🐦🪦Marketing in a Post-Twitter World

Twitter -- sorry um X -- isn't dead yet. However: yes it is.

Hi ✨ Wil from Tink here! Don’t you miss Twitter? Is that a desperately unhinged, borderline masochistic thing to say? Is “borderline” too generous even? I know X exists, but I think the writing on the wall is Helvetica clear: Twitter as it once was is now dead and buried, and using X to market just isn’t going to cut it the same way. (And if you read our last edition, you probably know . . . even Twitter wasn’t as great as it seemed.)

This week, let’s talk about how to market your podcast in a post-Twitter world. Don’t worry. It’s way less stressful than it initially sounds. I promise. In fact, I would argue our methods are more effective and less likely to get you doxxed than doing literally anything on Twitter ever was.

Make a good website RIGHT NOW

One of my biggest culture shocks moving from Phoenix, AZ to Central New York was how many restaurants here have zero presence online. Not even a website. The reason they can get away with that became clear with time: these restaurants have existed forever and the locals already know about them, and they have the benefit of brick-and-mortar locations folks can just wander into.

Dear podcaster, I hate to break it to you, but unless you’re cranking out cannolis so good the locals are saying they’re better than their nonna’s*, you do not have this luxury. You need a good website to thrive. You don’t have to pay a lot to have a solid website: a Wordpress, or even a Carrd, will do. You can buy a nice domain if you don’t want those sites’ branding in your url, but you don’t even really need to do that. You do need to have your podcast description, links to subscribe, links to your episodes, a contact page, and a cast/crew credit page.

Your automatic podcast website through your hosting platform is not enough unless you’ve done a massive amount of work making it good enough. Your website needs to be your central hub where listeners can find out where to listen and learn about your show.

Your podcast’s home can no longer be social media. You need a real website.

*If you are making these cannolis, please can I have one right now, thank you

Look at your demographics

If your audience isn’t on Twitter anymore, where are they? When was the last time you surveyed your audience for where they want updates and information about your podcast? This is a key moment to check back in and see where your community wants to hear from your team.

Some podcasts do extremely well in Facebook groups, and our own Lauren Passell has written about some of these communities for Lifehacker. Some podcasts find thriving communities on LinkedIn. If you’re in the fiction world, you probably already know that you must embrace being either a Tumblrina or Redditor. If you’re in the travel world, Insta is your most natural fit.

But you won’t know for sure where to flock until you actually ask. You might be surprised what you find. And like we said last week: there’s a very, very good chance that what works best might be something completely off of social media, like a newsletter.

Find your podcast friends

Did you miss our last Podcast Group Therapy? A shame — we talked all about finding your podcast friends. (Guess you better go sign up for the next sesh so you don’t miss tips like these 😉😏.) Your podcast friends are likeminded podcasts with likeminded audiences. The goal here is to find collaborative marketing opportunities between your two shows that turns your audience venn diagram into more of a single, unified circle. And hopefully you’ll be making long-lasting relationships with those colleagues!

Consistently, we see the best effective marketing using the following two methods:

1. Word of mouth

2. Collaborative marketing

People like recommendations from sources whose taste they already trust. A tweet won’t go nearly as far as someone’s favorite podcaster saying, “Hey, listen to this podcast. It’s really good. Here’s what I like about it, and here’s their trailer.”

Where are you marketing in this brave new world with such people in it? Should my therapist be more worried that I really miss Twitter? Let us know in the comments!

💛 Friendly reminder: Mark Steadman of Morning Creative is encouraging us to take a break from checking your numbers. 

⛅ From The Desk of Tink

I’m absolutely loving Josie’s Lonely Hearts Club by Good Story Guild, a new improv fiction podcast about a radio advice show’s slow rise to national fame. Listen to radio host Josie both at work with her colleague and in conversation with her callers: folks who are in some desperate need of romance advice. Desperate. This is the new listen for Valentine’s Day in my book.

✨ More Magic

• We looooove this installment of BlkPodNews by Faybeo’n Mickens on working with Def Jam. If you’re thinking about how to market to Gen Z, how to grow your audience without alienating your core fans, and how to break into a new and innovative scene, you absolutely cannot miss it.

👀A look ahead

Next week, Shreya returns to PMM to get real. Get vulnerable. Get earnest. Tune in for some convo about how powerful being a real human person can be in your marketing.

Until then, stay curious!

🦇Wil