In recent years, the digital video industry has experienced a boom like never before.
Today, a third of all online activity is spent watching videos. The sheer number of content consumers has triggered an influx of video creators looking to take advantage of the spike in traffic. Content creators from all types of industries have started to look towards video as the next frontier in the search for exposure, audience development, and creative expression.
It’s become standard for podcasters to simultaneously release audio and video versions of their podcast to appeal to a broader audience. Video Podcasting is a powerful tool that can help grow your fan base and allow you to create consistent, engaging content.
If you have been podcasting for a while, chances are that you’ve mulled over the idea of adding a video component to your podcast. If you’ve felt any hesitations about breaking into the world of video content, don’t fret - you’re not alone.
Refining your goals and setting metrics for success is often one of the most overlooked steps for video podcasting, let alone for all digital media endeavors, but this stage is pivotal for a successful video podcast.
Begin by asking yourself: why do you want to start video podcasting?
At a superficial level, many new video podcasters want to take advantage of the new sources of traffic. However, there’s going to be a fair share of competition fighting for exposure. There has to be something that sets you apart, whether that be your content, creation style, or marketing strategy.
If you are posting your videos to YouTube without actively promoting them, engaging your audiences, and using audience feedback to adjust your video strategy, then your video channel will merely become a repository for your content.
Those who venture into video podcasting often find that it can become incredibly rewarding, but also very time-consuming. This is why it’s important to create key performance indicators (KPIs), and SMART (specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and time-based) goals. This will help you to justify the process and see if there is a return on your investment of time, money, and efforts.
Before committing to video podcasting, it’s important to understand the expectations you are setting for yourself, and devise a plan on how to meet them. Video podcasting can take a lot of work and often require multiple videos a week. Without an adequate process to film, edit, upload, and market your content—you’ll end up spending your days slogging along and struggling to keep up with your goals. Your best bet is to equip yourself with software that can help streamline and automate some of the processes so you can focus on creating content. Additionally, a huge part of any sort of content creation is a ruthless refinement of what your main subjects of discussion are.
It’s important to understand and constantly benchmark whether your content is staying on track with user expectations. For example, if your podcast is primarily branded as a marketing advice podcast for entrepreneurs and you’re creating cooking videos, you’ll start to chip away at the cohesiveness of your brand.
It is key to understand what your audience likes and dislikes in terms of topics and execution. This can be done by gathering feedback from the people who are watching your videos, as well as looking at video analytics to understand what sort of patterns arise from minor tweaks to your videos.
You can also look at your audio podcast analytics to get a better idea of who the audience is and who the video should target. The next step is to create an event schedule to keep your audience interested.
There’s a lot to establish before the actual filming of a podcast. You must understand your audience and establish a general theme for your content. Also, make sure you have the means to produce content on a frequent basis.
Curious to see what’s next? Stay tuned for part two of How to Start a Video Podcast.
Do you think that Zype can help you start video podcasting? Request a demo today!
