On the blog we’ve covered all sorts of ways you can promote your podcast, from leveraging the popularity of Pinterest to exploring all the possibilities of video podcasting by branching out onto YouTube, as well as ways to use Instagram and the real OG, Facebook, to help grow your podcast audience. But there’s one social media platform we’ve yet to cover, which is, perhaps, the current ruler of them all. Yes, that’s right, I’m talking about TikTok! For those who have yet to get acquainted with the new member of the Social Media Club, TikTok is a video app where users create short-form video clips of up to one minute. TikTok also currently holds the title of fastest growing social media platform. But you don’t need to take my word for it! In August of this year, TikTok released detailed statistics for their user numbers for the very first time. By June 2020, within the US alone, there were over 91 monthly TikTok users! It also boasts the figure of 50 million daily US users! So the facts and figures definitely confirm that TikTok is a massive social platform. (I mean, 50 million users in the US alone on a daily basis? That’s huge!) Now, imagine if you could leverage even the smallest fraction of that in favor of your podcast? 

Many top brands and businesses, from Guess to Chipotle, have already signed up and are using all that TikTok has to offer. And perhaps you’ve seen the videos of dance challenges, fruit cutting techniques (yip, it’s a thing!), or you’re just there for all those adorable animal videos, but you’re just not sure how TikTok can help you grow your podcast audience? But even if you’ve never signed up or seen a single video, this post could still prove useful to you and your show. We’ve got some great pointers for using TikTok to promote your podcast and to help you find your feet on the platform. You’ll soon discover a whole new world of podcast promotion opportunities, and you’ll have heaps of fun along the way!

1. Share Podcast Clips

First and foremost, if you’re looking to use your TikTok account to help grow your podcast audience, you’re going to definitely want to share clips from your podcast on the platform. This could be snippets from past episodes or a sound bite or two of your next episode. If you film your podcast for your YouTube channel or video podcast, then you will already have all the video content you need to create some great TikTok clips. But even if you don’t film your podcast recordings, you can still effectively promote your podcast on TikTok. One of the best ways you can do this is to make use of audiograms. An audiogram is an audio clipping (i.e. of your upcoming podcast episode) that has been converted to an animated waveform and placed on top of an image. The end product is a video, which can then be shared on a variety of social media platforms. Programs such as Wavve and Headliner make it super easy to create eye-catching, attention-grabbing audiograms in a matter of minutes, which you can then share across the different social media platforms. And both Wavve and Headliner also enable you to create audiograms in the correct aspect ratio for TikTok, making it easy for you to share your podcast clips on the platform. 

Related read: How To Use Podcast Audiograms to Engage Your Audience on Social Media

2. Tease Some Sneak Peeks

Another great type of video you can share on TikTok as a way to grow your podcast audience is teasers. These could be some actual sneak peeks of your upcoming podcast episode, but you can also put your thinking cap on and get those creative juices flowing to come up with some totally unique, and perhaps, out of the box ideas for promoting your next podcast episode. You could take a look at the types of challenges that are currently trending on TikTok and see if you can align any as a way to tease your podcast. Dance challenges and lip-sync challenges are always popular, but there are so many different challenges to try or trends you can follow! Find a unique way to link it back to your podcast and you’ll not only have great content that people love to watch, but you’ll also be gaining new audience members who will no doubt become loyal listeners as they get hooked on all your podcast has to offer. 

3. Share Tips and Tricks

Whatever your area of expertise and whatever niche your podcast is aligned to, you will certainly have some tips and tricks you can share via TikTok. Whether these are directly related to your podcast or not, “hack” videos are hugely popular on the platform, and so delivering tips and tricks videos could be a great idea as a way to indirectly promote your podcast. These types of videos allow viewers to make a connection with you, but they have the added bonus of helping to establish you as an authority within your niche. As you share your expertise, your audience gets to know more about you, and that relationship between you and your audience will deepen. And by consistency and creatively sharing your expertise, you will cement your voice as that of an expert, which can also help draw listeners to your podcast as they trust the information that you share and are hungry for more of that valuable content that you provide via your podcast. 

