What started as a lip synching and dancing app is now the most downloaded app in the world. TikTok, the short-form video sharing app, has become a hotbed for niche communities to share valuable information, experiences, ideas, and more.
TikTok is a powerful platform that can help you reach more listeners, connect with existing followers, and build a thriving community of fans around your podcast. Here’s how to use TikTok to promote your podcast in organic, thoughtful ways — and what you can do to give your videos an extra boost.
1. Brand Your Account to Match Your Podcast
If you haven’t done so already, make sure your TikTok account matches your podcast’s branding. Try to get the same handle on TikTok that you use on other social media platforms so that your listeners will more easily find you.
You should also change your profile icon to match your existing icon and branding on other channels, and once you have 1,000 followers, you can add a link to your show’s download page or website. This is an easy way to direct your TikTok audience straight to your podcast—especially if they discovered you through the platform.
2. Show Teasers of Your Podcast Episodes
A good teaser will leave anyone wanting more. Give TikTok a taste of what you discuss in your latest episodes to encourage people to listen, download, and subscribe to your show. Some of the most successful podcast accounts on TikTok, like Jumpers Jump and Celebrity Memoir Book Club, use this strategy to gain attention.
A podcast marketing tool like Headliner can help cut down your TikTok editing and content creation process. Headliner can help you select the best audio clips from your podcast and add them to whatever videos you want, and export your content into TikTok-friendly sizes.
3. Show Behind the Scenes of Making Your Podcast
Since podcasts are audio-only, video adds a whole new dimension to your content. You can show guests recording in studio to give listeners a deeper picture and further context that they may find incredibly valuable and enjoyable.
You could also show how your podcast gets edited — and even show which tidbits didn’t make the final cut for certain episodes.
4. Make Your Own Call-to-Stitch
The stitch feature is unique to TikTok. When you stitch a video, the original video appears before yours, and then your video comes after. Stitches are most commonly used to answer questions or challenges posed by other users.
For your podcast’s TikTok account, you can create a video posing a question for your listeners, with a call-to-stitch at the end. By encouraging your followers to stitch the video with their responses, your content will be seen by anyone who decides to answer the call, giving you massive reach potential.
Some examples of questions you could pose in a call-to-stitch video are:
- Who is your dream guest for our podcast and why?
- Share your successes from a tip you learned on our podcast
- Share a story you think deserves to be covered on our podcast that no one knows about
5. Use TikTok Live to Host AMAs
TikTok’s live feature is a fun way to connect with your existing audience and newcomers. You can chat and answer questions with anyone who attends, making for a fun, interactive experience. Your listeners will walk away feeling more connected to your podcast, and you’ll likely gain insightful feedback from superfans — a win-win.
How to Optimize Your TikTok Videos
To give your TikToks the best chance at reaching as many people as possible, make sure to do the following before you hit post.
1. Post at Optimal Times
It can be tempting to share exciting content right away, but it’s best to wait until the majority of your followers are online. In your TikTok analytics, you can see which time of day your followers tend to watch videos. Note that the best time may change depending on the day of the week.
To see your best times to post, click on the hamburger icon in the top right corner of your profile page. Then, select “Creator tools.” From there, navigate to “Analytics” to find key stats about your audience and content.
2. Use Relevant Hashtags
TikTok isn’t just a content platform, it’s also a search engine. Nearly half of Gen Z is using TikTok over Google to search—that’s a huge deal. Even if your target audience isn’t Gen Z, this statistic reflects a greater shift in the way people are using different platforms online.
Try to tag your videos with relevant hashtags in order to appear in relevant search results to connect with your ideal audience.
If you’re a true crime podcast, for example, some hashtags you can include are:
- #truecrime
- #truecrimetiktok
- #truecrimecommunity
- #truecrimetok
- #truecrimestory
- #truecrimepodcast
There are existing hashtags for virtually any niche, and we encourage you to both research and experiment with different combinations.
Hashtags with a high view count aren’t necessarily the best hashtags to use, either. Don’t limit yourself to only using hashtags that have billions of views. You may find that smaller or mid-sized hashtags work better for your videos.
3. Use Trending Sounds Whenever Possible
Putting trending audio on your videos is a great, relatively low-effort way to hop on the platform’s trends, which can give your videos more reach. You can view which sounds are trending in TikTok’s video editor by navigating to “Add Sound” and then “TikTok Viral” if you have a Creator account.
If you don’t want to add a trending song or sound to your video, there’s a way to do so without making the sound play over your existing content. All you need to do is select a trending sound, and then set the volume of the added sound to zero in TikTok’s video editor. That way, the sound will be completely silent, but you’ll still be able to take advantage of a trend.
4. Take Advantage of Trending Formats
This tip requires a combination of creativity and timing. TikTok is a trend-driven platform, meaning sounds and memes come and go fairly quickly.
If you have the resources to do so, we definitely recommend trying to take advantage of trends whenever they fit your podcast’s brand.
As an example, let’s say you have a podcast about how to get started as a content creator. You could make a TikTok teasing an upcoming episode where you share how much you got paid for certain brand deals with the “30,000” audio trend.
