Your Podcast, Email Marketing, and Instagram: A True Love Connection [Ep. 137]

 
 

Click play to learn about podcast traffic loops:

 
 

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Here’s what to expect from this episode:

If you read the title of this episode and thought it was a bit cheesy, well, I agree ...BUT it's Valentine's Day, so doesn't that come with a little mandatory cheese? Anyway, Happy Valentine's Day! Thank you for listening, whether it's your first episode, your 137th episode, or somewhere in between.

When I sat down to plan this episode and saw it landed on Valentine's Day, I thought, "How can I create an episode that centers around love?" I landed on a conversation about what I like to call "the trifecta," your podcast, email marketing, and Instagram. When these three platforms work together, it really is a match made in heaven.

Today, I'm sharing why this match is so perfect and why you should consider it when planning your weekly content. I'm also covering what podcast traffic loops even are, examples of what they could look like (and why they work), and how to create them across your content "trifecta."

And be sure to tune in to the next couple of episodes for deeper dives into Instagram and email!

Topics covered:

  • The content trifecta platforms and why they're a perfect match

  • Why it's so important to be consistent

  • Creating traffic loops to help with that consistency

  • Examples of what this might look like and why it works

  • How to create podcast traffic loops

favorite podcasting resources:

  • Sara Whittaker 0:01

    Your Podcast is a powerful tool that serves your audience and your business. But how do you manage it all bring in new listeners, and convert those listeners into customers. That's what this show is all about. Welcome to podcasting for educators. I'm Sara Whitaker, classroom teacher turn podcast manager, and I'm here to help you get the most out of your show, all while making an impact on other educators. Hey, hey, welcome back to podcasting for educators. If you've read the title of this episode, and thought that it was a little bit cheesy. Well, I agree. But it's Valentine's Day. So doesn't that come with a little bit of mandatory cheese? When I sat down to plan this episode and saw that it landed on Valentine's Day, I thought, how can I create an episode that centers around love, and I landed on a conversation about what I like to call the trifecta, your podcast, your email marketing, and your Instagram. When these three work together, it really is a match made in heaven. So let's talk a little bit about why exactly these three things do work so well together and why it's something that you should be considering when planning your weekly content. First, I want you to picture each of these platforms and their audiences. in isolation, you have your podcast listeners, your email subscribers, and your Instagram followers. And maybe you don't use Instagram, and that's fine, you can insert your platform of choice here that might be tick tock, LinkedIn, Facebook, whatever. Same thing kind of applies to everything that I'm talking about today. But I want you to do this, I want you to picture each of those audiences, and each of those platforms individually, because I think we sometimes forget that all three of these platforms include different audiences. Of course, there is some overlap. You know, you've got podcast listeners, who are also email subscribers, and all of that. But often, you will have podcast listeners who aren't on your Instagram, or you have email subscribers who aren't podcast listeners, and on and on and on. And so the message I really want to get across today is that we need to be consistent across all three of these platforms, because it really is what will get us the most success and allow us to see the greatest ROI. And really, this consistency across these three platforms is so important, in my opinion, for two main reasons. Number one, we want your audience across all platforms to hear the same information and the same clear messaging. And number two, we want to see a bigger overlap of these audiences. That's kind of a goal here is to get more of your email list to also become podcast listeners, and more of your podcast listeners to also be your email subscribers and your Instagram followers. So how can we do this, we can do this by creating traffic loops in our business. And if you've never heard this term traffic loops before, I like to think of it as kind of this strategic connection between different platforms, like we're talking about today, podcasts, Instagram email. And this connection can really drive traffic to each place and engagement across each place. So for podcasters This means weaving together your podcast, your Instagram, and your email marketing into this interconnected system. When we have these traffic loops, we can make sure that our audience is engaged across multiple channels, which is going to maximize our reach and maximize our impact. It's like creating this big spider web of connection. So what does this look like when we create these traffic loops, it looks like all three of these platforms are driving traffic to each other. All three platforms are helping each other grow. So your podcast should be bringing in email subscribers and Instagram followers, your email should be bringing in new listeners and new Instagram followers, your Instagram should be bringing in new podcast listeners, and new email subscribers. So they're all working together all the time to make sure that you are getting the biggest reach as possible. And when we can do this, we can make sure that people are seeing our offers at different times. Here's an example of that. Maybe you use a dynamic ad on your podcast for an upcoming paid training that you're holding. And running this dynamic ad serves as awareness around your offer. But let's say that John is one of your podcast listeners. And he hears that ad every week while he's driving for like four straight weeks, five, six straight weeks. He