The Post-Publish Checklist for Promoting Your Vocal Stories

You’ve just submitted a story you’ve been working tirelessly on for the past week. Every word, image, and concept is polished to perfection and you know that it’s going to be your key to success.

One hour later… crickets.

One day later… you’ve gotten five reads.

After a month, only twenty people have read your story.

That’s twenty people that clicked on your story, engaged with it, maybe even sent you a tip—twenty people that may not have otherwise seen your work. It’s better than nothing. But still, you had been expecting the reads to come flowing in, and now that flow is more like a trickle.

The truth is, very few creators find fame and fortune. But that doesn’t mean you can’t successfully increase the reads your stories earn — in fact, it’s not as hard as you might think to get more eyeballs on your stories if you know what to do.

The key lies in making sure your stories are in the right place at the right time.

To help you out, we’ve put together a handy guide to help you out post-publish.

Social Media

Social media is the most obvious place to share your stories. You have a potential audience of millions and can use features like hashtags to make your story go even further.

Let’s break each platform down.

Twitter

Even if you don’t have a huge following on Twitter, you can adorn your Tweets with hashtags so your post reaches more people.

On top of that, you can mention relevant people in your Tweets. For example, if you’ve written a story about an up-and-coming rapper or created a listicle of your favorite true crime podcasts, be sure to tag them in your Tweets in the hopes they’ll see your story.

Facebook

Of course you should share your story on your feed so your friends and family can see it, but it’s even more important to scout out relevant Facebook Groups and share your stories there. For example, if you’ve just shared your top portrait photography tips, find applicable photography groups on Facebook where you can promote them.

Simply enter the type of Group you want to find in the search bar and click the “Groups” filter.

Top tip: Remember to be mindful of the rules in each group. Most don’t appreciate spam, so make sure you’re adding value with your story, and not sharing it anywhere where it might be irrelevant.

LinkedIn

If your story is work or industry-related, why not share it on LinkedIn too? You can share it to your newsfeed as well as specialist LinkedIn groups to reach a more niche audience.

Like on Facebook, you can use the search bar to find relevant Groups where you can share your story.

Instagram

Instagram isn’t the easiest platform to link out from, but you can mention your story in a post or in a series of Stories, encouraging your followers to check it out. Don’t forget to use relevant hashtags here, too, as that will increase the amount of people you can reach.

Top tip: Add a link to your latest story to your Instagram bio—and, if you have over 10K followers, be sure to take advantage of your Stories swipe-up feature!

Pinterest

Finish up sharing your story on social media by creating an eye catching graphic for it and posting it on Pinterest with a link back.

Online Communities

Online communities are chock full of people seeking out discussions and interesting content to consume — which means they can be the perfect place for promoting your stories.

Here are some key communities you can get involved in.

Reddit

Start by hunting down some relevant subreddits you can share your story in. Consider smaller, more niche subreddits so your posts are more likely to be seen instead of buried under potentially more popular or relevant ones.

For example, if you’re using Vocal to promote your new EP, try finding subreddits geared towards songwriters, or smaller music creators. Your story is much more likely to gain traction on a subreddit like r/MusicintheMaking or r/AcousticOriginals than it is on a general subreddit like r/Music. Do a little digging to find what has the most potential for you.

It’s important to bear in mind that a lot of subreddits despise self-promotion, so be sure to check out the rules and actively join in other conversations before simply sharing your stuff.

Slack Communities

If you’re a member of any Slack communities, share your stories there. Alternatively, you can find a few relevant Slack communities to join and get involved in.

Use a tool like Slofile to find relevant Slack communities you can join.

Niche Forums

Are you a member of any niche forums? If so, you should share your story there. Yoga groups, cooking forums, beauty communities… whatever the topic is, there’s sure to be a forum out there that can help you target others with specific interests,

Run a simple Google search to find niche forums that are relevant to your stories.

Outreach

Every time you publish a new story, identify any influencers in your niche that might be interested in sharing it with their audience.

And, if you mentioned any artists, authors, or brands in your story - whether it was an album review or a listicle piece - don’t forget to tag them on social. You can reach out to these people by shooting them a quick message on Twitter, sending a short, friendly email, or tagging them on Instagram.

If you’re lucky, they’ll respond or even re-share your story:

Email Newsletter

If you haven’t started building an email list to share your stories with, now’s the time to do so! Put together a beginning list of friends or colleagues that you know will appreciate your work. Then, you can use a tool like Typeform to allow readers to sign up for your email list at the end of each Vocal story you create.

You can then send a direct email to these subscribers every time you publish something new. Even better, the more you publish, the bigger your list will get and you’ll continue to increase the amount of reads you get on each story.

Having trouble deciding what to send once you’ve built up your list? Here are some tips from Neil Patel to help you write exciting, engaging emails to send out to your subscribers.

Future Vocal Stories

Keep your latest story at the back of your mind when creating your next piece; embedding your most recent stories at the bottom of each fresh piece is a good way to encourage readers to explore your other content.

Don’t Forget Friends and Family!

Your friends and family will be your biggest fans to start with, so don’t forget to share your stories with them.

Shoot them an email, send it via WhatsApp, and add it to that family Facebook Messenger group you’ve got going — and while you’re at it, encourage them to share it with their networks too so it travels even further.

Promotion is the Most Important Part of the Equation

There’s a rule floating around the content marketing world that you should spend 20% of your time creating content and 80% sharing it. While that might seem excessive, there is some truth to it.

Think about it: you might have created the most amazing story in the world, but it’s just not the same if no one sees it.

This is why post-publish promotion is so important. It’ll help you get more eyeballs on your stories and kickstart your platform as a creator.