What's the best link to share your podcast? Listen to find out.
Thank you for joining me for the Audacity to Podcast. I'm Daniel J. Lewis.
Whether you're a guest on someone else's podcast, you're promoting your latest episode
on social networks, or you're making marketing materials for your podcast, you might be wondering
Which link should you share for your podcast?
Should it be the episode webpage, the website homepage, your Apple Podcast link, your Spotify
link, some other podcast app link?
Should you tell them to go find your podcast in their favorite podcast app?
Should you send them to your RSS feed?
Should you send them to a YouTube video or a YouTube channel or a third-party landing
page like followthepodcast.com or Linktree?
And these are just some of the options you might be considering.
To address this properly, you first need to decide whether to share your whole podcast
or only a specific episode.
So that's how I'll divide this episode to discuss and share some ideas with you is sharing
your whole podcast and sharing your specific episode.
Follow along in the show notes inside of your app, a tap or swipe away, or go to theaudacity2podcast.com/bestlink.
I'd also really appreciate it if you find this episode helpful, please share it with
someone else.
Whether you see that they ask this question in social media groups, you can post this
as the answer, or you just want to share this episode out on your Twitter, Facebook, or
anything like that.
I'd really appreciate it.
Those share links and the URL to share are at theaudacity2podcast.com/bestlink.
So first, your overall podcast.
Share your podcast link for general promotion to new audiences.
By general promotion, I mean when you're telling someone to follow your podcast and
you're not promoting a specific episode.
For example, when you get to mention your podcast on another podcast if you're not
already talking about the same thing as one of your episodes.
It might be in your digital and print marketing materials like business cards, banners, ads,
swag and such, or when you're making any other kind of general promotion for your show as a whole.
Not for a specific episode, but the whole show, your podcast. The podcast is the whole thing with
many episodes and then episodes are the individual episodes. So I suggest the following guidelines
for the scenarios you'll typically face. Number one, promote your website when you need simplicity.
Your podcast needs its own domain. I've done an episode previously about why your podcast needs
its own domain and how to use that most effectively so get that link in the notes for this episode,
a tap or swipe away, or at theaudacitypodcast.com/bestlink. So when you have your own
domain, make sure it's branded to your podcast and points to a page that has multiple follow
options. Most importantly, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, something popular for Android like
Google Podcasts or subscribe on Android.com and your RSS feed URL. It would be best for the page
to detect the person's type of device and automatically show or hide links appropriately.
For example, hiding Apple Podcasts from Android devices, since there's no Apple Podcasts app for
Android. At least not yet. And I still, I still keep holding out hope. I really think it's coming.
Maybe this year? I'm not putting any money on it like James Cridland does, but I keep thinking
this is going to be the year we'll have Apple Podcasts for Android. But we don't yet. So you
shouldn't show Apple Podcasts links to Android users, but instead show Google Podcasts or
subscribe on Android or something like that that works on Android devices. And then doing the
converse for Apple devices where you're showing Apple Podcasts but hiding the Android only options.
Doing this does require some complicated back-end code so the easiest solution I recommend for you
is the followthepodcast.com page you get when you track your podcast with the My Podcast
Review service that I created for you. Just go to mypodcastreviews.com to sign up or go
to followthepodcast.com to see how that specific feature works. And one of the things that
you'll especially want to look at there, and I also put the image here in the notes for
this episode, is a little animation that I show where you can see how the page would
look differently on different kinds of devices and how it hides or shows certain icons.
And it even renames one of the icons.
Like the Apple Podcasts button is renamed to iTunes on Windows because it is still iTunes
on Windows unfortunately.
And when that's updated to be Apple Podcasts on Windows then that page will switch to say
Apple Podcasts on Windows and eventually same thing for Android.
But you can check that out and see how some of the icons show or hide depending on what
kind of device is looking at it.
can see also on the page followthepodcast.com you can see what options show for what devices.
So you can build that kind of thing yourself or use followthepodcast.com which is included
with my podcast reviews. You don't have to pay extra to get that feature it's just included for
every podcast you track. Check it out, sign up, there's a free trial mypodcastreviews.com.
Now if possible, don't actually link to your RSS feed if you display a plain RSS option,
which I think is still a pretty good option. But linking to it might be a little confusing.
Some people might know to right click in order to copy the link, but how do you do that easily on a
mobile device? Many people don't know that you can tap to hold to copy a URL and some browsers
might not even allow that. So instead, consider displaying the feed URL or, even better, make
the link automatically copy the URL to their clipboard when they tap or click the link.
Now you can get that on the followthepodcast.com page. So if you want to see an example of
that, go to my own page, followthepodcast.com/audacity, and when you're on that page below the icons
there's a link that says "Or click here to copy the feed URL". When you tap or click
on that you'll see a little thing will just appear next to it to say copied. Now go anywhere else and
paste. And you'll see that it pastes my podcast RSS feed URL instead of one of the other links,
or instead of opening anything. So I can easily then paste that into another podcast app. So that's
something that you could do for your potential audience to make it easier for them to manually
subscribe if they prefer that manual subscription option, which I think is still good to include.
