Whether you already have a podcast or are considering starting one (which we highly recommend), you know that recording and producing each episode is only half the battle. Your audience needs to discover, subscribe to and engage with your podcast to make it worthwhile. That’s why audiograms are such a crucial part of every podcast distribution and promotion strategy. Read on to learn why this tactic works.

What Is an Audiogram?

An audiogram is a visual soundbite. It can be a static image or video paired with audio from your podcast. Sometimes the video is as simple as the waveform of the audio track (the spikes and dips you see on a horizontal line to represent sound). Others, like the ones below, use dynamic text. Some combine static and dynamic elements with a headshot of the speaker or an image of the subject matter.

Audiograms are best used as social media content. Because of their super short run time (aim for 30 seconds), they are a good fit for platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn, where users are scrolling quickly and won’t stop for long, even to view content they are interested in.

Here are three examples of audiograms promoting GLC’s podcast, The Content Studio.

Why Use Audiograms

According to research published by Statista, 41% of Americans listen to podcasts — and the majority are between the ages of 12 and 34. Americans ages 18-49 make up the largest cohort of social media users, so reaching this audience on social media just makes sense.

Social has a host of benefits that complement the audiogram format, including:

• Autoplay features that make your audiogram stand out among text-only and static posts.
• Shareable features that allow your audiograms to gain exposure when users engage with them.
• Engagement metrics that provide detailed reports about your audiogram’s performance.

Audiograms Make Your Content Accessible

Often as marketers we emphasize optimizing our content for search, but we must also optimize it for accessibility. Your audience may have hearing or sight impairments that make listening to your podcast or reading your blog difficult. Because audiograms mix sound and text, they allow for multiple ways to consume content in one medium. For those with hearing difficulties, you can either use dynamic text or auto-generated captions. We prefer dynamic text, as it allows you to control the look and accuracy of the captions.

It’s a good idea to include captions on all online videos so that users who see them while scrolling can still engage with and consume your content without sound. Across Facebook and LinkedIn, the majority of video is watched on mute.

Video Content Gets Big Engagement

Most marketers know that video is one of the most engaged-with content types, but that truth becomes undeniable when you consider the data behind it:

• Video content receives the highest organic engagement on Facebook, and nearly half of consumers report that they engage with branded videos on Facebook.
• On LinkedIn video is shared 20 times more than other content types.
• Video receives double the engagement of other posts on Instagram.
• Tweets with video receive 10 times more engagement than tweets without.

Adding audiograms to your social calendar will not only help grow your podcast audience, but they’ll boost your social media engagement and grow your following.

Ready to Grow Your Audience with Audiograms?

If you’re ready for your podcast to reach its full potential, fill out the form below to see how GLC can support your podcast promotion. If you’re interested in starting a podcast, we’d like to help with that, too.