206. Do You Actually Need Social Media to Grow a Podcast? | Podcasting Strategies for Online Marketing

Is social media actually required for podcasting success, or have we all just assumed it is? In this episode, I’m breaking down how podcasting growth really works, the three main ways to attract listeners without relying on social media, and how to think about choosing the right strategy based on your time, energy, and budget.

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Transcript

One of the most common questions I get, and one that stops a lot of people from even starting, is do I have to promote my podcast on social media? I got this question most recently from an aspiring podcaster who isn't sure she wants to take the leap and start a podcast because she does not want to post about it on social media and and therefore is wondering if she can even have a successful podcast without that aspect. And what she's really asking, whether she realizes it or not, is actually something else. She's asking, can I grow a podcast without doing it the way everyone else is doing it? Podcast growth follows a system and I look at it through my signature ARC method a Attract, retain and convert. You attract the right listeners, keep them coming back, and then turn them into leads, customers or clients. It's a simple three part system. This episode is all about that first piece of the ARC method, attraction, and how to do it in a way that actually works for you, with or without social media. In case we're meeting for the first time. Hi, I'm Julia Levine, AKA the Podcast Teacher.

You're listening to Podcasting for Solopreneurs, the show that helps online business owners grow their podcast to get more listeners, leads and sales. The good news is you absolutely do not have to use social media to grow a successful podcast. The bad news? Most people misunderstand what that actually means. And that misunderstanding is exactly why a lot of podcasts never grow. And even when the content is good, social media is often presented as the way to grow your podcast. As in, if you're not posting constantly and driving traffic to your show from there, you'll never attract listeners. But that's not actually true. Social media is just one attraction strategy, not the only attraction strategy.

Within that first step of the ARC method, attraction, there are three main categories of strategies and you may choose to use all of them, or just some of them. But you do have to do something. Let's break down what each one involves and how to determine which ones are right for you. The first category we'll talk about is paid marketing. This concept is pretty straightforward. You are paying to get your podcast in front of new people. That can be through podcast player ads, Facebook ads, paid promo swaps with other podcasters, sponsoring newsletters, or other paid avenues. Paid marketing can be a great attraction strategy because it involves very little time and effort on your part.

But this is also where people waste the most money. Because if you don't understand how listeners convert, you're just paying to attract listeners and then they don't go anywhere. You've probably heard the saying that you can have something good, fast or cheap, but you can only pick two. Paid marketing is good and fast, but it's not cheap. You need to have a budget available, be willing to spend it on advertising, and have a listener to client conversion strategy dialed in in order for this strategy to work. Therefore, paid marketing works really well for some people and not for others. Personally, I have spent a couple hundred dollars a month on paid marketing for my podcast. On average, I get about 1,000 more downloads during the months that I make this investment than during the months that I skip it.

Given the conversion strategy that I have in place and the number of folks that turn into clients and customers from my podcast, this is a good return on investment for me. But that might not be the case for everyone. So that brings us to the second category of attraction strategies which which is effort based marketing. Like the name implies, these are strategies that require your time and effort. However, unlike the paid marketing option, this is cheap and it absolutely can be good under the right circumstances. Though it's most likely not going to be fast and this is where people often quit too early because it doesn't does work, but only if you give it enough time to gain traction. There are a lot of different strategies that fall into this category and social media is one of them. Since you're probably here to avoid that one, I'm not going to go into it.

You know what that entails. Another effort based strategy is email marketing. Email can be a powerful way to remind your existing audience about your podcast episodes and get them to tune in when you might otherwise be out of sight and out of mind. Begin building an email list early on in your podcasting journey to ensure that you have another way to reach your people. You can offer a freebie, also called a lead magnet, that gives someone a reason to go deeper and hand over their email address. Then you have another way to stay connected. Newsletter promo swaps with other folks can also be a great way to get in front of a new audience. Podcast guesting is another favorite method of mine within this effort based marketing category, and that's because you're borrowing an audience that is already there.

You're showing up in front of people who already trust the podcast host. When you appear as a guest on the show, you're being endorsed by the host and so that trust extends to you. They also already like podcasts. They're hearing you on one, right? So it's a pretty easy ask to invite them to add another show to their rotation. But most people waste this opportunity because they show up, talk, and then give no clear next step. And that is where the growth is either captured or completely lost. So make sure you have a clear and specific call to action. You can also turn your podcast episode transcripts into blog posts and optimize them for the search engines, which allows you to show up in Google and AI search results.

Pinterest is another avenue to explore along these lines too. There are a lot of options in the effort based marketing category, but I'm going to stop there so that I can share the next attraction category with you before we run out of time. This last category is my personal favorite, and for most podcasters it's the one that changes everything. But before I tell you what it is, if you want help figuring out what your podcast attraction strategy should look like, that's exactly what I do. I help podcasters build growth strategies that actually fit their goals, capacity, and the kind of business they want to run. So if you're ready to build your podcast in a way that feels sustainable, you you can book a consultation with me at thepodcastteacher.com/consult. We'll take a look at your show or show idea and explore opportunities to work together with an attraction strategy that works for you with or without social media. All right, the third and final category of ways to attract listeners is my favorite, and it is Organic Discoverability.

That's a fancy way of saying that the listeners come to you instead of you chasing after them. This strategy is good and it is cheap. In fact, it's completely free and it's fast in the sense that it involves very little of your time and energy. Sometimes it can take a little while for your efforts to compound or but that is just a waiting game, not any actual effort on your part. Organic Discoverability's number one strategy is Podcast SEO. This is where you optimize certain text fields of your podcast with strategic keywords, and then when a listener searches for those words, you pop up in the search results. The best, best part about this strategy is that a lot of the fields are just one and done, meaning that you choose your keywords, set it, and forget it. You'll need to invest a few minutes each week to keep up with it and help boost your podcast higher and higher within the search results.

But that's an investment of about 10 minutes a week, so easy peasy. I attribute a very large amount of my show's success to to my podcast SEO strategy. I'm usually one of the top results when someone searches podcasting within their player and I have new listeners telling me every single week that they found me through a search. The other strategy within Organic Discoverability is to create clear and professional podcast artwork. The podcast SEO strategy gets your podcast to appear in the search results, but your cover art helps to earn the click for them to learn more so they work together. I've honestly put very, very little energy into effort based marketing. During the entire time this podcast has existed, I have relied heavily on Organic Discoverability which with some paid marketing sprinkled in. So what does all of this mean for you? Especially if you're just starting out? It means that you have options.

You can include social media in your attraction strategy or you can skip it. But remember that you're not choosing between social media and nothing. You do need to do something, something to bring people in because a great podcast that no one finds does not grow. So in order to have a successful podcast, you need to attract listeners through paid marketing, effort based marketing and or Organic Discoverability. You get to mix and match the specific strategies based on what works for you. And if you'd like help figuring that out, just schedule a consultation with me thepodcastteacher.com/consult. We'll chat about ways we can work together to build your podcast in a way that feels sustainable. Until next time, happy podcasting.