When it comes to launching a successful podcast, creating quality content is only half the story. The other half – which is arguably more difficult – is how to grow your podcast audience and make sure it gets to the right people.
After spending weeks pouring your heart and soul into creating countless episodes, it’d be a mistake not to spend time building a loyal fanbase of listeners and grow your podcast audience.
Today, there are about 4 million published podcasts out there. You must be wondering how you can compete with so many other podcasts for the listeners’ attention and regularly gain podcast listeners.
Fortunately, there are tons of ways to grow a podcast audience organically. You can submit your show to podcast directories, interview high-profile guests, and build a community across social media.
In this post, we’ll share strategies to expand your reach. This guide will try and help you maximize this potential of growing your podcast audience, attracting new listeners and keep existing listeners to stick around your podcast. Let’s get right to it!
A word about podcast discoverability
Different people will find your podcast via different platforms or methods.
How do listeners search for a new podcast? A recent survey run by The Podcast Host reveals that 40% will search in their podcast directory app (58% of those will search the type of podcast in the app, while 42% will just scroll through the app). 13% will search on Google, and 15% will ask on social media or communities (your social media presence plays an important part here).
The survey is only discussing people who already listen to podcasts and actively search for new podcasts. We should also keep in mind the “organic” listeners who get referrals from their acquaintances (word of mouth), stumble upon a post somewhere online, or find you via a search engine or an LLM like ChatGPT.
It’s important to learn and understand your target podcast audience and develop a marketing strategy in order to significantly grow your podcast audience.
The bottom line is that there are many different channels you could work on to get new listeners and grow your podcast. We recommend trying all the different channels first, and then double down on the ones that show promise or steady growth. You might not make your podcast go viral right off the bat, but making it easily discoverable is just as important.
12+ Ideas to grow your podcast
1. Create a Podcast Website or Landing Page
There are lots of benefits in creating a dedicated podcast website. You essentially create your own platform where people can find all your content. Using podcasting platforms like Spotify, Apple Podcasts or YouTube to showcase your content is great, but nothing beats having your own podcast website. This is one of the best ways to get organic traffic while also benefiting from search engine traffic and boost your podcast SEO. If you have full episode transcripts on the website, it can supercharge your SEO efforts as a bunch of unique content would be added to your pages.
Having your own online hub, a primary place where visitors or listeners could find and listen to episode is key to grow your audience.
Your website is not only a growth engine, but it can benefit your existing audience by offering them more types of content (videos, downloadable files, articles and more), a direct channel to contact you or leave a voice message, read reviews about your show, and so much more.
If you are not sure where to start with creating a podcast website – we wrote a guide on how to decide which podcast website builder platform to use. Furthermore, the Beamly.com podcast website builder was specifically created for podcasters, and is aiming to solve issues we’ve noticed after years of experience in the podcasting world.
Beamly comes with beautiful pre-made templates which you can customize to match your branding. Better yet, you can list episodes (and YouTube videos) directly on your site (and they’ll update automatically when you publish new ones).
You could even introduce a podcast subscription tier to generate revenue via your website. This is super easy with Beamly since it offers built-in membership options and marketing/SEO tools to help you attract paying subscribers.
2. Submit Your Podcast to Directories
If you want to get your audio podcast in front of millions of listeners, you should submit your show to podcast directories.
You should add your podcast to every directory out there. There’s nothing wrong with more exposure. It’s not always easy to be discovered on those platforms as they display so many other podcasts, but it’s good to be featured on as many directories as possible.
Try to add relevant keywords, titles and descriptions to your RSS feed. Add a podcast category or tags so it will make it easier to find your podcast when listeners are searching for a topic and not a specific podcast name.
You’ll undoubtedly be familiar with major podcast directories like Spotify, Google Podcasts, and Apple Podcasts:
However, there are plenty of other options that give you access to millions of listeners, including Stitcher, Amazon Music, and Podchaser.
Podcast aggregators/platforms, also known as podcatchers, are apps that exist to play podcasts. Some of the most well-known podcatchers include Google Play, Apple Podcasts, TuneIn, Spotify, and SoundCloud.
By submitting your content to a podcast aggregator, there’s a greater chance of it being noticed by a new audience as they look for new content to consume.
To get started, create an account on the podcatcher platform and then submit your RSS feed. This ensures that all of your new episodes are automatically published to each aggregator.
Podcast directories are the most common way for listeners to discover and consume podcasts. They’re typically organized by genre, and you’ll get your own listing, which features your podcast name, description, and artwork.
If listeners like what they hear, they can subscribe to your show and/or download episodes. There’s no limit to how many directories you can use, so submit your show to as many as possible to maximize exposure.
3. Interview Guests with Established Audiences
Another excellent way to grow a podcast audience is to interview interesting guests like content creators, influencers, thought leaders, or industry experts.
