If you are fairly new to the podcast and social media game, you might be wondering:
“Why on Earth would I need video for my podcast? Isn’t a podcast something you listen to?
The short answer would be: “Yes. And no.”
Let me explain.
Podcast is an audio format. From the comfort of your home to your car while commuting, you can listen to it anytime, anywhere. However, with 5 billion videos watched per single day on YouTube alone, it’s safe to say that most people online spend majority of their time watching videos. So, why exactly would your podcast benefit from a video format, and YouTube for that matter? Let’s reflect.
1. SEO
SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. This means that if you optimize your content properly it will show up in Google search. To have a clearer idea on how search engine optimized content is linked to Youtube, I’ll start with this. YouTube is owned by Google. Secondly, consumers go to YouTube and Google to search for terms. That is your chance to get discovered. If you are there, you might get discovered. If not… well, you get the picture. Not to mention that when you Google something there is an option to only list videos that contain that certain term. And those videos come predominantly from YouTube, as, of course, they rank higher.
2. Tagging
I’ve touched upon the topic of SEO, so tagging comes as a next logical step. YouTube videos allow you to use tags, and, therefore, categorize your content easier. This helps YouTube push your content to your desired audience.
3. Sharing
Not much to say about this really, other than it is much easier to share YouTube videos on other platforms than it is to share podcast episodes. If your podcast is hosted on iTunes, not everyone will have access to it. However, if it’s on YouTube, it is accessible to everyone. In addition, consumers are more likely to share videos than other content.
4. Engagement
Supposing your podcast has accompanying video format, it allows consumers to put a face to the name. It instantly makes you more relatable, and results in more engagement. The higher the engagement, the better the ranking. Youtube has an already built community. When people look for something they either Google it or look it up on YouTube. If your podcast is accompanied with video, and available on YouTube, you are exposed to a community of people waiting to consume content. With the likes of Joe Rogan and others, video format of a podcast has become a new standard.
5. Visual communication
Although podcast is a great medium, it lacks one thing and that is visual communication. In case you, or your guests, sell actual, physical products, there is no way to communicate those visual subjects other than to describe them or spell their online addresses. With video you won’t have that problem.
6. Sponsorship deals
This tackles the subject of visual communication. Assuming that you get approached by sponsors, with podcast you could do a jingle and voice out the web address of your sponsors. YouTube not only enables you to physically place the products in the frame, but also share coupon codes and links in the description. Moreover, this makes a greater variety of sponsorship deals available. Now, all of this is much easier if you have your own website, but YouTube will do, too. Care to learn more about why you need a website for your podcast? You can read more about it here.
Video has many advantages. It would be fair thought to mention the biggest disadvantage.
The only disadvantage of having to create video for your podcast is that it is time consuming. Editing, uploading, transcriptions etc take time. But if you need any help with those and feel like it’s something that you would gladly outsource, then feel free to reach out at hello@podcastassistance.com
In conclusion, you cannot change how people consume content, but you can adapt it to a wider audience and meet them where they want to be met. Happy vidcasting!
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