WEBVTT 00:00:00.399 --> 00:00:03.359 Whether you're already publishing audio and video for your 00:00:03.359 --> 00:00:06.160 podcast or you're thinking about doing that, which 1 should 00:00:06.160 --> 00:00:08.160 actually be higher priority? 00:00:14.320 --> 00:00:17.175 Thank you for joining me for The Audacity to Podcast. 00:00:17.175 --> 00:00:18.454 I'm Daniel J. Lewis. 00:00:18.454 --> 00:00:21.894 In a world that can't correctly define a podcast anymore, there's 00:00:21.894 --> 00:00:26.295 a new obsession over and even a pressure to publish video. 00:00:26.454 --> 00:00:30.295 But if you are able to publish both audio and video, which 1 00:00:30.295 --> 00:00:33.159 should actually be your top priority? 00:00:33.320 --> 00:00:35.879 If you'd like to follow along in the notes for this episode, they 00:00:35.879 --> 00:00:39.879 are a simple tap or swipe away in the chapters or the notes, or 00:00:39.879 --> 00:00:44.199 go to the audacity to podcast.com/higherpriority. 00:00:44.585 --> 00:00:48.664 Number 1, prioritize audio in production. 00:00:48.905 --> 00:00:50.505 I've said it many times before. 00:00:50.505 --> 00:00:54.745 The most important part of video is actually audio. 00:00:54.745 --> 00:00:59.149 If people can't hear and understand you, it won't matter how 00:00:59.149 --> 00:01:00.829 amazing your video looks. 00:01:00.989 --> 00:01:04.829 No matter what your video setup is, make sure your audio is the 00:01:04.829 --> 00:01:06.109 best it can be. 00:01:06.189 --> 00:01:09.790 You might feel like it compromises the aesthetics of your video 00:01:09.790 --> 00:01:13.225 to have a visible microphone in your shot, but you essentially 00:01:13.225 --> 00:01:15.145 have only 3 choices. 00:01:15.385 --> 00:01:19.944 A, use a microphone that's too far away and thus sacrifice your 00:01:19.944 --> 00:01:20.905 audio quality. 00:01:20.984 --> 00:01:24.984 B, invest in a high quality mic solution that can capture audio 00:01:25.260 --> 00:01:30.859 outside the frame or barely visible within the frame, or c, allow 00:01:30.859 --> 00:01:35.340 a visible microphone in your shot so you can get the best audio 00:01:35.340 --> 00:01:38.620 possible. Option a is lazy and amateur. 00:01:38.885 --> 00:01:43.605 Option b is most likely expensive, but you probably already have 00:01:43.605 --> 00:01:45.364 the gear for option c. 00:01:45.924 --> 00:01:50.325 So it would be okay to have a microphone in your shot if it means 00:01:50.325 --> 00:01:52.484 getting much higher audio quality. 00:01:52.484 --> 00:01:56.819 After all, some people actually think it's only a podcast if they 00:01:56.819 --> 00:01:59.299 can see your microphone in the video. 00:01:59.459 --> 00:02:02.659 I talked about that more in episode 400, what's a podcast 00:02:02.659 --> 00:02:03.380 anymore. 00:02:03.380 --> 00:02:05.939 Go back and listen to that episode if you haven't heard it yet. 00:02:05.939 --> 00:02:08.099 I highly recommend it. Very important episode, I think. 00:02:08.504 --> 00:02:11.224 As long as the microphone isn't blocking your face, and it 00:02:11.224 --> 00:02:14.344 probably never needs to block your face for good audio anyway, 00:02:14.425 --> 00:02:18.185 your audience would probably much rather see that microphone in 00:02:18.185 --> 00:02:22.860 your shot and be able to hear you than see no microphone and not 00:02:22.860 --> 00:02:25.099 be able to hear or understand you. 00:02:25.340 --> 00:02:29.340 Number 2, prioritize listeners in your audience. 00:02:29.659 --> 00:02:34.775 When it comes to your audience, the audio experience is also more 00:02:34.775 --> 00:02:37.014 important than the video experience. 00:02:37.254 --> 00:02:41.334 Just looking at the whole audience experience overall, it goes 00:02:41.334 --> 00:02:45.254 beyond merely the technical production of audio versus video. 