Naturally, this should result in engaging content as guests bring new perspectives and insights:
If you manage to snag individuals with large followings, you’ll get access to their audience.
You’ll want to reach out to high-profile figures yourself, but you could also add guest intake forms to your website where people can register interest.
Additionally, you could prepare guest packages, which you’ll share once the episode goes live. This might include a link to the episode, as well as visual assets, pre-made social posts, quotes, etc. Essentially, this just makes it easy for guests to promote the episode across their own platforms.
4. Join other podcasts as a guest
Start building yourself a name within the podcasting community and beyond. Be willing to serve as a guest on someone else’s podcast. By linking up with other relevant podcasters, you’re able to get in front of a totally new audience and promote your own podcast there.
When pitching yourself as a guest, don’t make it strictly promotional. No one’s audience wants to listen to content about why your content is so great. As a guest, you need to be an asset, not a deterrent.
Talk about your expertise. Be a unique voice and keep it interesting. Find ways to pique their interest so that they’re interested in tuning into your content as well.
5. Cross-Promote with Other Podcasts
You might also want to discuss cross-promotional strategies with other podcasters.
This is a fantastic way to grow a podcast audience since it allows you to tap into the listener base of similar podcasts. It should be mutually beneficial, so you’d also need to expose the partner podcast to your audience.
While you could invite podcasters onto your show, you can also swap trailers, provide shout-outs, or co-host a special episode together.
Furthermore, you can share your podcast with fellow podcasters. Help them with your knowledge and experience. Hang where they are hanging (podcasters Facebook groups, Slack channels, online communities, etc.). You could probably learn a whole lot from other podcasters as well, so that’s always a good idea.
The podcasting industry isn’t a dog-eat-dog world. In fact, if you want to succeed, you’ll need to master the art of networking. Despite other areas of the online world being toxic and overly competitive, you’ll quickly find that the podcasting community is anything but.
If you want to get noticed, look at other podcasters as peers versus competitors. The fact is that your audience listens to other shows. There’s plenty of room for your content as well.
So how can you network? Reach out to podcasters through online channels. If you find content that you like, share it and leave a comment. Promote other podcasters or shout them out during an episode.
Networking is one of the best ways to get your content in front of new people, learn from successful podcasters, or get a shout-out on other podcasts.
6. Build a Community on Social Media
Social media platforms have billions of daily active users. By sharing your content on these networks, you’re more likely to reach new people. There are all sorts of ways that you can use social media to market your podcasts, including:
- Creating and posting short, catchy soundbite clips
- Posting teasers for upcoming episodes
- Using Canva to create quote images
- Letting people go behind-the-scenes using videos or stories
You could start by following and interacting with accounts that relate to your podcast niche. Or, you could join Facebook groups for new podcasters where you can offer value and motivate others:
You could even set up your own Facebook group so that your subscribers can discuss your episodes and connect with like-minded people. This is also a great way to nurture trust and loyalty.
A) X/Twitter:
Start by concentrating on comments. When you don’t have a large following base, the easiest way of gaining followers is putting great comments on other users’ posts. Search for specific words or phrases that are relevant to your podcast.
Other recommendations to grow your followers are to always retweet with a comment that adds value. Ask questions – people comment more when it’s a question and not just an idea or statement. If you don’t have anything to say, add value by summarizing other people ideas/ blog posts/ articles or podcast episodes (and of course tag them to give credit for the initial content).
When you publish an episode on a Twitter (X) post – add snippets – something interesting from the episode that would get the followers either to listen to the episode or even share the tweet. You can also share a short video on social networks with a small segment of your podcast.
A popular way to engage your potential audience before an episode is even released, is by asking them which questions should you ask your next guest. This engagement has multiple benefits for you:
- Understand what really interests your listeners.
- Get them excited about the episode even before it is even published.
- Increase exposure with followers of your guests who see their interaction with you, and growing your own potential followers.
B) Reddit
Reddit is a great community to be a part of. You need to learn and experiment with how each subreddit works, and play along their guidelines. Once you are part of it, there are a lot to gain from it.
Here are some relevant subreddits: r/podcasts/, r/podcasting/, r/Podcasters/, PodcastSharing.
When publishing on Reddit, try to add value first. Don’t worry if you get negative comments, it’s part of the game and can really be used as constructive feedback and motivation. Your post could go viral on Reddit, as long as it does not look like you are trying to sell or push anything.
Join other subreddits that are relevant to your niche – where you listeners might be hanging out. You could actually find ideas there for new topics for your episodes or even guests for your show.
C) Facebook
You can use Facebook in multiple ways. For example, join a podcasters group and be part of the community. Another option is to create a page or a group that is dedicated to your podcast. People could follow that page and interact with you and with other listeners.
Additionally, you can search for groups that your potential listeners might participate in, or are relevant to the topic of your podcast.
