The Ultimate Guide For Creating Podcast Clips That Go Viral on Shorts in 2024

Podcast growth is changing.

You used to be able to:

• List on Apple Podcasts
• Convert to a blog post
• Publish on YouTube

And get a load of downloads.

But you can no longer rely on:

• Podcat directories
• SEO
• Paid

Why?

Most podcast discovery happens on social.

So, you gotta be there...

Specifically, with vertical short-form video.

But creating podcast clips is an art and science.

Although this guide will show you how to create videos that go viral, do not assume this is easy.

It’s a process.

The goal is to speed up your progress to create clips to engage new audiences on video platforms.

Whether you're a seasoned pro or a beginner, this guide has something for everyone.

And of course, if you want us to do all the hard work, we can. You can even test it with a free clip, check out Fame Clips here.

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How To Build A Modern Podcast Marketing Strategy To Maximize Reach

Most podcasts do a bad job marketing their content. What differs between mediocrity and the top 1% is a thought out podcast marketing strategy for how content is pushed out. And execution towards that. Here are several aspects to keep in mind.

Gary Vee is known for the king of social media. His repurposing strategy shows why. It starts by taking "anchor" content (such as his popular long-form YouTube videos or podcasts) and repurposing it into other forms of content, such as blog posts, clips, and social media posts. This allows him to reach a wider audience and get his message out to more people. Gary’s strategy is focused on maximizing the value of his content by making it as widely available as possible, and he often encourages his followers to do the same with their own content. By constantly repurposing and sharing his content, Gary is able to build his brand and connect with his audience in a scaleable way.

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For podcasts, the ideal strategy to maximize ROI on content is the same:

1. Document podcast full episodes (record 3-5 episodes a month)
2. Create short-form video clips derivatives (3-5 clips made from each episode)
3. Distribute to all relevant platforms platforms (publish to 3 platforms)

If done correctly, this would result in 75 video clips being published onto 3 platforms each month. While many of them may not end up reaching many viewers, some of them may do better or go viral resulting in unexpected returns.

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Which Platforms To Focus On With Podcast Clips

Each platform you add can expose your content to more people, but also adds more complexity / as each platforms has it’s own rules and best practices. Here is a cheatsheet to help you determine which platforms to focus on:

**Our recommendation for most podcasts:

Must-have: TikTok, YouTube Shorts, Instagram Reels

Nice-to-have: LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook

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How To Find Engaging Hooks That Will Captivate Your Audience?

A hook is critically important in a space like short-form video where there is an abundance of content to scroll through. You only have a few seconds to entice the viewer to stick around, so it’s important to make it count.

A good hook can take many forms. Here are several types of hooks that we’ve seen work best for podcasts clips:

#1 Thought provoking insights that challenge popular opinion

‍Sharing a new light or opinion on a common topic

First 5 seconds: “Something you may not know about Rolex is that they make over a million Rolex a year. The reason they hide this number is to keep a sense of scarcity.”

First 5 seconds: "They never really knew that Mailchimp was that successful. They just knew I was helpful to my customers. It was their classmates, one day one of them brought a magazine with my face on the cover.”

#2 Personal stories which are easy to identify with

‍These include: how-to, growth, investments, fundraising, selling

First 5 seconds: What's the craziest thing you've done to get a girl to like you. I had convinced this chick I was dying. I was like in 9th grade and convinced 4-5 people I had cancer. All her friends. It took me two years to accomplish.”

First 5 seconds: “I'm in prison. I'm the third ranking gang member in the state. I wake up in my cell and I'm hungry. As a prison boss you get benefits. I get up and walk up out of my cell. Give the guard a nod and he opens the gate. Head to the kitchen.”

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Best Practices For Publishing Podcast Clips As YouTube Shorts

You’ve made some podcast clips! Nice. Now you need to publish them in the best way to maximize the amount of views it can get.

First time posting on YouTube? Jump to the end of this section for instructions on how to setup your account.

Publishing YouTube Shorts

TLDR: clips need to be under 60 seconds, use hashtags, web uploads offers more options but mobile allows you to choose your thumbnail.

YouTube Shorts can be published either via the YouTube website or the mobile app. The web version has more video options to customize but if you're particular about your thumbnail, mobile is the only way to set a thumbnail. This guide assumes you are uploading a clip made externally and not within YouTube’s interface.

