A podcaster should strive to get their guests to help promote the episode they are on. Promoting the interview not only helps you and your guest build an audience together but also brings new listeners into your network. This article will provide tips on encouraging guests of all different levels of experience with podcasting to do their part for promotion.
It's not the guest's responsibility to share your episode
You know the old saying, “you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make them drink.” Guests for your podcast episodes are invaluable. They share their expertise which brings additional credibility to your show. Unfortunately, most of them may not share your episode when it is released, which is frustrating for the podcast host.
It is a good rule of thumb never to expect a guest to share the episode. Your responsibility as a host is to market your show. It is a “cherry on top” moment when the guest is gracious to promote your interview with their network.
Now that we have that out of the way, here are some suggestions that may encourage and help persuade your interview guests actually to help promote their episode.
Sincere Appreciation Goes A Long Way
When it comes to the social programming landscape, the saying “what goes around comes around” is purely factual. Our gratitude for those helping us in any way spurs them to do more favors for us or pay it forward—and research even proves this when you express your gratitude to someone, and they're likely to help again.
One of the easiest and most effective ways to convince your interview guests that you care is to send a personalized handwritten thank you card.
You'll be surprised at how much a good old-fashioned letter can do for your podcast. It's rare these days, but you'll potentially make a new friend for life if you send a handwritten thank you letter in the mail to someone who's agreed to be on your show.
Politely Ask Your Guests To Share Their Episode
You can always politely ask your guests to share their interviews. A respectful and discreet way to do this is to consider creating an actual agreement as a part of being a guest on the podcast. You can do this using a brief google form. The prospective guest agrees to share the episode at least once on their networks.
Some podcasters have adapted this strategy after dealing with several PM firms that would repeatedly send guests, but neither the firm nor the talent shared the interview.
One way to treat this is only to require a guest to share if they approach you to be on your podcast. If you've invited the guest, you shouldn't need them to share the episode.
Create Digital and Shareable Assets
When booking the interview, ask if they need images or audio clips to promote the episode.
You can then upload the audio/video, audiograms, social media captioned videos, or the episode cover photo and YouTube thumbnail to them using Dropbox or Google Drive so the guests can market the episode how they want.
Make Your Interview Exceptional
Interviewing guests can be challenging if you don't have a game plan. To draw out their best interview responses, do your research. Listen to their past interviews and find talking points that other podcast hosts may have skipped over.
Review the guest's social media accounts. You may find some great questions based on their social posts. The guest may have visited a unique place, share a funny story, or posted something that gives you great insight into what they enjoy or makes them special. You can make notes and incorporate these ideas into your questions for the interview.
Has your guest written a new book? Does the book have reviews on Amazon? Read the reviews if you did not have time to read the book. You may find a comment from a positive review that leads to an intelligent question or exciting story during the interview.
It's great when a guest makes comments such as “no one has ever asked me this” or “I can tell that you did your homework.” The guest can tell if you are genuinely interested in what they have to share or if you are attempting to cash in on their skill or notoriety.
A prepared interview will immediately allow you to stand out and increase the likelihood that the guest will share the episode because it makes them look good.
Tactful Tagging on Social Media Posts
Please use this tactic with great care. Suppose you prepared for the interview, gave sincere and genuine appreciation after the interview, and shared digital assets. In that case, you will be in a decent position to tag the guest in social media posts.
One example of a way to leverage this is to tag your guest in an Instagram story. The guest will likely repost the story and put a swipe up to allow their followers to check out the interview.
You can tag your guest in the tweets. You may receive a retweet. The key is to be thoughtful toward your guest and only tag their name in a social media post if you already have a good rapport with them.
There’s nothing more frustrating than having a great interview with a brilliant guest and then not getting them on social media platforms to help promote the episode.
There are several ways that podcasters can work with their guests to promote the episode they’re on. From creating shareable digital assets to tactful tagging and sincerely appreciating your guest, there are many tools at your disposal for ensuring you get the most out of your interviewee efforts.
What is working for you? Please let us know.
Additional Resources
How to Get Guests to Share Your Podcast Episodes on Social Media
A Step-by-Step Guide to Getting Guests to Share Your Podcast
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