Starting a Podcast Day 7...
Episode 4 should have released by now.
Wait, what?
Don't worry, I'll explain in a moment.
Well the easy thing to tell you is to shout about it from the mountain tops.
That can be difficult though, especially starting from no followers.
We're going to explore a few tactics to help make your show pop early in its existence on the podcast charts.
True or False: Posting 3 episodes and a trailer on your launch date will help you in the Apple "New and Noteworthy Charts"?
False: Apple recently debunked this myth that having 3 episodes ready at launch plays any role as well as has confirmed that 5* reviews do not have an impact as well.
So why are we advising you to have 4 episodes uploaded by day 7 (3 on launch day and 1 on day 7)?
Two reasons:
A.) Upload multiple at first to encourage a binge reaction from your first listeners.
B.) Establish consistency of your show being posted.
Let's talk about binging first.
While binging generally isn't a good thing whether it's food or alcoholic beverages, when it comes to content, it's not such a bad thing.
Having the potential to get 3 listens out of your initial audience instead of 1 is a huge thing.
You have a real chance to win a listener with multiple episodes that are interesting to them, repetition often gets us to like others, it's kind of a human thing and it's how we form friendships.
So making sure there are multiple opportunities for folks to like you is huge, especially after a first impression. If folks want more, it's there for them!
Establishing Consistency
We'd never condone any underhanded techniques here at Westport Studios, but having multiple episodes released at the start gives the illusion of consistency off the bat.
This is why days 1 and 7 are so important in this sequence. You are actively demonstrating to your prospective listener that you're not just a one and done, flash in the pan kind of show.
Having 4 episodes on week 2 builds that credibility even though the episodes are dated with 3 on your day 1 and 1 on your day 7. This shows the listener that consistency without having you work up a whole season at once (though that is an option too, especially for a limited release series).
So we now know how to get multiple listens out of our first few listeners, how else are we promoting this thing?
Social Media
One of the things that helps brands and shows launch are social media announcements, and they are often a great insight into who your existing audience is.
Extending the invitation for people who already like and follow you to have a unique, special and indepth experience with you and your brand is a great way to get them to come along for the ride.
One of the greatest tools in marketing is Scarcity. However, with digital mass media, podcasts aren't exactly in short supply like records or CDs might have been in decades past.
However, Scarcity has a sibling named FOMO - Fear of Missing Out.
It's your job and your social media team's job to build the FOMO for your existing audience or any potential audience you may come across.
Your personal network and your Team's personal networks can be a great first source of following and listenership. Heavily encouraging or internally incentivizing sharing of your show in its first few days can really start to build that initial listener base as curious parties in your company's natural network come see what the hubbub is about.
This can only be done so long though, as people do get fatigued of seeing the same announcement over and over.
This is where you turn the promotion over to a marketing or social media specialist at your company or at the very least invest in a social scheduling and monitoring program in order to help make sure whoever is the champion of your podcast has the ability to make sure that they aren't working on content for it every day.
At some point there may be a time where the show becomes part of, or all of an employee's job too!
This is also why having and creating a content schedule is so important. You need to be able to work ahead and make sure your show stays ahead of its due date by a margin of at least 7 days.
There's a TON more to talk about with organic growth, often revolving around interacting with your audience, but for today, getting the word out, encouraging binge listening, and aligning your social media strategy to include your new show will be a great stopping point.
~WPS