32: How to Promote Your Podcast Launch with Sophia Parra
I've made no secret of the fact that I'm terrible when it comes to social media. So, it stands to reason that I'm the last person you want to take advice from when it comes to promoting your podcast launch on social media.
Luckily, I know the perfect person to provide you with some guidance on this topic.
Sophia Parra is a social media strategist specifically for coaches and the creator and CEO of Coach Social; a company that helps you grow your business by generating original, informative content that builds credibility and helps you to be found and trusted by your perfect clients.
In this episode, Sophia breaks down how soon you should begin promoting your podcast launch on social media, why you should get your audience involved from the very beginning stages of creating your podcast, how often you should post about the launch, whether or not creating a launch team is worth the effort, and the importance of telling a story with your social media posts.
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Transcript
Welcome to podcasting for coaches. I'm Britany Felix and I'm a podcast launch consultant who specializes in helping coaches and consultants utilize the power of podcasting as a way to build brand awareness and generate new leads for their business. I realize not every new coach or consultant can afford to hire someone to help launch their show. So I created this podcast as a way to guide you through the process of launching and utilizing your very own podcast to help you grow your business and reach a new audience of adoring followers and potential clients. If you're ready to get your voice and podcast out into the world, head over to podcasting for coaches.com to learn more. Welcome to Episode 32 of podcasting for coaches. I am so excited to bring you this episode today. Because I have an amazing guest for you. I have made no secret of the fact that I am terrible as social media. I don't know anything about it. I don't know how to use it. And it is incredibly overwhelming to me. And I know that there are a lot of you out there who feel the same way that I do. So I wanted to bring you Sophia Parra. She is a social media strategist specifically for coaches and the creator and CEO of coach social, a company that helps you grow your business by generating original informative content that builds credibility and helps you be found and trusted by your perfect clients. As you can see, when it came time to discuss your launch promotion strategy on social media, I knew I absolutely needed to have Sophia on here, especially since I cannot emphasize this enough. I know practically nothing about social media. So Sophia, welcome to the show. And why don't you tell us a little bit about yourself.
01:38
Hi, I'm so glad to be here. I live in New York City, I've got two dogs, I actually started this crazy business as an actor who was trying to get as much as much reach and exposure as possible and a highly highly competitive industry. I mean, especially It was a very different place at that time. But I was noticing while so many of my friends couldn't get representation and couldn't really get their voice out there, I was able to using social media. Long story short, my dad went through an illness, he almost died that my mom had the exact same cancer, not even two months later. And I was using social media to get the word out about this super rare cancer and to find, you know, clinics, etc. and a coach reach out to me and help me through the entire process. So with my social media, we were able to raise money for them to actually afford this crazy treatment in Germany. And I didn't lose my mind because I had this coach with me. So I completely changed my mission. And I just wanted to help as many people as possible, have coaches like I had through those experiences. So that's why this passion of social media and helping coaches kind of aligned.
02:43
Wow, that's incredible. I'm so sorry to hear about your parents.
02:47
Thank you. You know, I
02:48
think when you start a business from that place, it just means so much more.
02:52
Yes. Oh my gosh, so much more. I think that's also why I love working with coaches, because they actually have a mission. They want to help more people. They have a very clear sense about that. And it's so different than like a makeup company reaching out to me, like, hey, help me sell makeup, you know, it's like not quite rame passion. And it's really such a gift to work with coaches, and to really understand that social media for them is about something bigger than just like posting. So yeah, I love it.
03:23
Well, let's dive into the meat of the conversation today. So we're talking about launching your podcast and the promotional strategy that should go along with that. To start off, how soon should a coach or consultant start promoting their show? Like should they start even before they have a launch date really designated?
03:41
Yeah. Oh, my gosh, this is such a good question, because I actually find this to be one of the biggest mistakes I see coaches make. So first of all, I wouldn't think about a promotional period. So Lennar Lennar, really. But I wouldn't get better at that I would be a little bit loose about it. I think a second you decide that you are building a podcast and you've put enough steps in place where it's like, it's on track, it's happening. There's no backing out. Now it's definitely in line, I would start talking about it. Because you want to get your audience as invested in your podcast as possible before it's out to the public and able to be absorbed. What that means is if you're debating on a title, you've got three titles, you know what's happening, you got three titles you love them all, but you don't know which one are even if you do know which one you kind of like, I would still as long as you're like, Okay with one of those three being what it's called, I would even take to social media to be like, Hey, guys, Carrie for those new podcasts coming out what title do you like? Have them vote on it? Have them vote on the artwork, have them vote on like, which guests should come first have them vote on the questions that you want to ask them like, really make them a part of that process before it's even out there while you're prepping all the steps. What this does is it makes people personally involved in this journey, and also when it comes time to actually promote it. This is your tribe. I Name that podcast, you're suddenly like, Oh my god, I was there when you're naming pugs. And here it is like there's much more of a connection with it. Does that make sense?
