April 26, 2023 • 25 mins
Internet marketers have a new crush on video and many podcasters are starting to feel pressured to create video content. But do you need to add video?
The post Does Your Podcast NEED Video? first appeared on The Audacity to Podcast®.
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Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
Does your podcast need video? Listen to find out!
Thank you for joining me for The Audacity to Podcast. I'm Daniel
J. Lewis. Internet marketers have a new crush on video
and many podcasters are starting to feel pressured to create video content.
(00:22):
But do you really need to add video video? If you'd like
to follow along with the Notes for this episode or share this episode out,
which would be fantastic for you to do, I'd love for
you to share this episode with other podcasters. Please go to theaudacitytopodcast.com/needvideo
or get to the Notes and share them a tap or
swipe away inside of your podcast app. First, I want to
(00:45):
start with this premise. Start with audio.
It's both my recommendation and my assumption for the rest of this
episode that you start your podcast with only audio.
I've done a whole episode previously about whether your podcast
should be in audio or video talking about your whole podcast.
The link to that is in the Notes for this episode. If you're wondering about
(01:07):
if you should do an audio podcasting or a video podcast, go listen to that
episode. Because that's not what I'm talking about here. Not whether you
should do one or the other, but assuming that you
are already publishing audio or you're going to be publishing
audio when you start your podcast, should you also
add video to that? Or should you just stick
(01:29):
with only audio? That's what this episode will focus on.
Assuming you have or will soon have an audio podcasting
and video would be something in addition to that. So with
that in mind, think real video. First fake
video last. Fake video is when the video and I would put
that in quotation marks because it's fake. Video in my mind is
(01:52):
really only audio. It might have a static image
or even an animated waveform or embedded captions,
but it's still only audio simply with a frame
rate to it. I've done a whole episode previously about the problems with
fake video. I have the link to that also in the Notes.
So go listen to that. I do plan to do a follow up to that
(02:12):
because there are some things I hadn't thought of at that point, some good follow
up to share with you. But my main position is still the
same that fake video just doesn't really perform well. There are
some cases where you could use it and might want to try it, but everyone
I see using it is just saying it's not really doing anything
for us. So I'm not talking about fake video. Consider, for example,
(02:34):
that even though YouTube has a I would
call it a fake podcast section now, you still can't
actually upload an audio file or submit your
podcast RSS feed regardless of whether it's a video podcast
or an audio podcasting. So I really think that
YouTube is confusing the industry by calling these
(02:55):
things podcasts. They're not podcasts it's basically just a playlist. I really hope that
YouTube does much more with podcasters in the future, and I would think that it
would be great if they do. But right now it's not really
podcasting. What they're doing and most of what they're highlighting
are good videos, and that's good. And they are
not fake videos most of the time. Now, you can have a fake video
(03:19):
channel or a collection, a playlist, and mark that
as a podcasting. But this episode really isn't about YouTube.
It's about whether your podcasting needs video at all.
Furthermore, all the positive metrics are many times higher
for real video than for fake video. Even in
some I would call them misreported or misrepresented or misinterpreted.
(03:42):
Studies surveyed, people confirmed that they prefer to watch
videos instead of listening to videos. That's what
I think the survey shows, not people prefer video
podcasts. No, that was asking the wrong question in their
survey. But I think it does confirm that people do want to
watch video. They don't want to listen to video.
(04:04):
So when we're talking about video, think about making a real video
first that people can watch. That should
be your goal. Something people will actually want
to watch, not have to watch or discover
that, oh, I don't have to watch this at all. It's just fake video.
They'll want to watch it because they want to see something.
(04:26):
Think about that kind of video first. So here are some things to think
about if you want to add video to your audio podcast.
Video costs more. It takes more time to prepare, more expensive
gear, and more time and resources to produce even halfway
decent video. With audio only, you need only a microphone,
a way to record it, and a quiet space. That's pretty much
(04:49):
it. You can edit audio really easily and people
won't even notice that you edited audio. There have already been
several moments in this audio podcast episode
that have been edited out by my producer, John Buchinis, and you
wouldn't even know it. Now, if you were watching the video version,
which I'm not recording a video version right now, but if you were watching the
(05:10):
video, you would see the edit points. You would see me
jump cut or something like that. It would be obvious to
you that it was edited. But listening to only the
audio, you have no idea when and where my previous
edits were in what I've recorded so far, or what you're about
to hear. You won't know it because it's so easy to cover up,
(05:30):
it's so easy to edit and produce when you're focusing on
only audio. With video, however, you need that stuff.
The microphone, a way to record it, a quiet space, plus a camera
and lighting. Also, you might need a completely different microphone
that works better for video and a completely different audio editing
app or multiple apps that are designed for editing the
(05:53):
video. Then you need stuff to make the video actually
interesting and worth watching instead of merely hearing.
