Summary: <br> Word of mouth is the best way to grow your podcast. Here's how you can inspire and equip your audience to share your podcast.<br> Make a great podcast<br> Nothing else you can do to your podcast matters as much as making a great podcast. If your podcast is horrible, then no one will want to share it, regardless of how easy you make the process.<br> When people consume content, they're looking for one or both of these two things:<br> <br> * They want to be helped—inspired, educated, motivated, informed, encouraged, etc.<br> * They want to be entertained—humored, amused, provoked, engaged, etc.<br> <br> If your podcast doesn't do at least one of those things, then you have some important work to do.<br> Liken your podcast to a restaurant. It doesn't matter how good their branding and marketing are, if the food and service are horrible, no one will want to eat there, let alone recommend it to others.<br> Your audience might already be telling you how good your podcast is (or isn't) in their feedback or <a href="https://mypodcastreviews.com/">podcast reviews</a>.<br> Is your podcast actually good?<br> Ask for shares<br> This may seem obvious, but it's often forgotten. If you want your audience to do something, you have to ask them to do it!<br> The first thing to do is make sure you always give value before you ask for value in return.<br> I think many podcasters can easily fall into giving too many calls to action: subscribe, rate and review, comment, share, donate, support the sponsor, follow some recommendation, and more. So the second thing to do is <a href="https://theaudacitytopodcast.com/why-you-should-stop-asking-your-audience-for-so-much-tap283/">stop asking your audience for so much</a>. Reduce and simplify the things you want you audience to do.<br> Of all the things your audience could do for you, telling others about your podcast is usually the best. That will help your podcast grow far more than <a href="https://theaudacitytopodcast.com/what-good-are-podcast-ratings-and-reviews-tap263/">ratings and reviews</a>.<br> How you ask is also important. Focus on the benefits your audience can give to others by sharing your podcast. Don't focus on the benefits you get.<br> For example:<br> <br> * Bad: “Please share the podcast so we can get more subscribers.” This focuses on what you gain.<br> * Better: “Please share the podcast so our community can grow.” This focuses more on growing the community your audience is in.<br> * Best: “If you liked this episode and think someone else would, too, please share it!” This focuses on helping your audience help others.<br> <br> Write descriptive, shareable titles<br> As I teach in my <a href="https://theaudacitytopodcast.com/store/seo-for-podcasters/">SEO for Podcasters course</a>, titles are the most important text on the Internet. By default, titles are what display in and most-affect search results, what show in podcast apps, what display largest on your website, and what share in social networks.<br> A good title will be three things:<br> <br> * Descriptive—making it clear what the episode (or overall podcast) is about<br> * Compelling—inspiring curiosity to relevant people<br> * Shareable—short and written without first-person pronouns<br> <br> For example, imagine an episode that seeks to share and review the best vanilla cream sodas.<br> <br> * “Bottle Fights” is cute, but wouldn't describe the episode's contents.<br> * “Vanilla Cream Sodas” is more descriptive, but it wouldn't compel people to click on it.<br> * “My Favorite Vanilla Cream Sodas” is descriptive and a little more compelling, but it's not shareable because the “My” becomes the voice of the sharer.<br> * “The 10 Vanilla Cream Sodas You Should Try” now incorporates all three principles.<br> <br> Enhance the website experience<br>
