Advice for Going Viral in Podcasting

Podcasting is a great way to build an audience and connect with people who share your interests. If you’re looking to go viral with your podcast, there are a few things you can do to increase your chances of success. I asked people who are already hosting shows or working in the field to share with me their best advice for going viral in podcasting. I was a little surprised by how few people responded. But, of those who did respond, here’s what they had to say:

Write Great Descriptions for Your Podcast

AJ Rounds, co-host of The Midnight Founders Podcast achieved thousands of downloads in just four short months. His advice for going viral in podcasting is to first write interesting podcast descriptions.

He says to avoid writing about who you chatted with because that’s already in the title. Instead, your podcast description should dive right into the conversation. Share something interesting that will capture your audience’s attention and encourage them to tune in.

Second, he said, “Switch up your questions. Audience members get bored if the same questions are asked to the podcast week after week. By asking new questions and driving the conversations in unexpected ways, the audience will stay interested longer and come back for more!”

Finally, he said, “Share your new podcast episodes on social media platforms. When you release a podcast episode, take an interesting 30–90 second audio clip and share it on

social media platforms. This will get more eyes on your content and generate curiosity for people to want more. And be sure to tag, tag, tag! Encourage all people involved in the podcast to see the post and reshare it too.”

Use TikTok to Promote

Lloyd George is a podcast manager that has been working with podcast hosts to start and manage their shows. He’s also got more than 12,000 followers and 1.5 million views on TikTok. Lloyd said, “I believe virality today in the world of podcasting is very closely connected to discoverability, which the podcast industry hasn’t quite figured out yet.

This is why podcasters are using platforms like Instagram, TikTok, youtube, LinkedIn…etc. They want to use the discoverability on those platforms to make it easier for people to find their podcasts on a mass scale.

It’s clear that the podcasts most likely to go viral on social platforms like TikTok or Instagram are really short clips, with a hook so strong that from the beginning of the video you never consider scrolling to the next video, these videos normally don’t have any context, they just drop you right in the middle of a conversation that you want to know more about. From my experience clips between 45 seconds and a minute and 20 seconds do really well. One thing I’ve noticed in my research is that virality is not always connected to an increase in RSS downloads.”

Francesca Piazza of Intentional Interaction hosts the podcast Saucy Sibz with her brother. She said, “Our biggest help to going viral with our show has been adding video and then putting those clips on TikTok. When those started going viral (100–380k views), we started seeing HUGE jumps in our numbers to our podcast.”

Don’t Forget About Pinterest

Laura Rike hosts The Pintastic Podcast, and her advice to go viral in podcasting is to use Pinterest.

She said, “My advice as both a podcaster and a marketing agency owner is to market your podcast on Pinterest, especially by repurposing it into audiograms and short videos for idea pins, which are favored by the algorithm. Pinterest is a fantastic way to get evergreen content viral organically.”

Be a Guest on Other Podcasts

Brett Robinson, Head of Content & Marketing for Wired Clip said, “My best advice is to make the most out of guest podcasting. The more you feature on other creators’ shows (and the more they feature on yours), the larger your target audience will grow. This is because different podcast audiences will get a glimpse of how entertaining your own content is, and then they will

take a look at your channel too! The main thing to ensure is that the guest podcasting is in the same niche/industry as your own podcast because this will give you a much higher chance of reaching your target consumers.”

Consider What Will Get People Talking

Jamie Kennedy is a producer for multiple podcasts, and is the Founder and CEO of Brave Moon Podcasts. She said, “The biggest thing to consider for your podcast is, what will get people talking? Oftentimes, controversial or contended topics are the most ‘viral-worthy.’ Don’t be afraid to take a stand on what you believe in. Just be prepared, if you do go viral for your podcast or a podcast episode, to have both negative and positive comments.”

She went on to say you should “vet guests with a big platform who are willing to post about your podcast. The episodes I’ve seen go [the] most viral are the ones that feature big names with a following.”

Finally, she said, “Choose a good niche. Don’t try to make your podcast, or podcast episodes, for everyone. For instance, if you’re a psychologist, be a psychologist for ADHD.” The riches are in the niches, after all.

Now I Want to Hear From You

What do you think about the answers I received? Do you agree? Disagree? Leave me a comment and tell me your thoughts.

In the meantime, as I always say, may your page views be high, and your bounce rate be low!