Your podcast episodes don't have to “expire” once the next episode is released. With some strategy, you can use your old episodes to continue growing and engaging your audience!
Why bother sharing old episodes?
Before I get into the 6 ideas to reshare old episodes, I think you need to consider why you should even do this. I suggest the following two reasons are the most important:
- To share quality content people might have missed but can still enjoy or find benefit
- To attract a new audience through content that interests them
1. Make timeless content
Although aspects of the world are constantly changing, many ideas are timeless or nearly so. For it to even make sense to promote old episodes, those episodes need to still be relevant today.
So try to make episodes that could be enjoyed and appreciated whenever they're heard or watched. Even if you host a current-events podcast, you could occasionally break from the format to share something more timeless. Look at what Erica Mandy does with The NewsWorthy. Each episode is usually around 10 minutes. Her weekday episodes cover the latest news and thus probably won't be very relevant after even just a couple of days. But then she also publishes “Special Edition” episodes on Saturdays with more in-depth information that is often timeless. For example, these recent episodes have covered how to talk politics with loved ones, how social media warps reality, the value of college today, and what science says about coffee. Each of these might be inspired by current events (such as recent studies, elections, and other news), but the core of the conversation could often apply weeks, months, or even years from now.
It comes down to this: timeless content will be relevant for a long time and can thus be promoted at almost any time.
A handy way to make timeless content is to brainstorm episode ideas long before you record them. The more planned and less reactionary your podcast content is, the more likely it is to be timeless.
2. Repost on social networks
Whenever you publish a new episode, I recommend writing about 10 different messages to promote that episode. These could be intriguing excerpts, parts of the outline, tips or inspirations, and more.
Go ahead and use all these messages in the first week you publish a new episode, and then save the best messages for a collection you can pull from again later to promote those episodes after a little while.
You could even automate this with tools like SocialJukebox, Meet Edgar, and more.
Just keep in mind the life of a post on each network. Twitter posts, for example, have a very short life and often won't be seen by all your followers. But YouTube, Facebook, TikTok, or Instagram posts are more likely to be seen for days after you've posted.
If you do automate this, make sure you revisit your list at least once a year to ensure everything is still relevant. For example, I stopped promoting Appendipity themes for WordPress a while back because the company disappeared. Now, I promote SecondLine T
Your podcast episodes don't have to “expire” once the next episode is released. With some strategy, you can use your old episodes to continue growing and engaging your audience!
Why bother sharing old episodes?
Before I get into the 6 ideas to reshare old episodes, I think you need to consider why you should even do this. I suggest the following two reasons are the most important:
- To share quality content people might have missed but can still enjoy or find benefit
- To attract a new audience through content that interests them
1. Make timeless content
Although aspects of the world are constantly changing, many ideas are timeless or nearly so. For it to even make sense to promote old episodes, those episodes need to still be relevant today.
So try to make episodes that could be enjoyed and appreciated whenever they're heard or watched. Even if you host a current-events podcast, you could occasionally break from the format to share something more timeless. Look at what Erica Mandy does with The NewsWorthy. Each episode is usually around 10 minutes. Her weekday episodes cover the latest news and thus probably won't be very relevant after even just a couple of days. But then she also publishes “Special Edition” episodes on Saturdays with more in-depth information that is often timeless. For example, these recent episodes have covered how to talk politics with loved ones, how social media warps reality, the value of college today, and what science says about coffee. Each of these might be inspired by current events (such as recent studies, elections, and other news), but the core of the conversation could often apply weeks, months, or even years from now.
It comes down to this: timeless content will be relevant for a long time and can thus be promoted at almost any time.
A handy way to make timeless content is to brainstorm episode ideas long before you record them. The more planned and less reactionary your podcast content is, the more likely it is to be timeless.
2. Repost on social networks
Whenever you publish a new episode, I recommend writing about 10 different messages to promote that episode. These could be intriguing excerpts, parts of the outline, tips or inspirations, and more.
Go ahead and use all these messages in the first week you publish a new episode, and then save the best messages for a collection you can pull from again later to promote those episodes after a little while.
You could even automate this with tools like SocialJukebox, Meet Edgar, and more.
Just keep in mind the life of a post on each network. Twitter posts, for example, have a very short life and often won't be seen by all your followers. But YouTube, Facebook, TikTok, or Instagram posts are more likely to be seen for days after you've posted.
If you do automate this, make sure you revisit your list at least once a year to ensure everything is still relevant. For example, I stopped promoting Appendipity themes for WordPress a while back because the company disappeared. Now, I promote SecondLine T
