Grow Your Podcast Using Facebook Ads | Megan Shields

As podcast hosts, we want our audience and downloads to increase. But this has proven to be difficult to do. Even paid growth options are expensive and yield little results. Thankfully, there's a paid growth opportunity that works and is more affordable than alternatives. In this episode, Megan Shields explains how running Facebook ads to your podcast can grow your listenership. Get ready to consistently drive new listeners to your podcast with minimal effort!

MORE FROM THIS EPISODE: HTTPS://PODMATCH.COM/EP/312

Chapters

00:00 Introduction to Podcast Growth Strategies
01:24 Understanding the Marketing Funnel
03:47 Leveraging Social Media for Growth
07:12 Building Your Email List
11:28 Growing Your Podcast Audience

Takeaways

Your content can be seen every day without constant promotion.
The marketing sales funnel is no longer linear.
Higher engagement leads to more monetization opportunities.
Facebook ads allow for precise targeting of audiences.
Repurpose existing content into ads for better reach.
Building an email list is crucial for podcasters.
Facebook's lead forms simplify email list growth.
Targeted ads can significantly increase podcast listenership.
Video clips from podcasts can be effective ad content.
Consistency in advertising leads to steady audience growth.

MORE FROM THIS EPISODE: HTTPS://PODMATCH.COM/EP/312

Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction to Podcast Growth Strategies
• 1:24 Understanding the Marketing Funnel
• 3:47 Leveraging Social Media for Growth
• 7:12 Building Your Email List
• 11:28 Growing Your Podcast Audience