How to post:

1. From the YouTube menu > Upload Video
2. Select your clip (must be under 60 seconds)
3. Add basic details (title, description with caption and hashtags)
4. Leave the rest of the options as-is, select Public access and publish

Do's and Don'ts for YouTube Shorts:

• Do: Write engaging title hook - what is the essence of the video?
• Do: Include at least 2 lines explaining what the video is about using the keywords mentioned.
• Do: Include #hashtags. Use the autocomplete feature to find the most relevant/popular ones.
• Do: If you're on mobile, make sure to choose a thumbnail that makes it clear what you're talking about in the video.
• Do: In addition to hashtags, you can define “tags” in the advanced area to get more visibility.
• Don’t: Upload a clip longer than 60 seconds. It won’t be a Short. It will be a “regular” video.
• Don’t: Add too many hashtags as it will dilute your existing ones.

Once your clip is published, it will enter the YouTube algorithm and start to be exposed to users. This could take minutes, hours or days for a video to start getting views (depends on number of subscribers). Views often come in “waves” as the algo determines who should see this content.

In terms of frequency, there are no official guidelines. We’ve seen popular channels publish no less than 3 videos a week, so at least once every other day. There is no cap and many channels are publishing 3-4 a day.

First time posting on YouTube?

First time posting on YouTube? You’ll need to open an account. We usually recommend opening the account under the podcast name, as that is the name listeners will most recognise. In some cases when a podcast is directly affiliated with a company, those clips could be published from the company social accounts.

Official link: Open a YouTube account.

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Best Practices For Publishing Podcast Clips On LinkedIn

So, you want to post a clip to LinkedIn but you don’t know how? We’re here to help! We even made sure to point out common pitfalls and give you pro tips along the way so that you can be a master from the get go!

Step 1: Who is posting?

Let’s start by deciding who is posting this content: Is it you as an individual? Or your company page?

⚠️ Common Pitfall: Don’t skip this step, because who you’re posting as determines your audience. If you accidentally post your company content on your personal page, only your contacts will see that post even though it was meant for the people that follow your company page!

If it’s you as an individual, just go to your “Home” feed and head to step 2!

If you’re posting from your company page, make sure you navigate to your company page. (If you’re wondering what a company page is and how to make one, click here to navigate to LinkedIn’s official guide.)

Step 2: Create a post

Now that you know who you’re posting as, it’s time to actually craft your post. On the appropriate page (that we’ve identified in step 1), click on “Start a post” located at the top of the page.

Now, a pop up should appear that looks like this:

Write what you want the text portion of the post to say in the “What do you want to talk about?” section. If you don’t know what to say, here are some ideas:

• Give some context for the podcast clip that you’re sharing: who is talking and what are they talking about?
  ✨ Pro Tip: Tag the person that’s in the podcast clip so that they get the recognition they deserve, and have the opportunity to repost the clip to their feed! This is a great way to get more eyes on your content 👀

• Add an intriguing quote from the podcast clip
  ✨ Pro Tip: Don’t give all the juicy info away in text! Format the quote as a cliff hanger so that the audience would want to listen for the answer.

Step 3: Add the podcast clip

Now that you have the text, it’s time to add the podcast clip!

✨ Pro Tip: Use a square video as opposed to vertical since the viewing experience is better on desktop for square!

Navigate to the bottom left corner of the pop up, and click on the photo icon. This will allow you to add media to your post.

Now, you should be able to select the file you want to upload from your computer.

⚠️ Common Pitfall: If LinkedIn isn’t letting you attach your file, make sure that the file size does not exceed 100MB. For other restrictions on what’s allowed and not allowed, click here for LinkedIn’s media guide.

Step 4: Add a CTA

Sharing your content is great and all, but what’s the point if your audience doesn’t know what to do with it? That’s why it’s really important to add a call to action (CTA) on your post.

Common practice on LinkedIn is to post the link to the full episode in the comments after posting, but you can always add it to the post itself too!

Step 5: Publish or schedule your post

Now that your video is attached, and the text has been written you’re ready to publish that post and share it with the world! To publish the post, simply click on the “Post” button at the bottom right corner. If you want to schedule the post for later, click on the clock icon next to the “Post” button. There, you should be able to select the date and time for your post to go live.

You did it!

Now you should have a post that’s live, or ready to go live! If you’re curious about how that post will look like, check out some examples from our clients who published their podcast clip to LinkedIn!

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Best Practices For Publishing Podcast Clips On X (Twitter)

You’ve got your podcast clips all ready to go, but now what? Let’s share that great piece of content with the world the RIGHT way. In this guide, we’ll walk you through posting your podcast clip to X (formerly known as Twitter).

Select the right dimensions for your clip

With podcast clips, you have the choice of posting a vertical video (9:16), a landscape video (16:9), or a square video (1:1). We recommend square because if you go the vertical route, X will only show the center square of the video on desktop until the person expands it. But if you don’t have a square video, then go vertical over landscape. Or request a square video on Fame Clips!