After that. Hosting the video costs more.
Someone has to pay for that bandwidth. Don't think,
oh, it's free to host my video here or there. No, someone is
paying for that bandwidth. Either you pay for it with money, or you and
(06:16):
your audience pay for it with ads and whatever kind of tracking,
privacy, compromise, inconvenience or anything like that, that comes with that.
Consuming video also costs more. People can't watch video in as
many places as they can listen to audio. Consider driving, mowing the
yard, operating heavy machinery, working a job, and more. Audio can easily
(06:36):
be consumed in these places, but video can't or shouldn't
be. I actually recently got some IPX Seven waterproof
earbuds so I can listen to podcasts in the shower. And if you're
interested in the same earbuds that I got, then I
have a link to that. It will be an affiliate link that I earn commissions
from in the notes for this episode. But I'm pretty happy with the earbuds I
(06:57):
got and they were pretty inexpensive when I got them on sale too. Link is
in the notes if you're interested, but I recently got these waterproof earbuds to
listen to podcasts in the shower. But there's no way in
the world I'm putting my iPhone or my iPad
in the shower to watch a podcasting through shampoo in my eyes, I'm just
not doing that. But I can listen to podcasts in that context.
(07:20):
I listen to podcasts in all kinds of contexts and I cannot watch video
in those same contexts. So video costs
more. But on the plus side, video can actually
be lazy in a good way.
While high quality video requires a good microphone, good lighting,
and a good camera, I've observed that many people are actually much
(07:41):
more forgiving of some lower quality production in
video and that's some don't think that means you can
get away with the absolute cheapest, worst sounding audio in
your video or anything like that. Some lower quality,
for example, look at how many people simply record with
their smartphone in selfie mode and how few people complain
(08:03):
about the non studio sound or look. But this
comes with a huge caveat. Listen to my recent episode
about debunking that myth. It's not hurting their podcast,
so don't think, well, it's not hurting their growth because they're recording
cheaply and in selfie mode and not using studio equipment or anything like that.
Just because it's working for someone doesn't mean
(08:25):
it should go without improvement. Just because it's working for them
doesn't mean it's the cause for their success. Consider if those selfie
style videos actually used better microphones.
Wouldn't you appreciate being able to hear the person better? Or consider
if some of those videos had some better lighting. And I'm not talking
all the time about studio lighting. Sometimes it might just be
(08:46):
facing a window on a sunny day. So you get some nice sunlight
coming in and you get a much better lit video, if that's
a possibility. Or positioning yourself relative to your lights a little bit
better so you don't have lights behind you and then you look like a
black shadow in the camera or anything like that. There are certain things
that you can do with that, but you don't have to go for that
(09:08):
studio look. Nonetheless, I think some of the forgiveness
for subpar quality is because video gives far
more context to communicate the message.
We have facial expressions, body language,
imagery, lower thirds and other enhancements,
and even simply seeing the words spoken
(09:28):
instead of only hearing them. Like that quote from the movie.
Slightly changed though. Are you seeing the words that are coming out of my
mouth? You can understand people a little bit
better, even if you're not good at reading lips. It is easier to understand
people when you can see them speaking instead of only
hearing them speak. So please don't think that adding video to
(09:51):
your workflow means going all out on a video studio with professional
lights, professional cameras and all of that stuff. It could
simply be selfie style video from your smartphone. Just please
don't let that video record horizontally flipped backward.
Now, whether it's vertical or horizontal video, I think
(10:11):
really depends on the context that will be consumed and published.
But what I'm talking about is where everything to your viewer is backwards,
basically, as if the mirror was recording you.
That's what it shouldn't look like. I always think that looks really cheap.
Why do people do that? Why does everything have to look backwards? Why does it
have to look like you're driving in Britain on the right side of the car
(10:32):
when you're actually in America driving on the left side of the car? Can you
tell I'm passionate about this? I almost get more frustrated by this now
than vertical video, since a lot of video is consumed on vertical devices
now. But that's what you need to think about. Where is your video going to
be consumed? If it's going to be consumed primarily on a vertical
device, then vertical video is fine, but you have to decide
(10:55):
where is your audience going to consume the video?
But that still doesn't require major production. That's just
a simple setting or how you use the camera or the app.
So video can actually be lazy in a good way. It doesn't
have to be expensive. Video can also be in more
places, while the podcast ecosystem is mostly
(11:17):
audio. Although video podcasts have existed from the beginning
and were actually quite popular before this little thing called
YouTube came along and shook up the industry completely
on the video side, publishing video offers even
more opportunities to get your message out than only in
audio. Just like audio, podcasting allows your content to
(11:39):
be places written content can't be.
Video allows your content to be places that audio can't
be or doesn't work well, like YouTube,
Instagram, TikTok, and more. These are places where
real video is best, and audio
or fake video just doesn't work quite as well or doesn't
(12:02):
work at all. Video also tends to be more shareable.
