Grow Your Podcast with These 5 Steps
Perhaps, one of the most impactful episodes of South Park for me was the one with the underpants gnomes. One of the boys' friends tweaks and learns that there are underpants gnomes that are stealing his underwear. And when they ask why you are stealing the underwear, they present the boys with a chart that says:
Step 1: Steal underpants.
Step 2: Question marks.
Step 3: Profit.
I feel like a lot of people view podcasts that way. They think I'll start a podcast. I'll gain a huge listenership and then I'll get sponsors. But it's not that easy.
First, you need to show that you're dedicated to the craft. You need to show people that you're willing to show up and deliver good content for them. And because of that, I have outlined Five Ways, Five Steps that you can take to grow your podcast no matter what stage of the game you're at.
Welcome to Podcast Workflows where you get daily tips to improve your process, grow your show, and maybe even make some money. Each week, I also do a daily dive into the process of the world's most successful podcasters and reveal their tools, processes, and systems to help you simplify the production of your own show and reclaim hours in your day. You can improve your own podcast production process by seeing how the pros do it. I'm your host, Joe Casabona. And today, I'm going to tell you 5 Ways That You Can Grow Your Podcast.
And I'll say that I've probably talked about these five things on this podcast or my YouTube channel before, but I figured I would just put them in a nice, easy spot for you to reference later.)
5 Ways That You Can Grow Your Podcast
1. Get a decent microphone. You don't need to spend $400, but it should be a decent USB mic. I've been recommending the SamsonQ2U or the ATR 2100X. Both of these are less than a hundred bucks. They plug right into your computer and they'll make you sound so much better than the built-in microphone or AirPods.
Along with that, kind of like 1B maybe is always wearing headphones. Do you want to prevent the audio coming out of your speakers from bleeding into your microphone? And wearing headphones is going to help you do that. So you're not going to get that echo.
2. Don't just record and release. I know I've talked about this before. Too many people just record on a Zoom call and then release it as a podcast. Listeners expect more these days. The earliest movies, the first talkies were basically just people talking because the audience was enamored by the fact that there was synchronized sound. But those movies wouldn't do well today because they wouldn't be able to keep the audience engaged.
Similarly, most people don't just want to listen to a long meandering conversation between two people that they may or may not know personally. So while you're recording, do some editing, and take some notes. Highlight the important parts, and cut out the meandering parts. This will make your content so much better and so much more consumable.
3. Do a little research. Don't go in the cold. If you're interviewing someone, do some background work on them, and don't have them introduce themselves. The worst question you could ask is to tell us who you are and what you do. Get right to the heart of the interview. People are in a time crunch and they want to get the information they're looking for as quickly as possible. So give it to them and then keep giving them good information to keep them engaged. The only way you could do that is through research.
Now, if you're doing a solo show, fact-check yourself and have an outline or a script. I have these episodes scripted so that I can make my point as well as possible. That doesn't mean I don't ad-lib a little bit, but it means that I know at the very least exactly what I'm going to say for the show.
4. Make it easy to share episodes. Have an easy-to-remember URL and an easy-to-speak URL. More importantly, and have the share buttons on the episode page. Help people help you. Don't just say, listen, wherever you get your podcasts, don't say find it in the show notes. Actually, say the URL, ask them to share the episode, and make it as easy as possible for them.
5. And finally, make helpful social media posts. Don't just point to a link to the episode. Create useful content on the platform where you're creating the content, and then link to the episode for more context later. This might mean taking the top takeaways and turning it into a Thread on X or Threads. It might mean recording a short-form video, recapping the episode or giving people the top takeaways that way, or creating an image carousel that you can post on Instagram or other social platforms. But you should make helpful social media posts, not just, “Hey, check out my episode.”
Each of these things shows your listeners that you're dedicated to going the extra mile and putting a little more effort into your show for them. And that's important because the competition is stiff. And if your listeners feel taken care of, they will reward you with listening and sharing.
If you liked this episode and want more content like it as well as bonus episodes, a newsletter, my automation database, and monthly workshops, you can become a member of the Podcast Foundry over at [podcastworkflows.com/join]. Or you can connect with me on just about any social network. X, Threads, Instagram, Linkedin even TikTok. I am @jcasabona on all of those networks.
Thanks so much for listening. And until next time. I can't wait to see what you make.
