What is the number one mistake podcasters make when sharing their show on social media? Emily Binder breaks it down in this 60-second video and shares the solution we recommend:

Want to reach a larger audience?

Over 55% of U.S. adults have listened to a podcast. What’s stopping the rest?

• 48% of people who don’t listen to podcasts say it’s because they’re “not sure how to listen.”

• Of the people who don't listen to podcasts, 80% (wrongly) think they "don't have a podcast app on their phone” (via Edison Research).

In reality, iPhone and Android phones have a native podcast app. And all smartphones can play podcasts from a mobile browser. So reassure your social media audience that they can indeed access your podcast with one simple link. Remove any perceived friction from both seasoned podcast listeners and newbies.

Podcast hosts:

You know the moment of uncertainty when it comes time to share a new episode on social. Do you share the Apple link, the podcast’s home page/show notes with the web player, Spotify, SoundCloud, all of it, or what?

If you tweet an Apple Podcasts link, you could miss your entire Android audience.

We’ve all seen single tweets containing multiple links to play a podcast in Apple AKA iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, and more. Those posts are messy and violate one of the rules of marketing:

Simplify your CTA (call to action).

There is an easy solution: Plink.

What you want is a nice clean social post with ONE link. Don’t confuse your audience and make them figure out what to click.

This is what Emily Binder suggests to clients. We use it to share our podcast and Flash Briefing.

Example tweets using Plink (circled in pink), scroll right below:

Plink universal podcast links

Plink makes smart links that automatically open the right podcast app on mobile, or present links to all the major podcast apps (AKA podcatchers).

Plink makes smart links for podcasts that everyone can play.

Podcast + link = plink

Click “More” in the Plink widget below to see all the additional podcast app options including Overcast, Castbox, Stitcher, Soundcloud, Pocket Casts, and more. Individual episodes also have their own Plinks:

Plink links send listeners to the right place, every time. Whether that’s from iOS, Android, a laptop, a watch, or a messaging app. Plink recognizes devices/OS then deep links listeners into pre-installed podcast apps if opening a Plink link on mobile. If opening on desktop, it sends the listener to the podcast’s Show Page with app links for Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, Breaker, and more.

Cost:

For $39/year you can create your customized podcast smart link with bonus features. Otherwise the service is free. Features with the paid version:

• Custom, short link

• $39/yr - plnk.to domain

• Everything else included in Free, plus:

• Custom, short branded link (plnk.to/yourshow)

• Remove "Powered by Plink" branding

• Add your iTunes Affiliate ID (optional)

• Add/Edit/Customize pod apps URLs

• Customize Show Pages & Embeds

• Increased visibility - search indexing (helps podcast SEO)

• Dedicated support specialist

• List 100 latest episodes links

• Link analytics

The paid version/upgrade is affordable at under twenty dollars for the year, and looks more professional too. For example, here are vanity URLs from two popular podcasts:

1. Barry Ritholtz - Masters in Business: https://plnk.to/MIB (see our case study on launching v1 of The Compound Show with Ritholtz Wealth Management CEO, Josh Brown)

2.  This American Life: https://plnk.to/thisamerlife

More benefits of Plink:

1. A podcast app menu widget with an easy embed code for your blog

   1. How to get it: click “Share” from the show’s Plink page, then copy and paste the code as Markup / HTML on your website. It will look the the Beetle Moment Marketing Podcast menu you see here.

2. Ability to send users to a specific podcast app (a feature with the paid plan):

   1. Plink smart links, without any parameters added (params outlined below), will detect the listener’s device, geo, and other factors and send them to your show in pre-installed podcast apps like Apple or Google Podcasts automatically. This is a link that anyone can play, no matter their device or OS. It works on iOS, Android, desktop, etc. (That is the first link below). Or you can utilize other variations that you now own, too (links are case-sensitive):

      1. plnk.to/beetlepod?to=page (to always send to the Show Page menu - where desktop/laptop users are sent regardless. Use this link if you want mobile users to see the menu instead of automatically opening in their app such as Apple Podcasts)

      2. plnk.to/beetlepod?to=embed (for website Embeds on your own site - iframe code snippets are found at bottom of Show Pages)

      3. plnk.to/beetlepod?to=applepod (to always send to Apple Podcasts if needed for some reason (e.g.. exclusives))

      4. http://plnk.to/beetlepod?to=googlepod (to always send to Google Podcasts)

      5. http://plnk.to/beetlepod?to=spotify (to always send to Spotify)

Reminds me of…

Have you used the music sharing app Songwhip? It lets you share a universal link (instead of a link to a song on Spotify or YouTube etc.). This way, friends can open the song you share on their music streaming player of choice: Spotify, Apple Music, Google Play, Pandora, etc.

Feeling musical? Here are some Songwhip link examples - click to play on your favorite music app:

• VHS Collection

• Röyksopp

• Steely Dan

Plink is offering something similar to Songwhip, but for podcasts. Make sense? Yeah!

Find any podcast’s Plink here to check it out.

This is the closest thing we’ve seen to a solution for the common problem that sharing your podcast is a major PITA.

To be thorough, here are a couple alternatives to Plink:

1) You can use smart.url, a subscription service, to accomplish the same thing:

Smart & powerful. One link that redirects by country and device. smartURL combines all the features previously found in Country, Device and Music types.

2) Playpodca.st offers a smart link for a one time charge of $25:

Get a playpodca.st shortcut to your show today, and you will have a link that takes your listeners to a native podcast player, no matter whether they are clicking from iOS, Android, Windows or Mac.

Desired: All Plink needs is to integrate with Alexa Flash Briefing. We hear this feature is coming soon. For example, our Flash Briefing, Voice Marketing with Emily Binder is available on the major podcast apps. But we’d like to have Alexa Flash Briefing as one of the assorted podcast app options on the Plink page.

Bottom line:

Shortlinks like Plink make marketing podcasts easier. Hosts and producers can promote a show with one, smart link. Learn more and find your show’s Plink smart link: plinkhq.com

This post is not sponsored. But if you sign up with our link we’ll get a small referral fee which helps pay for hosting the podcast and blog. Our goal is to share knowledge that will help podcasters stop tweeting out a mess of links. :)

This post was updated March 2021 to provide the latest stats and links.