How to Use YouTube to Grow Your Podcast?

With over 14 billion monthly visits in 2022, YouTube is the second-largest search engine in the world (after Google). The social media platform also has more than 6 billion hours of video watched each month—these are staggering numbers!

That’s why you should be using YouTube not just as an additional distribution channel for your podcast episodes but as a primary method of growing your audience and building your brand.

In this article, we’ll walk you through the steps to making YouTube a key component of your podcast marketing strategy.

Why You Should Be on YouTube?

Podcasters should consider being on YouTube for several reasons, including increased visibility and the opportunity for monetization.

Being on YouTube can also improve engagement with the audience, provide opportunities for repurposing content, and improve search engine optimization.

YouTube is incredibly well-suited for podcasters because it provides various benefits.

Let’s check out some of them below 👇

Increased Visibility

According to Pew Research, 54% of YouTube users visit the platform daily, and more than 30% visit it multiple times a day. This puts the video-sharing site among the most engaged audiences on social media.

Most people use YouTube to find information about something, whether it’s a new product or service, an event or conference, or as a form of entertainment during their free time.

Having your podcast on YouTube will make it easier for people to find it, especially if you have a dedicated channel. This gives you a chance to stand out from the crowd and get more views, subscribers, and downloads.

Diversifying Your Audience

The more social media platforms you’re on, the more exposure you can get for your brand! As of January 2023, India has the largest YouTube audience, with over 460 million users, followed by the United States, Brazil, Indonesia, and Mexico in the top 5.

Uploading your podcast on YouTube will expand your audience and help you reach people who might not listen to podcasts regularly but visit YouTube often. This is especially useful if you have a niche-style show, as it gives you another way to connect with those listeners.

Not only that, but having both podcast and YouTube channels for your brand gives you a chance to promote each other simultaneously.

Video Content

Video content is an important part of any marketing strategy; the same is true for podcasts. It’s another way for you to reach people who are visual learners.

When you watch a video, your mind retains 95% of the message. Combine that with audio from your podcast, and you’ve got a potent recipe for getting your audience hooked on your brand.

Additionally, video is a great way to show off your personality and connect with listeners on a more personal level. It also allows you to create more detailed content than audio alone can allow—in turn, this will help boost engagement rates and keep people coming back for more!

YouTube Analytics

YouTube features robust analytics that can help you measure the performance of your videos.

This includes how many people have watched and shared your videos, where the viewers came from (e.g., Facebook), how long they watched before turning off the video, and what devices were used to view them (e.g., desktop vs. mobile).

This information is useful because it shows what kind of content resonates with your audience and gives you valuable insight into what podcast episodes they want to see more often.

Engagement Opportunities

You can use YouTube to connect with your listeners and grow the community around your podcast by responding to comments, creating playlists, or including calls-to-action in videos.

You can even add annotations and captions to your videos, allowing listeners to read what’s being said. You can also create custom thumbnails for each podcast episode so that each one stands out from the rest.

YouTube also has a “Watch Later” feature that allows users to save videos for later viewing. This can be especially useful if you have a long-form podcast show where listeners may not have time to watch an entire episode but still want access to that content.

5 Steps to Promote Your Podcast on YouTube

The best way to promote your podcast is by creating good content and sharing it with people who care.

But sometimes, you need to take a few extra steps to get the word out.

Here are five ways you can promote your podcast on YouTube:

Optimize your video and channel for discoverability

You can do this by adding relevant keywords in your title and description and making sure you’re using an attention-grabbing thumbnail that highlights the content of your video. Hashtags are also a good way to help people find your podcast if they’re searching for a related topic.

Cross-promote your content

Including your podcast link in the description of YouTube videos and vice versa will increase exposure for both. This is a great way to get more eyes on your content so that people who might not have found you otherwise will be introduced to your podcast.

You can also include links within your video content, for example, by mentioning your website or social media profiles at the end of each podcast episode.

Use YouTube Shorts to provide additional content to your audience

More than 1.5 billion YouTube users watch short-form content every month. These are 30 to 60-second standalone videos that you can use to create short teasers, behind-the-scenes videos, and other bonus content that will get people interested in what you have to offer.

For example, you might create a mini-series for your podcast using an online video editor in which each episode is a YouTube short. This allows your subscribers to get more out of the content and provides an opportunity for them to learn more about related topics.

Advertise your podcast on YouTube

There is a native advertising option on YouTube that you can use to promote your podcast. Create an ad highlighting why listeners should tune in to your show and then target the people likely looking for your type of content to spice up their listening experience.

YouTube ads can be displayed as pre or mid-roll ads during a user’s viewing experience. It’s important to note that not all YouTube users see pre-roll ads, but if you target your audience correctly, you should see good results from this type of advertising.

Collaborate with other content creators

Reach out to other podcasters in your niche and ask if they would be interested in guest hosting on one of your episodes or vice versa.

This is a great way to gain exposure and build relationships with like-minded creators.

Collaboration is always a good thing in the podcast world. If you have a mutually beneficial partnership to offer other podcasters, don’t hesitate to reach out and see if they would be interested.

There are many ways to work with other content creators, like joining a podcast network or hosting a live-streaming event. If you have the resources to do so, go for it!

Wrapping Up

Various video marketing statistics make it clear that YouTube is an incredibly powerful tool for growing your podcast audience.

There are several key strategies for using it to promote your podcast, from optimizing your channel for search to collaborating with other content creators.

Ultimately, the key to success on YouTube is to provide value to your audience and build a strong community around your content. With the right approach, you can tap into the immense potential of video marketing and take your podcast to new heights.