How to Use Pinterest for Podcasters

Meet the Host

Hi, I’m Andi Smiley, your friendly podcast guide! I help moms start podcasts that are fun, fulfilling, and sustainable. I share real stories, honest tips, and simple tools to help you go from overwhelmed to on-air. If you’ve been wondering how to start a successful podcast as a mom or grow your show without social burnout, you’re in the right place.

Links

• Podcast Jumpstart Session⁠
• Grab my Pinterest Magic for Podcasters guide⁠
• Pocket Casts Web Player
• Canva

Connect with me

• Instagram

• Pinterest

Unedited transcript of the episode:

 So you’ve just finished creating the podcast of your dreams. It’s beautiful and it’s gonna help so many people. You know, that many podcasters use Instagram or TikTok or TikTok. Oh my goodness. Instagram or TikTok to market their podcast. But those are kind of overwhelming for you, and you wanna market your podcast in a way that is sustainable.

I completely understand where you’re coming from and so, I’ve decided to dedicate this entire month of the friendly podcast guide to helping you market your podcast in a way that doesn’t feel overwhelming and works really well.

 Hi, I am Andy Smiley, your friendly podcast guide. I help you start a podcast that is fun and fulfilling. I share tips, stories from my own journey and insights from podcasters I admire. This week we’re going to be talking about how you can use Pinterest to market your podcast in the most laid back way possible. And if you are a more visual learner, rather than just hearing my voice or seeing my face on YouTube, then I’ve created a Pinterest for Podcasters Guide that walks you through everything that I’m talking about in this episode. So, if you want that, it’ll be in the show notes.

You can put your email in there so that I can email you that resource and you’ve got both the episode and something to read, to come back to if you don’t wanna listen to the episode again,

because I know that everyone learns differently and I wanna make sure that I’m helping you if you’re a visual learner, because I am definitely someone who likes to see things. Well, truly I’m someone who likes to listen to the episode and then have something to refer back to without having to go back and listen to the episode.

So if you’re like me, I created a guide just for you.

And just as a reminder, if you only have the capacity to implement one thing at the end of the episode, I’ll tell you what that one thing should be so you don’t feel overwhelmed trying to figure out where to start.

So as we start this episode, I want to explain to you why Pinterest is really great for podcasters. First of all, it is one of the largest search engines on the internet, so we might as well take advantage and put our content there so that all of the amazing people that are using Pinterest can find your podcast.

Another thing that’s really great is it’s a place where people go to take action instead of just being entertained.

I know from personal experience that most of the time I go to Instagram to be entertained, not really to do something. Well, when I go to Pinterest, it’s usually to figure out how to do something with my podcast or figure out what I should make for dinner or figure out a craft to do with my children so putting your content on Pinterest helps, you to reach the people that want to take action, that want to press play, and listen to your podcast instead of just being entertained by a ten second reel that you post on Instagram.

Another really great thing about Pinterest for podcasters is that your content on Pinterest has a much longer shelf life. Like we’re talking years instead of just days or weeks on social media. And I don’t know about you, but that helps me feel much better because I just don’t really have time to constantly be putting out new content on social media.

Not only do I not have time, I really just don’t have the energy or the like mental capacity. There are too many other things that I am trying to do that constantly thinking about and posting on social media just is not something that works for me. So that is another reason why Pinterest is such an amazing tool for podcasters, especially Moms who podcast.

Okay, so you’re listening to me and you’re like. Isn’t Pinterest just for recipes and DIY? I will tell you that I feel like at one point that is mainly what Pinterest was for, but not anymore. People go to Pinterest for solutions to all kinds of problems, including whatever problem your podcast is solving, if that’s something tangible, like for me, helping people start podcasts or if it’s something that’s less tangible, like entertaining you while you’re driving home from work, I know that people are going to Pinterest to solve both of those problems, and so

we wanna make sure that you have content there so that people can find you and solve their problem.

Here’s an example. If someone is trying to figure out how to take care of a monster plant, I have several at my house. I love them so much, but also they’re a little finicky.

They might type into the Pinterest search bar, how to take care of a monster plant. And if you have a plant podcast with an episode all about taking care of a monster plant, your pin will pop up because it will say something like how to take care of a monster plant.

And then that person who’s been trying to figure out how to take care of them, their monster will click that pin, find your episode, listen to it, fall in love with you and your podcast, and listen to every other episode you’ve ever made. Doesn’t that sound great?

Okay. Before I get into the nitty gritty of how to use Pinterest as a podcaster, I wanna take a quick second

to talk about my podcast Jumpstart Sessions. So you’ve been thinking about starting a podcast, but every time you think about actually starting questions pop up, what mic do I need? How do I get my show on Apple Podcasts? What if I start and then get overwhelmed? I get it. Podcasting can feel really overwhelming, but that’s exactly why I do free 30 minute podcast jumpstart sessions.

It is just you and me on a call chatting through your questions, and figuring out what’s actually holding you back. By the end, you’ll know exactly what to do next. Plus, I’ll send you my favorite mic recommendations, the best podcast hosting platforms, and the next two steps to get your show started.

I only do a few of these calls each month, so grab yours before they’re gone. Go to the link in the show notes to book your free podcast Jumpstart session. Let’s make this podcast happen.