I think a huge part of this is because of how easy social networks actually
make it to share videos. For example, dropping a YouTube
link on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Mastodon or other places
will automatically display a preview of the video and even embed
the video so it can be played right there without leaving whatever
(12:25):
context the audience is in at that moment. Whether it's on a web page,
in an app, in a social app, on Facebook, on Twitter,
in the video consumption app. But the same platforms have not
made it so easy or attractive for audio. The sharing
experience is superior with video. I think the
consumption experience with a shared video is also easier. This is
(12:48):
not only because of that easy embedding that I just talked about, but also
because some video can be enjoyed without actually
hearing anything. This could be because the
words appear in the video, or even simply because a
picture is worth 1000 words and the visual communicates effectively
without words at all. Consider, for example, all the animated Gifs
(13:10):
people share as reactions. Many of those don't even have
words on them. They don't need words, just a simple, short little
clip from something. It's basically video. Even though it's technically an
animated GIF, it's an excerpt from a video, and it might not even need
words. Or maybe it needs only one or two words to display,
and that communicates the point. Try to get that kind of virality
(13:33):
with audio. You're not going to get it.
And when you're considering what to do for video, keep in mind
that your video can be completely different from your audio.
One fairly easy approach to publishing video is to simply turn
on the camera while you record your audio. You could live,
stream or publish the video when you publish your
(13:53):
audio. This style is often called talking head, because that's
really all people see your head talking,
and that can be fine. It's certainly much better than fake video.
A challenge you'll probably face with talking head video is
ensuring the experience is still great for your
primary audience. And since I'm basing this episode
(14:14):
on the assumption that you already publish an audio podcast or that's
what you're intending to do, your primary audience will probably
be only listening, not watching.
So you have to remember that your listening audience can't see
what you see or what your cohost sees. If you have a remote cohost
on video or in person, you'll have to include extra descriptions
(14:35):
or outright exclude some content in
order to not alienate the majority of your audience. An easy way to
think about this is to replace the word this with some kind
of description whenever the this refers
to something visual like I could hold something right now in my hand and
I say I have really been enjoying this. I like
(14:57):
the sound of this too and I like how it feels in
my hand. I like the look of this. I like how this goes all
the way to the edge right here. Do you have any idea what I'm talking
about? Now maybe some of you will. I'm talking about a speed cube.
Did you know that? Could you have figured that out just by what I said?
How I described it with that little bit of sound from moving it around in
(15:20):
my hands? Maybe someone who's super familiar with Speed Cubes
would be like ah, that's music to my ears. Do that again please.
Oh, I love that sound. Now, you probably had no idea
why I was talking about, but if instead, if I say this
speed cube is really nice. I love how the color goes all
the way to the edge of each side. And I love how
(15:41):
smoothly it turns whenever I turn it in my hands and how
it snaps into place with the magnets that are inside. That kind of thing.
You see, why I'm doing there is I'm describing it so that as you listen
you can visualize what I'm talking about or understand what
I'm talking about. But I'm also not describing it in a way that if
you are watching, you feel like I'm being over excessive
(16:03):
with my descriptions. I'm a big fan of the Adventures and Odyssey audio
drama for kids and I grew up listening to that. Their early
episodes, everything I think was really good but their
early episodes really showed that the storytellers did not know
how to audibly paint. I remember
certain episodes even where like a kid would say wow,
(16:24):
it's a ship with big sails and flags and everything and two
mess and he's describing it to himself
as an exclamation in order for you to know what he's
actually seeing. That was, I would say, kind of a lazy or
the wrong approach to doing it. That's not the kind of thing you have to
do but you should describe things in a way so that your audio
(16:47):
listeners know what you're talking about or can follow along
at least to some degree. But also you're not making your watching
viewers feel like you're being overdescriptive
but that's for doing the exact same content
in simply different formats, audio format and video format.
But don't think you have to do your entire episode
(17:10):
in talking head style or with a fancy video studio.
Yes, you could make video snippets of smaller sections
or you could rerecord some of the same information but
present it in a different way. And this is the most important part
focused primarily on the viewing experience because you
would be publishing those rerecorded sections in
(17:33):
video. You would be publishing them primarily to be watched
and probably on video dominant platforms YouTube,
Instagram, TikTok, whatever. So you can then
focus how you talk in those things and where
in your audio episode you might talk about something for ten minutes in your
little video snippet. You could talk about it for 1
(17:54):
minute or two minutes instead and really summarize it and present it
in a different way, in a way that's more shareable and more enjoyable
in video, even if it's simply selfie style.