Whether you create this multi-option page for yourself or let another service create it for you,
this is the single page you share when you need a simple call to action. Like when you're a guest
on another podcast or on your marketing materials. That could be a typed domain or a QR code and it
could be in conversations when you're somewhere and you say "yeah check out my podcast at
something something something dot com" and similar context to that. It's essentially
Go here to listen. Then you're delegating the details and options to the next step instead
of giving them all in that initial call to action. You just say, "Go here," and then when
they go there, then they get their additional options and instructions and anything else that's
relevant. So promote your website when you need simplicity. Number two, promote multiple links
when the person has the mental and visual space to choose. When people visit your podcast landing
page like I described in the previous point, they have the margin to consider their options
and tap or click on what's best for them. You don't want to overwhelm them with options,
which is why it's important to show only the options that work on their devices, like
you get with the follow the podcast.com feature from my podcast reviews. And there are contexts
where you can promote those multiple options instead of only a single page. For example,
your website home page. You don't have to have only a single button. You could try it. Maybe
that pops up with multiple options. But then that pop-up needs to have multiple options. It could
also be on your episode web pages where you have multiple subscribe and follow options there. In
your email newsletter, that's a good place where you can say if you're on Android click this, if
you're on iOS click that, or if you prefer other apps click this, something like that. It could
even be on social network posts. Each of these places might give you enough space to include
multiple links with their appropriate labels.
As an example of what I mean for that, and you might want to look at the show notes for
this to read it and see it, but I'll read it to you.
Here's an example tweet that I might post.
Learn how to start and grow your own podcast by following my podcast, The Audacity to Podcast.
And then I have a list.
Apple Podcasts colon, the link.
Spotify colon, the link.
Google Podcasts colon, the link.
More Options colon, then it's my follow the podcast dot com link.
This message is still short enough to fit in a tweet. Just remember that some
platforms like Facebook might embed a widget or a card for the first URL as a
sort of preview for it. That's great for single URL posts but it could be
confusing for multi URL posts like this. So if that happens, after you publish, you
can usually click a "remove the preview" option or something like that from the
post so then there is no preview or embedded link or anything like that with the post.
It's just your links inside of your message.
And number three, rotate links in short-lived contexts.
If you post often on social networks with short-lived messages such as Twitter, then
you could consider promoting each major platform separately.
This also increases your chances that the platform will reshare your promotion because
Because they like promoting things that promote themselves, not their competitors.
Here's a sample template that you could use for your own posts.
Start with "benefit" by following my podcast, podcast name, on podcast app with your device.
And then the app link.
So for example, with the Audacity to Podcast, I might say, "Learn how to start and grow
your own podcast by following my podcast, the Audacity to Podcast, on Apple Podcasts."
And that's an @ mention right there, so @ApplePodcasts with your iPhone and then it's my Apple Podcast
link.
Now note that I lead with the benefit, not with "Are you on an iPhone?" or not with
"Looking for a new podcast?" or "Follow my podcast."
No, lead with the benefit.
If you post a message like this, even if someone without an Apple device sees that message,
they can still see the benefit your podcast provides, especially if you lead with the
benefit in your post.
And they can copy the title of your podcast to search their own podcast app.
Yeah, it's not all that great, but the other thing they might do is they simply reply to
your post asking for a link for their preferred app.
And then you can reply to them and give that specific link.
Just please don't tell them, "Oh yeah, find me in that app.
Here's the title."
No, you find that link.
If you don't have that link handy, find it for them and give it to them so you're providing
that value and engaging them.
I suggest you post links like this no more than once or twice a day, but even less if
you're not already posting multiple other non-linking messages every day.
You could use a publishing tool like Meet Edgar to schedule and repost these messages
at random times so you don't always end up promoting the same thing at the same time
on the same day of every week.
Like "Oh Tuesday is Apple Podcast Day".
No, it doesn't have to be Apple Podcast Day.
Maybe it's Apple Podcast Day this week and next week it's Google Podcasts and the week
after that it's Spotify and after that it's something else.
And it might be on different days of the week.
You can even mix this in with your other messages that I talked about in number two that promote
your top platforms.
So you have your messages where it's containing four different links and then you have the
other messages that focus on one particular link during the week at different times of
the week.
So that's for your top level podcast promotion.
When you're promoting your podcast as a whole, general promotion to new audiences.
For episode specific promotion, I recommend you share your episode webpage.
When you want to encourage listening to or watching a specific episode, then promote
that episode's own link.
the best link to promote is your episode's webpage with its own embedded episode player
that will work on anyone's device. Computer, mobile device, android, iphone, anything.
Even Linux. They'll go to your website and they can press play. Visit website, press
play. That's what your calls to action really need to be as simple as that. Visit website,
press play. And then if you have high quality show notes or an article on that same webpage,
The visitor can potentially even get the information they want from you and that's the important
part, not how they get it, but where they get it from.