00:02:45.590 --> 00:02:49.750 It's in the content you share and how you present that content. 00:02:50.310 --> 00:02:55.509 I see and hear too many podcasters make this same mistake. 00:02:55.590 --> 00:03:00.754 That is that as soon as they can see each other or that they feel 00:03:00.754 --> 00:03:04.275 they are on camera, whether they are live streaming, they've got 00:03:04.275 --> 00:03:07.955 something prerecorded, or even if it's an audio podcast but 00:03:07.955 --> 00:03:11.235 recorded through a video platform like Squadcast or Rivercast, 00:03:11.650 --> 00:03:15.090 they will speak as though the audience can see what the 00:03:15.090 --> 00:03:18.050 podcasters see. That's not always the case. 00:03:18.370 --> 00:03:20.930 I would actually say it's usually not the case. 00:03:21.010 --> 00:03:24.610 Additionally, even a large percentage of video consuming 00:03:24.610 --> 00:03:30.224 audiences are only listening to the video, or they might be, 00:03:30.224 --> 00:03:33.824 quote, watching, unquote, with very little attention on the 00:03:33.824 --> 00:03:36.544 video, like through a smaller picture in picture on their 00:03:36.544 --> 00:03:37.824 computer or on their smartphone. 00:03:38.360 --> 00:03:41.240 I love how James Cridland, editor of Pod News, defines 00:03:41.240 --> 00:03:42.120 podcasting. 00:03:42.120 --> 00:03:46.599 He says, it's entertainment for your ears while your eyes are 00:03:46.599 --> 00:03:49.560 busy. You can apply that to podcasting like this. 00:03:49.800 --> 00:03:54.455 Can your audience still fully benefit from your podcast if their 00:03:54.455 --> 00:03:56.694 eyes were closed the whole time? 00:03:57.014 --> 00:04:01.335 That's how you can prioritize the listeners in your audience, 00:04:01.574 --> 00:04:06.135 making sure that they can hear the experience and they don't have 00:04:06.135 --> 00:04:10.860 to see it. Number 3, prioritize video for sharing. 00:04:10.860 --> 00:04:12.460 Here's where I flip things around. 00:04:12.540 --> 00:04:15.819 The best way to make it possible for your podcast to, quote, go 00:04:15.819 --> 00:04:20.780 viral, unquote, is for you to clip it into shareable snippets. 00:04:20.939 --> 00:04:24.585 And the best format for those snippets is video. 00:04:24.985 --> 00:04:28.425 I think this is actually unfortunate, but it's how the world has 00:04:28.425 --> 00:04:32.425 worked for years, and there seems to be no sign of it changing. 00:04:32.745 --> 00:04:37.064 Video snippets are more shareable and more consumable than audio 00:04:37.064 --> 00:04:39.849 snippets, let alone full audio episodes. 00:04:39.849 --> 00:04:43.930 And I'm talking about within the context of sharing things and 00:04:43.930 --> 00:04:46.490 the hopes of things going viral. 00:04:46.729 --> 00:04:50.569 Get into places like TikTok, Facebook Reels, videos on x, and 00:04:50.569 --> 00:04:54.805 even YouTube, and you'll see that short video snippets work best 00:04:54.805 --> 00:04:57.285 for quick consumption and sharing. 00:04:57.524 --> 00:05:00.404 And when I say to prioritize video for sharing, I don't mean just 00:05:00.404 --> 00:05:02.165 the video of your talking head. 00:05:02.245 --> 00:05:06.324 For social snippet based video, go ahead with square video or 00:05:06.324 --> 00:05:09.550 even, hope I don't throw up in my mouth when I say this. 00:05:10.110 --> 00:05:16.029 Maybe even vertical video because much of the consumption of this 00:05:16.029 --> 00:05:20.829 kind of real based video happens in vertical only platforms, 00:05:20.829 --> 00:05:21.229 unfortunately. 00:05:21.634 --> 00:05:25.235 So go ahead and make the vertical video in that case. 00:05:25.394 --> 00:05:28.274 But when you make these kinds of videos, also bake in the 00:05:28.274 --> 00:05:29.154 subtitles. 