So maybe the wheels in your head have been turning since you've listened to this
loony young man and you're thinking about different
ways, or you're looking for different ways that you could start adding
(18:16):
video to your audio podcasting. Here's a list of eight
ways, and I'd love for you to comment on this episode with some other ideas
as well. Number one live stream. If you can go live
at a consistent time, this can be a great way to engage your audience in
real time and enable them to build community
with each other. Going live is less about building a new audience
(18:39):
and more about deepening the relationship you have with your existing
audience. Number two record talking
heads. Yeah, it's not as exciting, but some people like watching
you talk instead of only listening. Number three
create snippets. Snippets can be very short video excerpts
of your content. These are best when they include
(19:01):
the words on the screen, but please display phrases
at a time or lines at a time, not word
by word, highlighted, revealed, anything like that.
I really think it's best when you display a whole phrase not necessarily the whole
sentence, but like the portions of the sentence, so people can read at
their own pace if they're watching the video on mute, which many people do.
(19:25):
And this kind of approach can actually work well as fake
video because these kinds of videos are so short.
Number four respond to Comments you can make videos sharing
and replying to comments or questions you receive, either in response
to episodes you already published or general questions
related to your niche. I receive a lot of questions about podcasting
(19:47):
via email, Twitter and such. I could make videos to answer these either videos
directed specifically toward that person, but viewable for
my whole audience, or answering these questions in general for
anyone else who has these kinds of questions. That's kind of what I do with
the podcast anyway. Number five show behind the scenes.
People often like getting a peek into what things are like on
(20:10):
your side of the production, and you could show that with some video
in addition to your audio podcast. Number six repurpose
your information. Perhaps the best approach is when you can
share the same information in your podcasting,
but segmented and shorter, so you're not merely cutting
content from your audio podcasting into snippets, but recording
(20:31):
an all new presentation of the same information.
This can be a great way to cross promote the episode from which you're getting
the information and still leveraging the platform
that you're on with the video to build your authority and influence while
also promoting your podcast. So in your podcast you might
talk about it for ten minutes in your video, you talk about it for 30
(20:53):
seconds to a minute, and in the video you can say listen to
this episode. And if you're able to include the link somehow in the video that
they can tap on, then they can then get that link to the episode
and you can point them to it saying listen to this episode. For more details
about this number seven special content I
have both a YouTube channel and a video podcasting.
(21:14):
Like an actual video actual podcast.
It is a feed in podcast apps that support video.
But the only times I publish to those channels lately is
when I have something I need to show instead of
merely tell. For example, my on the floor interviews
from conferences like Podcasting movement or product reviews,
(21:35):
tool demonstrations or tutorials that have to be
seen not only heard and number eight other
updates your audience would enjoy. Imagine many of the same things you
would post on Twitter or Facebook, but in video form
that could be short lived. Video form like on Instagram,
how you can post the stories that then disappear after a certain amount of
(21:59):
time. They could be videos that stay there for forever. It's up to
you. But other kinds of updates like that, if they're relevant
to why people are following you, might be really interesting to
your followers. So here's the big takeaway to this. I've given
you some things to think about from both sides of this and really I want
you to focus on your audio first. That's where the majority
(22:19):
of your audience will come from. But when you're trying to consider this question
do you need video? Here's my basic answer
don't stress. You don't need video.
Yes, video presents all kinds of new opportunities
and new potential, but you don't have to do it.
So don't stress yourself out if you don't want to do video. Even though
(22:42):
everyone is saying, oh, video is where it's at, a phrase that
I hate, especially in the Midwest, they say that unnecessary
at so much around here. You don't have to jump on to video
just because everyone is saying video is great. Video is the next best
thing. Video, video, video, video. Right now,
for myself as a full time daddy, the only time I can work is
(23:04):
when my son is in school or he's sleeping like he is
right now while I'm recording this episode. So I have fewer hours now to run
my business and develop my products than I had before. Thus,
I simply don't have the margin to create video
right now, or at least not very many videos, even though I want to.
And for several reasons, I don't think it's actually
(23:25):
costing me a lot of opportunity because I'm
already so present in other ways, like in this podcast and
on Twitter and such, and that's what I'm able to do well
right now. So if you can do video well and consistently,
then go ahead and do it and promote it there. Or if you just want
to experiment with it, go ahead, try it. See how it goes.
(23:47):
See how you feel about it and the amount of work it makes for
you. Do you enjoy the process? Do you enjoy the rewards?
Whatever kind of extra engagement you get, do you see it making a difference?
You don't have to do video, but if you
want to try video along with your audio podcasting. I hope this
episode has given you some ideas and maybe even relieved some
(24:08):
mental stress for you to move forward or keep
focusing on what you do best. Please share this episode out with other podcasters
whom you think would benefit from this. Go to theaudacitytopodcast.com/needvideo
or get the notes and the share links a tap or swipe away
inside of your podcast app. Now that I've given you some of the guts
(24:28):
and taught you some of the tools, it's time for you to go start and
grow your own podcast for passion and profit.