05:07
Yeah, absolutely. I think that's amazing advice. And I think you know, especially with coaches and consultants, they can be just so in their own head with everything. And in their own world. Yeah, starting a business like this is very overwhelming and intimidating. Anyways, there can be a lot of fear around it, and imposter syndrome, and things like that. And so I think coaches and consultants tend to feel like they need to keep everything under wraps, until they have every detail worked out. And it's just perfect so that they can present it to the public. And unfortunately, at that point, when it comes to launching something like a podcast, it's too late. You know, I mean, where's the buzz around the launch, nobody knows to be excited, because I don't even know that there's anything to be excited about.
05:47
Yes. And that is the biggest thing, there is no buzz that takes time to build. So if you're waiting for like, Oh, my podcast is out in a week, I'm going to start promoting it, you've missed the boat. Unfortunately, I'm not saying don't launch it, don't stick to your schedule, if it's important to stick to that schedule. But I am saying you have to give yourself you know, permission to maybe not get as much reach as you would have on social media. If you start promoting it that late. Eventually, it'll come like don't let that stop your process. You can make up for that. But it's now going to take a little longer than I would have if you had created that before. Does that make sense?
06:22
Yeah, absolutely. What I actually have in my agreement with my launch clients is that their launch episodes have to be scheduled within three months of them signing that agreement. This is really to prevent people from, you know, taking like a year because they put it on the back burner, they get intimidated by it. And they tend to ignore it, you know, all of those types of things. And I mean, we're deciding on the things like the podcast title, and the artwork right after we get started within the first couple of weeks. And so that's, you know, two to three months, before you know it officially launches. So do you think that that's really too far out to do something like this, and it means running the risk of your audience, forgetting about the project and not being excited about it when it comes launch? Or should you still promote this far ahead and just kind of continue and follow through with that promotion the entire time,
07:10
I would go ahead and do it, knowing that you will maintain consistency around talking about it. So if you're the type of person to keep falling off the wagon and not be consistent, then that's something you need to worry about people losing like the buzz and the attention around them. However, I would do everything in your power to make the decision to be that person to be consistent with it every step of the way through. So if that means this week, I'm going to ask them to help me vote on this. next couple weeks, I'm going to ask them to vote on the artwork. Meanwhile, between that I'm also saying guys, I'm so excited. I'm meeting with my podcasting launch consultant, Brittany, we're talking about this, this and this today, I cannot wait you guys, this is seriously going to help you so helpful to you. And I just cannot wait offer this. You know, you're talking about all that, like in between those times that they're voting and getting invested. Right? This is a journey. This is a story that you're telling. I think that's what people forget, they forget to tell the story. They just remember to promote. But there's a story happening here. And the promotions are just the highlights. Right? That's just when you're like, this is it. This is happening right now. The investment is coming before and after that, you know, yeah, so I feel if you forget the story, part of the storytelling, you're not really using social media. Like that's what social media is about. And I think it needs a beginning, middle and end or not end.
08:31
At the end of this one being launched, I
08:33
guess. Correct. Totally going on, guys, everything I'm saying here that like it just needs that feeling of they're following you.
08:45
Right? They're going on the journey with you.
08:47
Yeah, absolutely.
08:49
Yeah. And I think a lot of times people can get in their own heads. And they think it needs to be this like giant thing that totally planned out. And, you know, you can pre schedule all the posts, and there's all these like content, images, and they're making it out to be something that is just so much bigger than what it should be. I mean, like you just said, you know, hey, I'm meeting with my consultant today. And we're going to talk about these things. And I'm so excited. That takes, you know, maybe 30 seconds to type that out and send it and that's what I think gets forgotten a lot of times is just how simple it can be.
