None of the podcasts I love were found through social media

I'm having one of those days where I'm agonising over reach, engagement, follower numbers, and all the things that ultimately make me feel a little bit sick.

So I took a moment to think about how I discovered the shows I love. Not how a casual podcaster might come across my show and maybe hit Play once every few months when the title looks good, but how I found the shows I look forward to – the shows whose schedules I know, and miss when they haven't posted.

You know, like how it used to be.

So I took a look through my current subscription list, removing the ones that I follow for work alone, and thinking back to how I discovered them.

This map is based on my current list of subscribed shows and my best guess at how I would've discovered them. It's by no means extensive and will definitely be in accurate in places, but the key thing it tells me is that the way I find podcasts is

1. through other podcasts
2. Through friend recommendations

There were one or two shows I committed that made my subscription list because their hosts were already well known to me... but already being famous doesn't help anyone understand how we build audiences.

My podcast listening has gone through a couple of phases, starting with Answer Me This! in 2007 – which I'm pretty sure opened me up to far more than just Pappy's – and a decade later with The Talk Show, a show I may have discovered through a friend, but which led me down a path to all sorts of shows, many of which aren't in my queue any longer so aren't on this map.

So what does this show us?

None of the shows – not a single one – came via social media. Actually, I tell a lie. I think maybe Off Menu did, but again, the only reason it worked was because I already knew the hosts.

(I remember Ed Gamble from when he used to be in a double act, who also had a podcast. Come to think of it, that's probably what got me listening to Richard Herring and a whole slew of other shows. Good grief, memory is a nest of spiders.)

Being New & Noteworthy

I subscribed to Answer Me This! back in 2007 because I'd just got my first iPod and was looking through the iTunes Store, as it was then. I think they had a chart of UK-based shows, which I scrolled through until I found something I liked the look of. (I actually hated the first episode, but then grew to love the show within a few episodes.)

My new podcast is currently #7 in Apple Podcasts Australia's New & Noteworthy chart. And while it doesn't drive the same numbers as it used to, being listed in N&N still has an impact, as it's a human-curated list, therefore an endorsement.

The trouble with social

We've all been told that social media is a good way of promoting podcasts. This is something I've wavered on, and the details change from season to season.

The problem at hand is we think that there's something special in The Algorithm™, that makes social a good promotional system. But as a legit podcast listener (rather than someone who thinks Spotify is where podcasts come from), I'm going off endorsements.

And when I say "social media", I don't mean having conversations with people you like who then recommend shows to you. I'm talking about what people in the biz call "organic reach"... posts that show up in your timeline that aren't #ad content, but have an explicit call-to-action designed to get you to listen to their latest episode.

Conversations between friends are the best gateway because they bring us back to endorsements. Being in New & Noteworthy is an endorsement because it's a hand-picked list, much as being in one of Apple's algorithmic charts is an endorsement via social proof. I love the latter less, but it undeniably has its place.

People who like X also like Y

I've long beaten the drum – but done nothing above that – on the subject of podcast cross-promotion. Maximum Fun do a phenomenal job of introducing listeners to new podcasts on their network, simply by running trailers.

I found one of my favourite ever podcasts, Mission to Zyxx, because it was advertised on another MaxFun show. Similarly the Beef and Dairy Network. Others were either hosted by the same people as appeared on other shows, or got organic recommendations.

The fact is, word-of-mouth really is the thing that matters. Social media has its place in connecting people, but in my now 20 years of listening to podcasts (maybe 21?) I can't say that social media has introduced me to a podcast I've then subscribed to.

So maybe don't worry about the memes so much, and focus on making good stuff and building connections with people who share your listeners' interests.

Oh, and bring back webrings.