I'm Daniel J Lewis. From The Audacity to Podcast. Please follow me
on Twitter @theDanielJLewis and thanks for listening!
Does your podcast need video? Listen to find out!
Thank you for joining me for The Audacity to Podcast. I'm Daniel
J. Lewis. Internet marketers have a new crush on video
and many podcasters are starting to feel pressured to create video content.
(00:22):
But do you really need to add video video? If you'd like
to follow along with the Notes for this episode or share this episode out,
which would be fantastic for you to do, I'd love for
you to share this episode with other podcasters. Please go to theaudacitytopodcast.com/needvideo
or get to the Notes and share them a tap or
swipe away inside of your podcast app. First, I want to
(00:45):
start with this premise. Start with audio.
It's both my recommendation and my assumption for the rest of this
episode that you start your podcast with only audio.
I've done a whole episode previously about whether your podcast
should be in audio or video talking about your whole podcast.
The link to that is in the Notes for this episode. If you're wondering about
(01:07):
if you should do an audio podcasting or a video podcast, go listen to that
episode. Because that's not what I'm talking about here. Not whether you
should do one or the other, but assuming that you
are already publishing audio or you're going to be publishing
audio when you start your podcast, should you also
add video to that? Or should you just stick
(01:29):
with only audio? That's what this episode will focus on.
Assuming you have or will soon have an audio podcasting
and video would be something in addition to that. So with
that in mind, think real video. First fake
video last. Fake video is when the video and I would put
that in quotation marks because it's fake. Video in my mind is
(01:52):
really only audio. It might have a static image
or even an animated waveform or embedded captions,
but it's still only audio simply with a frame
rate to it. I've done a whole episode previously about the problems with
fake video. I have the link to that also in the Notes.
So go listen to that. I do plan to do a follow up to that
(02:12):
because there are some things I hadn't thought of at that point, some good follow
up to share with you. But my main position is still the
same that fake video just doesn't really perform well. There are
some cases where you could use it and might want to try it, but everyone
I see using it is just saying it's not really doing anything
for us. So I'm not talking about fake video. Consider, for example,
(02:34):
that even though YouTube has a I would
call it a fake podcast section now, you still can't
actually upload an audio file or submit your
podcast RSS feed regardless of whether it's a video podcast
or an audio podcasting. So I really think that
YouTube is confusing the industry by calling these
(02:55):
things podcasts. They're not podcasts it's basically just a playlist. I really hope that
YouTube does much more with podcasters in the future, and I would think that it
would be great if they do. But right now it's not really
podcasting. What they're doing and most of what they're highlighting
are good videos, and that's good. And they are
not fake videos most of the time. Now, you can have a fake video
(03:19):
channel or a collection, a playlist, and mark that
as a podcasting. But this episode really isn't about YouTube.
It's about whether your podcasting needs video at all.
Furthermore, all the positive metrics are many times higher
for real video than for fake video. Even in
some I would call them misreported or misrepresented or misinterpreted.
(03:42):
Studies surveyed, people confirmed that they prefer to watch
videos instead of listening to videos. That's what
I think the survey shows, not people prefer video
podcasts. No, that was asking the wrong question in their
survey. But I think it does confirm that people do want to
watch video. They don't want to listen to video.
(04:04):
So when we're talking about video, think about making a real video
first that people can watch. That should
be your goal. Something people will actually want
to watch, not have to watch or discover
that, oh, I don't have to watch this at all. It's just fake video.
They'll want to watch it because they want to see something.
(04:26):
Think about that kind of video first. So here are some things to think
about if you want to add video to your audio podcast.
Video costs more. It takes more time to prepare, more expensive
gear, and more time and resources to produce even halfway
decent video. With audio only, you need only a microphone,
a way to record it, and a quiet space. That's pretty much
(04:49):
it. You can edit audio really easily and people
won't even notice that you edited audio. There have already been
several moments in this audio podcast episode
that have been edited out by my producer, John Buchinis, and you
wouldn't even know it. Now, if you were watching the video version,
which I'm not recording a video version right now, but if you were watching the
(05:10):
video, you would see the edit points. You would see me
jump cut or something like that. It would be obvious to
you that it was edited. But listening to only the
audio, you have no idea when and where my previous
edits were in what I've recorded so far, or what you're about
to hear. You won't know it because it's so easy to cover up,
(05:30):
it's so easy to edit and produce when you're focusing on
only audio. With video, however, you need that stuff.
The microphone, a way to record it, a quiet space, plus a camera
and lighting. Also, you might need a completely different microphone
that works better for video and a completely different audio editing
app or multiple apps that are designed for editing the
(05:53):
video. Then you need stuff to make the video actually
interesting and worth watching instead of merely hearing.
After that. Hosting the video costs more.
