relates to the subject. For example, you may have a lot of knowledge about your favorite TV show, but how will that relate to the customers you want to bring in? It certainly is possible to incorporate pop culture into your podcast, but finding the right angle isn’t always easy.
A good start is going to a site like UberSuggest and entering keywords that relate to your niche. From there, the tool gives you keywords and content ideas that are already popular. The content suggestions are especially useful for understanding how to market a podcast, as they show the number of social shares and site visits, thus identifying topics that have already gotten good traction with your audience.
Get the name right
Often, especially for newly launched podcasts, the title is all a prospective listener will have to go on when making their decision to download or stream your content. This means that the title of both your podcast and each individual episode needs to be something that grabs attention and engages listeners’ curiosity. That’s not necessarily an easy task, but it’s worth taking the time to get right. Here are some common tips and tricks you can use, such as having the title in the form of a question which naturally triggers the human brain to want to find out the answer.
Host the podcast on your website
There are a couple of reasons why you should always have a podcast section on your website. First, since one of the main goals of a podcast is to improve conversions, it’s important to show visitors that you’re a thought leader in the space. Second, hosting the podcast on your own website also gives you more control over certain SEO optimizations, including how it’s interlinked throughout your site. Finally, if you use Google Analytics, it may also give you better insight into visitor metrics than other platforms.
Choose the right platform
Podcasting is a billion-dollar industry. As such, some of the biggest players in audio entertainment have gotten involved. Spotify, iTunes, Google Podcasts Manager, and many others have podcast hubs that can have a big impact on your podcast’s success. However, not all of these will suit your needs or niche.
Knowing how to market a podcast means also understanding the intricacies of each of the major podcast platforms. You can investigate the platform yourself by using the platform for a week or two to see how you liked it and whether the experience falls in line with the needs of your audience. You can host your podcast wherever you want, but spreading yourself too thin can make things harder rather than easier.
How to market a podcast: The next level
Publish the transcripts
Naturally, podcasts are an aural experience; however, they also create a huge written asset: the transcripts. Transcripts are one of the major benefits of podcast marketing, as they allow the hearing-impaired or listeners who prefer to take in their information visually to access the knowledge and insight you’re providing. Transcripts also create valuable SEO content for YouTube.
Create supporting content
Along with being valuable when published on your homepage, the podcast and transcripts also create the basis for supporting content. For example, suppose one of your podcasts focuses on influencer marketing campaigns. In that case, your content team can take the information in that podcast and write a supporting blog that lists the core ideas mentioned in the podcast and why they work so well.
Build backlinks and community connections
Even more than traditional blogging, the nature of podcasting makes it a fertile ground for collaborations. Speaking on your own for a whole episode can be quite difficult and requires a lot of preparation, whereas having one or two guests allows for a more conversational approach.
Having expert guests on your podcast not only gives it greater credibility and thought-leader status but also demonstrates how connected you are within your niche. It also creates automatic opportunities for backlinks and social mentions. It’s important to leverage as many quality sources of backlinks as possible, particularly since podcast links are more favorable than other, lower-quality links.
How to market a podcast: Expert tips
Record the podcast for YouTube
Knowing how to market a podcast successfully includes understanding all the possible avenues that can be leveraged with minimum effort. One of these is recording the podcast to later upload on YouTube as complementary visual content. Since the recording is taking place anyway, it doesn’t require anything extra apart from setting up the camera, then posting it. This can prove popular with those who prefer to get their information from videos.
Optimize metadata
While it isn’t as exciting as recording or producing the actual podcast, metadata is essential for your podcast getting found. As Apple outlines in their technical guide for podcasters, the metadata governs everything people will see about your podcast, including whether it will show up in relevant searches, the art that’s displayed, and the episode titles and descriptions. So, as a general rule of thumb, if there’s a box to be filled in about your podcast, make sure to fill it in.
Work with the experts
The benefits of podcast marketing can be huge, particularly since there’s a high possibility of reaching high-income listeners. However, knowing how to market a podcast successfully might not be something that comes naturally. By leveraging several of these strategies to improve your podcast’s SEO and organic reach, you can give yourself maximum visibility while also piquing potential listeners’ curiosity. For expert help on how to market your podcast, read more about our services or get in touch with our team.