The Social Media Platforms That Actually Work For Podcasters (And Why)
Social media is a mysterious beast, even for the experts. In a previous life, I ran a marketing team and we were constantly chasing our tail trying to keep up with social media trends and latest strategies.
In podcasting, social media can be even more enigmatic. Naturally, this makes a lot of creators sceptical: Either you think using social media is an essential part of promoting your podcast, or it’s a waste of time.
We surveyed podcasters to gather solid data on what platforms (if any) work best for creators in this industry. We got some really interesting insights, but the biggest takeaway is this: Having success with social media depends heavily on finding the platform that works for your podcast and your audience.
So when you hear people say things like, “If you’re not using TikTok in your marketing strategy right now, what are you even doing?” you can take great pleasure in ignoring them! The advice marketing experts give to brands simply doesn’t directly translate to podcasting.
But the social media advice that is helpful to podcasters is to hear where and how other creators are finding success with their strategies.
So, we asked 800+ podcasters to share their experiences with social media channels. We also consulted another new social media survey – The State of Podcast Marketing Report 2024 by Capsho – to give us more comprehensive view of how podcasters are using the channels. Here’s what we learned…
Which Social Media Platforms Are Most Popular with Podcasters?
So first, let’s take a look at the social media platforms that are most commonly used by podcasters right now.
As you can see, Instagram and Facebook are the most common channels among our survey respondents. This isn’t so surprising given that these two platforms are generally the most commonly used of all social media channels.
But which ones did podcasters say they find the most success with when promoting their podcast?
Which Platforms Bring Podcasters the Most Success?
For this question, respondents were only allowed to choose one option. This meant they had to think carefully about which of all the platforms listed is working best for them right now.
If you told a marketing expert you’re focusing your promotion strategy on Facebook right now, they’d laugh in your face. However, according to our survey respondents, Facebook is still the platform they get the most returns.
Instagram is a close second, with a quarter saying this channel brings them the best results.
Twitter and Reddit are the platforms that podcasters reported having less success with, despite trying. 14% of respondents said they use X/Twitter in their strategy, but only around half of that (8%) said it’s fruitful right now. A similar situation for Reddit, where 3% said they use it, but 2% said it brings the most success.
How Podcasters Use These Platforms for Success
So now we have an idea of the platforms that prove the most successful in practice when promoting podcasts, how are people actually using them to effectively promote their show?
Look online, and you’ll find plenty of tips on using social media for promotion. We’ve even created a guide to social media for podcasters.
However, the survey revealed a few interesting success stories that are worth sharing because we can learn from them. Here are the main takeaways you might want to consider.
1. Use Instagram for guest engagement
As a visual platform, Instagram isn’t always the first place you would think of when promoting audio. But there are loads of podcasters doing exciting things on Instagram right now.
What was interesting about the survey comments was that people talked about how they use the platform to bring guests into the marketing process so they can capitalise on their networks, too. One podcaster told us:
I tag my guest and send them a soundbite to use on their socials. Sharing to Stories is also good as they can do that and you can share each other’s stories. Not all guests bother, unfortunately, but it’s always worth giving them the means to.
Claire at Creativity Found Podcast
And another creator said…
I find it most effective to share the social media flyers with the guest so they can also promote their episode to their friends and followers. This helps maintain brand consistency and makes it easy for the guest to help with marketing. Audiograms seem to be the best type of marketing flyer for catching people’s attention, and I’ve found Instagram to be highly effective for attracting listeners.
Michele Barard – Somewhere in the Middle with Michele Barard
2. Use Facebook for targeted ads
Again, a lot of marketers consider Facebook a dead platform nowadays. But our survey data suggests there’s still success to be had there for podcasters. It may not be the sexiest tool, but recent studies have shown that Facebook is still the number one social media platform. According to our survey, it’s also the place that podcasters report having the most success with.
One creator (James C Taylor – My Amazing Woman Podcast) attributed his success on Facebook to the fact the platform caters more to a slightly older demographic:
“My target audience is older and relatively newer to podcasts, so it stands to reason that Facebook resonates with them a bit more.”
However, recent global data shows that Facebook is still the most popular among men aged 25-34. Which, incidentally, is the most popular demographic for podcast listening, too.
And while Facebook might not be on-trend, those who still use it are highly engaged. With less competition from marketers who think Facebook is a waste of time, this could make it a good platform to reach new listeners with targeted ads.
One podcaster recently shared some pretty impressive success with Facebook ads in our Indiepodder community:
“The show I co-host paid for ongoing $2-$4 FB ads over the course of one month, and saw a jump from about 3 listeners to over 1000 and growing.”
CT at Tough Call: A Mediation Podcast
3. Twitter/X is still good for growing your expert network
Since the Muskification of Twitter (sorry, ‘X’), it’s been pretty hard to get results from the platform as an indie podcaster. As one respondent highlighted:
“Whilst Twitter/X is the worst with its new “pay to play” “blue tick” system, I have the most followers on there by far. Social media as a whole does not appear to be on the side of indie creators, though.”