Someone has to pay for that bandwidth. Don't think,
oh, it's free to host my video here or there. No, someone is
paying for that bandwidth. Either you pay for it with money, or you and
(06:16):
your audience pay for it with ads and whatever kind of tracking,
privacy, compromise, inconvenience or anything like that, that comes with that.
Consuming video also costs more. People can't watch video in as
many places as they can listen to audio. Consider driving, mowing the
yard, operating heavy machinery, working a job, and more. Audio can easily
(06:36):
be consumed in these places, but video can't or shouldn't
be. I actually recently got some IPX Seven waterproof
earbuds so I can listen to podcasts in the shower. And if you're
interested in the same earbuds that I got, then I
have a link to that. It will be an affiliate link that I earn commissions
from in the notes for this episode. But I'm pretty happy with the earbuds I
(06:57):
got and they were pretty inexpensive when I got them on sale too. Link is
in the notes if you're interested, but I recently got these waterproof earbuds to
listen to podcasts in the shower. But there's no way in
the world I'm putting my iPhone or my iPad
in the shower to watch a podcasting through shampoo in my eyes, I'm just
not doing that. But I can listen to podcasts in that context.
(07:20):
I listen to podcasts in all kinds of contexts and I cannot watch video
in those same contexts. So video costs
more. But on the plus side, video can actually
be lazy in a good way.
While high quality video requires a good microphone, good lighting,
and a good camera, I've observed that many people are actually much
(07:41):
more forgiving of some lower quality production in
video and that's some don't think that means you can
get away with the absolute cheapest, worst sounding audio in
your video or anything like that. Some lower quality,
for example, look at how many people simply record with
their smartphone in selfie mode and how few people complain
(08:03):
about the non studio sound or look. But this
comes with a huge caveat. Listen to my recent episode
about debunking that myth. It's not hurting their podcast,
so don't think, well, it's not hurting their growth because they're recording
cheaply and in selfie mode and not using studio equipment or anything like that.
Just because it's working for someone doesn't mean
(08:25):
it should go without improvement. Just because it's working for them
doesn't mean it's the cause for their success. Consider if those selfie
style videos actually used better microphones.
Wouldn't you appreciate being able to hear the person better? Or consider
if some of those videos had some better lighting. And I'm not talking
all the time about studio lighting. Sometimes it might just be
(08:46):
facing a window on a sunny day. So you get some nice sunlight
coming in and you get a much better lit video, if that's
a possibility. Or positioning yourself relative to your lights a little bit
better so you don't have lights behind you and then you look like a
black shadow in the camera or anything like that. There are certain things
that you can do with that, but you don't have to go for that
(09:08):
studio look. Nonetheless, I think some of the forgiveness
for subpar quality is because video gives far
more context to communicate the message.
We have facial expressions, body language,
imagery, lower thirds and other enhancements,
and even simply seeing the words spoken
(09:28):
instead of only hearing them. Like that quote from the movie.
Slightly changed though. Are you seeing the words that are coming out of my
mouth? You can understand people a little bit
better, even if you're not good at reading lips. It is easier to understand
people when you can see them speaking instead of only
hearing them speak. So please don't think that adding video to
(09:51):
your workflow means going all out on a video studio with professional
lights, professional cameras and all of that stuff. It could
simply be selfie style video from your smartphone. Just please
don't let that video record horizontally flipped backward.
Now, whether it's vertical or horizontal video, I think
(10:11):
really depends on the context that will be consumed and published.
But what I'm talking about is where everything to your viewer is backwards,
basically, as if the mirror was recording you.
That's what it shouldn't look like. I always think that looks really cheap.
Why do people do that? Why does everything have to look backwards? Why does it
have to look like you're driving in Britain on the right side of the car
(10:32):
when you're actually in America driving on the left side of the car? Can you
tell I'm passionate about this? I almost get more frustrated by this now
than vertical video, since a lot of video is consumed on vertical devices
now. But that's what you need to think about. Where is your video going to
be consumed? If it's going to be consumed primarily on a vertical
device, then vertical video is fine, but you have to decide
(10:55):
where is your audience going to consume the video?
But that still doesn't require major production. That's just
a simple setting or how you use the camera or the app.
So video can actually be lazy in a good way. It doesn't
have to be expensive. Video can also be in more
places, while the podcast ecosystem is mostly
(11:17):
audio. Although video podcasts have existed from the beginning
and were actually quite popular before this little thing called
YouTube came along and shook up the industry completely
on the video side, publishing video offers even
more opportunities to get your message out than only in
audio. Just like audio, podcasting allows your content to
(11:39):
be places written content can't be.
Video allows your content to be places that audio can't
be or doesn't work well, like YouTube,
Instagram, TikTok, and more. These are places where
real video is best, and audio
or fake video just doesn't work quite as well or doesn't
(12:02):
work at all. Video also tends to be more shareable.
