TikTok is one of the fastest-growing social media platforms available, and is a perfect partner for podcasts both audio and video. Yet, many brands don’t understand the platform as well as they do other social media channels, so marketing on the channel is often not optimized.
In this episode, we’ll share the best ways to promote a podcast on TikTok. We’ll include what content to publish, how to create the content, when to publish, and more.
Why Promote a Podcast on TikTok?
There are numerous advantages to promoting a podcast on TikTok. Here are some of those advantages.
Longevity of Content
Many social media platforms have content lifespans. Some of these can be relatively short, especially for those pieces of content that don’t receive attention from your audience. For example, Facebook posts tend to have a lifespan of one to three days, with content almost completely made irrelevant after this.
On X, a post’s lifespan can be as little as 10 minutes.
However, TikTok algorithms are designed differently. Content doesn’t particularly get less attention because it is older. Some content can receive very little attention for the first few months, or years, and then become very popular. Therefore, the content lifespan can be close to evergreen.
While this can benefit many brands, it’s also a concern.
Engagement is High
Engagement on TikTok is relatively high, approximately 10-11% of impressions will lead to an engagement. In contrast, Facebook has an engagement rate of approximately 0.03% to 0.72% and X’s engagement rate is approximately 0.89%.
Therefore, you can gain more interaction points to help you determine what is more important to your users and target audience. It can also help you spread more quickly and faster to new audiences and build a strong brand presence worldwide.
Sharing of Content is High
Platforms also share content vastly differently. Facebook, Instagram, and X for instance require either some form of connection between your brand and the audience or the user needs to actively search for something related to your post, like using a hashtag.
Sometimes you might get a suggestion for new content, groups, or pages. But the content is not normally shared so readily. Part of this is because these platforms want to encourage you to spend money to advertise your brand.
But for TikTok, content is shared more freely. There are several ways that the algorithm can share your content, through linking your content to similar content that users are consuming on the platform. So for instance, if you have a marketing podcast, if someone watches other marketing content, your videos will be promoted to them, for free as well.
Production Value can be Low
One of the keys to success on TikTok is being authentic. Therefore, the production value of the videos can be relatively low. You don’t need high-quality cameras or the best sounds unlike on other platforms like Spotify and YouTube.
While you don’t have to limit yourself to low-quality equipment it does mean you can take advantage of opportunities where you don’t have the equipment set up but might have a phone on you.
Therefore, you can add high-quality content with authentic content that can help you appeal to the wider audience on the platform.
Repurpose Content
Another effective way of building engagement on the platform is to repurpose content you’ve produced on other channels. By using clips and reels from Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, and X, you can build a content library of fantastic content that can advertise your podcast.
Repurposing content does have some issues on TikTok however. Many users on TikTok don’t like seeing content that has been used on other platforms. But when you utilize a range of content platforms, many have different audiences, so you might not run into this problem specifically.
Repurposing content allows you to reduce the costs of creating marketing strategies on the platform. It will also allow you to build a coherent strategy enabling people to engage with your brand at multiple touchpoints which can help with lead generation and sales.
General TikTok Statistics
Numerous TikTok statistics help you build a significantly stronger campaigner. Here are some of the statistics that you need to know.
TikTok has the Highest Daily Usage
TikTok has one of the highest daily usage rates of all social media platforms. Users typically spend about 62 minutes per day on their platform, and that is the next best platform. In contrast, TikTok has an average usage of more than 90 minutes per day.
In the US, users spend less time on YouTube than on TikTok. Therefore, you can spend a long time gaining new followers and potential listeners through short-form content like podcast clips.
A Third of Users are Between 25 and 34
While TikTok is often associated with the younger generations, the largest user group is between 25 and 34, and therefore are those who are influential in organizations and perhaps decision makers in the business.
And those older than 45 still make up a reasonable percentage of users on the platform. And this is one of the fastest-growing audience groups on the platform.
90% of TikTok Users Access the App Daily
Retention is key for many parts of marketing, and TikTok seems to have achieved this almost completely. Nine out of every ten users return to the social media app daily, compared to other social media platforms, this is significantly higher. Facebook, the next best, only achieves 68% of users return daily.
Therefore, if you’re getting followers on TikTok, you’re engaging with some of the most engaged followers.
How to Use TikTok to Promote Your Podcast
Here are some suggestions about how you can use TikTok to promote your podcast.
