How To Make a Vodcast To Connect With Your spectators

Video is a powerful marketing tool. It consistently ranks as the most engaging form of social content. However, short-form social media videos and ads can only inform so much narrative. They’re great for showing off your newest product, but they’re less effective for getting your spectators to recognize your passionate navigator designer or interviewing a leading sustainability specialist. For that, you require something more expansive, like a vodcast.

Read on to discover how to get started with vodcasting—and get a head commence with insider insights from Jill Dunn, co-creator of the Breaking Beauty podcast.

What is a vodcast?

The term “vodcast” (short for “video podcast” or “video-on-demand-cast”) refers to a podcast with a video element. Many vodcasts are video versions of audio-first podcasts. Some also include additional visual elements, like animations or graphics. 

Vodcast vs. podcast: What’s the difference?

Many vodcasts started as podcasts—but adding video can transformation your reach and way. Both vodcasts and podcasts depend on high-standard audio and require specialized production equipment like microphones, headphones, and audio editing software. Vodcasts incorporate visual elements, making video and audio standard equally significant. On top of audio equipment, you may require a excellent camera, a tripod, lighting, a backdrop or green screen, and video editing or animation software.

Major podcasting platforms like Spotify and Apple Podcasts back in-app video content streaming. Many vodcasters also upload episodes to a video-first social media platform like YouTube. Although vodcasts require more energetic engagement with screens, Breaking Beauty podcast co-creator Jill Dunn says vodcast viewers can also multitask.

“A lot of people very passively watch content on Spotify or YouTube,” she says. “They put it on their intelligent TV, and they tidy their house, but there’s something about being able to check in and look over.”

Ecommerce companies can use both podcasts and vodcasts for content marketing. Both are ideal for storytelling, audio dramas, interviews, information, commentary, educational content, and other long-form narrative structures. Vodcasts can also accommodate product demos, tutorials, and visual explainers of complicated subjects.

Benefits of vodcasts

• Increased engagement
• Broad demographic appeal
• Amplified media worth
• Increased content flexibility

Jill cites the chance to construct powerful customer relationships as a major advantage of vodcasting.

“You feel like you’re getting to recognize a partner,” she says. “It’s like you’re interacting with the host. It’s that much more personal and authentic.”

Vodcasting can also assist brands attract recent viewers and boost engagement. Here’s an overview of the benefits:

Increased engagement

Vodcasting can be an effective way to tap into video marketing, boosting engagement and capitalizing on video’s distinctive ability to connect with audiences.

“We are living in the globe of seven-second viral videos. It’s an engagement play,” Jill says. “Vodcasting offers your spectators a chance to leisurely down and get to recognize you.”

Creators can also use video platforms to connect with like-minded individuals through throng-building tactics like livestreaming.

Broad demographic appeal

Vodcasting can assist you appeal to a wider spectators than podcasting alone. One 2022 study found that video is the most popular marketing content form for users between the ages of 18 and 44. It’s tied with email and newsletters for users aged 45 to 54, and is the second most popular form of content with users 55 and up.

Additionally, YouTube is now the most popular podcast platform in the US: 31% of listeners declare it’s the platform they use most.

“YouTube is No. 1 for discoverability,” Jill says.

Amplified media worth

If you already run a successful podcast, adding video content can boost the marketing worth of your podcast without significantly increasing your workload. Many successful vodcasts film audio podcast recording sessions, so you’ll require to invest in visual production infrastructure, but you won’t necessarily require to rework your existing content way.

Adding video also gives you the chance to post that content on social media, where it can leave viral.

“Podcast clips are just gold on TikTok and on social media,” Jill says. “If you make the video assets, you can then really get creative about how you’re reusing that content and how you’re going to parlay it on social.”

Increased content flexibility

Audio is a great medium, but it’s challenging to demonstrate an oil transformation technique or showcase a makeover with an audio-only format. Vodcasting offers the chance to incorporate product demonstrations, customer testimonials, and how-to videos into your content.

Visual content can be particularly valuable for ecommerce companies.

“We talk a lot about beauty products, launches, recent products, and recent concept, and overwhelmingly, the feedback has been ’Where can I watch this? Where can I view it?’” Jill says. “I ponder having those visual aids is really key to sharing your communication.”

