Should your brand start a podcast?

Sahail Ashraf posted on 14 May 2021

Podcasts are becoming more popular every day, and many brands are opting to produce regular podcast work. But are they worth doing? And how will your brand benefit?

There are a million ways to build your brand online, and it can be very hard to see the wood for the trees at times. However, it can only be a good thing for your brand to be aware of all the options available. And if you haven’t tried podcasts yet, why not?

Or maybe you don’t need to have your brand represented via a podcast. Like most things in social media marketing and marketing in general, it is not always as simple as it might seem. We thought we would dig into the benefits of having a podcast. And if they resonate with your brand, maybe you should consider diving in.

It builds traffic

If your brands main aim is to build reach, you may find that starting and building a podcast can do wonders for your website traffic. Once you have enough traction, podcasts can build up an audience very quickly, and it won’t be long before they are regularly sending new traffic to your site. 

For the relatively low cost of setting up and running a podcast, you’re adding another traffic stream to your arsenal. And that includes traffic to your social media platforms too. 

You can repurpose content

When you’re producing content for your platforms, it always helps to repurpose stuff. If you’ve produced blog posts or even a long Twitter conversation, repurposing these so that they can be part of a podcast makes perfect sense. 

Take the topic of a high-performing Instagram post, for example, and expand on it for a podcast. This means you gain continuity across your platforms and content, and you also get to build more engagement through the podcast itself. 

The authority thing

One of the key reasons why podcasts have become so popular so quickly is that brands can use them to build authority online. People genuinely listen carefully to podcasts, and with good production values and engaging content they will gain value from them.

This also means that you end up, as a brand, providing both value and authority. The more you dive into topics that your audience genuinely needs guidance on and is engaged in, the more your authority will grow. 

Behind the scenes

It is quite common practice these days for brands to bring a little bit of their behind the scenes culture into their social media marketing. This could be a ‘day at the office’ segment on Instagram or Facebook, for example. Or it could be an AMA with thought leaders in your company.

This culture element can be pulled into a podcast. Listen to any brand podcast these days and you will soon find that they work on the premise that listeners want to hear what it is like being part of that brand, and thinking how thought leaders within that brand think. Often, podcasts from brands like these are literally set in the brand’s offices and have that casual behind the scenes feel.

This is a great way to build up that engagement and trust that brands rely upon to boost their branding efforts. So it works on that level for all brands, no matter where they are in their growth journey.

Storytelling

Perhaps the final and possibly most important point to make here is that podcasts can be compelling. A blog post or a social update is absolutely fine, but when you get a chance to literally talk to your audience and share your story, you bring real life to your branding.

The human voice, when it conveys the mission and the vision behind your brand, is incredibly compelling. Putting a voice to the brand and hearing the story is powerful, and the more a brand pulls together a body of work on podcasts, the more that voice is heard and engaged with.

So, should you?

If you need to build authority online, and develop a level of trust with your audience for brand-building purposes, then yes, start a podcast. They offer a unique bridge to your audience, and the ability to repurpose content doesn’t hurt either. 

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