A lot of blog articles and podcast consultants will tell you to add your podcast episodes
to youtube as audiograms, or only the audio of your podcast with a stagnant image or logo.
The idea behind this is to have your podcast available on as many different platforms as
possible, so that your show is more discoverable.
In this video, we’re going to talk about why you might want to think twice before spending
your time making audiograms or mp4s out of your podcast episodes.
Welcome back to the Pod Sound School Channel, a podcasting channel filled with all the tips,
tricks, and insight you need to start a podcast or to turn the one you already have into something
truly great.
I’m Studio Steve. I’m an audio engineer, a podcast producer, and a consultant. I’ve
helped dozens of clients and hundreds of students to get really incredible results with their
podcasts, and I want to help you do the same.
So if you haven’t yet, hit subscribe here on this channel, we release new videos every
week that will help your podcast stand out. We also love commenting and engaging with
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back.
Okay, let's get to the meat and potatoes.
Audiograms. Is it really worth your time to create mp4 or video versions of your podcast
episodes?
Really I could just sum up this video really quick and say, well, not really, you’re
time would be much better spent on other promotional or creative efforts.
But stick with me for a minute and I’ll tell you exactly why and I’ll also give
you some easy ideas that you can do on YouTube with your podcast that will perform way better
than Audiograms and be more worth your time. I’ll also tell you what the better uses
for Audiograms are.
So the first big reason that posting audiograms on YouTube isn’t going to attract any new
listeners for your podcast is because most people on YouTube are here to watch video.
There are many people, myself included, who listen to music with a moving graphic or still
image on YouTube while I’m doing other things and it would be great if more people did the
same with podcasts, but really the podcast players are the platforms where people go
for audio-only.
At the Pod Sound School, we’re constantly listening to indie podcasts and checking out
their social channels and Youtube channels to give them feedback.
We even do Pod Audits LIVE in our FaceBook Group podcasting for bosses. If you want to
check that out, come join us there at podsoundschool.com/community.
In all of my experience, I’ve seen a hundred or more YouTube channels where podcasters
are just uploading audiograms or audio-only mp4s and they’re stuck 10 or 20 subscribers
and only get a few plays per video.
This is because they are not taking advantage of YouTube’s hackable algorithm to grow
from inside YouTube. Instead, they just bring a few of their fans from outside youtube onto
their channel.
And really, they’re just wasting their time.
We really want to put our time toward efforts that are going to pay off for us.
I know you’re well aware of all the work that goes into not just producing a podcast,
but also promoting it and trying to find an audience for it.
So here’s the deal. Don’t bother with audiograms on YouTube. They aren’t worth
your time.
And as I said earlier, I’ll tell you what you can use audiograms for in a second, but
first.
Just because you shouldn’t post audiograms to YouTube, DOES NOT mean that you shouldn’t
post videos to YouTube. The truth is, that as a podcaster, if you’re
not posting videos to compliment your podcast on YouTube you’re really missing out. And
that’s because it really isn’t that hard to get your videos in front of people here
on YouTube. If you do a little keyword research and find out what people are searching for
on YouTube around the topic of your podcast, you can make videos that can rank and show
up on the first page of those searches.
That’s huge. There’s nothing on the podcast players yet that allows you to do that.
And there are easy things you can do today, right now, that will perform so much better
on YouTube than audiograms.
Here’s just a few ideas.
First, turn on a camera and film yourself creating your podcast. Make a few adjustments
to the video file using video editing software. Add a few bells and whistles to the video
and title the video the topic of the episode.
So, if for example, I have a podcast about vegan lifestyle and I have an episode about
dating a vegan when you’re not one. I wouldn’t want to title my video. Steve’s Vegan Lifestyle
Podcast - Episode 29. I would want to title it: How to date a Vegan when You’re not
one.
The other thing I could do is to split that same recording up into pieces or highlights.
People on YouTube also love short and sweet videos. So I can take a part of my podcast
episode that really answers something that people are searching for. And share a five
to 10-minute clip about that topic.
And if you really want to take it up a notch, just put a bit more work into it. And pop
in front of the camera and say something attention-catching like, “Have you ever tried to date a vegan?
It’s impossible”. And then cut into a little intro graphic for your podcast. Then
cut to the 5-minute clip.
The other thing you really want to do is make some thumbnails for your videos. A great free
tool for this is CANVA. They have YouTube thumbnail templates all ready to work with.
Okay, and to finish up, like I mentioned. Just because you’re not going to waste your
time upload full-length audio grams here on the TUBES. Doesn’t mean you can still use
audiograms elsewhere. Audiograms are great for sharing short clips of your podcast episodes
on social media. You can really get creative making fun audiograms for Instagram, Twitter,
Facebook, Pinterest, etc.
I think audiograms as part of an Instagram cascade are especially catchy and engaging.
Audiograms on twitter with some catchy images can also be a really effective way of catching
attention on social media.
We have a video that shows you how we get super creative with our Audiograms for social
media that you can find here.
Also if you’re new to this podcasting on YouTube thing, or you’ve had your podcast
on YouTube for a while and you’re like many other podcasters - stuck at a small handful
of subscribers and little to no plays on your audiograms. We have put together a FREE masterclass
just for our podskis where we really dive into the strategies that will help you include
YouTube into your workflow and grow from inside YouTube quicker and easier than you ever could
on the podcast players.
You can grab your seat for the FREE masterclass by going to: podsoundschool.com/podcastonyoutube
I’ll also leave the link in the description of this video.
And there you have podski. Thanks for stopping by our channel today. And remember, I will
respond to any comments you have on this video or any questions you might have, so please
leave your comments below. I want to hear about your podcast and even give it some love.
Also before you go, help our channel grow and reach more podcasters by subscribing to
our channel and also sharing this video to your podcaster friends.
Thanks again, and until next time, Happy Casting.