00:05:29.235 --> 00:05:32.914 Just please don't animate 1 word at a time, either bouncing the 00:05:32.914 --> 00:05:36.274 words or displaying only 1 word at a time because that makes it 00:05:36.274 --> 00:05:41.129 really difficult to consume, consume, to watch, to even get the 00:05:41.129 --> 00:05:44.970 gist of what the video is about from scrolling through different 00:05:44.970 --> 00:05:46.009 videos and such. 00:05:46.009 --> 00:05:49.529 So animate it a line at a time or a phrase at a time. 00:05:49.529 --> 00:05:50.649 Make it easier to consume. 00:05:51.034 --> 00:05:55.834 But also include screenshots, images, b roll video, and engaging 00:05:55.834 --> 00:05:56.555 cuts. 00:05:56.714 --> 00:06:00.314 And I know that can seem like a lot of daunting things to do for 00:06:00.314 --> 00:06:03.834 a 1 minute video, but there are great apps that can make this 00:06:03.834 --> 00:06:06.314 kind of social video editing much easier. 00:06:06.860 --> 00:06:09.420 My favorite is OpusClip. 00:06:09.420 --> 00:06:12.460 But you can also try the built in snippet features in Riverside 00:06:12.460 --> 00:06:14.060 and Squadcast or Descript. 00:06:14.060 --> 00:06:17.180 I have affiliate links for all of these things, but I recommend 00:06:17.180 --> 00:06:19.980 them because I truly believe in them, not just because I might 00:06:19.980 --> 00:06:21.020 earn commissions from them. 00:06:21.020 --> 00:06:23.145 And I earn commissions only through my links. 00:06:23.145 --> 00:06:24.985 I'm not currently sponsored by anyone. 00:06:25.064 --> 00:06:27.464 And if you want to try any of these, please use my affiliate 00:06:27.464 --> 00:06:30.185 links in the notes for this episode, or you can guess the 00:06:30.185 --> 00:06:32.185 affiliate links because my structure is pretty easy. 00:06:32.185 --> 00:06:36.069 It's the audacitytopodcast.com/opusclip or the 00:06:36.069 --> 00:06:38.870 audacitytopodcast.com/riverside or the 00:06:38.870 --> 00:06:41.509 audacitytopodcast.com/squadcast. 00:06:41.509 --> 00:06:44.069 See, not very hard to figure out, but the links are in the notes 00:06:44.069 --> 00:06:44.949 if you want them. 00:06:45.110 --> 00:06:49.269 My favorite is OpusClip because of how good its AI seems to be 00:06:49.269 --> 00:06:52.574 with automatically finding great clips and partially editing 00:06:52.574 --> 00:06:53.134 them. 00:06:53.134 --> 00:06:56.495 And they have some other nice features in there that the AI makes 00:06:56.495 --> 00:06:59.774 it a little bit easier to do some of these things, like the 00:06:59.774 --> 00:07:04.094 subtitle animations and even adding some b roll screenshots, 00:07:04.094 --> 00:07:06.949 footage, and such. OpusClip does that pretty well. 00:07:06.949 --> 00:07:09.750 It's not going to be perfect, but it is better and it's certainly 00:07:09.750 --> 00:07:12.230 much easier than manually editing it yourself. 00:07:12.310 --> 00:07:15.750 Whereas Riverside and Squadcast, I think, give you more control 00:07:15.910 --> 00:07:16.790 over these things. 00:07:16.790 --> 00:07:19.670 Although they also have some AI powered features as well. 00:07:20.044 --> 00:07:22.365 I think they're just a little bit more manual. 00:07:22.365 --> 00:07:26.365 But if you want more control, definitely use the tools inside of 00:07:26.365 --> 00:07:29.564 those platforms. Keep this in mind though. 00:07:29.564 --> 00:07:32.764 Social videos will not grow your podcast very much. 00:07:33.329 --> 00:07:36.850 That's been the unfortunate thing that many people have seen. 00:07:37.009 --> 00:07:39.170 And you just think about it yourself. 00:07:39.329 --> 00:07:43.569 How often do you see a short social video snippet, and then you 00:07:43.569 --> 00:07:46.850 go watch the full video or listen to the full audio? 00:07:46.930 --> 00:07:49.444 Probably never, I would guess. 00:07:49.524 --> 00:07:52.725 Or it might be very, very, very, very rarely. 