Growing your podcast with LinkedIn: Insights from the experts

A popular podcast creator and a LinkedIn executive explain how to foster community and grow your show on the platform.

Key takeaways:

• LinkedIn is about deep engagement, not virality. Focus on sharing episode insights, responding to feedback, and creating content that invites dialogue to create a vibrant community around your podcast.

• Tap into LinkedIn's specific features like Live Events, Newsletters, and Groups to broaden your podcast’s reach and provide additional value to your listeners. Read on to learn how to take advantage of these tools.

• Find the right posting cadence. Use LinkedIn’s analytics to fine-tune the timing and frequency of your posts to keep your audience anticipating your updates.

LinkedIn is no longer just a professional networking site. It’s become a powerful platform for content creators and thought leaders to engage with their audience, share their unique takes, and spark meaningful discussions. And for podcasters, the potential is vast.

Morra Aarons-Mele, host of the “The Anxious Achiever” podcast, is proof of that. With over 25,000 connections on the platform, Morra knows precisely how to leverage LinkedIn’s features to build hype for her show and foster deep interactions with her fans.

Courtney Coupe, Head of Original Programming at LinkedIn, is behind the platform’s video and audio content strategy. She’s an expert at creating engaging content that resonates with LinkedIn’s audience.

You can follow Morra’s lead and amplify your reach by adding LinkedIn to your podcast marketing toolkit. Discover how, with expert insights from Morra and Courtney.

Why you should use LinkedIn to promote your podcast

Courtney believes LinkedIn is “the place to be,” and the numbers back her up. According to information shared by the company, LinkedIn has more than 1 billion members globally, and since 2021, there’s been a 42% increase in public conversations happening on the platform.?

“What sets LinkedIn apart is the opportunity for podcasters to bring their trusted professional identity to the conversation and build a community with listeners and fans,” Courtney explains.

Morra agrees, adding that the power of LinkedIn as a marketing channel is that you’re not just promoting your podcast—you’re trying to create a conversation. “What I have found is that if I lead with stories and content that makes me truly curious, inspired, or even angry, my community on LinkedIn definitely wants to talk about it too. So the podcast is really a catalyst for creating other conversations,” she explains.

Take this post, for example. Morra weaves a narrative about money and how our experiences with it affect our daily lives and shape our self-perception. She invites her followers to share their own “money stories” and leads them towards a deeper discussion on the matter in one of her podcast episodes, “Farnoosh Torabi on Fear, Money, and Career Success.”

These conversations not only contribute to keeping your audience engaged, but can also inform the direction of your podcast. Morra gets a lot of her guests and episode ideas from people who message her on LinkedIn. “That’s one of the best ways I learn about my audience and build community,” she adds.

How to make the most of LinkedIn as a growth tool???

People go to LinkedIn in search of knowledge and connection. As Courtney explains, promoting your podcast on this platform “is about deep engagement and reaching the right audience,” not virality. It’s a unique opportunity to build and foster relationships with loyal fans who won’t hesitate to spread the word about your show.

Let’s explore Morra’s and Courtney’s top advice to make the most of LinkedIn.

Play around with different content formats

LinkedIn allows you to share different content formats, from videos, to photos, and full-fledged newsletters. Morra has played around with all of them, and her advice is to mix it up and tailor the format to each episode.?

She explains that “some podcast episodes demand a really in-depth newsletter. Some lead me onto a totally different idea that I may create a poll or try to start a conversation around. Others make me want to create graphics or art that people can use to do exercises or something useful in their life.” If you already use Spotify’s Q&As and polls features, you can easily adapt them for LinkedIn (and vice-versa.)?

Courtney seconds the importance of testing a variety of formats until you find what resonates best with your audience, and adapting your content based on what gets traction.?

When deciding on what to post, don’t limit yourself to new episode announcements. Think about how you can go deeper, either by continuing conversations from past episodes, covering trending topics, or sharing personal achievements.?

Morra has been blogging since 2005, so she has a robust library of writing she can always draw from and adapt. But she also gets inspiration from the news, her personal experiences, or spontaneous thoughts—some of her best posts come from ideas she writes really quickly and just posts.?

Establish a posting cadence?