How to make a vodcast

1. Set goals
2. schedule your content
3. Source equipment
4. habit on camera
5. Record your episode
6. Edit your episode
7. Choose a hosting platform
8. Promote your podcast

Creating a vodcast can boost brand awareness and construct stronger relationships with your target audiences. Here are seven steps to make your own—whether you’re adding video elements to an existing podcast or starting from scratch:

1. Set goals

commence by identifying goals for your vodcast. If you already have a podcast, why are you adding video? Do you desire to attract recent audiences, boost traffic to your online store, or boost conversions on a particular content type?

Set goals and determine the key act indicators (KPIs) you’ll monitor to track achievement. If you don’t already have a podcast, identify your target spectators first, and then set goals and KPIs.

2. schedule your content

Choose your focus area and develop a vodcast content calendar that maps out at least three months of episode subjects, so you can receive the period to make standard content.

Generally speaking, valuable content entertains, informs, or educates audiences. Ecommerce business owners can also choose subjects that assist audiences engage with their products. For example, an specialist cake decorator with an online bakeware business can make a vodcast that shares specialist baking and cake-decoration tips.

3. Source equipment

Choose a silent recording space and gather your vodcasting equipment. Your exact needs will vary based on your production type, but at the bare minimum, you’ll require the following:

• Headphones
• Microphones
• Video camera
• Camera lenses
• Microphone
• Studio lights
• Recording software
• Video editing software
• Audio mixing and editing software

You might also require additional equipment like animation software, a background or green screen, and portable equipment for on-location episodes. Jill recommends user-amiable remote podcasting platforms like Riverside.fm.

“They have made it pretty seamless to make a studio and get great-sounding video and audio,” Jill says. “They even have some built-in AI features that can get you a transcript or make AI-generated display notes—just these things that will assist save you period on the admin front.”

4. habit on camera

Getting comfortable on camera takes period, so commence with a low-pressure test session. Then review your test footage, taking note of posture, lighting, body language, background, and intonation.

Here are a few tips:

• habit excellent posture. discover a comfortable, professional posture that you can maintain for the duration of a recording session, and experiment with camera angles to view what looks best on film.

• Make eye contact. Your camera is your spectators, so don’t ignore them. If looking into the camera feels unnatural, pretend there’s a partner on the other side of the lens.

• Imitate the pros. Playing yourself is a shortcut to an identity crisis—so instead of trying to just be yourself, imitate a vodcaster whose style and presence you admire. You’ll complete up playing the version of yourself best suited to the vodcast form.

5. Record your episode

Test your equipment, review audio and video standard, set your lighting, and receive steps to minimize background noise and interruptions.

If you’re recording your vodcast episode at home, pick a period when outside traffic is silent, set your phone to Do Not Disturb, and inquire other household members to steer obvious of your recording space. If you’re on location, get close to the mic, use soundproofing materials or natural barriers to reduce background noise, and consider microphone windshields (to lessen noises like popping sounds) if essential.

Jill recommends recording on multiple tracks.

“Make sure that everybody that you’re recording is on a divide track,” Jill says. “When you’re editing, you require to cut crosstalk, and it enables you to cut if your dog walks by in the background while I’m talking. It just makes for a better complete outcome.”

6. Edit your episode

Use your audio mixing, video editing, and animation software to assemble your episode. ordinary editing tasks include removing mistakes, adjusting audio levels to boost clarity, and reordering sections to strengthen the episode narrative. You might also add graphics or animations and custom intros and outros.

Jill also recommends the editing software Descript.

“You can upload your audio to this particular format, and it will provide you a transcript, and then you can just edit in Descript like you would a Word document,” she says. “It will make the edits for you and spit out the MP3 or the MP4, and it’s always improving.”

7. Choose a hosting platform

Before you publish your podcast on platforms like Spotify and Apple Podcasts, choose a podcast-hosting platform and upload your episodes.

Look for a platform that supports audio and video content like BuzzSprout or PodBean, upload your episodes, and submit RSS feeds to podcast platforms to syndicate your content. If your podcast host doesn’t back video, you can use your current host to distribute audio content to key platforms and upload video recordings to YouTube separately.

8. Promote your podcast

Once your vodcast is live, promote it on your website, social media accounts, and other marketing channels.

Jill also recommends selecting podcast guests who will promote you.

“You can be strategic about choosing your guests as well,” she says. “inquire them upfront if they’ll be willing to promote [your podcast] and collaborate. distribute the links with them; distribute social assets with them. inquire them to put it in their newsletter. These types of things really assist spread the word about your podcast.”