According to Hubspot, the top priority for marketers these days is generating leads. (Not that you really needed a statistic to prove that one.) As marketers, we try everything to attract new potential customers, cranking out content like blogs, whitepapers, webinars, free tools, and more to make it happen.
But is all this content production really moving the needle? Are we sacrificing quality for the sake of quantity? Is what we’re doing even driving real, measurable results?
Sixty percent of companies struggle to produce content consistently, and 65% find it a challenge to create engaging content.
It’s no wonder, either. Site visitors are smart. They know a “canned” blog when they see one, and they can sniff out inauthentic content a mile away, making it exponentially harder to build true engagement.
So why do we keep serving up content that doesn’t do the trick?
Building engagement (and achieving subsequent conversions) is a lot easier when you focus on authentic content that will stick.
Enter podcasts.
Podcasts are inherently authentic because they showcase real conversations to capture audience attention — and when activated across your website, they have the potential to be the most engaging part of your marketing strategy.
Driving Site Traffic Through Podcast Engagement
Audience engagement can take many forms with a podcast, because there are so many ways an episode can be repurposed and interacted with.
For example, audience members can:
- Listen to a clip or episode
- Share a clip or episode
- Click through to related content
- Listen to more than one episode
- Subscribe to your podcast
- Subscribe to a related newsletter or podcast fan group
And that’s just the beginning.
When you host your show on your website, it allows for even more control, giving you the ability to dish up relevant content and better track podcast metrics. And where organic site visitors must be carefully guided and nurtured toward conversion, podcasts give you a leg up, inviting already-warm audiences to engage further through additional digital content.
Instead of keeping the two separate, why not use your podcast to encourage website engagement by:
- Repurposing episodes into written content
Publish full transcripts on your corporate blog, post snippets on social, or review the written content to help you identify future content marketing topics. Transcribing your podcasts also leads to improved SEO, stronger thought leadership, and a greater opportunity for backlinks.
- Embedding clips into your content
Curate the best parts of your podcast by pulling out bite-sized sound clips that draw in new audience members. Then, sprinkle the clips throughout your website, blogs, and emails to drive traffic back to the podcast.
- Embedding episodes into your content
It’s hard to resist hitting a play button, especially when the alternative is reading a full page of text. At Casted, we’re big fans of embedding audio for the smoothest, most convenient user experience. In fact, we just did this in a blog announcing our new podcast and newsletter, The Tic!
- Hosting your podcast on your site for easier consumption
Consider hosting the podcast on your own website to have better access and control over metrics. More than just the number of downloads, you’ll be able to track site visits, time on page, length of podcast listened to, and more.
Jay Baer’s Take on Better Metrics >>
- Including social media buttons (for easier sharing)
Share a blog post or page with an embedded podcast, or isolate episodes and clips for use on social media. Use social media share buttons, or pair audio with video content through Audiograms, making it easier to post and get noticed.
- Offering additional content and resources to encourage click-throughs
Embed links in the show description, episode summary, transcript, or other page copy to encourage click-through to key brand pages. But don’t just lead them anywhere — link to relevant resources that relate to what they just listened to so they stay engaged and hungry for more.
- Capturing email through bots and forms
Place a bot or form on the same page you embed a podcast episode to drive listeners toward the next step. Perhaps ask for them to become a subscriber. Or add them to your newsletter. Or offer up a relevant, handy dandy download in exchange for an email.
Don’t these ideas seem like much easier “sells” than straight up asking for an email, phone number, or subscription out of the blue?
Podcasts allow for a much more natural lead progression, building relationships first and engaging newcomers for the longer term.
Let Your Podcast Do the Talking
A B2B podcast isn’t just an experiment, a fad, or an amusing side project (though we have a ton of fun doing it!).
Podcasting is a real and highly valuable asset to your marketing strategy. That’s why it deserves to be a key part of your marketing mix.
Marketers already consider web traffic among the top two measurements of success for content marketing strategies. Imagine what that metric could look like when you infuse the power and authenticity of real conversations!
That’s what we do here at Casted. We help marketers take the rich, engaging podcast content they create and repurpose it for evergreen value across channels. The best part is how easy it is to manage, activate, and measure it all on the industry’s first B2B podcasting platform. Take a listen to what others in the industry are doing, and give us a shout to see Casted in action.
