Effective follow-up can make a huge difference to the growth and success of your podcast. Here are some tips to help you!

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1. Follow up after publishing episodes

Your work isn’t done when you click publish. Now, it’s time to promote that episode!

• Share it on your social-network accounts
• Pull out quotable moments to turn into images, “audiograms” (such as with Wavve or Audiogram), and tweets
• Send an email to subscribers
• Share it in relevant communities where appropriate
• Respond to comments on the episode
• Continue promoting for as long as it’s relevant (such as with SocialJukebox)

2. Follow up after events

I think it’s ironic that in my previous episode about mistakes to avoid at events (episode 321), I forgot to include the mistake of not following up!

When you attend an event of any kind, you probably meet new people, get new ideas, and have things you’ll need to take action on when you return. Your investment being at the event could be wasted if you don’t follow up afterward.

For people you meet, I recommend collecting a business card and writing something about your conversation or next step. You can easily scan cards with Evernote and then set a reminder. When you return (or maybe even from the event), follow up with an email or other forms of contact.

When you get an idea or learn something you want to try, make sure it’s recorded and accessible later. You could even set a reminder for yourself to review your notes and take action at a specific later date.

3. Follow up after interviewing

When you interview someone on your podcast, follow up with a simple and genuine note of gratefulness. When you publish the episode, send another follow-up with the relevant links and suggested messages and other resources your guest can use to share the episode with their audience.

But don’t pester your guest to promote your show. You already received their greatest value: the content in your episode.

4. Follow up after guesting

When you are a guest on someone else’s podcast, make sure you follow up with any promises you made to the host or to their audience. For example, free offers or engaging in the comments.

Even if the host doesn’t ask you to, follow up by promoting your appearance on their podcast. You could even consider adding it to a reposting queue to share on your social networks every few weeks (SocialJukebox makes this easy).

5. Follow up after requests

Whether you’re asking for a guest, a product to review, feedback, or making any other request, be patient and allow some time for the person to read and respond to your request. But don’t leave it alone for too long! Consider a quick follow-up message or call to ensure they saw your first request.

I really like Boomerang for Gmail to manage this kind of follow-up. I can set an email thread to return to me at a later date based on certain conditions, such as if they haven’t responded, if they haven’t opened the email, or regardless of engagement.

6. Follow up after offers

If you offer something to your audience, follow-up to ensure they get it.

For example, if it’s a special offer you send to your email subscribers, make sure you send another email before the offer expires (but filter out anyone who already took the offer).

And for the people who take your offer, follow up to ensure they received what they expected. You could also take that opportunity to connect them with more relevant stuff. For example, I can promote my SEO for Podcasters course to anyone who previously accessed my free podcast SEO cheat sheet.

What other ways do you follow up in podcasting? Comment to share the tips or tools you use!

[reviews]

Ronnie Obenhaus, from the USA and host of Redeeming Bad Movies, wrote, “Thank you, Daniel. Your positivity and passion have inspired me to start my own podcast. Your episodes helped to give me confidence to just start. I feel like my content has gotten better over time and I owe a lot of that to you. So thank you sir. The Good in the Bad by the Ugly podcast is a passion project of mine to try and get people to rethink their initial ratings of movies. With your enthusiasm, I was able to add a voice to my thoughts. Now, with my ramblings, the army that is my listeners can help bring a movie from the brink of obscurity to the safety of mediocrity. Thank you.”

Allen C. Paul (AKA Ap88keys), from the USA and host of The God and Gigs Show, wrote, “When I first realized that a podcast would be a good fit for my project God and Gigs, my faith-centered community of mainstream artists and musicians, I was immediately worried that I wouldn’t be able to figure out all the nuances of yet another broadcast medium. … After a few fruitless Google searches, I found Daniel’s show, and his clear and concise style immediately made it seem less stressful to find information. … I’m thankful for this show for helping me successfully launch the first episode of the God and Gigs Show. …”

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