Why should you promote your microcast? Well, there are a few reasons why. First of all, people won’t listen unless you promote them. I’ll go over ways to do that in a bit, but it can be as simple as an eye-catching title or a relevant topic that gets people talking. Second, promoting your microcast, and thus YKYZ, helps the site, which helps you because if YKYZ is successful, you have a good chance to be a success as well. It’s all intertwined – the circle of life if you will. Last, promoting your microcast is necessary because there is a ton of content out there. People aren’t likely to accidentally stumble across it. You have to shove it right in front of them so they have to stumble upon it. How do you do that? There are quite a few ways, some of which I’ll go into below.
Word of Mouth
I’ve listed this one first because it’s the easiest and the most likely to get results. If you have friends, relatives, neighbors, or work colleagues, mention your microcast in conversation. “What are you doing to stay busy these days?” “Well, I have a microcast on this site called YKYZ – let me send you the link!” Simple as that. If you haven’t already, go here https://blog.ykyz.com/index.php/how-to/email-signatures/ to change your email signature to promote your microcast. It takes maybe five or ten minutes, and then every email you send will have a link to your microcast at the bottom.
Social Media
If you haven’t already, follow YKYZ on Facebook and Twitter. Like and share/retweet the official YKYZ posts, and any of the other YKYZ users’ posts you wish. Start your own account – you don’t have to have an account on every social media site, although that will certainly get you more exposure. However, if you only have time for one, pick a platform you will be most likely to engage with. Spend time gathering followers – this can be as simple as liking or commenting on posts, following users with similar accounts – e.g., if your microcast is about gaming, follow other gamers, etc. Make sure to post at least once a day, and ideally four to five times throughout the day. This can be done in five minutes or less – just click on the drop-down link under your episode, then select the link for either Twitter or Facebook. This eliminates the long link in your posts and makes it look more professional. Try to be engaging – grab people’s attention. Ask questions – people love to give their opinion. Another thing I would suggest is using relevant hashtags. For example, those of you who have historical/education microcasts, try using #homeschooling or #homeschool to get your microcast to parents or teachers who could use it. And, as always, make sure to tag YKYZ in your posts!
Linktree
Addie from Music and Peace did a great job with this on Reddit, so I won’t go into a lot of detail. https://www.reddit.com/r/YKYZ/comments/esiqc5/linktree_for_your_instagram_and_social_media/ Basically, this allows you to combine all your links for various platforms into one spot. You can just use this link for promotion instead of trying to decide if you should post your Spotify or your iTunes link. It takes maybe 2 minutes to set up each link. Make sure this is posted in your bio/profile on social media as well – I’m not as familiar with Facebook, but I know Twitter has a website option you can put this in.
Upload your microcast to podcasting platforms
There are tutorials in the YKYZ blog on how to do this for some of the more popular sites: https://blog.ykyz.com/index.php/how-to/. Again, this takes maybe five or ten minutes – once you get the hang of it, it’s pretty much autopilot. Some sites require verification, others just let you upload and go. YKYZ automatically uploads to the sites, so once you’ve done it, that’s it. New episodes show up on iTunes or wherever you’ve uploaded every time you upload to YKYZ.
Say Hi to the new users
When you go on the YKYZ site, take the time to go to https://ykyz.com/c/intros. Go through the list of new users and say Hi. Even if that’s all you say! It can be a little intimidating to talk into the void, so to speak, and sometimes new users don’t stay for very long. If you notice a new name, try to engage with them, even if their microcast or comment isn’t something you would necessarily find relevant to you. It’s about being friendly and making them feel at home so they want to stick around. Community is a big thing here, and we want new users to feel welcomed.
Time to take action!
I know we are all busy right now, lives have been rearranged, and things are uncertain. But I’m pretty sure we can all find ten or fifteen minutes a day to promote our microcasts, and, by extension, YKYZ. Any of the action items listed above should take you five-fifteen minutes, and you’ll be surprised by how much progress you will make. It’s encouraging to see your followers grow, and to see people on the site that you know came there because of you. So here’s to YKYZ – and all of us. Let’s all pull together – promote like crazy, let people know there’s a site out there that is friendly, doesn’t censor, and is exciting and engaging – something we are all proud to be a part of. Cheers!
Editor’s Note: Originally posted on 4/1/2020. Updated on 4/13/2020, for sake of clarity.