09:19
Absolutely. And I would actually really try not to over edit those things. I think like part of the beauty of social media is that it doesn't feel so perfect. And I know a lot of people are gonna be like, oh no on Instagram, I feel super, super perfect. And you know, I get that but not obsessing over that are actually the people that are thriving, right on social media. Like there's a client that I have, and she launched a podcast and everything went wrong like every step of the way. Like I'm not exaggerating, and thankfully she has a really like good humor about this stuff. She's a super experienced business coach. She wasn't like getting obsessed in their head and and doubting herself around she's just like, Oh my gosh, this is hilarious. I cannot believe this went wrong again, right. But she took on it, this launched with happening a couple months out so, and everything was going wrong, like people kept having babies. I was like leaving her and she didn't have anyone to do this part of the project. And that's part of the project. And then her guests, I don't know, like a load or whatever. And so she was like, Oh, my God, everything went wrong. But she literally took us on this story. And it was the most imperfect thing. She's laughing the whole time. She's like, you were never gonna believe those guys. And she did it. So well, that comes time to actually launch. Like you should have seen I'm almost getting like emotional thinking about the amount of people that were just like, congratulations, it's here. It's arrived. You did it, girl, you're so proud of you like, yeah, just with her the whole step of the way that when it came time to launch, it was a privilege to support it.
10:47
Yeah, the audience over stood just how much she had to overcome to make that happen. They were rooting for her and celebrating with her. And I mean, I think that's pretty special.
10:57
Yes. And that is what happens when you build that journey. And you invite people into it, which is what social media is about. And I think when people forget that they're really missing the boat on that. And it's not about selling. In fact, it's about giving. And that's even why and we can talk about this later, especially, but like I even have, like certain formulas around how to construct your content so that it actually feels like you are giving and not like promoting your podcast, you know, right? That's all stuff to think about. Right? Well, why
11:29
don't we dive into that a little bit. So if there's somebody who's not comfortable with more of the storytelling type post, you know, they're so used to just like, Okay, well, let me just throw out this image that is a format where all I have to do is just update a little bit of the text on it, you know, and now they're having to start thinking creatively, and in a little bit more of a storytelling kind of a way, how do they make that shift?
11:50
Yeah, okay. Well, first of all, no matter what, I would challenge you to try to find that story, right? Because I just only I'm used to being transparent or real, right? Like, that is like what social media is about, I would be doing any coach a disservice by saying, Okay, yeah, you don't need to do that. However, if that is really, really a struggle for you, but you still want to create like value pack content, there's two things I would suggest, first of all, and actually, I would suggest this, no matter what I would be building a community consistently in terms of care, let me use it a specific example. If I knew I was going to have a podcast coming out, right, I would know that I'm going to be reaching out to my network of fellow coaches who are supporting me who are also coaches who get it who have their own podcast, maybe and who would be open to sharing my podcast for me, because up until this point, I have been an active member within their community too. So before I even know that this launch is happening, I'm building my network, I'm on their pages, I am commenting, I am like supporting them, they share something, I'm sharing it as well, if my audience would benefit from it, of course, like audience comes first. But of course, this nurturing community of support of fellow coaches can be super valuable in the long run. So I would as much as possible be an active member in these communities. What that does, for example, I have one coach who she's actually technically my competitor, but like, she's really cool. We like are really like we get along, but I know cuz she shared on one of our podcasts, 80% of her audience are coaches. So I was like, Huh, I wonder if I like just browse the people that follow her if I could find some, like awesome people, that would be great. In my community, too. We're offering different so I wasn't trying to steal from her. It's just that we definitely are like, have some overlapping topics, right. And what I did it I found a bunch of people that were not part of my community. I was commenting on their photos, follow them if they were really ideal, and I was engaged an engaged part of their community. What that looks like is if they're complaining about something social media related, I might say, Oh, my gosh, I actually just wrote a blog about this. Here it is more if they're like, Man, I'm not once you progress, I don't know what to do. Oh, my gosh, I know Britany. Felix, here's her handle, definitely check her out. What this does, is to this potential