Making sure you choose the right dimensions is essential to the success of your post so don’t sleep on this step! Remember, viewers will only click on things that peak their interest. So make sure you get the FULL message across to them from the get go by using a square clip!

Creating a post on X

Alright, now that you know WHAT you’ll be posting, it’s time to actually go through the process of posting.

On desktop

To create a new post on X, you can 1) scroll to the top of your home page OR 2) click on the blue quill icon on the bottom left of your screen.

On mobile

To create a new post, click on the blue plus icon on the bottom right of your screen.

What do I write in the text field?

If you don’t know what to say in the text portion, here are some ideas!

• Give some context for the podcast clip that you’re sharing: who is talking and what are they talking about? Pro Tip: Tag the person that’s in the podcast clip so that they get the recognition they deserve, and have the opportunity to repost the clip to their feed! This is a great way to get more eyes on your content 👀
• Pull a hook from the podcast clip! Pro Tip: Don’t give all the juicy info away in text! Format the quote as a cliff hanger so that the audience would want to listen for the answer.
• Motivate users to respond and engage with your content by asking a question! Controversial topics get even more engagement, but make sure you use it in moderation since you don’t want to say something that negatively affects your brand.
• Add hashtags that are relevant to what you’re talking about. If you want X’s official guide, it’s linked here for you to check out. But the short of it is that you want to use relevant, easy to remember hashtags and not use too many of it.

Adding your clip

Click on the photo icon to add your clip.

Make sure that your video file is under 512MB (which shouldn’t be too hard) since that’s X’s limit on video attachments.

Don’t forget your CTA!

Before you hit publish on that post, make sure to add a call to action (CTA) to your post! The best CTA depends on what you want to achieve with your podcast clip. Here are a few examples:

• Want more followers? Ask them to follow your account
• Want them to check out your service or product? Ask them to check out your website and provide the link so they can do it immediately.

Whatever it is that you want them to do, make sure to include it in your post!

If you’re worried about the character count, you can also make your post a thread and make your first comment the CTA. Pro Tip: Many people mention their CTA in their main post and provide the link in the first comment to save on characters.

Post

Congratulations, you’re now ready to share your podcast clip with the world! Hit the blue post button and you’re live!

Examples

If you’re still feeling a little lost, here are some examples of successful podcast clip posts to reference!

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Best Practices For Publishing Podcast Clips On TikTok

Before we post…

Before we even get into how to post on TikTok, let’s talk about something important: Location.

TikTok uses location data, among other things, to decide who to show your content to. So if you’re located outside of the US, but your target audience is Americans, then you might want to look into getting a VPN to change your IP address. If that made no sense to you, don’t fret! Here’s an easy way to understand what I just said:

An IP address (Internet Protocol address) is the unique address that identifies your device on the internet or a local network. A VPN (Virtual Private Network) can change your IP address to look like you’re in a different place than you actually are. Meaning that in this context, with a VPN you’ll be able to look like you’re in the US even if you’re not physically there. Magic, I know.

There’s a ton of VPN services readily available nowadays so try looking into some if you need one.

Step by step posting guide

When it comes to TikTok you have the option of posting on mobile or desktop. We recommend using the mobile app over the desktop web version because there’s more features available on the mobile app. A big feature that’s only available on mobile is the recording & editing feature meaning if you have any additional clips you want to add or edits you want to do, you’ll only be able to do it on mobile. However, if you already have everything that you need baked into the video file that you’re about to post, desktop is fine too! We’ll show you how to do both, so choose the method that fits your needs.

Mobile (5 min)

If you’re using a VPN, make sure to turn it on and select the country you want to “be” in.

1. After opening the app, click on the middle plus icon as shown in the picture.
2. A camera screen will pop up. But since you have your video file already, click on the little square on the right as shown in the screenshot. This will take you to your photos gallery. From there, select the file that you want to upload. Make sure that your video file is at least 3 seconds and below 10 minutes since that’s the video requirement on TikTok.
3. This is where you can add text and music to your video if you want, but if your video is already created, just press the pink Next button.
4. Here, you’re prompted to write your caption including hashtags and mentions to relevant people.

Skip to the next section where we go over some important caption writing tips before you hit that post button.

On desktop (5 min)

If you’re using a VPN, make sure to turn it on and select the country you want to “be” in.

1. Navigate to the TikTok website and make sure that you’re logged in. Then click on the Upload button on the top right corner of the page.

2. Next, you’ll be prompted to upload your file from your computer.

3. Now, you’re prompted to write your caption including hashtags and mentions to relevant people.

Before you hit that post button, let’s go over some caption writing tips in the following section!

Caption tips

Don’t forget your CTA!