4. Make Fun Behind-The-Scenes Videos with Your Guests

If your show is one that often features some great guests, get them in on the action and create some fun behind-the-scenes videos to share on TikTok. Whether it’s you and your guest getting ready to start the recording, or you’re grabbing a quick coffee at the local cafe before taking the recording studio by storm, “a day in the life” type of content is always a winner. We tend to really enjoy seeing content featuring those we admire, or those we consider “celebrities” out and about, having fun, or even doing everyday activities. And these types of videos help build expectation for all the actual podcast episode will have in store, as it shows that there is already great chemistry between you and your guest, which is a very important part of successful podcast episodes. Not to mention, by having your guest appear in your videos, you both benefit as you’re able to each leverage the other’s audience and so grow your own individual following.  

Bonus Tip: If your guest is up for it, try tackling one of the many TikTok challenges together. Not only will you have a whole lot of fun and laughs (which will be great for your chemistry on the podcast episode!) but taking part in and sharing popular TikTok challenges is a great way to get yourself noticed on the platform.

5. Share Your Podcast Recommendations

You could also use your TikTok to share your own personal podcast recommendations. These could be topic related, i.e. your top Harry Potter podcasts or your favorite feel-good listens, or they could just be some of your top shows you’re currently listening to. And while this content is not directly related to your specific podcast, it is content that is focused on the podcast industry as a whole. Use the filters, effects, and other features TikTok has on offer to create fun videos, and these types of videos are sure to be a real winner! Podcast recommendation videos are useful for podcast promotion as they can help convert your TikTok users to avid podcast listeners. And by attracting more viewers to the podcast medium, and by getting hooked on podcasts, you’ll be able to then get them hooked on your show. 

Related read: The Greatest Star Wars Podcasts in the Galaxy

6. Share Content Across Different Platforms

Now that you’re creating some awesome content for TikTok, be sure to share that content across your other social media platforms as well! This will let all those who already follow you on Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook know that you’re creating even more great content for them to enjoy, which will then give your following on TikTok a major boost. And because you’ll be sharing your podcast-related content on your TikTok account, your followers who follow your other accounts but perhaps have not yet been converted to podcast listeners yet will get a taste of all they are missing out on by not listening to your show.

Bonus Tip: Success on TikTok, as with most social media platforms, requires that you not only put out desirable content, but also that you are an active participant. In other words, you need to be an active follower in order to get followers. You should focus particularly on seeking out other podcast hosts, as well as those creators who share content related to your niche or who cater to your particular podcast audience.   

7. Vary Your Content

Last but certainly not least, you need to vary the content you share on TikTok. This is vital to experience overall success on the platform! While the aim of using TikTok is to promote your podcast, you need to make sure that your posts are not all about self-promotion. If your videos only focus on your podcast, viewers will very quickly tune out whenever they see your content. Remember, people are on TikTok to be entertained. And while that behind-the-scenes footage or those podcast sneak peeks are great, they’re not enough to hold the attention of your audience. So we highly recommend finding a balance between podcast-related posts and other fun content. Whether that is videos of your super cute dog, your attempts at whipping up some Dalgona coffee, or anything else that your audience will find entertaining, the aim is to create content that keeps your audience sticking around so that they’re there when you share all those great podcast-related videos. 

In Conclusion

So to sum it all up. TikTok is currently the fastest growing social media platform out there! It offers unique ways to connect with your listeners and share innovative content to help build your community and foster that relationship and connection between you and your audience. But because it offers such a different user experience, it can be a little intimidating when you’re first thinking of diving in. But the massive potential to experience some serious audience growth should be enough for you to consider adding the platform to the social media marketing strategies you already have in place. Depending on your audience demographic, being able to take advantage of all that TikTok has to offer means that it could be the place you need to turn to to promote your podcast.

Related read: Leveraging Pinterest to Promote Your Podcast