Top 3 Important Instagram Posts for Your Podcast Launch
Don’t launch your podcast without scheduling these 3 promotional posts in your social media content calendar.
How would it feel to have 100 downloads of your first podcast episode? Pretty amazing, huh? Whether you have 500 Instagram followers or 10,000, it’s important to build up the hype to your podcast launch. Don’t keep it a secret! Tell us a story by showing the journey from idea to execution. Get your followers invested in the podcast creation process, so that when it’s time to promote your podcast on Instagram, they already care and want to support you. This is a great opportunity to show up on Instagram stories and show the “messy” side of being a creator!
Once you have your audience warmed up, it’s important to be strategic with the content you post. I’ve managed and directed the social media content for over 20 podcast launches, so I know what types of posts should be foundational to your launch content calendar. When planning out your podcast launch marketing, don’t forget to include these three posts:
01. Announce Your Podcast and Reveal the Cover Art
Once you have established a launch date and the cover art for your podcast ready, it’s time to hard-launch your podcast. You’ve been “soft-launching” the podcast in your Instagram stories, showing your followers a behind-the-scenes, real look at what it takes to create a podcast. Now, it’s time to show your baby off!
Here’s how to execute this post:
Work with your graphic designer to create 2-3 amazing cover art graphics that you love.
Post a carousel with those cover art graphics and ask your followers to vote on the cover art in the comments. Here’s an example of a caption to pair with the post: “I can’t decide which cover art to go with - I love them all! Comment 1, 2 or 3 and help me choose the official look of my podcast <3”
Don’t forget to include the launch date of your podcast and stick to it! Create a countdown sticker in Instagram stories to help remind your followers when it’s live.
02. Tease An Episode with an Audio Clip
This type of post is going to be foundational to continual promotion of your podcast on social media. An audio clip excerpt or, better yet if you have video of you recording the podcast, should be a weekly post in your content calendar going forward. For your teaser post, make sure it’s a clip that is attention-grabbing. Here are some examples of great teaser audio clips: a nugget of wisdom you said, a hype-worthy guest, a controversial opinion, a funny story or a vulnerable moment.
Here’s how to execute this post:
Pick one of the best 30-60 seconds of audio from the first 5 episodes.
If you have video of you recording that particular episode, then use that content for your reel.
If not, then stitch together these types of b-roll videos to create your reel:
Making your coffee
Your computer and sound equipment
Timelapse video of you recording a podcast
Add your audio clip to the b-roll. You may choose to add some instrumental background music from the Instagram reel editor.
Make sure your reel has captions on for SEO and accessibility purposes as well as grabbing the attention of followers who have their sound off.
In the caption, tell us how this audio clip relates to why you wanted to start your podcast, and remind your followers of the launch date. If your full podcast trailer is already available on platforms like Apple Podcasts and Spotify, remind them to subscribe where they listen to podcasts.
03. Host a Giveaway on Launch Day
The day is here! It’s time to launch your podcast and publish the first episode. First of all, congratulations. Second of all, it’s time to pay it back to your followers who have supported you throughout the process so far and will continue to do so. This type of post is super important to any podcast launch: hosting a giveaway.
Here’s how to execute this post:
Make sure the first or couple of first episodes of your podcast are live on podcast platforms.
Post your giveaway as a thank you to your followers and include these instructions:
Listen, subscribe and review the podcast.
Take a screenshot of the review and send to (youremail@youremail.com)
Get a bonus entry if you tag your friends in the comments below.
Important tip: make sure you comply with official Instagram promotion guidelines, which you can read here. You should always include a disclaimer on every giveaway post:
“US residents only. Giveaway is in no way endorsed or sponsored by Instagram, (and any other brands you may have included in the giveaway). Giveaway will be closed at [TIME] [DATE]. Winners will be announced [DATE].”
Creating and launching a podcast is hard, vulnerable, real work. So, don’t forget to put some strategy and effort into the marketing of your podcast. It deserves to be heard! So often I see podcasters pour their heart and soul into episodes and only post about the podcast every so often. If you have a podcast, make sure to promote your podcast on Instagram at least once a week so that your followers are staying up to date. With these three strategic posts, your podcast launch will be even more of a success.