Okay, now we’re gonna talk about how to use Pinterest as a podcaster.

and this can work if you have a website or if you don’t have a website. Either way, we can make it work for you. So first, if you do have a website, then the first step for you is to turn your podcast episodes into blog posts. But if you don’t have a web, web website,

If you don’t have a website, you can use the URL connected to your episode on a podcast player. As the link for your pin. I am very partial to the pocket cast internet player, but any of them will do. I’ll put a link to the pocket cast one in the show notes, though it’s really easy to use and honestly it’s just my favorite, so I’ll put it there.

But you can use any of them. Spotify, apple Podcasts, all of those URLs will work for you and your pins. And just so you know, this does not have to happen when you are releasing episodes, this can happen in between seasons.

That is what I do. That is the only way that I’m able to do it right now I used to try and make the Pinterest pin and upload it and do all of those things while I was also releasing episodes, and that was one of the many reasons that I ended up burning out last year. So instead now I’ve switched, and

that’s one of the main things that I do between seasons is create blog posts for each episode and then create pins for each of those posts to put on Pinterest Now that you have either created a blog post or grabbed the URL from a internet podcast player, you can create a Pinterest pin for each episode. Or honestly, if you are up for it, create more than one pin for each episode. ’cause it just gives, you more chances to be found by people that are using Pinterest.

And if creating a pin feels overwhelming to you, I am in that same boat. I hear you and I feel you. One thing that I do to make it so much easier is I love using Canva to create Pinterest pins. They have a bunch of different templates. That make it super easy to create Pinterest pins and after you’ve created those pins in Canva, you’ll just download them so that they’re on your computer, and then you’ll hop on over to the Pinterest website you upload your pin, and then you create a title and a description that will help people find your pin.

So just like a quick blurb about that episode, truly. And if you’re not sure what to write, a great place to start is the title can be the title of your episode and the description can be like the highlights from your show notes. Like it really doesn’t have to be that hard, especially as you’re starting and just kind of trying to figure it all out.

That’s a great place to start if you’re ready to take it one step further. One thing to consider when you are coming up with your title and description is to think about what words your ideal listener will be typing into the Pinterest search bar. So again, back to the monster example, I do love plants so much.

If your episode is about taking care of a monster plant. You are gonna want to make sure you include the words, how to take care of a monster plant in the title and description so that when people are typing those words into the Pinterest search bar, your pin will come up and they will find your episode about monsteras.

After you’ve done the title and the description, it’s time to post your pin so you can post it immediately or you can schedule them out using the built-in scheduler on Pinterest,

So if you’re still feeling a little overwhelmed and you’re not sure what your pins could look like, I’ll put a link to a couple of my pins that I’ve created for my podcast in the show notes so you can go and look at them and see.

Honestly, they’re not perfect. I’m just gonna warn you. And there are some that I am much more proud of than others, but for me right now in this stage of life, motherhood, podcasting done is significantly better than perfect. So that is where I am right now.

So Pinterest isn’t going to magically send you a hundred new downloads tomorrow, but that’s not really the goal with Pinterest. What makes Pinterest so powerful is that it keeps working long after you’ve posted that pin. It’s like planting seeds that keep growing behind the scenes without you really having to do much of anything.

One of my pins from an episode I released last fall has more than 3000 views, which is so fun because most of my social media does not get that many views and along with those views, I’ve had several new listeners tell me that that exact episode is how they found my podcast.

So even though I created that pin months ago, it’s still helping new people discover my show. And that’s what I love about Pinterest. It’s sustainable and it works long term.

As I’m wrapping up this episode, here’s the one thing you should implement in your podcast if you’re feeling overwhelmed and not sure where to start, and that is don’t let making content for Pinterest be the thing that burns you out.

It is honestly too much for me to try and do that when I’m putting out weekly episodes during my season. So right now I have not created a Pinterest pin for this episode, but in between seasons I’m going to create blog posts and pins for each of these episodes, and maybe if I get a little crazy, I’ll do more than one,

and doing it in between seasons has worked really well for me and I still get the benefits of having pins on Pinterest, even if it’s a little bit later than the episodes coming out. I, like I was just saying, one of my pins got 3000 views and that was at least a month, maybe two months after that episode came out.

So. There’s no like timeline, right? If putting out episodes and creating pins for Pinterest at the same time is too much, do not do it. Figure out what works best for you so that. You’re not burning out as you’re trying to market your podcast and put content out. For me, doing it in between seasons was what worked best. But if that doesn’t work for you, please don’t do it. Figure out what’s gonna work best for you.

But truly doing it in between seasons for me, has worked really well, so it probably will work really well for  you too. If this episode helped you, would you mind sharing it with another mom who wants to start a podcast without burning out? Your recommendation would mean the world to me, like it would mean so much if you could pass this episode along, or just the friendly podcast guide as a whole to your mom friend that has been thinking about starting a podcast but doesn’t really know where to start. In next week’s episode, I’ll be talking about marketing your podcast. By being a podcast guest, I’ll walk you through the whole process so it won’t feel intimidating anymore.

Thanks for being here, and I’ll see you next week.