Your posting cadence is something you'll determine based on your own resources, audience engagement, and content availability. It's important to strike a balance—while you want to stay present in your connections’ feeds, you don't want to overextend yourself or sacrifice content quality for quantity.?

Courtney suggests starting with a few posts per week, and building from there based on your LinkedIn engagement metrics (reactions, comments, shares, and impressions). Monitoring these metrics helps you get a hold of your posting cadence in a few ways:

• By reviewing which days and hours result in the highest engagement, you can pinpoint the optimal times to share content.
• If engagement drops after a period of increased posting frequency, it may be a sign that your audience is experiencing content fatigue. You can adjust your cadence to keep interest and anticipation steady.
• If you track engagement consistently, you’ll be able to pinpoint trends over weeks or months. An upward trend in engagement might suggest your current posting rhythm is effective, while a downward trend might indicate a need for change.
• Monitoring metrics also allows you to allocate resources effectively. If certain content requires significant effort but yields low engagement, you might reconsider its frequency or adopt a new format.

As you refine your cadence, your audience will come to anticipate your updates, which enhances their connection with your content. Morra has already found her sweet spot: she tries to post three times a week, and always shares her newsletter on Wednesdays, when a new episode is live.?

Cultivate conversations that drive people to your show

For Courtney, the key to driving LinkedIn connections towards your podcast is sharing insights from episodes to spark dialogue and engage with existing listeners. Respond to comments, gather feedback, or release an article diving into an episode’s main points.?

Courtney explains how Morra excels at leveraging LinkedIn to support her show. “She collaborates with others and regularly appears as a guest in newsletters and live events, which grows her footprint in front of new, relevant audiences,” she explains. “Morra also shares honest and vulnerable posts about managing anxiety in the workplace, adding a personal layer to the topic covered in her podcast.”

Morra adds that whenever she gives speeches or interviews, she makes sure to tell people to find her on LinkedIn. This is a great way for the offline public to associate “The Anxious Achiever” name from her podcast with her accessibility on LinkedIn. “People find me and we can have really incredible conversations or make connections,” she says.?

Morra also makes the most of previous podcast content. If she’s writing a new post and something from a past episode is relevant in that context, she links back to it. It’s a great example of how to make your content go even further.??

Tap into LinkedIn-specific features

LinkedIn has a lot of unique features that can expand your show’s reach. Courtney points to Live Events, where creators can do live sessions, episode follow-ups, or host Q&A sessions. You can also build a dedicated group for super fans to gather and discuss your show, and provide feedback on what they want from the podcast.

Both Courtney and Morra are big fans of the Newsletter feature. “At the beginning, I basically just summarized my weekly episode in my newsletter, but I found that that wasn’t always what people wanted,” Morra recalls. “So now I try to talk about an idea that has come up in the episode, and then provide a solution of sorts. A tool and exercise, or some kind of resource.”

Courtney advises creators to publish new editions of their newsletter weekly. “And when sharing newsletter articles or episodes, use your post to highlight one to three insights they will gain if they read it or press play.”

You have a wealth of options to provide additional value beyond an episode summary. Your newsletter might include:

• Behind-the-scenes insights, where you share stories about the making of the episode, or fun facts that didn’t make the final cut.
• Extended interviews or exclusive segments that offer deeper insight into the episode's topic or guest.?
• Downloadable resources that complement the episode, such as worksheets, checklists, or discussion guides that prompt further exploration of the topic.?
• Opinions or analysis from experts on the episode's content.
• Recent industry and/or world news related to your podcast topic.
• Quick recaps of the previous episode and a teaser of what’s to come to build anticipation for future content.?
• Comments, stories, or testimonials from your audience as a way to foster community and show appreciation for their engagement.?

Any of these elements (or a combination of them) can be repurposed into smaller posts to share on your profile. Newsletters also provide the added option of embedding episodes directly from Spotify for your connections to enjoy or add to their podcast playlist.

Focus on sharing knowledge?

While platforms like Instagram and TikTok dominate with entertainment-driven content, LinkedIn carves out a unique space for meaningful, knowledge-based connections.?

To truly take advantage of this platform, make thoughtful discussions and valuable insights the pillars of your content. Remember: on LinkedIn, it's not just about catching the eye—it's about enriching the mind.