The best CTA, or call to action, depends on what you’re trying to do. Here are a few examples:

• Want your viewers to interact with your future content? Ask them to hit that follow button!
• Want them to check out your service or product? Ask them to check out your link in bio! Note here though that not everyone has access to the link in bio feature. So if you can’t link them directly, let them know where else they can find you (potentially other social media accounts that can link to your website).

TikTok CTAs are a little tricky since you can’t always link directly to your service or product. But it’s important to include an action item for your viewer so that they can take action when their interests are piqued! Make it as easy, and pain-free as possible for them to find out what they want to know.

On the CORRECT way to use hashtags

Hashtags are a great way to help the TikTok algorithm categorize your content correctly. So make sure to use hashtags that are relevant to what your content is about.

Pro Tip: Mix in trending hashtags within your niche or topic to get more reach! But make sure it’s relevant!! Don’t just hop on a trend for the sake of hopping on.

We recommend adding your hashtags after your CTA because the latter part of your caption gets cut off in the default view. (Your audience can see the full caption if they click on it.)

Now you’re ready to post!

When you’re ready to post, click on the pink Post button at the bottom right of the screen! Congratulations, you’ve posted your podcast clip for the world to see!

What now?

Before you click off and forget that you ever posted anything, remember to schedule in a time to check back in with your post. If you get any comments, you’ll want to reply to them in a timely manner to boost engagement. More engagement means more interest, making your video perform better in the algorithm so don’t skip this step!

Examples

20 VC: https://vt.tiktok.com/ZSFMFpnCE/ (2.6M views)

The Diary of a CEO Podcast: https://vt.tiktok.com/ZSFMFamwy/ (14.1M views)

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Best Practices For Publishing Podcast Clips On Instagram Reels

Posting 101

Desktop or mobile?

Desktop only allows you to upload pre-created files where as on mobile, you can create the video in the app itself. If you already have your video file ready to go, there’s really not a big difference between desktop and mobile. But if you need to edit things, add music, or do any kind of work on the video, go mobile.

Posting tutorial

Keep in mind that the screenshots are of the desktop view. But the icons and the flow is very similar on mobile so you can follow along either way!

Open Instagram on your web-browser or on your phone.

On desktop: Go to the bottom left side of the navigation bar and click on Create. It should give you two options: Post or Live Video. Click on Post. A pop up will appear prompting you to add your video file. Select the appropriate file from your computer.

On mobile: Go to the bottom center of the navigation bar and click Create. Your camera roll should open up so you can either select the video file or combine the clips to make a new video. You’ll have more options like adding music or filters but if your video is already ready, you can go ahead and click next.

After uploading your video, you will be asked to pick a cover photo. (In this example the video was very long so it also prompted me to trim the video but you shouldn’t have this issue if your file is short enough!) You can either select a frame from the video itself or upload a custom image. Selecting a frame from the video itself is the simplest, but if you have the extra time, we recommend uploading a custom image since you have more control over what information can be seen in it. For example:

Gary Vee’s Instagram is full of Reels but he has custom thumbnails on them, making it easy to tell which videos are about what. An easy way to make custom thumbnails is to use a service called Canva. They have easy to use templates, so try playing around with the service! But again, this is optional!

Lastly, you’re asked to tag people, write your caption, and add location information if relevant. Captions can be the hardest part of posting a video so in the next section, we’ll discuss what you should include in a killer caption!

Tips for captioning

Include a CTA

A call to action (CTA) is a great way to get your audience to engage with your content. The ideal CTA really depends on what you want your audience to do.

• Do you want to start a conversation with them? Maybe you can ask a question in the caption and prompt them to comment their response.
• Want them to check out your website? Tell them to check out the link in your bio! Since that’s the only place you can have hyperlinks on the platform, make sure to utilize this function well!
• Maybe you want to reach more like-minded people. If so, your move might be to ask your audience to share the reel with someone they think would benefit from your content.

Whatever it is that you want them to do, make sure to make it clear and EASY for them to do! No one wants to jump through 3 different hoops to get to your website.

Add RELEVANT hashtags at the end

The days of cramming trending hashtags just because it has a lot of reach is long over. Hashtags are used to help categorize your content rather than promoting it, so make sure to use relevant hashtags. Using hashtags that aren’t relevant can actually be more damaging because the algorithm will be confused about what your content is. Try to choose between 3 to 15 hashtags that are a mix of specific and broad categorizations of your content.

Additional tip to make you a pro

Once you’ve posted your reel, don’t stop there! Take advantage of the stories feature on Instagram to get more eyes onto your post!

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OK there we go team...

Hope that helps!

Publishing clips is the biggest organic growth strategy for podcasts still available.

This guide will help you get there 📈