listener, I'm adding value I'm there, she's like, watch, this girl knows a lot of stuff. Suddenly, I'm like, I know something she doesn't. And perhaps she might want to check me out right as well. And we have an active member of each other's communities, which by the way happens, I would say 60 to 70% of the time, if you're doing this consistently, what this also does is between you and me, Brittany, I'm referring you to people and you're seeing it because I'm tagging you. So suddenly, I'm getting valuable to an audience and to a fellow coach, who later on when I'm about to launch a podcast, I've send you an email with a hyperlink, I'm actually going to be launching a podcast, would you mind sharing it with your audience? I really think it could help them because I'm going to be covering this this message specifically for coaches. And I know that your audience struggles with social media sometimes and I just think they'd really find a lot of value in it. What do you think would you be open to that? You could respond knowing that I've talked about you multiple times, you're probably going to be like, I'd be happy to write you know, you're probably not gonna be like Dude, you know what I mean? Like, you've built this community already that when you're about to launch your podcast, you have not only a community of followers who are listeners, but also community support system, right and help you support that. Now you're asking them to share that for you when it comes time to launch. So that's one thing, if you're not comfortable telling the story, when it comes time to launching, and you have this community of people that you've built, not through posting, necessarily, but through just engaging, suddenly, you have a lot of content to repost and share that builds buzz without you being an active storyteller. Does that make sense? Yeah, absolutely. No, I
15:37
think that's a fantastic way to look at it. I mean, I know even in my industry, you know, with other launch consultants, and even editors, they all kind of have a similar mindset as me. And yes, we offer sometimes, you know, in certain circumstances, the exact same services, but we are totally different people with totally different personalities and approaches and systems. And actually, there's one particular person who comes to mind Andrea of podcast envy, because I know that she listens to my show. I'm even gonna eventually invite her on the show. She's not aware of that. Yeah, but she is now even though she technically does exactly what I do. But we just have different styles. So I don't really see her necessarily as a competitor. She's more like a colleague. So I think this idea of interacting with other people that do the same thing that you do, even though they might be you know, in air quotes, your competitor is a great idea, because they can still be your support team. Absolutely. Because there is no one else who doesn't like you. And there is no one else who does like Andrea. And this is what I try to tell people again, and again and again, sound like oh, but I just feel like my idea for social media page has been done again. And again, I just feel like my idea for a podcast has been done again and again. But no one does it like you, you are the only person and like, that sounds so cheesy. But it's so very special.
16:56
Totally, totally. But it's so true. And when you think about that, like there's gonna be someone out there who needs the same information, but will absorb it better from you than from Andrea simply because they vibe with you more, or whatever that might be. It's just your personality. And that's okay.
17:12
Right? Absolutely. I
17:13
just feel like people should never feel like they can't recommend other people or just build that community, even if there are competitors, like there's enough success to go around. Right. And it also in the long run will just help both of you. You know, it's just you're just uplifting one another. Right? Yeah.
17:29
So that leads me into maybe the final question or thought for this episode, because we're running a little short on time. What about like launch teams. So just the other day, I saw a screenshot of an email from somebody, I don't know who she is, but she's very clearly a pretty big influencer. In her space, she was putting together a team of supporters who were going to promote the show pre launch, not even, you know, once it was launched, but actually beforehand, they were going to have, you know, team meetings, and she was going to supply them with images and copy and all of those sorts of things. And it was this really elaborate thing to be honest.
18:00
So you know, even if it's not that elaborate, just kind of putting together a launch team to help you promote the show ahead of time, could you give us your thoughts on whether or not that's worth the effort, or what you should provide to them, or those kinds of things? Oh, 1,000% worth the effort. So I basically just walked you through, like how to nurture that relationship with potential supporters. But the end goal should be that when it's time for a launch, and hopefully you're doing this long before, like you're cultivating those relationships long before so it's not kind of like, wow, you just email me if you want something,
18:32
right? If you reach out the week before your launch, and you're like, hey, we've never talked before, by the way, will you help me for this thing? Correct.
