The Podcast Growth Secret Hiding on LinkedIn
When podcasters talk about marketing, the same platforms dominate the conversation: YouTube, TikTok, Instagram. The advice is always the same. Cut clips, chase trends, hope for virality.
But LinkedIn? Almost nobody mentions it.
That is a mistake. LinkedIn has quietly become one of the most powerful discovery channels for podcasts, especially those aimed at founders, professionals, and creators. My own show, Produced By, now reaches thousands of weekly listeners on Spotify. Alongside partnerships and distribution tools, LinkedIn has been the most consistent driver of long-term growth and community around the podcast.
So how does a platform best known for CVs and recruiters end up driving podcast growth?
Why LinkedIn Works for Podcasts
The first reason is the audience. LinkedIn has more than 1 billion members worldwide and is filled with high-intent professionals, entrepreneurs, and creators. They are not looking for quick entertainment. They want ideas, tools, and stories that improve their work and life. That is exactly what many podcasts aim to deliver.
Second, the algorithm. While other social platforms increasingly prioritise paid promotion, LinkedIn still gives strong organic reach. A thoughtful post can reach thousands of people without ad spend. Hootsuite’s 2025 LinkedIn algorithm guide shows how engagement and consistency still drive visibility. When a post points to a podcast, the impact compounds.
Finally, the context. On TikTok or Instagram your podcast competes with memes and music videos. On LinkedIn, it sits next to your professional identity. That positioning adds credibility and trust, making someone more likely to listen.
For podcasters interested in podcast discovery, this mix of reach, trust, and intent is rare.
What I’ve Tried (and What Worked)
Growing Produced By through LinkedIn meant going beyond link-dropping. I treated LinkedIn as a first-class content platform, not just a noticeboard.
Some of the strategies that worked:
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Story-driven posts: Instead of announcing “new episode out now”, I shared a personal hook or lesson from the guest. People clicked because of the story, not the link.
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Carousels and text posts: Visual posts highlighting key takeaways consistently outperformed audio clips. They also travelled further because people reshared them.
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Before and after strategy: Creating anticipation before an episode, then posting highlights afterwards, doubled engagement compared with one-off promotion.
One carousel post highlighting guest insights spread widely on LinkedIn, and directly translated into new newsletter sign-ups for the Produced Newsletter and new podcast listeners.
Over time, those impressions compound. That is how an audience grows.
A Case in Point
A recent example is working with Ionut Spataru, with whom I am co-building FenPost, an AI-powered tool for LinkedIn creators. By sharing our process and lessons on the platform, posts about FenPost consistently spark conversations and attract new users.
It proved to me again that LinkedIn is not just a place to promote, but a place to build openly with your audience. The same principle applies to podcasts: sharing the journey creates loyalty far more effectively than one-off announcements.
Three Lessons for Other Podcasters
From these experiments, three takeaways stand out:
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Think LinkedIn-first. Do not recycle content. Translate your episode into LinkedIn-native stories, lessons, or conversation starters.
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Consistency compounds. Posting occasionally will not move the needle. As with podcast publishing, the schedule matters.
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Engage, do not just broadcast. Many of my most loyal listeners began as LinkedIn connections who replied to a post. Engagement creates loyalty.
This is not about gaming the algorithm. It is about showing up where your potential listeners already spend time and proving the value of your ideas.
Why This Matters for Podcasting
Podcast discovery is still broken. Millions of shows compete for attention, and new listeners often do not know where to begin. Edison Research’s Infinite Dial 2025 has shown that discoverability remains one of the biggest barriers to podcast growth. LinkedIn is not a complete fix, but it is a bridge, a space where podcast conversations meet professional curiosity.
Unlike YouTube or TikTok, LinkedIn is not yet saturated with podcasters. That means there is an early mover advantage for shows that serve professional or niche communities. The audience is hungry, the competition is lighter, and the trust factor is higher.
As Spotify’s creator resources note, sustainable growth is about loyalty rather than one-off downloads. Their guidance on retaining a loyal audience focuses on engagement and community, the very things LinkedIn does well.
For podcasters who want more than a temporary spike in numbers, LinkedIn offers something rare: long-term, loyal listeners who come for the content and stay for the conversation.
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