Of all the podcasting advice out there, one particular piece irks me the most: that you should host guests on your show to help you grow, because they’re going to promote the episode that they joined you for. A lot of the time that doesn’t happen, and it can be really frustrating if that’s something you’ve been counting on as a growth strategy. It’s not the only way to grow your podcast, and it’s definitely not the only reason to have guests on your show. 

Here is a non-exhaustive list of reasons why podcast guests don’t share their episodes:

  • The content is fresh for you, but would be repition for thier own audience.
  • They don’t have room on their promotional calendar.
  • They are on too many podcasts around the time yours comes out.
  • You didn’t send them a useful swipe kit.
  • They don’t have room on their promotional calendar.
  • The audio, or the conversation wasn’t up to their standard.

Some of these things you can work with – making sharing easy and pleasant – but others don’t have anything to do with you at all! And that is just fine. You still get a chance to network and relaitonship build. You still get fresh and interesting content to share with your audience, and that you can use on your blog, in your social media and elsewhere in your business. Maybe you learned some things!

A guest sharing your episodes is a great thing, but it is very much a bonus of the situation. Click To Tweet

At the end of the day, having a good understanding of why you are podcasting, and the role that having guests plays in your podcast means you can focus less on what they can do for you after the interview, and more on appreciating the time they gave to you, and the information they shared with you.