When I first started the K-Stream podcast, I found myself Google searching “how long should my podcast be?” I found out that there are a lot of factors that go into that decision, but according to a recent article from Rephonic, podcast episodes are getting shorter.
“We then looked at every episode released by podcasts with more than 10,000 listeners per episode and found that the average episode length is 37 minutes,” says Rephonic.
The article goes on to say “The average episode release frequency of top-performing shows is 5.3 days, but this figure varies from category to category.”
This, of course, may not the right balance for everyone. And the key point there is each podcast category is going to be different when it comes to length and frequency.
It also depends on your niche, your audience, or even the platform.
Christoph Trappe, content marketer, author and host of The Business Storytelling Show, which has more than 500 episodes, publishes his podcast to the DB&A television network. TV is very strict with timing, which means he also needs to be strict when timing his show.
Mine are now 26 minutes because of the TV slot they go into and I release one every 3 to 7 days. https://t.co/JOYtytcRBI
If you’re publishing a news or sports podcast, you’ll likely have shorter episodes and launch them more frequently, simply because of the nature of those two categories.
On the other hand, categories like history, science and crime likely take a lot more prep time due to research and interviews that might be needed. That means longer episodes and launching at less frequency. These series also do well in a “season” format, where multiple episodes are launched in batches.
Resources also come into play. Joe Rogan regularly cranks out 2-3 hour episodes several times a week. Big team, big budget.
I’m a big fan of Joe Pulizzi’s weekly Content Inc. podcast with most episodes going less than 10 minutes. Likely a much smaller team than the other Joe. Different niche, different audience, likely a different budget.
I personally enjoy the shorter episodes, especially because I don’t have a long commute to work anymore. I like listening on my runs, walks, or short car rides whenever I do drive somewhere.
For what it’s worth, and I really don’t know why, but if I see something around 30 minutes or less, I’m in.
Think of audio as more than just podcasting. There are many ways to add audio to your content marketing strategy. And it likely involves repurposing some work you’re already doing.
This article spurred from my recent conversation with Brian Landau, CEO and co-founder of Vennly, an enterprise audio distribution platform.
When I used to think about audio, I only thought podcasting. But Brian opened my eyes to much more. Sure, podcasting can be effective. First, it’s a growing medium. Edison Research and Triton Digital report monthly podcast listeners have grown 61.5% in just three years.
Second, it’s an intimate medium, meaning you have a listener’s undivided attention for long periods of time.
But there’s so much more than that. Audiograms, for example, have become popular on social media. Twitter and LinkedIn are now offering their own in-platform audio products. Many blogs and websites allow for embedded audio clips.
Consider this if you’re a writer. You’re likely doing a lot of interviews these days via Zoom. I know, personally, when I interview someone for a quote, that interview can last anywhere from 15-30 minutes. Of that, I pull two or three quotes for my written story. But what about the unused audio? Here are a couple scenarios:
Recording a Zoom conversation for your blog
Export the Zoom audio and post as a podcast
Create audiograms to help promote the written story on social media
Embed an audio clip in your written story where the subject is raw and emotional on a certain topic
Hosting a Twitter Spaces event
Record that audio and distribute via podcast networks
Write a recap of the event for your blog
Send an email newsletter with a link to the blog and podcast
At the enterprise level, collaboration and CRM tools such as Slack, Medium and HubSpot have developed their own bespoke audio products as well, further facilitating adoption of audio.
There are many options when it comes to incorporating audio in 2022. I’m encouraging you as a content creator or marketer to take advantage.
If you’re in the social media marketing space, you likely know the importance of adding subtitle overlays to your video content. It’s rare that social users stop and tap on a video to hear the sound, so having subtitles is key to getting the message across.
As I began building the social media channels for the K-Stream Podcast, I was searching for ways to do this without spending a ton of time on it. I wanted to share clips from my episodes, but of course considering the majority of the audience listening with the volume off. Then, I stumbled upon Kapwing.
This a great little browser-based platform for designers, offering tools for creating graphics, animations, editing video, creating memes, subtitling and more. Absolutely recommend if you’re a content creator on a budget. It’s amazing what you can do with the free version of the program.
In the video below, I go through a brief walkthrough of how you can add subtitles to video clips using the free version of Kapwing. Note that there are file size limits on the free version, but if you’re creating videos for social channels like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, your videos are likely on the shorter side anyways.
Let me know what other free tools you’re enjoying these days!
I’ll admit, I haven’t been putting a ton of time into the show notes of my podcasts. I know I should give them more attention, but sometimes I’m so eager to get the next episode up, I scrap something together and click “publish.”
My recent conversation with Jaclyn Schiff, CEO of PodReacher, a company that helps turn your podcast episodes into blog posts, taught me a ton about show notes. In addition to how to better market your podcast, we talked about what should go in show notes, whether or not they attract a new audience, and the difference between show notes and a blog post for your episode.
One piece of the interview that stood out to me was whether or not show notes help with your podcast SEO. Will show notes help new audiences discover my podcast through a web search?
“I think of show notes as a resource for your current listeners,” says Schiff. “I don’t think [show notes] are an entry point for people to learn about your podcast.”
There just isn’t enough meaningful text within show notes to have them rank in a web search, she says.
This isn’t to say show notes should be neglected. They’re a great way to entice listeners to download or stream your content, especially your current audience and those searching around within a particular podcast app like Apple or Spotify.