18:39
Not the same thing. As really nurturing that relationship, the more times they see you and their social media feed as an active member, the more familiar you are and more like a friend, actually, when you do reach out, and you ask them to be part of your team or part of your a lot of people call it like affiliate, I think that's usually a term used specifically for like launches, like sales launches, right? When you're selling something, yeah, correct. However, I kind of see it the same way. Because they're just people who are in line with what I'm talking about, like they believe in what I'm saying. They see the value in it. And also, they know that whatever I'm offering can also help their clients to whether it is competitive or not, they see that value. And by the way, when you recommend people you position yourself as an authority to because you're familiar with this person and what they can offer. So it's kind of like you're providing value regardless. Right? So it's a good way to go. However, back to your question, what you're doing right there is building that core group of affiliates. Essentially, how I would do this is exactly what you described. I would write a list, make sure you have their email addresses, etc. Make sure you've been engaging with them in a generous way asking them even if there's like, Hey, I love your stuff. Is there something I can share for you like literally just simply asking a question most of the time there won't be but simply asking that question. Suddenly they feel like wow, this is a really generous person when it comes time. To emailing your group of affiliates, you have been such an active supportive person, that it's easy and a privilege to say yes to help you. Once they say yes, now we're getting closer to like the official launch, right, I would get all of that stuff ready for them, I would write their Twitter coffee, I would write their LinkedIn copy, I would write their Instagram copy, I would write their Facebook copy, I would tag what you want to tag, I want hashtag, I would create the graphics, the right size for Twitter, the right, whatever they need. So that is a simple thing of copy, paste post, like do not make it complicated for them, if anything, make it the easiest thing in the world. So there's no reason to say no. Right? And then I would also make it clear what you want. You know, I think a lot of people are like, yeah, you know. So here's all the information you need. But like just whatever you feel comfortable with, know what you want, if it serves you the most to have people be posting in your Instagram story, because you know, your core audience is on Instagram, and you want to be able to repost that, make sure you say that, if they're like my Koreans is not really Instagram. Sure, they can also do the other things, but you really need that repost, because that's where your audience is, as well. And that's where like you hang out. So if people are checking you out on Instagram, finding on Instagram and checking you out on Instagram, that's where they're gonna be more than most impressed, right? Because you've got this like present. However, again, if this affiliate feels like they're more of an authority figure somewhere else, definitely let them post there. I'm not saying don't do that. But just make sure that you've stated where you would find the most value for whatever reason. And I think a lot of people sometimes say, yeah, I'll email this, but I am kind of busy on social media, or I'll put it on social media, I kind of had a lot of going on in my email list. Obviously, this is a favor, so you can't be pushy with that, like, that's okay. But I would try to know roughly what the timeline is and be like, that's totally fine. So when do you think might make a good time, so I can be sure to be prepared on my end, to know to look out for it and repost it and share with my own community, etc. I wouldn't know all of that. So you can actually have a mapped out vision of like, where you're promoting. Okay, so you know where to fill in the gaps. Right. So I'm gonna be reposting so and so that means I have, like, X amount of days, or I'm not saying much, what can I do here to make it really fun and engaging and talk about it again. So I would try to get that information out. So you can map it out. Don't just let them do what they want. You know, give them guidelines at the very least. And lastly, make sure you ask them, and please let me know if there's anything I can share for you. Because that one line is what makes this a partnership and a support system versus like I need something. Yeah, that's me. You know what I mean? And it just changes the whole tone of the relationship. It just makes it easier to say yes to you.
22:51
Right, perfect. Well, thank you so much for all of that. For my audience listening right now. I'm sure for some of them, it was fantastic. And they feel so motivated, and they know exactly what they need to do. And they are going to go out and rock their social media for their podcast lunch. However, there's probably some people who are still a little intimidated and overwhelmed by it. And you know, maybe they're thinking, Oh, my gosh, I got to create all these teams now. And I got to come up with all of this storytelling, copy and all of those things. What if they just want a little bit of support? What if they want someone to hold their hand or even just take care of it completely, are those things that you can provide for them?
23:23
Totally. So first of all, go to get coach social Comm. And there's a bunch of different ways that can support you through this. However, something that I think would be really easy for people to just download and read through as literally spoon feeding how to brand this and what's important and tips and tricks for engagement and how to read your analytics, etc, is my social media Survival Guide. It's 48 pages long with pictures. And it just really takes you through my four step system for branding your content and knowing what you're saying on social media so that you can get more familiar with how to storytel and kind of just like demystify this whole process.
24:03
Perfect. Well, Sophia, thank you so much for joining me, and I want to make sure that I invite the audience to go back to the show notes for this episode, so that you can find that survival guide that she mentioned, you can access the show notes by going to podcasting for coaches. com clicking on the podcast tab in the main menu, and going to episode number 32. And lastly, there's going to be a couple of episodes between now and then. But Sophia is actually going to be back on the show for Episode Number 35, where we're going to talk about specifically promoting your new episodes as they come out. And we're also even going to touch on repurposing your old episodes, which is something that is so often completely overlooked. So Sofia, thank you so much.
24:42
You're so welcome. Thank you for having me.
24:48
And that wraps up another episode of podcasting for coaches. If you'd like to connect with me further, get additional free resources, receive updates on this podcast and connect with other coaches and consultants who are using a podcast for their business. I'd like to invite you to join the podcasting for coaches community on Facebook. You can either search for podcasting for coach's community on Facebook to find it, or you can use the link that's in the show notes for every single episode of this podcast on my website podcasting for coaches.com