The coronavirus pandemic may have put a damper on conferences and trade shows, but where there’s crisis, there’s opportunity. Social distancing and other safety measures that restrict personal interaction have given a 1980s tool — the podcast — new life. The medium was already popular; a 2017 survey found that 42 million Americans were listening to podcasts on a weekly basis. That’s nearly four times the number that go to the cinema once a week. Now that access to customary venues of recreation are restricted, the demand for podcasts is rising.
But with more than two million podcasts on the web, how do you make yours reach its target market and elicit the response you want? Here are a few tips on doing exactly that. These are insights the IBN team has identified as the podcast experts have designed, produced, published, and distributed over a hundred podcasts for clients in industries as diverse as blockchain, cannabis, entertainment, energy, finance and fintech, pharmaceuticals and mining.
Understand Social Media
Social media platforms have created a virtual world that in many ways mirrors the physical world. Close to half the world’s seven billion people have a social media account, which means they can be reached if you know their preferred platforms. Facebook leads the way with over one billion monthly active users — more than the population of every country on the planet except China and India. And the number of monthly active users on other media platforms is almost as substantial. Google users total 359 million, Twitter has 215 million and Instagram reports 150 million users, while Pinterest and Reddit have 20 million and two million respectively.
While most users are “active users” who use the platforms for socializing, others rely on social media for searching. Indeed, Google has recognized this new trend. In 2019, it began showing podcast episodes in the SERPs based on an analysis of the topics in the podcast.
Will Google Index My Podcast?
It will if you submit your podcast to Google Podcasts. Google has redesigned Google Podcasts and revamped its Podcast Portal as Google Podcasts Manager, which has more analytic capabilities than before. Since the majority of smartphones use Android, not having your podcast listed on Google Podcasts means cutting yourself off from tens of millions of Android users.
Listing your podcast on Google Podcasts is different than submitting a podcast to Apple, which popularized podcasts with the iPod. With Apple, you manually submit your podcast to Apple Podcasts. With Google, a podcast is treated the same way as any other piece of content. After your podcast goes live, it should be indexed by the search engine and served up in response to an appropriate query. This means that podcast marketing is a lot like marketing other content: SEO matter. . . which brings us to our third tip.
Provide Valuable Content
For Google, and search engines in general, quality content reigns supreme. If your podcast provides content that people find useful, informative or entertaining, Google will keep serving it up in response to queries. Google assesses quality by complex algorithms but also manually using internal ratings guidelines.
Naturally, attention must be paid to the terms — key words — that may lead a searcher to your content. But bear in mind, a narrow focus on key words could subtract from readability. Since 2013, Google has begun to identify concepts with its Hummingbird algorithm, which is why searchers are sometimes surprised when a search returns content completely devoid of the key word that was used.
Pocket Casts
There’s a new app in town for podcasts — and it’s free. Getting your podcast on Pocket Casts can get it in front of the listeners you’re looking for. Submitting your podcast is easy too. You simply enter its URL. The app has a “Featured” section that highlights quality content, an assessment that is made by the Pocket Cast crew. Win them over, and your podcast will begin its journey to viral fame.
For more information on how podcasting can boost your marketing ROI, please contact IBN Podcast Solutions
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