Rising Creators Forum

I've launched my podcast and published 8 episodes but i have basically no audience. My downloads are coming from friends and family and maybe a few random people

How do you promote a podcast when you're starting from zero? it feels like nobody can discover it

Podcast discovery is hard because most platforms don't promote new shows. You have to actively bring people to your podcast

strategies that worked for me:

1. SOCIAL MEDIA CLIPS (most effective)
- take 60-90 second clips from episodes
- post on instagram reels, tiktok, youtube shorts
- include text captions since people watch on mute
- this brought me 70% of my new listeners

2. GUEST AUDIENCE
- every guest brings their own audience
- ask guests to share the episode (most will)
- this was my second biggest source of growth

3. ONLINE COMMUNITIES
- join reddit, facebook groups, discord servers in your niche
- genuinely participate, don't just spam links
- occasionally share episodes when relevant

4. OTHER PODCASTS
- guest on other shows in your niche
- mention your podcast naturally during the conversation
- small podcasts will often have you on

5. SEO OPTIMIZATION
- keyword-rich episode titles
- detailed show notes with searchable terms
- transcriptions help with search

what DOESN'T work:
- posting "new episode out!" on social media with just a link
- paying for promotion services
- mass DM'ing people
- spamming links everywhere

my growth went from 40 downloads per episode to 600 per episode in 6 months using these strategies consistently

Focus on making exceptional content before worrying about promotion

Most podcasters promote mediocre content and wonder why growth is slow. if your podcast isn't remarkable, promotion won't help much

questions to ask before promoting:
- would someone binge listen to your episodes?
- would someone recommend your podcast to a friend?
- does your podcast provide unique value or is it just another show in your niche?

i didn't promote at all for my first 20 episodes. i focused entirely on:
- improving audio quality
- refining my interviewing skills
- finding my unique angle
- making content worth sharing

then at episode 20, i started promoting and growth was much faster because the content was actually good

what happened:
- friends i sent it to actually listened and shared it (they weren't just being polite)
- guests were excited to share because the final product was professional
- new listeners stuck around because the quality was there

bad content with great promotion = temporary spike then everyone leaves
great content with okay promotion = slow steady growth and retention

make something worth promoting first, then promote it