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You’ve got podcasting questions, and Traci Long DeForge has answers. Traci is the founder of Produce Your Podcast and on the PBJ Editorial Board. This week Traci answers your questions about updating your show description, podcast categories and promoting on Pinterest.
PBJ: Is there a time when you would need to update your show description? Traci: Yes! Just like you update your bio on social media or your about page on your website, you also want to review and update your show description from time to time. Your podcast content and direction evolves as your show grows. Evaluate your current show description through the lens of the types of guests you’ve interviewed and sprinkle some of the more high profile names into the text as an added search enhancement. Review the titles of your episodes and incorporate some of the titles to pique curiosity. You always want to make sure the description of your show is keyword optimized and that the keywords you initially chose are still relevant to the content you are releasing today. Those first 150-250 words are the most critical since that’s what people are going to see first when they look at your show on the platforms but you can use up to 4,000 characters, so you take advantage of all those characters by filling your description with these suggestions to increase your chances of people finding you!
PBJ: Is Pinterest a good place to promote your podcast? Traci: Pinterest is the 3rd largest search engine in the world after Google and YouTube. Their users are primarily female and are very active and engaged looking for inspiration, ideas and new products and services. Does your podcast speak to this audience? If yes, this is a place to reach them. You can do this by posting the graphic episode tiles from your latest release, graphic quote tiles or even create an infographic from content within an episode and source it back to your podcast. Once these posts get shared to other boards you will begin to see an increase in your downloads or your website traffic depending on where you link them. If you have a branded podcast with a specific niche like Mompreneurs or Entrepreneurial Coaching, you can set up Pinterest Boards targeting these audiences. For example, Best MompreneurPodcasts or Best Podcasts for Business Coaches. Frequently update them by posting your episodes to the boards along with other fan favorites in the niche.
PBJ: Should I set my podcast up in more than one category? Traci: You can choose up to three categories in the show settings for your podcast. Make sure you take advantage of using all three when setting up your show. It never hurts to take a look at how your show is currently set up after you’ve been podcasting a while in case your show has changed direction or you receive feedback that your show is hard to find in search. Log into the platform where you host your podcast. Go to show settings, and then look at what categories you’ve chosen or can select. Some categories are more saturated than other categories so be sure to review all your options. You could be a bigger fish in one of the smaller categories vs trying to compete in the categories with a higher volume of shows. You do want to choose the one that is the most aligned with what you’re doing, but also take a look at the sub-categories to go deeper into your show’s topic. For example, If you host a podcast focused on marriage counseling, you could choose Society & Culture and the sub category Relationships. But, this category has the second largest number of podcast episodes so for your 2nd and 3rd choice you might want to go with Kids and Family sub category Parenting and Health & Wellness sub category Sexuality. These categories have far fewer episodes so your podcast has a bigger opportunity of standing out. You should utilize as many of these categories and subcategories as you can to help your show’s SEO search ability. Be open to changing them around and see if you increase your audience over time.