Em at Verbal Diorama Podcast
However, a lot of podcasters have spent years building their network on the platform, and it seems some are still having success. One anonymous respondent said:
“Twitter is the one platform where I have the biggest presence in so naturally, I promote on there the most. I make sure to post whenever a new episode comes out. I also engage with people the most on there. I’ve even had several guests on my show that I’ve actually met on Twitter.”
Musk’s money-making strategy with X might mean it’s harder to reach new listeners on the platform, but these comments suggest it’s still a decent platform for keeping in with your existing network.
4. Try messenger platforms to market to friends
Messenger platforms like WhatsApp and Telegram aren’t exactly social media platforms (hence why we didn’t include them in the survey). But these apps do have some features that mean you can use them for podcast promotion.
WhatsApp (and other messenger apps like Circle) have the option to leave a messenger status, where you can add links to your podast along with a message and image, too.
One podcaster shared his recent success with using messenger apps to promote his podcast:
“I find that the Telegram and WhatsApp messenger app status is very useful to connect with a wide range of my contacts without having to engage with every contact personally.
I’m posting various updates on my messenger status: For example that I have a new website now. Or that my podcast will be released soon. Or links from interviews I did with other people. I use a simple background with text on it or a simple screenshot with some extra explanation and maybe ad a link in the description of the status.
And after I have posted a status on those messenger apps, I can see that also a few new contacts are following my Instagram account.”
Tillmann Lewien at Psychedelic Bungee Jump Podcast
This is a great way to promote your show with friends and family who are in your contacts. It’s also worth mentioning that the app recently introduced a community feature, where you can create a WhatsApp community for your podcast and message out when you have a new episode to share.
5. TikTok can get you high engagement (particularly with younger listeners)
TikTok is a platform that isn’t for everyone (myself included!). So, while there’s a lot of hype around the platform and some great podcasters on there, too, it might not be the right platform for your podcast.
However, TikTok is also a platform that might surprise you. Although the demographic definitely skews younger, it’s growing amongst millennials. The platform’s powerful algorithm could also make your show easily discoverable to a niche audience.
Although TikTok wasn’t massively popular amongst our survey respondents (11% said they use it), the same amount of podcasters (11%) said it was the platform they’re having the most success with.
One respondent spoke about how TikTok surprised them:
“I honestly never gave Tiktok much thought (I am a podcaster not a video essayist because visuals aren’t my forte) but I’ve gotten more engagement with my posts there than anywhere else! I’ve been podcasting for over five years but only recently started on Tiktok and it’s honestly surprising how quickly I got likes and comments.”
Jackie at Live Life Laugh Podcast
The other study by Capsho also suggests that podcasters currently see TikTok as a low-priority platform. Compared to other platforms, the survey showed that TikTok is actively used the least of all marketing platforms (by both high and low-income-earning podcasts who took the survey).
And if you think about it strategically, this could be an opportunity to cut through and reach new listeners on TikTok as you’ve less competition to get noticed.
Capsho & TPH Social Media Survey: Key Takeaways
There were so many other interesting comments in the survey. But of course, we don’t have time to share them all. So, to finish, here are some final overarching pieces of advice we gathered from both our survey and the report by Capsho too:
- Think strategically about platforms. You know your audience and where they spend time online. Jumping on trends and new platforms just because they’re the new thing will only lead to burnout. You can’t be everywhere at once, so be strategic and consistent with your presence. It also might be worth looking for opportunities on channels that are less saturated. For example, Capsho’s survey showed TikTok is the platform that podcasters don’t want to promote on. But that doesn’t mean listeners aren’t on TikTok – it just means it’s less saturated with other podcasters, so there’s a potential for growth there.
- Move on if you don’t get results. If you’ve been posting daily on Instagram for months and getting no notable engagement, it’s time to move on.
- Limit yourself to three platforms max. Capsho’s State of Podcast Marketing Report suggests that podcasters have the most success when they’re consistent on three platforms.
As you can see from the graph above, three platforms was the optimum number particularly amongst those podcasters who earned a higher income through their podcasts. This supports this idea that limiting your strategy to three platforms is more lucrative than trying to be on every and all channels. - Collaborate with other podcasters. Episode swaps and social media cross-promotion work really well in podcasting. This community is unique in how supportive hosts are of other hosts in the same niche. Take advantage of this by regularly engaging with other podcasters and promoting each others’ shows to reach new audiences.
- Encourage guests to promote their appearance on your show on their social media. Make it easy for guests to do so by creating flyers and other marketing collateral and sending them in advance.
These are just a few of the strategies that indies themselves are having success with right now. And if you’re keen to dig into more real-world case studies, this episode of Podcraft speaks to nine of the best indie podcast creators around about their own social media usage, success stories, and biggest takeaways.
