In 2009, when Apple finally joined the Twitter bandwagon in an effort to promote iTunes, the Twitosphere gained a considerable amount of credibility. Users joined by the thousands creating one of the largest social networking applications online. Today, learning how to use Twitter for podcast promotion is a tremendous marketing strategy for even the smallest businesses.
There are several ways to promote your podcast on Twitter. For instance, you can create a separate account strictly for your podcast. In the bio section, include information about what you provide and who your intended audience is. Also include a link so your followers can find your site.
You can then tweet each podcast you create and encourage your followers to retweet (RT) the link. This can help generate backlinks for your site and help you gain popularity as more and more users find you.
Applications to Promote Your Podcast
With all the popularity, Twitter users have developed a number of helpful applications that you can use—many of them free—to promote your podcasts. One helpful application is TwitterFeed, an online application that lets you post your podcast’s RSS feed automatically to your Twitter account when a new feed is published. This is especially helpful if you tend to forget to update your tweets regularly.
Another helpful application is TwitThis, which allows visitors to easily send tweets from your blog or website. The app automatically shortens the URL and creates a link that users can quickly send to their Twitter followers. Future Tweets is another useful app that lets you schedule tweets for a later date. This will allow you to offer teasers and tidbits about upcoming podcasts, projected interviews and more.
Once you’ve started using Twitter on a regular basis, be sure to add your profile to WeFollow. This online directory of Twitterers allows you to choose up to three categories where users might search to find people to follow. For example, if your podcast is business related, you can list your Twitter account under business for prospective followers to find you there.
Twitter Usage Tips
As you become familiar with Twitter, you’ll discover that the most popular “tweeps” (Twitterese for people) are those who post helpful tips and ideas related to the topic of their business. This is an ideal way to promote your podcast. Using an automatic update application allows you to write several tweets and plug them into the software for drip-feeding to your Twitter account. What could be simpler? You can offer useful comments for your followers by spending just a few minutes a week to set them up.
Be sure to tweet upcoming content, podcast episodes, interviews, participants and more. If your guests use Twitter, be sure to include their Twitter ID such as @christinalemmey. This will give them a little free publicity and offer your followers another resource related to the topic of your podcasts.
You can use your Twitter account to ask followers for their input and suggestions, as well as how they would improve future podcasts. And you can share links to reviews, guest bios, and more.
As you’ll discover, there are innumerable ideas for how to use Twitter for podcast promotion. Use your imagination, have fun with it, and be yourself. Twitter is a social networking site, so make the most of the social aspect to grow your podcast popularity on this popular, growing site.