00:07:52.805 --> 00:07:56.725 Unfortunately, that's the way it is, that it won't necessarily 00:07:56.725 --> 00:08:03.520 grow your podcast, but these kinds of things can grow your reach 00:08:03.600 --> 00:08:06.560 and your overall authority and influence. 00:08:06.560 --> 00:08:10.480 And I think that's far more valuable than growing only the size 00:08:10.480 --> 00:08:12.000 of your podcast audience. 00:08:12.240 --> 00:08:17.935 Would you rather have 100 podcast listeners plus a thousand video 00:08:17.935 --> 00:08:24.335 snippet viewers or only the 100 podcast listeners. Both both. 00:08:24.495 --> 00:08:29.215 Both. Both is good. Number 4, feeling overwhelmed? 00:08:29.569 --> 00:08:31.970 Then prioritize audio. Yes. 00:08:32.049 --> 00:08:36.049 You have the potential to get your content in front of a much 00:08:36.049 --> 00:08:40.769 bigger audience if you publish video in addition to your audio. 00:08:40.929 --> 00:08:44.690 If you can't do any of the special things in your video, then at 00:08:44.690 --> 00:08:48.924 least some video is better than no video, even if it's simply 00:08:48.924 --> 00:08:50.445 talking head video. 00:08:50.524 --> 00:08:55.325 But if you're not able or comfortable to do any video, then do 00:08:55.325 --> 00:08:56.845 not feel guilty. 00:08:57.230 --> 00:09:01.149 There are countless successful podcasts that are still only 00:09:01.149 --> 00:09:06.110 audio, and there will be plenty of other popular and even top 00:09:06.110 --> 00:09:11.384 ranking podcasts publishing only audio content. Just look at me. 00:09:12.184 --> 00:09:14.985 That's rather ironic to say here in an audio podcast, so I should 00:09:14.985 --> 00:09:18.745 say, just listen to me or look at what I do. 00:09:18.745 --> 00:09:22.665 I'm a full time dad running my own business, hosting a podcast, 00:09:22.825 --> 00:09:24.424 and homeschooling my son. 00:09:24.889 --> 00:09:29.129 Although I actually have been recording video of all my recent 00:09:29.129 --> 00:09:32.730 episodes, I've not done anything yet with those videos because, 00:09:32.970 --> 00:09:36.649 frankly, that overwhelms me right now, and I can't afford to 00:09:36.649 --> 00:09:40.955 delegate the editing to someone else or something else, at least 00:09:40.955 --> 00:09:41.754 not yet. 00:09:41.754 --> 00:09:45.754 And so I focus on what I can do best right now, and that's the 00:09:45.754 --> 00:09:46.315 audio. 00:09:46.475 --> 00:09:50.715 But I will continue recording videos of my episodes just in case 00:09:50.715 --> 00:09:54.875 I can ever get around to publishing them or using snippets from 00:09:54.875 --> 00:09:58.190 them. I do not have to publish video. 00:09:58.190 --> 00:10:03.070 I want you to say that with me. I do not have to publish video. 00:10:03.230 --> 00:10:06.269 Now emphasize it however you want to. 00:10:06.350 --> 00:10:11.695 I do not have to publish video. I do not have to video. 00:10:12.014 --> 00:10:14.495 I do not have to publish publish video. 00:10:14.815 --> 00:10:17.855 If this has resonated with you, then please share this episode 00:10:17.855 --> 00:10:21.134 out with other podcasters that you think would benefit from this. 00:10:21.134 --> 00:10:24.095 You can share the link from your podcast app or go to the 00:10:24.095 --> 00:10:27.889 audacity to podcast.com/higherpriority. 00:10:27.970 --> 00:10:31.169 Special thanks to Bryan Entzminger from Top Tier Audio who gave 00:10:31.169 --> 00:10:35.649 501 Satoshis streaming through a modern podcasting 2 app. 00:10:35.649 --> 00:10:38.690 And special thanks to Adam Curry and Dave Jones who had me on 00:10:38.690 --> 00:10:44.384 episode 237 of podcasting 2, their show about Podcasting 2. 00:10:44.384 --> 00:10:47.184 And we were talking about podcast chapters and pod chapters. 