When you’re in the trenches of podcasting, so often you get caught up in the work of recording and pushing out new episodes. Even when you love podcasting, it can get exhausting and you don’t have time to take a step back and look at the bigger picture.
And that bigger picture? Marketing your podcast has to be part of your podcast growth strategy. You need to get your podcast out there into new ears so that it can grow.
One of the best ways to advertise your podcast is by repurposing your podcast content and publishing it on a different channel. Turning your audio content into written content boosts your discoverability through SEO and it shines a light on the great work you do.
So the last thing I want to do is add something else to your to-do list, but you do need to think about remarketing your podcast content. Here I’m going to dive into a quick-and-dirty MVP (minimal viable product) step-by-step framework that you can apply to transform the podcast content you’ve already published into a different format that’ll get your listeners to engage with your podcast in a new way.
First of all, think about which podcast episodes you want to repurpose. You don’t need to repurpose every single episode you make, especially if you’re a one-person podcasting team. You’re going to be able to produce better, more effective content if you only repurpose your best episodes. This could be episodes about a popular, evergreen topic, episodes featuring high-ticket special guests or perhaps your personal favourite episodes. They deserve love too!
Then, take these episodes to where your audience hangs out online. If you already have an email list or blog linked to your podcast, these are great mediums to house your repurposed content. Social media accounts are good options too but when people are scrolling social media, it takes a lot to pull them out of their feed and into your podcast so social media content repurposing should focus on community building and sharing updates about your podcast (more on that in an upcoming post).
So, once you’ve decided which episode to repurpose and where to host your repurposed content, it’s time to get down to it. Pick three to five key takeaways or ‘aha’ moments from the episode that stand out to you and demonstrate the value of listening to the episode (it might help to look over your show notes for inspiration). These will form the backbone of your piece of content.
Then write these takeaways out in a way that gives the reader the ‘headline’ but not the details. You want to sketch out the important points in a succinct way. That should look something like this: “In this episode of the podcast, I also share advice on using up odds and ends of ingredients to make a delicious and cost-effective meal! With a little creative thinking and cupboard staples such as stock cubes, legumes and seasoning, your vegetables can take on a new life and become a great side dish or light lunch. Some of my personal favourites are a vegetable stir fry or a tasty lentil stew”. This summary includes some specifics (like the store cupboard staples you need and mentions of some recipes) and the main takeaway you’ll get from listening (knowing how to make a delicious and cost-effective meal) and condenses minutes of audio into a few easy-to-read lines. Someone reading this post would know what to expect from listening to the episode and the value they’ll get from it, like hearing more details about the recipes.
When you’re writing out your main takeaways, here are a few points to bear in mind:
- If possible, include a takeaway point in your written content that come from close to the end of the podcast episode to encourage your subscribers to listen all the way through, which is good for your engagement statistics
- Don’t feel constrained to following the exact format of your podcast episode. It’s fine to play around with the order that you list the takeaways in, rather than following the order they appeared in the episode
- Encourage your audience to listen to other episodes of your podcast that discuss similar topics: “In this episode, Laura mentioned her cover letter technique that helps you get noticed by hiring managers. You can learn more about it in episode #47”
- Both pieces of content, the podcast episode and its repurposed written version, need to give the reader value, separately and together. You really want your audience to consult both but even if they don’t, they should still enjoy the experience you’re offering them.
Once you’ve got some practice at repurposing your podcast content, a short piece like this should only take 15-30 minutes to draw up. This version of content repurposing isn’t aiming for perfection, it’s more about giving your audience a new way to find your great ideas. So get out there, dig up your old podcast episodes and get started!