[400] How to build a large audience for your blog, vlog or podcast

Publishing regular content on a blog, vlog or podcast can be a great way to build your online audience. My podcast The Janet Murray Show gets around 35k downloads per month, consistently ranks top of the UK podcast charts for marketing and is the biggest driver for leads and sales in my business. Which is why I've invested a huge amount of time and resources into building my podcast audience since I launched in 2015. But just having a blog, vlog/Youtube channel or podcast isn't enough. People won't automatically find your content, just because it's out there. You need to invest time and resources building an audience for that content. And while the platforms might be different, the audience-building strategies will be the same - regardless you have a blog, Youtube channel, Facebook Live Show or podcast. Which is why, in my 400th episode of the podcast I want to share my top audience building strategies with you. {Click on the player above to listen to the podcast episode and/or read on for a detailed overview. Scroll down to the bottom to read the show notes including all the links mentioned in this episode} 1. Consistency Show up regularly Make a public commitment Become part of peoples' routine Promotion strategy Promote every episode more than you think It sounds obvious, but showing up regularly is key. I launched my podcast The Janet Murray Show back in 2015 and I've never missed an episode. I started out publishing a new episode every Friday. For a few years I published two episodes a week (one solo show midweek and one interview episode first thing on a Friday). So on the odd occasion my podcast has gone live later than usual, people have actually messaged me to ask me where it is. If you struggle with consistency, I'd recommend making a public commitment to posting your new episode/post on a particular date/time e.g. Friday. This gives you accountability (if you've promised something publicly, it's much harder not to do it). It also helps get your audience familiar with your publishing schedule, which means consuming your content can become part of their routine. For example, my podcast listeners often tell me they listen to the latest episode of my podcast on the school run, when they're cleaning their house on a Saturday or out for a run on a Sunday morning. Becoming part of peoples' routine is a sign you're building an engaged and loyal audience. Consistency also matters when it comes to the promotion of your blog/vlog or podcast. Most content creators I know vastly underpromote their content. They publish a new episode/post, make a few 'announcement' posts about it on social media, then move onto their next piece of content. If you want to build an audience for your blog/vlog/podcast, you need to treat every new post/episode as a launch, which means creating a promotion strategy that you rinse and repeat every time (and add to as time goes on). For example, when my podcast goes live on a Friday I email my list, create some kind of announcement on my Facebook messenger and do an Instagram Story. This is followed up with multiple pieces of social media content across the week. We also regularly promote episodes from my back catalogue. This means finding different ways to talk about the same episode (more on that later). While there is always more you can do (there's still lots more I could do to promote each episode) a good rule of thumb is this: promote each episode way more than you feel comfortable with and you'll probably have it about right. 2. Collaboration Invite people onto your podcast, FB Live, Youtube, guest blogs Don't be fooled about the big cheese - smaller often better Get on other peoples' podcasts etc Speaking, guest teaching, press One of the quickest ways to build your own audience is to get in front of other peoples'. This is why inviting guests on your podcast, Facebook Live or Youtube show - or inviting people to guest blog on your website - can be a great way to build your audience. When you do this, they are likely to share that content with their own audience, which means people will want to find out more about you. It's often assumed that collaborating with people with bigger audiences than your own is the best strategy. Personally I've found that collaborating with people with smaller, engaged audiences can often be more effective than the big names in my industry. This is because people who already have a large audience may not have the time - or inclination - to share your podcast episode/Youtube interview. Whereas someone with a small, but engaged audience will share the heck out of your content - and do it with so much enthusiasm -you may find you get better results. Creating guest content for other peoples' platforms - those with similar audiences to yours - is another great way to build an audience for your own content. Here's how to pitch yourself as a podcast guest (these tips apply to pitching yourself for anything). Speaking at live events, teaching guest classes and taking part in virtual summits or webinars can be another great way to grow your audience. Although I would not recommend paying to be part of virtual summits - unless there is a very compelling reason to do so (and evidence that you will get a return on investment). Getting press coverage can be another great way to build your audience - as long as your call-to-action sends people to your blog/vlog or podcast (more on that later). 3. Conversation Post and flee Want to get people talking in public about your content Start conversations then give link Different angles Tagging Make time to engage One of the biggest mistakes I see bloggers, vloggers and podcasters making is what I refer to as 'post and flee' i.e. they post a few announcement posts about their blog/vlog or podcast on social media then and do nothing else until the next one comes out. Recommendations are powerful. Public recommendations are even more powerful. So, if you can generate public conversations about your content, people are much more likely to want to check it out. So instead of posting announcements about your latest blog, vlog or podcast, ask questions that relate to the topic of your podcast. For example, if I have a new podcast episode coming out on how to get more engagement on Instagram I will start by asking questions to pre-qualify people who might be interested in listening to that podcast e.g. how would you rate your engagement on Instagram, are you interested in learning strategies on how to increase your Instagram engagement. Then I will share the link with people who have demonstrated an interest in the topic. While that might seem like more work, it's more effective because you're getting that content into the hands of people who actually need it. And those people are far more likely to share. I might also post some polarising content - for example asking people if they believe the algorithm is to blame for poor engagement on Instagram or poor content. If you don't know what the algorithm is, by the way, it's the complicated - and super top secret - mathematical equation Facebook uses to determine how many people your content is shown to). Across the course of a week, I will find different ways to talk about that same piece of content - looking at different angles/subtopics in different formats e.g. audiograms, posts, memes, videos. Tagging people in - for example, people you've mentioned in your blog/vlog or podcast - can be another great way to get engagement. When you mention people, they're often happy to comment, like and share. Using a social media scheduler is fine, but if you don't make time to engage with your followers, your audience will not grow. 4. Grow your audience on social media You might not want to hear this, but the more followers you have on social media, the easier it will be to grow the audience for your blog, vlog or podcast. The more of the right followers that is. Which is why it's important to focus on growing your following - and your engagement - on at least one social media platform. You can join my Build Your Online Audience programme here 5. Give one call-to-action If you want to grow your audience for a blog/vlog or podcast, another powerful thing you can do is issue a single call-to-action. So every time you write a guest blog, do some guest teaching, are interviewed in a podcast, send people to your blog/vlog or podcast. Add a banner to all your social media channels, put it in the email signature on your emails - in your messenger bot. Everywhere if you can. [331] What it really takes to build an audience with John Lee Dumas (podcast) 6. Help people find your content If you're publishing a regular blog/vlog or podcast - with the aim of promoting your business - you should be creating content that solves your ideal customers' problems. Which means, if you've got your topics right, people will actually be looking for content on the topics you cover. Which means you need to make it as easy as possible for people to find your content. This means you need to use effective titles that use the words and...