As the host of The Segilola Salami Show podcast, I thought I should share, based on my personal experience, some ways on how to promote your podcast for free in 2021.
12 steps to promote your podcast for free in 2021
- Podcast RSS feed: Ensure that you own and control your podcast RSS feed. Aim for something like yourname.com/feed. My website is a WordPress one and I use the Blubrry PowerPress plugin to generate my podcast RSS feed and distribute my podcast. My podcast feed is https://www.segilolasalami.co.uk/feed/podcast/
- Podcast directories: Ensure that podcast is available on most podcast directories. If I had to pick one podcast directory, I would go with iTunes aka Apple Podcasts. A lot of other podcast directories pull their feed from iTunes. You are welcome to visit my website to see a list of the most popular podcast directories my podcast is listed on.
- New and noteworthy: When my podcast was first started, it got listed under the New and noteworthy section on iTunes. This helped it to be discovered and generated my first subscribers
- Your blog: Different people listen to podcasts on different platforms. Instead of constantly promoting lots of different podcast directories, I only promote the link to each episode of my podcast on my blog. Once a potential listener visit my blog, they can see the link to the different podcast directories to choose from. Promoting your own blog and getting others to promote it is essential in building your own brand identity online.
- Blogger partnerships: You can ask bloggers in your network to form a link exchange partnership with you. This is where you include a link to their blog in exchange for a link to your blog on their blog. I also give bloggers the option to embed my podcast player to the sidebar of their blog. A media player is more noticeable and the blogger’s website visitor doesn’t need to leave the blog to listen to my show. So it’s a win win for everyone.
- Family and friends: Simply ask everyone you know to listen to your show and write an honest review. The more people who listen to your show, the higher your show ranks.
- Social media marketing: From my personal , I have found the best sites to promote my show are: Pinterest, Twitter and Reddit.
- Hootsuite: I schedule all my podcast episodes in advance. To save me time, I use Hootsuite to publish my social media posts on the day the episode is released and several days after. This way, even if I’m not on social media, my social media marketing is set on auto pilot.
- Revive old posts: I use this WordPress plugin to share old posts on my blog on social media. This way, my new social media followers get to see my earlier podcast episodes.
- Guest Appearances: Having guests on your show is really helpful. You can leverage the network of your guests to garner more listeners to your show. As my podcast is a talk show, having different guests every week makes the show more enjoyable for the listeners (I think). It’s better than simply listening to me week in week out.
- Press release: Writing and distributing a press release to reputable news platforms is great for building your brand identity. Each link you get pointing back to your website helps in increasing your domain authority. The higher your domain authority, the greater the chances of your domain ranking on page one of search results.
- Giveaways: I love hosting giveaways on my blog/podcast. People enter my giveaways help me promote my blog and my podcast in exchange for a chance to win the prize. Where possible, I try to ensure that the prizes in my giveaway are worth at least £30. This way, the giveaway is very appealing to the participants.
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