How to promote your podcast on Instagram

While you may consider Instagram as just another social media platform with a colorful feed, mindless selfies, but truth be told, Instagram is much more than that. Instagram is now an ever-growing social media platform with millions of users, which lets its users promote their business and services and allows them to gain recognition and increase awareness about their products and services they offer. In addition to this, the app’s user interface and visual design format make it one of the most viable platforms for podcasters. 

That being said, being a podcaster, one must realize that content and research is everything. Your content is a testament to your work, skills, and the amount of effort and dedication you put into your work. And this is where Instagram comes into play. It provides you with a visually inspiring platform, which not only can you use to showcase your skills and portfolio, but at the same time you can also use to obtain more followers and sales. You may have the best expertise in graphics designing, but if you intend to expand your viewership, then the only feasible option to make unknown people aware of your podcast is by making the most out of Instagram. 

Following are some of the tricks to promote your podcast Through Instagram:

1.Insert podcast link to your Bio:

Aside from the fact that your profile picture must meet all the requirements, make sure that your bio also manages to get visitor’s attention. A nicely crafted bio tells people who you are, what you do, and what you have for them to offer. Bio allows you to showcase your skills, goals, brand image, and whatnot. Due to the character limit imposed by the app itself, you can only write a bio of a maximum of 150 characters, which is why you must be extra careful of what to write and what not to.

In addition to this, you should always insert your podcast link into your bio. This is not entirely restricted to podcasters, but general content creators. This is because the algorithm of Instagram is way more different than Facebook and Twitter. It is primarily focused on visual content and options are quite limited to each post’s description bio is the only place where the link can be posted. The bio section is highly important because you can describe yourself, who you are, and what you are trying to convey via podcasts. But for the link in bio to work, you must have great visuals on your profile. This is because if they like or follow your post, then there is a possibility that they may also click on your podcast link. Plus, if you change the link every once in a while whenever a new podcast gets aired, your followers will get used to it and will follow the lead. Also, it is very important to manage your links via an external service. It is because they provide shorter links and helpful analytic, through which you can analyze behavior of your audience 

2.Craft convincing captions:

While it may be true that the app is an image-sharing platform, this in no way means that you can overlook the importance of captions. This is because a caption is a great way to convey a story behind your podcast, entertain people, and can also compel people to watch your podcast.

3.Instagram stories:

Instagram stories are great when it comes to marketing on the social app. This is because stories allow you to engage with communities. They do it by showing them fresh and engaging content via several grouped posts which are also subject to disappear within 24 hours. Another great thing about Instagram stories is that it enables you to announce to your audience that you have a new episode coming, or already available. Not only this, but you can also send them audio files, or link to the audio file directly. But for this to happen, you need to have 10,000 followers.

4.Guest Announcement:

By using the app, you can announce via specifically targeted posts that are easy to spot by interested individuals.  For this purpose, we can utilize pictures of the individuals we intend to interview, target-oriented hashtags and may tag their Instagram handles as well. If you will tag your guests in the guest announcement post, you will make it easier for your audience to get to know them, and can also visit their Instagram profiles for this purpose. 

For guest announcements, you can also create your templates. But there is one thing which you need to keep in mind that little details do matter. Consider the brand you intend to promote, the colors the logo, and every other basic element should be up to the mark. Once you are done with this, you can then think about making your announcement more appealing to the audience

5.Use of Hashtags:

Hashtags play a major role in marketing your skills on digital forums. They play a major role in marketing your work and connecting it with potential audiences. Incorrect usage of a hashtag may cause you to hold back on digital forums. It is highly advised by SEO experts to do proper research on relevant hashtags before you use them.

Hashtags are one of the most important features of Instagram, and if one uses them correctly, they can make your posts gain higher reach and become more visible and will also increase its accessibility. But, the use of hashtags requires strategy and research. For this purpose, you can start by studying the topics which are popular or trending, focusing primarily on what your target market is interested in.  Adopting such an approach will also put your posts on the radar and will make them discoverable.

6.Create teasers:

Creating a teaser for your upcoming episodes is also a great way to promote your podcast on Instagram. For this purpose, you may also feature information about your upcoming guest, share their quotes, and can also ask your audience to comment to increase engagement. For this purpose, you can create a template that is similar to your podcast’s persona, and then apply that to the same one to each text-basedthe  content you share. You can do all this just with the help of any image processing app.

7.Use Analytics:

If you feel the need to check the progress and results of all the hard work which you may have put into, then page insights are the place you must look up to. Analytics provide you with information such as who viewed your profile, the performance of the post and stories you share, and other benefits which you may get from an Instagram business account. Analytics may also help you in determining whether or not you should upload a post every day, or the number of posts you should upload every day, the appropriate time for uploading every day, etc

To view insights, follow the following steps.

• Click on your profile.
• Click on the three-bar icon
• Tap insights
• Select the posts, stories of which you would like to view insights

8.Post Regularly:

While this may sound odd to you but if you intend to build brand loyalty, credibility and increase your following, then it is essential to post regularly. For this purpose, you may pre-decide on the number of posts you may want to publish every day. Once you do that, try to maintain consistency. Normally, it is advised to post a maximum of two to three posts per day. Having said that, the time of posting also has a considerable impact on the reach of the post. The ideal times to post on Instagram are 1:00 pm and 5:00 pm. If your target audience is in another timezone, then you must plan accordingly.

Conclusion:

Promoting a podcast on any digital platform may look easy on the outside, but truth be told, it is as difficult as it can get. The only thing which can help you float your boat is the correct strategy. If you follow the aforementioned tips, you may be able to boost your podcast.