7. Use your connections or network
Everybody has a network. Whether it’s your family, friends, co-workers, social media followers, or others, you should use them as your initial podcast audience “fan base”. Let them know you are creating a podcast. Share it with them and ask them to share with their own network. You don’t have to be too pushy or really nag about this, but it could help.
It would also make sense to bring into your show (relatively) high profile guests, assuming they can contribute to the content of the episode, so they could then share this with their own network.
8. Try creative competitions or giveaways
People tend to share more when they have something to gain. Be creative or borrow ideas from others.
Recent giveaways we heard about included; Pieter Levels (Nomad List) gave away a MacBook – gaining him 10k new followers on Twitter. TheHustle newsletter is giving away a Tesla, and there are many other examples.
It doesn’t have to be an expensive giveaway or really high profile like those example above, there are many things you can offer that are either free or only require time, rather than purchasing an actual product. You can also partner up with a sponsor or company that is relevant to the topic of your podcast, and they could be interested in providing the gift for the giveaway.
9. Repurpose Content for Marketing
It’s easier to grow a podcast audience when you’re active across multiple platforms. However, this isn’t always manageable, especially for first-time or solo content creators.
By repurposing your podcast episodes, you’ll get more value from the same piece of content:
Here are some ideas for repurposing content to streamline your marketing efforts:
- Record a video podcast at the same time as capturing audio (to post on YouTube).
- Create shareable video clips and trailers to publish on TikTok, Instagram, or YouTube Shorts.
- Turn the episode into a blog post for your website.
- Craft engaging social posts (for X/Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram) to promote your latest episode.
- Notify email subscribers about new episodes and highlight them in a monthly newsletter.
This makes it possible to expand your reach while avoiding podcast burnout.
10. Release on a regular schedule
Binge-watching is a thing. You probably know firsthand how easy it is to get sucked into a new show. After finishing the first episode, you’re left extremely upset that the next episode isn’t available until next week.
In growing your audience, be mindful of launch quality. There’s nothing worse than getting someone hooked on an episode, only for them to find little to no other content to enjoy.
When you first launch or start a new series, think about publishing 3-5 episodes. A solid multi-launch strategy is a great way to get more traffic and repeat viewers. Then, try to release new episodes on the same day of the week, and try to do it weekly or bi-weekly to keep your listeners engaged.
11. Join a Podcast Network
If you have a brand new podcast, you might not be ready to join podcast networks. Typically, you’ll need a certain number of subscribers and/or downloads to qualify.
When your show starts growing, joining a podcast network will help you get more followers. Essentially, podcast networks aggregate separate shows that share a genre, audience, or niche:
In exchange for a portion of revenue, podcast networks take care of marketing, promotion, and monetization (including finding podcast sponsors). You’ll also benefit from cross-promotional opportunities with other podcasts in your network.
12. Engage with your audience
Sometimes the most obvious solutions are the ones that podcasters forget all about. Your audience loves listening to your content, but what they love even more is engagement. Set aside 15 minutes of each of your episodes to engage with your audience.
Have a conversation. Ask and answer questions. Respond to comments on social media. There are endless ways to get your audience involved. You can also add a way for the users to leave comments, voice messages on your podcast website, so not only will you actually get a view to what they think, you might even want to incorporate it in your episode.
You’ll quickly find that by engaging with your audience, they feel less like consumers and more like friends. Creating a connection with your audience makes them even more dedicated to you and your brand.
Go to where your audience is hanging out online and try to find ways to bring in some of them to listen to your show. This can be online forums, social networks, YouTube, Twitch, Slack and so many other options.
While some listeners will provide feedback just to speak their mind, many do so in hopes of helping you improve. Though it can be tough to hear criticism, instead of taking it negatively, use it constructively. Don’t wait for them to reach out, try to ask for feedback proactively.
Listen to what your audience is saying and find ways to incorporate their feedback. Even the simplest changes, like having a simpler background or upgrading your mic can have a huge impact.
By incorporating feedback, your audience will feel respected and heard.
Conclusion
Growing an audience rarely hinges on a single growth hack – it’s the compound effect of many small, consistent actions. The 12 strategies above fit into four core pillars:
- Improve discoverability – list your show in every directory, optimise your RSS feed, and build a search-friendly website that houses transcripts and show notes.
- Share reach – trade audiences by interviewing high-profile guests, guesting on other shows, and setting up cross-promotions or network partnerships.
- Nurture community – stay active where listeners hang out (social platforms, groups, forums), encourage two-way dialogue, and publish on a predictable schedule so you’re part of their routine.
- Amplify content – repurpose each episode, run creative giveaways, and mobilise your personal network so every release travels further than the last.
Audit your current efforts, double-down on the channels that generate traction, and give new tactics enough runway to produce data before you judge them. Above all, keep shipping quality episodes – momentum is magnetic.
Beamly makes it painless to spin up an SEO-ready website, showcase episodes, collect reviews, and even launch paid memberships. Try it free today and turn your show into a fully-fledged digital hub.