Use Clips
The first thing that you need to do is to include clips in the content schedule. Clips are parts of your podcast that give your audience an idea of what they can expect from your shows. You might want to include something that has a cliffhanger, so you encourage the viewers to watch the rest of the episode on YouTube or Spotify.
The number of clips you use per episode will depend on the content produced, as well as the length of the episode. If you have a long episode, you can pull numerous clips from the episode and share those across a longer period.
In contrast, when you have shorter episodes, the number of clips you can have will be much lower.
Add Original Content
You don’t just want to add content that can be found in episodes. You want to create short clips from content they can’t find on other platforms. Audiences on the platform prefer content original to TikTok and will engage more with that content.
This can add some additional work to your marketing schedule, but the results from TikTok can be worthwhile.
And remember that you don’t need to upload every day either. You might only want three or four videos weekly to get the best impact from the content.
Add Subtitles
More than half the TikTok user group will watch videos on their phone or tablet without the sound. Therefore, you want to add subtitles to your videos to ensure they know what’s being said.
Try to make sure, if you have more than one person talking, that you differentiate who is talking.
Consider the Length of the Clips
Research has shown that clips over 46 seconds long perform best on TikTok. But you don’t want to have videos which are too long. Anything over a minute and you’ll have people swiping off your videos and onto the next brand.
Therefore, try to aim for about 50 seconds. Then you’ll get more engagements such as comments, favorites, and shares.
And if you do have a long clip, you might want to split it into two or three parts, to ensure that you’re getting your clip under that hour, while at the same time adding in useful content. Splitting a longer clip into shorter ones can help build engagement as people try to find the other parts.
Add Music
If you’re creating a slideshow of images, then add some music to your slideshow. Music can add emotional elements to your content and make it more engaging. However, it will not be heard by everyone.
Remember that in a slideshow add text to give context to the images and improve the engagement chance with the audience.
Publish at the Right Times
While the content on the platform remains active for years, the content you publish still needs to be published at the right time. There are lots of studies that have demonstrated a wide variance of when the best time to publish content on the platform will be. That is because it depends on what measurements are being used.
For example, some studies have looked at when the post was published to get the most engagement, whereas other studies have looked at when the most engagement has happened on the platform.
And what works for one group of content creators might not be so good for others. It depends on your audience and what you want to publish. Therefore, experimentation is key to the success of TikTok.
To start with, here are what are commonly suggested as the best times to publish on the platform:
- Tuesday between 4pm and 6pm
- Wednesday between 9am and 11am
- Thursday between 9am and 11am and 2pm and 6pm
- Friday between 4pm and 6pm
However, you can start using these and then adjust the timings to get the best engagement is a good first start.
Add a TikTok Account to Your Website
To ensure that you are getting the maximum number of views of your content, you should consider adding some form of connection between your website and your TikTok account. You could link your profile. Or you could add a TikTok feed.
This allows those who are visiting your website to connect with you on other platforms, allowing you to build a following and also improve engagement points. Considering that it takes approximately 5 to 15 engagements before a purchase, getting them on TikTok can help you build those touchpoints.
Be Authentic
Don’t forget to be authentic in your content. Don’t try to add too much planned content as audiences on the platform prefer more authentic and genuine content they can trust.
Therefore, if there is a chance to use outtakes from episodes or content that includes small mistakes, then do so. It will make your content more desirable and highly engaged.
FAQs
Is TikTok suitable for business podcast promotion?
TikTok has a growing user base that includes business decision-makers. Therefore, promoting on the platform is becoming more important.
Should I advertise on TikTok?
TikTok doesn’t align itself with Facebook’s and other platform’s use of sponsored content. Your content can be just as popular using hashtags and good quality.
Can I reuse content from other platforms on TikTok?
While you can reuse content from other platforms on TikTok, that doesn’t mean it is a good idea. Users on TikTok prefer to have fresh content on the platform, so creating unique content can benefit you more.
Final Word: How to Promote a Podcast on TikTok
Above are the tips on how to promote a podcast on TikTok. Using the platform, you can build a significantly strong profile on the social media app and gain a stronger following on your podcast show. Then you can build a strong lead generation process. But don’t rely on TikTok, you should be using other marketing methods such as SEO, other social media, and email marketing.
Produce Your Podcast is a full-service podcast production, editing, and marketing agency specializing in helping brands launch, grow, and monetize successful podcasts that impact their bottom line. With 30+ years of experience in broadcasting and business development brought to every project we work on, our team of experts is a reliable partner to help you achieve your goals with your show.
Click here to schedule a conversation with our team today and let’s bring your show to life!
