Why PR Is Better Than Social Media To Grow Your Podcast
The podcast industry has grown exponentially in recent years. A recent eMarketer study from October 2021, shared by Statista, reported that the number of worldwide podcast listeners has nearly doubled since 2019. This means that there is plenty of potential for new podcasts and content creators. However, many people are still unfamiliar with the medium and it can be difficult for new shows to gain traction and rise above the noise.
Most podcasters attempt to grow their audience through social media, and I get it. Everyone is already there, laughing at TikToks, posting about their lunch, or their epic road trips - #VanLife.
But, if you’re reading this then you’ve probably been down the social media road, and despite your best efforts…crickets.
Maybe you have gained 100k IG followers, but your podcast downloads still aren’t growing. Again…crickets.
You’re probably asking yourself, “what’s up with that?”
If your social media channels are poppin’ and it’s the place where you post about your podcast, then why isn’t your actual podcast just as poppin’?
It’s because there is something way more effective than social media in making your podcast, pop.
It’s PR, and I’m not talking about press releases (although they do have their place). Nope. I’m talking about Public Relations.
What is PR, exactly, you ask?
Well, the Public Relations Society of America (yes, it’s a thing), defines PR as, “a strategic communication process that builds mutually beneficial relationships between organizations and their publics.”
Blah, blah, blah - what does that mean?
It’s all about persuasion, baby!
A level of persuasion that social media alone just can’t get.
Let’s break it down…
Social media and PR are both tools in your marketing toolbox. They both have a job to do and they don’t necessarily compete.
It’s just that when you’re building your house you don’t use a nail when what you need is a sledgehammer.
Social media is really about ease of communication. It’s like a nail in a marketing toolbox. It can create easy and quick connecting points that help you tell tidbits of a story.
Think of it like this, you use social media like nails you hammer into a wall to hang your witty and interesting decor. Peppering your space with nice things to look at, interesting things to hear, or even thoughtful quotes. It’s like putting the finishing touches on the beautiful space you created.
It’s really helpful, however, to already have the house before you decorate it.
The nail is still a necessary tool, it just isn’t the best tool when you’re goal is to grow your audience.
PR on the other hand is a whole other story.
Quality PR acts more like a sledgehammer for your podcast discoverability than a nail ever could.
PR is the tool you need when you want to knock down doors and smash through gates. Good PR opens doors previously closed to you and helps you find doors you didn’t even know existed. That’s because PR gives you something that you can’t give to yourself…CREDIBILITY.
When you’re trying to grow your podcast audience you have to convince new people, people who have never heard of you to give you their most valuable resource, their time. Listeners have more than a literal million podcasts to choose from and you have to convince them to choose you.
The obvious next question is, how?
You let potential new audience members see your podcast recommended by people and brands they trust. People and brands that your potential audience members already see as credible.
Enter your marketing sledgehammer…PR.
PR is all about building relationships with a community of people that don’t know you yet, by leveraging people and brands that already have access to that community.
With PR, you are basically borrowing the credibility of a person or brand when they give you access to their audience. Eventually, part of their audience becomes part of your audience and the monster growth begins.
The thing is, you have to understand how to use your tool effectively. There is a right way and a wrong way to do PR, and most people are out here doing it very very wrong.
You have to know how to talk about what you do, how to position yourself, who to connect with and how. It all sounds really hard and complicated.
It’s not.
But, you do have to learn the key steps and be consistent.
If you’re ready to learn how, you can join me on Thursday, July 28th at 8:00 p.m. EST to learn How To Get Publicity For Your Podcast in a value-packed hour-long webinar.
I’ll be giving you the 5-Step Framework for doing your PR like a pro.
It’s time to start swinging around your growth sledgehammer and build that audience you’ve been dreaming about!