We often think of podcasts as promotional pieces for brands, businesses, and thought leaders. Not every podcast, however, is meant for the world to hear. Many organizations use podcasts as internal resources. A podcast is simply an audio file. You can choose to share it with whomever you wish.
If your goal is to increase the reach of your brand and get your message to the world, creating a podcast is an excellent strategy. There are some simple steps you’ll need to take in order to make that happen.
1. Find a host. The first step to distributing your podcast is to find a site to host your files. Simplecast, Buzzsprout, and SoundCloud are all good options. Your audio tracks can be stored there and played directly from the site.
The host site will also allow you to share individual episodes to your own website with an embed code. You can copy and paste the embed code into a page on your website the same way you would add a YouTube video, and an audio player will display itself, looking something like this:
Your host site will also give you a key piece of information: your RSS feed. RSS feeds are simple text files that, once submitted to feed directories, will allow subscribers to see content within a very short time after it’s updated.
Once you provide your RSS feed to sites like iTunes, Google, and Spotify, your new content will populate those apps every time you upload to the host site. So you can put your podcast file in one place and have it distributed to all the various podcast listening platforms.
2. Create a video. Creating a video for each episode will allow you to promote your podcast more effectively using social media. Posting a link from a social site to iTunes, or even your website, may not be enticing to those who have never listened.
Investing upwards of 30-60 minutes toward listening to your show is a high risk endeavor for those who know very little about what to expect. Creating short teaser videos for each episode allows your social network to get an idea of what they will hear if they tune in.
These videos can be as simple as a graphic image with the podcast audio playing. The Typology Podcast does this well:
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We recommend going a step further and recording a video version of each episode. The video version will open up a whole new market for your content on YouTube, Facebook, and now Instagram’s long-form video platform. You can then post both short teaser videos and full episode videos to all the various networks.
3. Email each episode. This may seem obvious, but email outreach is often overlooked. Your email subscribers are probably your most likely audience to subscribe and give you a five star iTunes rating. Politely, but explicitly, encourage them to do this.
4. Optimize each episode for search. As we mentioned earlier, you can embed each episode in a blog post or landing page on your website using audio, video, or both. Putting an audio or video file on your site won’t attract the attention of search engines on its own.
Your page needs text for the web crawlers to read. When you add the audio file to your page, include a thorough description of the episode, extensive show notes, or even a full transcript. This will help searchers find your podcast based on topics you discuss and guests you interview.