I think a huge part of this is because of how easy social networks actually
make it to share videos. For example, dropping a YouTube
link on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Mastodon or other places
will automatically display a preview of the video and even embed
the video so it can be played right there without leaving whatever
(12:25):
context the audience is in at that moment. Whether it's on a web page,
in an app, in a social app, on Facebook, on Twitter,
in the video consumption app. But the same platforms have not
made it so easy or attractive for audio. The sharing
experience is superior with video. I think the
consumption experience with a shared video is also easier. This is
(12:48):
not only because of that easy embedding that I just talked about, but also
because some video can be enjoyed without actually
hearing anything. This could be because the
words appear in the video, or even simply because a
picture is worth 1000 words and the visual communicates effectively
without words at all. Consider, for example, all the animated Gifs
(13:10):
people share as reactions. Many of those don't even have
words on them. They don't need words, just a simple, short little
clip from something. It's basically video. Even though it's technically an
animated GIF, it's an excerpt from a video, and it might not even need
words. Or maybe it needs only one or two words to display,
and that communicates the point. Try to get that kind of virality
(13:33):
with audio. You're not going to get it.
And when you're considering what to do for video, keep in mind
that your video can be completely different from your audio.
One fairly easy approach to publishing video is to simply turn
on the camera while you record your audio. You could live,
stream or publish the video when you publish your
(13:53):
audio. This style is often called talking head, because that's
really all people see your head talking,
and that can be fine. It's certainly much better than fake video.
A challenge you'll probably face with talking head video is
ensuring the experience is still great for your
primary audience. And since I'm basing this episode
(14:14):
on the assumption that you already publish an audio podcast or that's
what you're intending to do, your primary audience will probably
be only listening, not watching.
So you have to remember that your listening audience can't see
what you see or what your cohost sees. If you have a remote cohost
on video or in person, you'll have to include extra descriptions
(14:35):
or outright exclude some content in
order to not alienate the majority of your audience. An easy way to
think about this is to replace the word this with some kind
of description whenever the this refers
to something visual like I could hold something right now in my hand and
I say I have really been enjoying this. I like
(14:57):
the sound of this too and I like how it feels in
my hand. I like the look of this. I like how this goes all
the way to the edge right here. Do you have any idea what I'm talking
about? Now maybe some of you will. I'm talking about a speed cube.
Did you know that? Could you have figured that out just by what I said?
How I described it with that little bit of sound from moving it around in
(15:20):
my hands? Maybe someone who's super familiar with Speed Cubes
would be like ah, that's music to my ears. Do that again please.
Oh, I love that sound. Now, you probably had no idea
why I was talking about, but if instead, if I say this
speed cube is really nice. I love how the color goes all
the way to the edge of each side. And I love how
(15:41):
smoothly it turns whenever I turn it in my hands and how
it snaps into place with the magnets that are inside. That kind of thing.
You see, why I'm doing there is I'm describing it so that as you listen
you can visualize what I'm talking about or understand what
I'm talking about. But I'm also not describing it in a way that if
you are watching, you feel like I'm being over excessive
(16:03):
with my descriptions. I'm a big fan of the Adventures and Odyssey audio
drama for kids and I grew up listening to that. Their early
episodes, everything I think was really good but their
early episodes really showed that the storytellers did not know
how to audibly paint. I remember
certain episodes even where like a kid would say wow,
(16:24):
it's a ship with big sails and flags and everything and two
mess and he's describing it to himself
as an exclamation in order for you to know what he's
actually seeing. That was, I would say, kind of a lazy or
the wrong approach to doing it. That's not the kind of thing you have to
do but you should describe things in a way so that your audio
(16:47):
listeners know what you're talking about or can follow along
at least to some degree. But also you're not making your watching
viewers feel like you're being overdescriptive
but that's for doing the exact same content
in simply different formats, audio format and video format.
But don't think you have to do your entire episode
(17:10):
in talking head style or with a fancy video studio.
Yes, you could make video snippets of smaller sections
or you could rerecord some of the same information but
present it in a different way. And this is the most important part
focused primarily on the viewing experience because you
would be publishing those rerecorded sections in
(17:33):
video. You would be publishing them primarily to be watched
and probably on video dominant platforms YouTube,
Instagram, TikTok, whatever. So you can then
focus how you talk in those things and where
in your audio episode you might talk about something for ten minutes in your
little video snippet. You could talk about it for 1
(17:54):
minute or two minutes instead and really summarize it and present it
in a different way, in a way that's more shareable and more enjoyable
in video, even if it's simply selfie style.