Transcript

0:01

You're listening to Podcasting Made Simple. Hey there. I have a question for you. How awesome would it be to know that your content is being seen every day and that your email list is growing around the clock and new listeners are finding your podcasts and coming to your podcasts every day and tuning in all without you having to show up consistently and continuously online? be in stories all the time promoting and just constantly feeling like you have to push out your podcast and promote your business all the time. And how awesome would it be to not have to worry about the algorithm changes and lack of reach because of what's going on on these platforms because you're getting guaranteed visibility and growth in your podcast every day. That'd be pretty sweet, right? Well, that's exactly what I'm going to talk to you about today. I'm Megan Shields and today I'm gonna be walking you through my signature proven trifecta ad strategy that will help you grow and monetize your podcast using low budget Facebook and Instagram ads. So my goal here is to help you grow your show and build your audience so that you can make the impact that you started your podcast to make and so that you can make the money that you also want and deserve. And so this works whether or not you are monetizing your podcast through client acquisition and selling your services, or if you want to monetize your podcast through sponsorships, or even better, if you want to marry those two things together. So today we're going to talk about the secret weapon to proven and consistent growth around the clock without having to constantly show up online. In this session, we're going to deep dive into the three key areas of this strategy. as well as quick tips that you can implement today to get started. So when it comes to marketing and marketing your podcast, the way I want to start this out is that we need to change the way and how we understand that marketing works. And what I mean by that is think of the marketing sales funnel, right? We've all seen it. You start with awareness, there's consideration, and then purchase. It's a nice little funnel where people come in the top, and then they pop out of the bottom as clients. But here's the thing, that's the way that we used to understand it. That's not how things work now. It is not a linear situation. So just think about your own buying behavior, your own listenership behavior and how you engage with people and brands online. It's all over the place, right? Like one day you might see them on a Facebook ad and the next time you might... go to their website and take a look at some things and then you forget about them for three months and then your friend mentions them and then you go back again and now you're back into the consideration phase and it's all over the place and maybe it takes a while before you actually buy something or take the next step with them. That is the same case when it comes to podcast marketing too. It is not linear. And so I say all that to say that the strategy that I'm going to be sharing with you today is going to put you in a position where you will be consistently visible to your current audience while also gaining new listeners. Because it's not just about acquiring somebody to listen one time. We want to build a foundation of engaged listeners, of an engaged audience, and of a big audience that is continuing to grow and talk about us and engage with us. It's a cumulative effect. Because whether you are monetizing your podcast through clients or through sponsorship, Higher engagement means more money. So that being said, the strategy I'm going to share with you today will be about using Facebook ads for three key areas of growth. Social media growth, email list growth, and of course, podcast growth. So each section that we're going to talk about is going to have a quick tip at the end that you can implement today to get started. So in this first area of growth, which is social media growth, let's talk a little bit about that. so social growth is hard for a lot of people right now. Reach is really low. It seems like the algorithm is changing all the fricking time and it's hard to keep up with, especially if you run a business. And so one day you might get great reach and the next day you might not. And so when it comes to promoting your podcast on social, the other layer of difficulty is that your podcast is probably about a specific topic, I'm willing to guess. And you can put a ton of hashtags on the content you're putting out to promote your show, but that doesn't mean one, that it's going to be consistent, two, that those people are going to turn into listeners, and three, that it's even going to land in front of the people that are interested in the topic of your podcast. And so that's where Facebook ads can really make a difference. You can leverage Facebook ads because of targeting capabilities. If you have a podcast that is about having a clean, organic lifestyle, you can target people on the platform that are interested in clean, organic lifestyles. Therefore, you are marrying your content with the people that want to see it, and it's a beautiful combination. so doing that with your content allows you to build your audience of engaged people that are interested in what you're talking about. And so the easiest way to do this is to repurpose content that you've already created. So you're already out there creating content. You're making the reels. You're making the posts. You are, you know, doing the best that you can to try to reach more people so that you can make the impact that you want to make. But the algorithm just keeps kicking you down. So if you turn this content into a Facebook ad, and then you're targeting the people that are interested in the topic. Now you're going to start seeing your engagement grow as well as probably your following and things like that on Facebook and Instagram. And when I'm talking about this, I'm leaning a little bit more towards Instagram because that's where most people are engaging with their audience. Facebook is a little bit different because you have your business page and there's not a lot of activity going on on the business page. So Typically when I'm working with my clients, we see a lot more lift and growth on the Instagram side. So my quick tip for this section is take your current content and just turn it into an ad. It's very easy. You can do it through the engagement campaign objective. You choose an existing post you already have. And another quick tip, choose one of your best performing posts. One that has the highest engagement. one that has the most comments, not necessarily one that's reached the most people because we all know reach is kind of a crapshoot right now, but choose one that has performed really, really well and has gotten great engagement. And you can just put $1 a day behind that to a targeted audience and watch your engagement absolutely skyrocket. The second component to my signature strategy is email list growth. And so if you aren't leveraging an email list as a podcaster, you're missing out my friend. And I'm not going to dive into email list building and all the different things that go into doing it, but I'm simply going to talk about how you can leverage Facebook ads to grow it. So when people are building their email list, they want this list of people that are engaged in their topic. They want this community, right, of future buyers or future listeners or maybe even future sponsors. And so a lot of times they'll create some type of freebie or downloadable video series, something or other that is designed to acquire people to the email list. The only struggle that a lot of people have is that in growing your email list, there's a select few ways to do it. One is organically pushing it out. And much like what we just talked about with social growth and engagement with content, It's the same thing. So if you're creating a post that you want to push this lead magnet to get out in front of new people so that you can build your email list, if the reach is terrible, there's really nothing you can do. And so sometimes it's just very up and down and there's not a lot of consistent growth on your email list. Or if you go the route of like doing a summit or like a bundle or something like that where it's a short quick hit of like a lot of email list growth, that's great. Maybe you acquire like a thousand people from speaking at a summit or participating in some sort of bundle that somebody is doing. But then after that, it usually just falls off. And so what Facebook ads can do is allow you to have the ads going all the time and consistently getting people to join your email list every single day around the clock. And then it can work in the background while you're also doing those summits or participating in bundles or any other way that you are organically growing your list. This will also ensure that you're just continuing to grow your list. And that way it's consistent because if you have an email list of five or 10,000 people and you go to a sponsor and you say, Hey, not only does my podcast reach this many people, but I have an email list that's very engaged. because you targeted them specifically, so we know they're interested in your content and what you're offering. And my open rate is X. I want to charge X to promote you to my list. That's a huge opportunity, right? And so don't get lost in the opportunity of an email list. If you don't have one, start one. And so a quick tip with that is that Facebook has a lead form now where if you are the type of person that like doesn't want to doesn't like to build landing pages, tech is not your jive, like that sounds awful to you or you don't have something like that built out. That's actually fine now because Facebook has a lead form that they have been really investing in over the past few years to make it easy for people on the platform to actually take the next step with advertisers like yourself. So you can use a lead campaign and select Facebook's lead form and make your own personalized form right there. on the platform without having to send somebody to a specific URL, without having to send them to a funnel or anything that's super techie, then they make it really easy. And you can do this by spending five to $10 a day on these campaigns to really build your email list. So Facebook has made it easy in that way. And then the third piece, my final piece of my trifecta ad strategy is of course podcast growth, right? using Facebook ads to be able to grow your podcast. So because you can target people that are interested in what your podcast is about, that makes it super effective in gaining listeners. And another thing about this too is like people on Facebook a lot of times, and when I say Facebook, I mean Meta, Facebook and Instagram. I've just been doing this so long that I just call it Facebook, but I mean both, is that people are used to seeing You know, opting in for master classes and opting in for PDF guides and downloads, but a podcast, that's something different. It's something new and it's a low barrier of entry. They don't have to give you their information to listen to your episodes. They can follow your podcast and start tuning in right there. And so it's been a fantastic way to that I've seen to help my clients grow their listenership and their followers by 30, 50, even 100 % in some cases. in literally a matter of weeks just by marrying their podcast to the ideal people that are interested in that topic and chef's kiss, it comes together. So with Facebook ads, again, you're not shooting blind here. If you have a podcast about organic living, you can put your podcast in front of people that are interested in organic living and other specific interests and things that you can target within that realm as well. And so That's where the magic begins. And like I said, I've seen anywhere from 30 to 100 % growth in followers and in listenership and even in engagement and engaged listeners by just simply putting their podcast out on this platform that is going continuously. It's continuously getting in front of new people every single day, even while you're sleeping. So my final quick tip of this would be Take a video clip from a solo episode of yours. Have it be real style. If it's horizontal, that's okay. You might have to make some adjustments, but take a video clip of your podcast and turn it into an ad and then drive that ad to your entire podcast link. Let's just say your podcast is hosted on Apple, which if you're in the United States, most of my clients, most of the people I see, like 90 % of their listeners are on Apple podcasts. Take that video, put the link to the podcast. and then watch the magic happen. And it only takes about $5 a day to be able to do this. So now you know my secret strategy, my trifecta ad strategy to using low budget Facebook ads to grow your audience, to build your email list and to get more listeners and downloads for your podcast, as well as a few tips on how you can get started today. So it doesn't have to be complicated, expensive or difficult. and don't be afraid, your voice deserves to be heard. And so I hope you enjoyed this talk. Good luck, and I look forward to seeing you on my feed. For more episodes, please visit podmatch.com forward slash episodes. Thank you so much for listening.