With over one billion active monthly users, TikTok is one of the most popular social networking platforms on the planet, and can be a fantastic tool to get your show in front of as many people as possible.
Here are six tips and real examples to help you promote your podcast on TikTok:
1. Grab People’s Attention
The videos that tend to go viral on TikTok are engaging!
Before posting, think about your audience and what they care about. What’s going to spark their interest?
Adding in memes, clever sound bytes, humor, a shocking statistic or fact or something newsworthy can all help your videos to get more attention too.
Here’s an example of this from TikTok user @booktokpodcast:
@booktokpodcast some of my favorites, there are many more #podcast #podcastreccomendation #BigComfy #booktok ♬ My money dont jiggle jiggle – Duke & Jones
2. Keep It Short and Sweet
Though TikTok increased the time limit to 10 minutes for videos in March 2022, shorter videos are more likely to get the most views and go viral.
The reason short videos do best? People’s attention spans are limited, and if someone isn’t familiar with your show or brand, they aren’t likely to invest a lot of time in watching a longer video.
Here’s an example of this from TikTok user @theawkwardtapes:
@theawkwardtapes Is the Kool-Aid Man the glass or liquid??? Possibly the dumbest convo on the podcast yet. #podcast #podcaster #deepthoughts #fyp #viral ♬ Spongebob Tomfoolery – Dante9k Remix – David Snell
3. Focus on One Subject per Video
Just because your guest spoke about 20 topics doesn’t mean your TikTok audience needs to hear about all of them at once. Give them one highlight from the interview to digest at a time.
Here’s an example of this from TikTok user @geezusshow:
@geezusshow #HaventSeen #PlantTikTok #fyp #podcaster ♬ Shower – Becky G
Just like on other social media platforms, hashtags makes it easier for your ideal listeners will discover your content.
A podcaster talking about indie rock music will have a better chance of showing up in the coveted “For You” page of users that enjoy indie rock music if they’re using relevant hashtags.
Here’s an example of using hashtags from TikTok user @podcastcoach:
@podcastcoach This is the perfect year too! #podcasttips #howtopodcast #Podcaster #podcasterlife #Podcasthost #howtostartapodcast #podcasthost ♬ Vibez – Instrumental – Prod. Dior
5. Give Them a Reason to Act
Views are great way to measure engagement and popularity, but you can’t monetize them directly.
You need to give your audience a reason that prompts them to come to your website to sign up for your email list, or at the very least gets them over to your podcast page to subscribe.
When coming up with your call-to-action, try to focus on what matters to your audience – give them what they want!
Here’s a great example of this from the @okopshow speakers:
@okopshow dang they did them dirty 😭😭😭 #reddit #redditreadings #redditstories #reddit_tiktok ♬ original sound – okopshow
6. Don’t Include Inappropriate Content
While this tip might seem like a no-brainer, it’s worth mentioning because some content you might not consider inappropriate can get flagged and removed.
In some cases, TikTok will remove the audio from your video, but in the worst cases it will disappear from the platform completely.
According to TechCrunch, TikTok actually removed more than 80 million videos between April 1 and June 30, 2021.
What kind of content can be removed from TikTok?
- Any content deemed offensive
- Gory images or graphic content – looking at you True Crime podcasters
- Hate speech – this can run the gamut from political slander to race to sexual orientation
- Expletives – while many users on TikTok use foul language, all it takes is one person reporting your video to get it flagged!
- False news that is presented as fact (i.e. misinformation)
Bottom line – if you have doubts about your content, don’t post it! You can reference TikTok’s community guidelines here.