So maybe the wheels in your head have been turning since you've listened to this
loony young man and you're thinking about different
ways, or you're looking for different ways that you could start adding
(18:16):
video to your audio podcasting. Here's a list of eight
ways, and I'd love for you to comment on this episode with some other ideas
as well. Number one live stream. If you can go live
at a consistent time, this can be a great way to engage your audience in
real time and enable them to build community
with each other. Going live is less about building a new audience
(18:39):
and more about deepening the relationship you have with your existing
audience. Number two record talking
heads. Yeah, it's not as exciting, but some people like watching
you talk instead of only listening. Number three
create snippets. Snippets can be very short video excerpts
of your content. These are best when they include
(19:01):
the words on the screen, but please display phrases
at a time or lines at a time, not word
by word, highlighted, revealed, anything like that.
I really think it's best when you display a whole phrase not necessarily the whole
sentence, but like the portions of the sentence, so people can read at
their own pace if they're watching the video on mute, which many people do.
(19:25):
And this kind of approach can actually work well as fake
video because these kinds of videos are so short.
Number four respond to Comments you can make videos sharing
and replying to comments or questions you receive, either in response
to episodes you already published or general questions
related to your niche. I receive a lot of questions about podcasting
(19:47):
via email, Twitter and such. I could make videos to answer these either videos
directed specifically toward that person, but viewable for
my whole audience, or answering these questions in general for
anyone else who has these kinds of questions. That's kind of what I do with
the podcast anyway. Number five show behind the scenes.
People often like getting a peek into what things are like on
(20:10):
your side of the production, and you could show that with some video
in addition to your audio podcast. Number six repurpose
your information. Perhaps the best approach is when you can
share the same information in your podcasting,
but segmented and shorter, so you're not merely cutting
content from your audio podcasting into snippets, but recording
(20:31):
an all new presentation of the same information.
This can be a great way to cross promote the episode from which you're getting
the information and still leveraging the platform
that you're on with the video to build your authority and influence while
also promoting your podcast. So in your podcast you might
talk about it for ten minutes in your video, you talk about it for 30
(20:53):
seconds to a minute, and in the video you can say listen to
this episode. And if you're able to include the link somehow in the video that
they can tap on, then they can then get that link to the episode
and you can point them to it saying listen to this episode. For more details
about this number seven special content I
have both a YouTube channel and a video podcasting.
(21:14):
Like an actual video actual podcast.
It is a feed in podcast apps that support video.
But the only times I publish to those channels lately is
when I have something I need to show instead of
merely tell. For example, my on the floor interviews
from conferences like Podcasting movement or product reviews,
(21:35):
tool demonstrations or tutorials that have to be
seen not only heard and number eight other
updates your audience would enjoy. Imagine many of the same things you
would post on Twitter or Facebook, but in video form
that could be short lived. Video form like on Instagram,
how you can post the stories that then disappear after a certain amount of
(21:59):
time. They could be videos that stay there for forever. It's up to
you. But other kinds of updates like that, if they're relevant
to why people are following you, might be really interesting to
your followers. So here's the big takeaway to this. I've given
you some things to think about from both sides of this and really I want
you to focus on your audio first. That's where the majority
(22:19):
of your audience will come from. But when you're trying to consider this question
do you need video? Here's my basic answer
don't stress. You don't need video.
Yes, video presents all kinds of new opportunities
and new potential, but you don't have to do it.
So don't stress yourself out if you don't want to do video. Even though
(22:42):
everyone is saying, oh, video is where it's at, a phrase that
I hate, especially in the Midwest, they say that unnecessary
at so much around here. You don't have to jump on to video
just because everyone is saying video is great. Video is the next best
thing. Video, video, video, video. Right now,
for myself as a full time daddy, the only time I can work is
(23:04):
when my son is in school or he's sleeping like he is
right now while I'm recording this episode. So I have fewer hours now to run
my business and develop my products than I had before. Thus,
I simply don't have the margin to create video
right now, or at least not very many videos, even though I want to.
And for several reasons, I don't think it's actually
(23:25):
costing me a lot of opportunity because I'm
already so present in other ways, like in this podcast and
on Twitter and such, and that's what I'm able to do well
right now. So if you can do video well and consistently,
then go ahead and do it and promote it there. Or if you just want
to experiment with it, go ahead, try it. See how it goes.
(23:47):
See how you feel about it and the amount of work it makes for
you. Do you enjoy the process? Do you enjoy the rewards?
Whatever kind of extra engagement you get, do you see it making a difference?
You don't have to do video, but if you
want to try video along with your audio podcasting. I hope this
episode has given you some ideas and maybe even relieved some
(24:08):
mental stress for you to move forward or keep
focusing on what you do best. Please share this episode out with other podcasters
whom you think would benefit from this. Go to theaudacitytopodcast.com/needvideo
or get the notes and the share links a tap or swipe away
inside of your podcast app. Now that I've given you some of the guts
(24:28):
and taught you some of the tools, it's time for you to go start and
grow your own podcast for passion and profit.
I'm Daniel J Lewis. From The Audacity to Podcast. Please follow me
on Twitter @theDanielJLewis and thanks for listening!
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