Starting a podcast involves thoughtful planning and strategic execution. Here’s a guide to ensure a successful launch, setting the stage for audience growth from day one.
Checklist of What You Need to Launch a SHOW
A show requires your time, strategic thinking, and thorough planning. Launching a podcast or vlog involves multiple components, so taking the time to prepare is essential. Let’s dive into the six crucial elements you need before releasing your inaugural episode,
- Submit your shows information to every major podcast directory (We make this easy)
- Have at least 3 episodes finalized and uploaded to your podcast hosting provider
- Update your podcast’s website to reflect the show
- Create a pre-launch teaser to generate buzz in social media
- Plan a launch strategy across nultiple social media outlets
- Prepare to continue to publish new content consistently
Submit your SHOWS information to every major directory
Once you have your showconfigured and your hosting account is set up, it’s important to submit your show to all of the important directories. We provide this service in house.
Timing is important here as every listening platform takes a few days to approve your show. So if you want to launch on a Friday, submit your show across each directory on Tuesday morning. That will give them enough time to review then send the approval email and link for the community to see your work.
Have at least 3 episodes finalized
So how many episodes should I launch with? While there are no right answers here, we generally recommend starting with at least three.
The main goal here is to give your audience a good, representative sample of your content so they know what to expect from the show. Work means balancing between publishing enough content to give your audience a taste of what’s to come, but don’t overwhelm them with an enormous amount of episodes up front. You want to give them just enough that they want more.
Publishing 10 episodes on the first day, for example, would likely mean that 5+ of them would never be heard. Best to save those extra episodes for your regular publishing schedule in the future.
Update your podcast’s website (critical)
Acting as a “home base” for your show, setting up a dedicated show website is crucial to the success of your entire future of your show. The biggest benefit is simple, this will become a central place holder where your audience can listen to new episodes, find show notes and transcriptions, and learn more about your brand. Giving them what they want so they keep coming bakc for more content.
A shiw website is important because it also helps make your show more discoverable. By using SEO strategies, potential listeners will see your podcast episodes in their results as they search for terms related to the show, in turn growing your audience.
Create a pre-launch teaser to generate A buzz
Creating a buzz before the official launch can go a LONG WAY so this step shouldn’t be skipped, EVER. For a more manual approach, lean on your network and ask them to post about the show across their social channels or to leave initial reviews for your episodes. Building this core bit of momentum can be the social proof others need to give your show a chance when you officially roll out your show.
Plan out a launch strategy
Before you launch, it’s important to have a strategy in place to promote your show. Simply uploading to your host isn’t enough these days. You need a multi-channel approach to generate a buzz and drive people to your website or your show’s listing on their favorite show directory. Furthermore, you should tailor your promotions to fit each platform (e.g., colorful images work best on Instagram, but it’s better to go with a text-based promotion too within your newsletter.) Consider these main avenues to launch with a splash, after all, you did all that work for a reason.
Develop a social media plan
No two shows are the same so your specific social media strategy should meet your audience where they already are. Unless you have a massive brand with unlimited resources, get strategic about choosing which social media channels will best generate the most awareness for your show.
Summary
We hoope this helps you get started. It doe snot have to be difficult, however, it takes work, time and consistency in order to be a success. There are other ways to launch and maintain a show, we hope to provide more ideas and strategies in the future posts. For now, we end with this: Whether your content is video or audio. LUNATIC Digital has the capabilities to produce what you need when you need it. We continually invest in technology and the opportunities, including an online studio and editing suite for video and audio shows. Remember one last final thought,. HAVE FUN!
