If you have a podcast, then I think that repurposing your podcast into video format is a really good idea. In this blog post and podcast episode, I share a few reasons why I believe video is a medium no one should ignore, then I share 5 ways to repurpose your podcast.
The first reason is quite simple. Search engines.
There are so many benefits to having a podcast but one area where you can lose out is being found by the search engines. But…if you repurpose your podcast episodes into video format, and put your video onto YouTube you are onto a winner. YouTube is the second largest search engine in the world, second only to Google.
Then there is an added bonus that Google own YouTube! This means that YouTube videos often appear within the organic search results of Google itself.
The second reason why is I think repurposing your podcast into video format is a great idea is social media.
Social video content has exploded in the past few years. Over 8 billion videos or 100 million hours of videos are watched on Facebook every day (TechCrunch, 2016)
Facebook love video content and people who are posting (quality) videos get some Facebook lovin’ (by way of enhanced organic reach). It’s not just the organic reach, but also the engagement. Video content gets more likes, shares, and comments.
If you need some convincing as to the benefits of video content then here are a whole load of statistics that will blow your mind!
As well as putting your video onto YouTube and social media, don’t forget your website as well. Adding video content onto your website creates a multimedia experience for your visitors – they can consume the content on your website in the way that best suits them.
According to Cisco online videos will account for more than 80% of all consumer internet traffic by 2020. It’s important to get in on the action. But, since at Content 10x we’re all about repurposing your content, I think if you have a podcast then don’t reinvent the wheel when it comes to creating videos. Instead, repurpose your podcast into video content.
Here are 5 ways to repurpose your podcast into video:
#1: Video yourself whilst recording your podcast episode
This is a great idea because it puts you on camera and therefore it’s engaging for your audience. It gives them the opportunity to get to know you and you get some brownie points when it comes to enhancing your ‘know, like and trust’ credibility.
You don't need fancy equipment to do this. You can just use the camera on your smart phone. For me, my iPhone camera is way better than any camera I've ever bought and it's brilliant for video recording.
You need to think about creating a space, but again, it doesn't need to be anything fancy. It just needs to be somewhere that your feel comfortable putting on camera, and you will need to consider the sound (as you would for any podcast episode)
You may have seen Gary Vaynerchuk doing this for his Ask GaryVee show, he records his podcast episodes and video as one.
A benefit of this is that it creates a one-take situation. If you're video recording and you're podcast recording at the same time then you’re more likely to go with the flow right through to the end.
I recognise that this option is not for everyone. Not everyone wants to put themselves on camera, but if you're comfortable doing it then it is a really great way of having both video and podcast from one piece of content/recording.
#2 Video record your guest interview
This option is for those of you who invite guests onto your show for interviews. If the interviews are conducted remotely via a call (e.g. Skype, Zoom) – then don’t just record the audio but record the screen / video as well.
That way you will be left with an audio recording for your podcast. Plus, a video recording that you can post to YouTube, your website, social media.
If you conduct your podcast interviews over Skype then there are a couple of ways that you can do this. If you have a Mac then you can download a recording tool that will record the audio and video of your Skype call. I use eCamm. There are other similar tools out there.
If you have a Microsoft PC, you can use Skype with Pamela to record calls.
If you use Zoom instead of Skype then Zoom will also allow you to record your screen as well as the audio. There are other call recording software options as well as Skype and Zoom.
Quite often you can play around with how the video will look, for example, split screen options. This can look really good.
This will bring your video to life for your audience, and for those people who don’t listen to podcasts, it gives them a chance to see your podcast interview.
If you have a popular guest and you put this video onto YouTube and social media there is a high chance that it will get found by more people…which is what we all want, isn’t it?
#3 Present whilst recording your screen and using your webcam
An option that puts you on video but not quite the same focus / centre of attention, is to present to your screen whilst using your webcam.
This will put your webcam recording i.e. you in front of your webcam, into a small section of the screen. People will see you and they will see you talking, but they will also see your screen.
On your screen you could have slides, images…anything that is appropriate. If you create slides or images then think about repurposing them…they could be shared as social media images for example.
I created a little video just to show you...
This can be really engaging. You are on camera so people are getting to know you but you’re not the focal point and you can create engaging content to capture the attention of video viewers.
If you do this, one thing that you must be careful of is leaving out your podcast audience. You must remember that you are creating a podcast episode and your podcast listeners are not looking at you screen – so don’t refer to it in such a way that it’s annoying/neglects your podcast listeners.
In terms of how you do this, there are various screen recording software options out there. Probably the most popular are Camtasia for Microsoft PC and Screenflow or Screencastomatic for Mac.
The next two ways that you can create video from a podcast are where you come off the camera. In other words, you don't not need to be on camera and you can still repurpose your podcast into a video.
#4: Create a video from your audio file and add images
Take the audio from your podcast, create images and then pair the audio and images together to create a video.
You can do this for the whole podcast episode. You could create one static image (this could be your podcast artwork) or you could create many images where the image changes as the context of the podcast changes.
You can create this kind of video by using video editing software. At Content 10x we use iMovie on Mac.
You could create a video for your full podcast episode. Or, something that we do at Content 10x for ourselves and our clients, is we can create a really slim-downed, short video which we call a trailer. This is good for YouTube and social media. Typically, we produce trailers that are around 2.5 to 4 minutes long.
#5: Upload your podcast episode onto YouTube or Facebook
Lastly, number five is to take the whole audio file from your podcast episode and put that onto YouTube or Facebook (or elsewhere).
Some podcast audio hosts, for example Libsyn, allow you to set this up automatically. How it works is that every time you release your podcast, in the same way that they might release it to a podcast player on your website or to iTunes, it automatically gets published on YouTube for you. The audio file would be published along with artwork if you have any.
There are ways that you can do this, for example a site called repurpose.io do something similar whereby they will automatically post your podcast audio to YouTube, Facebook and other places as you wish.
I have mixed feelings about this one because I question whether people really want long videos (e.g. 1-hour podcast episodes) that are really just audio with an image, particularly on YouTube. But, then again, not everyone has time or budget to create videos and this at the very least gets your podcast onto a different platform. It might not be my first choice for repurposing a podcast, but it is definitely an option and better than no action at all.
Okay, so they are my five ways that you can repurpose your podcast into a video.
You don’t have to stop at just repurposing your podcast into a video. There are lots of other ways you can repurpose and maximize your podcast content. The Content 10x Toolkit provides you with step-by-step guides of how to write show notes for your video, create teasers, trailers, audiograms and more With templates, tools, videos and swipe files, you can implement all my repurposing tips to start multiplying your content and getting maximum results. It makes repurposing your video and podcast content REALLY easy and is available to buy now!
I hope you have fun putting these ideas into practice. I’d love to hear your thoughts on this. Is this something that you already do? Are you going to give it a try? Please leave your comments below and thanks for reading!