For many growth methods, a host can take action on their own. Working with hosts that have similar podcasts is another option. Two hosts can do a podcast to podcast promotion.

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What is a Podcast to Podcast Promotion?

A podcast to podcast promotion is using another host's podcast to promote a podcast.

Types of Swaps

The Other Host As A Guest

One form of swapping is to have the other host as a guest. The other host can discuss their podcast themselves. The other host can discuss the premise of their podcast. Then, a host can be a guest on the other host's podcast to give details about their podcast. Which is an opportunity for a new audience to discover the podcast.

Add Episode To RSS Feed

A type of swap is the episode swap. The swap is when a host adds the other host's episode to their RSS feed. Allowing the audience to listen to a preview of the podcast.

Add Snippets

To swap, a host might add snippets of the other podcast. The introduction can include the snippet of the other podcast. There are many options for the content of the snippet. For the content, the other host can describe the content of the podcast. A listener might be willing to record a review as a snippet. For the most part, the other host has to deal with the content of the snippet. A host needs to know where the snippet would fit into the podcast best.

Talk About The Podcast

A host discussing the other podcast is a type of swap. A host can mention their favorite episode or why they like the other podcast. The other host could even give talking points to discuss.

Find Hosts To Swap With?

Forums

The Open Podcast Community Forum has a category for members to swap promotions. A host can create a post on the Open Podcast Forum looking for promotional swaps. A host can describe their podcast in the post, and the other hosts with a similar topic will respond.

Email Hosts

If a host listens to podcasts similar to their own, they can email other hosts. If the other host has a similar size audience, they may be willing to swap. A host should not take offense if a host with a bigger audience does not want to do a swap. The other host might see the proposal as a host trying to take advantage of their audience. Stick with podcasts that have a similar size audience to avoid problems.

Ask The Audience

A host's audience might listen to different podcasts with a similar subject matter. An audience can offer insight into the different podcasts of the same subject matter. Each podcast on the list is a chance for a host to swap.

Tips

Metrics

In the podcast industry, metrics have a monthly count. For an individual episode, a host needs to measure downloads in 1 month. A host does not need to keep an episode of someone's podcast in their feed for longer than a month. Deleting an episode from the RSS feed after a month prevents problems. The RSS feed does not become cluttered with other hosts' episodes. Having an episode from a different podcast might confuse a new listener.

Invite Other Host To Engage With The Community

A host can invite the other host to their community. If the community knows the other host, they can ask them questions. The community might want to create questions for the interview. A host can set up an Ask Me Anything in the community to give members a platform for asking questions after the interview.

Clarity

Some people do not read the description of the episode. A host can state that the episode is from a different podcast by adding audio to the beginning. They can tell the audience that the episode is a different podcast. A second option is for the other host to thank the listeners of a host's audience.

When Swaps Get Lowest Amount Of Listens

A host might notice the "swapping episodes" are getting fewer downloads. In that case, the host should stop swapping. The decrease in downloads means that an audience does not like the swapping. If a host continues to swap, they will lose their current audience. Making the growth efforts of swapping pointless. The number of new listeners might make up for the lost listeners. If a host keeps swapping because new people learn about the podcast every swap. The number of listeners may still increase every swap.

Have Standard Episode Ready To Swap

A host can maximize the number of new listeners that join their audience after a swap. Having a standard swap episode is an action that can help maximize the amount. The standard episode can be the podcast's best episode. The new audience will hear the highest quality episode. Which will increase the chances of subscribing.

Benefits

Different Audience With Similar Interests

By doing a swap, a host engages with a new audience with similar interests as their audience. Being that the audience's similar, the new audience is more likely to join the host's audience. Targeting an audience makes doing swaps more beneficial than other growth methods.

Networking

Asking other hosts to promote their podcast is a networking opportunity. The two hosts are working together. The other hosts can discuss working with a host. In the future, a host can ask the other hosts to help them promote any of their new content or projects.

Get A Break

For the week that a host does a swap, the host does not have to create content. They can use the free week to increase the quality of the next episode.

Free

A host is getting a free promotion for the podcast. While the host has to take the time to prepare. The financial cost of the swap is nothing.

Backlinks

A podcast gets added to many different podcast players. This creates domain authority for a link. Being added to a new podcast's show notes will increase the number of backlinks. The domain authority for the podcast's website will increase.

Many Podcasts To Swap With

There are many podcasts out there. Giving a host many options for swapping. If 4-5 hosts do not agree to swap, there are hundreds of other podcasts for swapping. Reaching out might take time, but there is a host that will swap.

Do Not

Swap Too Many Times In A Row

A host might find themselves with many options for swapping. They should not do many swaps at once. Doing many swaps at once does not allow the host to get a feel for the audience's reaction. Depending on the type of swap, an audience might grow tired of over-swapping.

Too Much Out Of The Category

If a host goes too much out of their category for a swap, the swap might not achieve the results a host desires. If a host has a technology podcast and swaps with a swimming podcast. Then, the audience might not enjoy their podcast much. Making the odds of them subscribing to the host's podcast unlikely.

Disadvantages

Trust Someone Will Help

For certain swaps, a host has to trust the other host. The other host might take advantage and not complete a swap. The other host might wait for a host to add their episode to the RSS feed and not do the same. The only way to prevent this from happening is to build trust with the other hosts. If the other host gets to know a host, they will be less likely to not fulfill their obligations to them.

Episode Might Not Flow With Content

Every host has an individual style for their podcast. Some styles will not mix well with a different podcast. Hearing the two different styles on one RSS Feed might sound bad. Which might impact the audience's enjoyment of a podcast. Listeners may unsubscribe from a podcast if they do not enjoy a swap.

Get Attacked Online

Some people from the other audience may not like a host's statement. People from that same audience might feel the need to attack the host online. If that is the case, there are measures a host can take to minimize that result. Some actions are blocking, taking a break from the platform, or letting the other host know. The other host might want to help solve the issue.

Not Scalable

Some swaps are not scalable. A host can only do so many of them. There is a limit to the number of guests for a solo podcast. The same goes for the number of interviews they can do. They can send out as many snippets as they want.

Conclusion

Above all, a host needs to have an audience to do swaps. Another host does not want to swap with a podcast that no one listens to. That is a waste of time for the other host and will make a host look bad. A new host should not try swapping right away. The exception is if both podcasts have small audiences or a few episodes.

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This post is an excerpt from the Open Podcast Community book. Which is available for purchase here.