You want them to get that information from you.
They can get it more quickly when it's there in writing or they could be further convinced
on the value of your episode and convinced to listen to the episode based on what they
see just glancing through the content in its written form.
In most internet contexts, the length and branding of the URL don't actually matter
anymore because it's usually automatically shortened or even hidden.
But in spoken contexts, like if you're a guest on another podcast to talk about the
same topic you covered in a past episode, I recommend having a keyword-based redirect
on your own domain.
For example, if you had me on your podcast to talk about this very subject and my episode
provides additional relevant value beyond our conversation, then I might say, "I covered
this in a lot more detail in my episode about it at theaudacitytopodcast.com/bestlink."
By the way, that is the link for this episode.
So please go there if you want to read and see some of these things that I've shown and
you want to share this episode out with anyone else.
So sharing your episode is actually easier than sharing your top-level podcast because
All you need to do is send them to your webpage for that episode.
And I do highly recommend, primarily for this reason, that every episode of yours have its
own webpage on your own website that gives you a link that you can then share whenever
you want to promote that specific episode.
Is there a better way?
Well yes, there is.
Coming soon.
Podcasting 2.0 will of course provide a better method for this.
In the Podcasting 2.0 project, we're working on a new style of follow links called FastFollow.
This would allow a Podcasting 2.0 podcast app to use your camera to scan a QR code or
maybe even a plain text URL on a page and jump straight to that podcast inside the same
app and without leaving the app.
You might have experienced this same kind of thing at conferences, like Podcast Movement
does this, where people have QR codes on their badges. If you scan the QR code with your
normal camera app on your phone, it probably opens your browser to a page about that person.
But if you scan the QR code with the conference app, it either takes you directly to his or
her profile inside the app, or it might instantly connect you with each other, make you friends
with each other, put you on each other's contacts list, or anything like that, or share
your contact information with each other.
That's brilliant!
And that's the same kind of fast simplicity we're bringing to podcast follow links.
You would scan a URL or a QR code with your podcast app and then you'd be taken straight
to that podcast inside of your app without ever leaving your app and all you'd have
to do is tap follow from there.
Wouldn't that be great?
Scan a QR code, tap follow.
Make it that super easy.
That's so fast for following a podcast.
That's why it's called FastFollow.
Now FastFollow is still under development and I'm advocating for some ways to make it
so easy that you wouldn't have to regenerate any QR codes or update any web pages or anything
like that.
There could be something in the URL so you could generate a QR code off the URL with
a special code that's in the URL itself.
Or what I'm advocating for is some other options that you can include on the web page or in
some of the back end code with a plugin or maybe a service would already do this that
would do the same kind of thing without actually having to change the URL, but that's still
under development.
And I'm hoping that that will be in the next phase or so of Podcasting 2.0.
Take a deep breath.
If you're overwhelmed, here's what you need to do, and it's simple.
I understand, yes, this can be daunting.
So many options, so many things to consider, maybe some potential back-end technological
things that might be confusing, might not even be an option for you on your website.
That's why I made this simple for you.
With the followthepodcast.com feature you get included when you track your podcast social
proof with My Podcast Reviews.
So go to mypodcastreviews.com, sign up for the free trial if you're not already a member,
and you get a clean and simple page that smartly shows and hides options depending on your
visitor's device.
Plus you can customize the URL so it's easily speakable.
For example, I can say "follow the podcast" to get every episode automatically through
"followthepodcast.com/audacity". Note that's really speakable. "Follow the podcast" at
"followthepodcast.com/" and then it's what comes after the slash that you can
customize. And it doesn't matter capitalization or anything like that. You
can put numbers in it if you need to or want to. But it makes it really easy or
you can redirect to that like I have the "audacity2podcast.com/follow"
redirects to "followthepodcast.com/audacity". And these pages will
even support fast follow when that podcasting 2.0 standard is finalized. So I
really really recommend that you try this out even if this is all that you
use my podcast reviews for is to get these pages for your podcast. The follow
the podcast.com page for your podcast. There's even a love the podcast.com page
which focuses on ratings and reviews but here we're talking about following. So
you can get that and that alone I think is worth it for you. You can track
multiple podcasts with the service, try it out. There's a free trial for you over at
mypodcastreviews.com and I've got the link to that in the notes for this episode.
And speaking of the notes for this episode, I mentioned a few things that I think you
might want to see and especially to copy, like the templates for different messages
that you could post on social networks and such. So I highly recommend that you go to
theaudacitytopodcast.com/bestlink to get that information, review this. That's also where
you can go to share this episode with anyone else you think might benefit from this.
If you see anyone asking in a Facebook group or anything like that, "Hey, what episode
link or what link should I even share at all when I'm promoting my podcast?"
You can send them to theaudacitytopodcast.com/bestlink.
Now that I've given you some of the guts and taught you some of the tools, it's time
for you to go start and grow your own podcast for passion and profit.
I'm Daniel J. Lewis from theaudacitytopodcast.com.
Thanks for listening.
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