hears this ad on your podcast, and he likes the sound of it. He's now aware of it. He knows that you're holding this training, but he's driving and then he turns off the podcast because he's picking up his kid from school. And then now his kids In the car, and we all know how that goes. And now your attention is on your kid because they're talking, talking, talking. And John has now completely forgotten about this podcast ad that he just heard, even though he's super interested in it. But then let's say you have another podcast listener of yours named Jim, who's in this same situation, okay, so he's listening to that podcast ad while he's driving is picking up his kid. And now he's forgotten about it. But he's also on your email list. And, Jim, the next day gets your email with the same CTA as your dynamic podcast ad, okay, telling you about this training that you're doing. He hears it in your podcast, and now he's getting it in an email. And he signs up, because at that time, when he gets that email, he's at his computer, or he's on his phone, you've got his attention at a time where he is physically on his device, and he's able to sign up. Now, if Jim didn't have that nurturing from your podcast, and wasn't also on your email list, he might not have signed up for it or even known about it. So hopefully, that example kind of shows you how important it really is to have that same consistent clear messaging across multiple platforms. Now, how can you create these traffic loops across platforms? Number one, you can have a consistent CTA across all three, like I just talked about in that example, you're about to host a paid training. So you need to be talking about that on your podcast, in your email, on your Instagram. And there should be easy access to all three of these platforms, on all three of these platforms. And that may not make any sense. So let me explain. What I mean by that is, there are opportunities to join your email list, and a link to follow you on Instagram, on the show notes for all of your podcast episodes. And there's a link to listen to your podcast and to follow you on Instagram, in your emails. And there is engaging podcast content and opportunities to join your email list on Instagram. So in all of these places, you're driving people to these other places, so that you can have their attention at a greater capacity. The goal here is that if you're launching a course, or you're running a sale in your business, you don't want anyone in your audience to miss what you are doing. I'm sure that you've experienced this, if you've ever done any kind of like live launch with anything, you feel like you're talking about it like crazy, you're sending out all these emails, and then maybe you've only posted a couple times about it on your Instagram or not much at all. And it's the last day and you post about it. And you get people who say what I didn't even know that this was happening. And you're like, Well, what I have been doing nothing but talk about this. But we have to remember that not everybody sees all of our content. But if we can have them on all three of these platforms, and be consistent across all three of these platforms, then we are really going to increase our chances of making sure that we're building the greatest awareness as possible. Not everyone is going to listen to every episode of your podcast, not everyone's going to read every email and holy moly, we know that not every one of your followers is going to see all of your Instagram posts. So I really want you after listening to this today to just be thinking about this, just keep this in the back of your mind as you are planning your content moving forward. And truly, if we really think about this, it makes everything so much easier, in terms of the content that you are putting out every single week. Like for me, I start with my podcast content, and that really drives and plans, my social content and my email that week. Don't make it complicated, be consistent, create these traffic loops. Those are like three big takeaways today. In the next two episodes, we are going to be focusing specifically on Instagram, I have a great guest who's coming on to talk about Instagram funnels and what that even means and how to make sure that you have one set up. And we're also going to be talking about email a little bit more specifically when it comes to sharing about your podcast in your emails, and making sure that your email subscribers are converting to podcast listeners. So head back here next week, and I'll see you then. Oh, and before you go one more time, happy, happy Valentine's Day. I hope that you're sharing it with somebody special. And if you want to show me a little bit of love on Valentine's Day, head into Apple podcasts, tap those stars to rate the show and write a quick review. This would be the best Valentine's Day gift that you could possibly give me and I would appreciate it so much.

    Thank So much for listening to today's episode to keep this conversation going connect with me on Instagram at podcasting for educators. I'm always looking for an excuse to talk about podcasting. If you're looking for support and launching, managing or growing your podcast, check out my online course the podcasting for educators prep school at podcasting for educators.com/prep school. I'll see you here next time.

More about Podcasting for Educators:

Podcasting for Educators is the podcast for TpT authors and other online educators. It's a show that will help you get your podcast in front of those who need it most - teachers, counselors, literacy specialists, SLPs, parents, and more! Each week, Sara Whittaker and her guests will share top tips and actionable strategies that you will need in order to launch, manage, and grow your podcast. You’ll learn how to leverage your show to build long-lasting relationships with your audience and promote your TpT resources, courses, and memberships, all while providing valuable and accessible content!

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Sara Whittaker