00:10:47.184 --> 00:10:50.304 And by the way, speaking of pod chapters, if you've checked it 00:10:50.304 --> 00:10:53.345 out and thought, oh, I'd love to try it, but I don't wanna pay 00:10:53.345 --> 00:10:57.740 upfront just because I wanna see first before I really commit to 00:10:57.740 --> 00:10:57.980 it. 00:10:57.980 --> 00:11:02.700 Well, you're in luck because now PodChapters has a free trial. 00:11:02.779 --> 00:11:05.740 So you can try it for a week, which should be enough time for you 00:11:05.740 --> 00:11:09.254 to try either your latest episode on PodChapters or try your next 00:11:09.254 --> 00:11:12.454 episode on Pod chapters and see how it works for you. 00:11:12.534 --> 00:11:14.054 You can generate your transcript. 00:11:14.054 --> 00:11:17.095 You can have it suggest the chapters using AI for you, and it 00:11:17.095 --> 00:11:18.855 does a really good job. 00:11:19.014 --> 00:11:23.174 Or you can even give it your outline, and it will find where 00:11:23.174 --> 00:11:24.375 those chapters need to go. 00:11:24.509 --> 00:11:28.990 Go over to podchapters.com to sign up for a free trial, and I'd 00:11:28.990 --> 00:11:30.350 love to have you using it. 00:11:30.350 --> 00:11:33.149 And let me know what kind of results you get, especially if you 00:11:33.149 --> 00:11:36.509 play with and keep in mind that it costs extra if you do this, 00:11:36.509 --> 00:11:40.464 but playing with the good, better, best models that are in there. 00:11:40.464 --> 00:11:43.264 I think the good model or even right now, there's an experimental 00:11:43.264 --> 00:11:44.945 model that does a really good job. 00:11:44.945 --> 00:11:47.825 I think those do really well, but you can try some of the others 00:11:47.825 --> 00:11:51.105 if you have some extra credits to burn and let me know what you 00:11:51.105 --> 00:11:52.144 think of the results. 00:11:52.679 --> 00:11:56.600 Also, special thanks to Dan LeFebvre from Based on a True Story 00:11:56.600 --> 00:12:01.639 who sent me a long but very thoughtful message in response to my 00:12:01.639 --> 00:12:04.840 previous episode, number 4 0 9, which was should you share your 00:12:04.840 --> 00:12:07.159 faith, politics, and morals in your podcast. 00:12:07.524 --> 00:12:11.845 I'm saving that message and potentially others for an upcoming 00:12:11.845 --> 00:12:16.245 episode to share and respond to feedback about the serious and, 00:12:16.245 --> 00:12:19.445 quote, controversial, unquote, issues that I've been addressing 00:12:19.445 --> 00:12:21.039 lately. There's still time. 00:12:21.039 --> 00:12:24.159 If you have some thoughts on those things I've shared recently, 00:12:24.240 --> 00:12:25.839 I'd love to hear your thoughts. 00:12:25.919 --> 00:12:29.679 You can send those written or recorded through podcast feedback 00:12:29.679 --> 00:12:31.759 dot com slash audacity. 00:12:31.759 --> 00:12:35.105 And that's powered by Podgagement, which I have not abandoned. 00:12:35.105 --> 00:12:38.065 I've actually recently launched a new feature on Podgagement that 00:12:38.065 --> 00:12:41.825 lets you compare your historical podcast rankings to other 00:12:41.825 --> 00:12:42.544 podcasts. 00:12:42.625 --> 00:12:45.665 That could be your own podcast or even your competition. 00:12:45.745 --> 00:12:47.504 That's over at podgagement.com. 00:12:47.504 --> 00:12:51.080 And now that I've given you some of the guts, especially if 00:12:51.080 --> 00:12:54.679 you've been feeling stressed about doing the video and feel like 00:12:54.679 --> 00:12:58.039 you can have the guts to do just the audio, and I've taught you 00:12:58.039 --> 00:13:01.480 some of the tools, it's time for you to go start and grow your 00:13:01.480 --> 00:13:04.804 own podcast for passion and profit. I'm Daniel J. 00:13:04.804 --> 00:13:08.485 Lewis from The Audacity to Podcast dot com. Thanks for listening.