How many podcasts and blogs are there? Apple said there were over 500 thousand podcasts back in 2018. Podcasting has been continuously on the rise over the past few years and has become one of the most popular channels for content delivery. So currently, the number of podcast shows is over 1.5 million with over 30 million episodes. Blogs have been with us already for 25 years. Justin Hall, considered by many to be the pioneer of blogging, started his online journal back in 1994. And it exists to this day, being one of more than 500 million blogs in the world.
Blogs count for about a third of all websites. Considering this, the competition is fierce. Hence, if you run your own podcast show or write a blog, you might face setbacks before making them popular. Everything starts with quality content as marketing a bad product is a waste of time, right? Make something unique and valuable. Your podcast or blog should add something new to the conversation. And your listeners or readers should either learn new information or skill, be entertained, or satisfy a curiosity from each new episode or article.
Doing it the best you can, you still need a good plan to promote your podcast or blog to surpass your competitors. There are so many promotion tactics, so it is impossible to encompass all of them. I want to focus on five major ones I believe work for everyone.
Social Media
I can’t stress enough how important social media is today. Promote your podcast or blog on social media in a dozen different ways. Keep sharing anything you can think of – updates when the new episode or article goes live, quote images, teaser videos, and soundbites. Encourage social sharing. Prompt other people﹣your listeners, viewers, and readers﹣to share your content on social media by placing social media plugins such as social media sharing buttons and widgets to single episodes or articles. Some of the social media platforms, such as LinkedIn, have even specific tools for integrating blogs. You can also join (or start your own) relevant social media groups that give you a great opportunity to share your expert knowledge.
Podcast Hosting
Make your podcast show available on Apple Podcasts. Podcasting started as an Apple-dominated medium. And Apple remains a dominant hosting platform for podcasts, hosting about 70 percent of all available podcasts. Apple Podcasts also remains on the top in terms of unique devices and unique downloads. But there are plenty more. Among them, Spotify and Google are gaining ground as the go-to place where people find and listen to podcasts. It is important to have your podcast listed in as many places as possible. It is free so far.
Republishing Existing Content
You can get it in front of a larger audience by leveraging your content. Some websites allow you to curate your content into relevant lists and collections. Other websites focus on collecting content and aggregating it into one easy-to-find location. It is a win-win – people have access to all content in one place, and you get your content in front of a larger audience. You can also repurpose your episode or article and turn it into another format such as an infographic and a SlideShare presentation for posting on other platforms.
Subscription
Ask people to subscribe to your podcast or blog in each new episode or article. Be honest and explain that as it grows, you will be able to produce even better content for your audience to enjoy. That sounds simple but it is a very important factor. And then start an email newsletter. Or wait a sec. Maybe rather not?
Where Podcasts And Blogs Meet Mobile Wallet
Here is a real-life innovative use case for digital content for mobile wallets. From myself. Become Digital is my personal blog dedicated to inspiring businesses to become digital and connect with customers where they spend their time. Stories on mobile marketing have been published here weekly since May 2019. Why did I choose the mobile wallet for complementing my blog? I don’t think people really want to subscribe to mailing lists. Their mailboxes are already overflowing even without your great email newsletter. So emails go often straight to the trash.
I decided on an alternative approach to connect with my readers. To subscribe for Become Digital, I offer people to download a digital subscription card to their mobile wallets. After being added in there, the card works as a smart bookmark to my blog on my readers’ mobile phones. It provides easy access to the blog anywhere and anytime. It then enables me to have an ongoing connection with my readers. I am sending push notifications straight to my subscribers’ lock screens every time I publish a new article. These people like to read it so they should be the first ones I tell about my new articles. And clickable links on the backside of the card allow my readers to visit the blog or open the most recent article. And if people want to know more about the topic, they can easily reach me out conveniently directly from their mobile phone without looking for my contact details. I am just a few taps away.
The digital subscription card offers a great experience for my readers, with easy access to the blog straight from their lock screen just by tapping the push notification. People only have to download the card once and it is automatically updated in real time. My data shows that basically almost all who have downloaded the card keep it, offering the Become Digital blog an innovative channel to continuously engage readers.