Getting your podcast some visibility within those various apps or platforms is an emerging topic and one that Schiff says she’s paying very close attention to.
If someone is searching around within one of those apps, their search terms could be somewhere in your show notes, therefore potentially bringing in another listener.
Another piece to consider including in the notes are time stamps. According to Schiff, people use them as kind of a table of contents, especially if episodes are on the longer side and not as produced or edited.
I know, personally, I love this feature on YouTube videos and hadn’t even considered it for podcasts. But it makes sense.
In my case, I stream all of my podcasts to YouTube, so I could potentially be getting a nice two for one deal there. If I’m putting effort into my podcast’s show notes and including time stamps, that content is 100% relevant on YouTube as well – maybe with some minor tweaking.
Since your show notes, at least at the moment, may not create a ton of discoverability for your podcast, it’s essential that you’re marketing it elsewhere if you want more ears.
“If you want to focus on that, the better bet is to be turning episodes into blog content,” says Schiff. “Then people will find you through Google search.”
Don’t think you have time to create articles and blog content? I get it. It takes a lot of time. And not all podcasters are writers. Engaging people with the written word is not an easy skill. But podcasts that do well do a lot of repurposing, whether it’s posting video clips from their episodes on social media or streaming them on various channels, or creating blogs.
Just like there are companies out there that help you edit video or produce a podcast, there are companies that will help you write blog posts from your episodes as well. For example, Schiff’s company PodReacher.
“We optimize audio content for text…a question we get a lot is ‘is this transcription?’ It’s not,” says Schiff. “The process is to really organize and structure it with that audience in mind. What is the useful information from this episode that a person’s going to read?”
They provide someone who has an open mind and the brain space to think what is the show about and how can they entice people to want to listen?
Check out the full episode with Jaclyn to learn more about PodReacher, as well as what constitutes a good episode blog, good show notes, and what’s next for podcasting.
Over the last few weeks, I have been glued to equipment reviews on Amazon Live. I’ll be browsing for a new webcam or some new form of lighting for my live streams, and what do you know, right there on the product page is someone sitting at their decked out streaming set-up, telling me all about the cool products they own. I’m hooked.
Then I discover that some of these people have regular showtimes where they come on once a week and give more reviews about gadgets that I love.
Now I see why my wife enjoys watching other women try on clothes, or why people watch others try out make-up. Or even why people watch live videos of a Robot vacuum cleaner roaming through someone’s house. Yes, those attract viewers too. Lots of them. More on that later. But I get it!
Then I started thinking about how businesses can begin to work this into their own marketing strategies. There are so many ways into Amazon Live if you think about it.
If you have a product to sell, that fits easily. Live demos of a product, behind the scenes of how something is built, how to use a product – all of that is a natural fit.
But what if you don’t have a product? It can be more of a stretch, but it can still make sense.
Christoph Trappe, content strategist for Voxpopme and host of the Business Storytelling Podcast, used to only go live on Amazon if his podcast guests had written a book he could link to. However, he quickly switched that strategy and now goes live on Amazon with all guests, regardless if they have something to sell.
“We’re still going to stream it there because people will watch it, and if somebody wants to buy a chair or a mic because they see it, go for it,” he says.
What Christoph is doing there is thinking outside of the box in terms of how to connect his work to Amazon. No, his guest doesn’t have a book, but Christoph uses all kinds of cool equipment to produce that podcast. There’s the connection. There is an audience that wants to see him producing his podcast in real-time and see some of that equipment in action.
He mentioned during our latest conversation that people have in fact bought the mic he uses, as well as the gaming chair he sits in.
By the way, I mentioned vacuum cams earlier. Well, that was Christoph. His most popular live stream of his Robot vacuum cleaning his house was 7,000 views!
“Sometimes those behind-the-scenes videos get way more views than things that ‘take time,’” he says, referencing things like fully produced podcast shows.
In addition, those particular streams resulted in five vacuum sales, making Christoph a little extra money in the process. Don’t forget, if you stream on Amazon, you get a small cut if someone buys the products you talk about using the links you provide.
Of course, he’s also creating more awareness of his larger work like his books, podcasts, etc. in doing so.
So maybe you don’t have a product of your own to sell, but think about all the things you use to make your business work, the things that make you productive, etc. Do you have an office treadmill you make time for every day? Do you have cool lighting in your home office?
Live shopping is emerging as a huge trend in 2021, and there’s been evidence of big brands getting in on the action already.
According to a recent article in Fortune magazine, “Livestream shopping…is a natural outgrowth of the original TV-centered model and has been gradually gaining traction in recent years. But now, responding to shopping restrictions imposed by the pandemic, retailers and brands worldwide are racing to add live, interactive video experiences into their marketing mix.”
Walmart is one of those big brands. The famous retailer has partnered with TikTok to sell its products via livestreams.
China has been in on this craze for a few years now, and in 2020, livestream shopping was projected to generate roughly $136 billion in revenue for the country.
In my recent conversation with Restream’s virtual events manager Grace Duffy, she talked about live shopping and what we can expect as far as this up and coming trend in 2021.
“The phenomenon of shopping within the platform, without leaving it, is a big thing coming,” she says.
Grace Duffy talks live shopping as a trend for 2021.
I think it’s something worth trying if you can get approved for it. Not just anyone can stream on the platform. Including me! There are several different criteria you can meet. If you’re an authorized seller, vendor or part of the Amazon Influencer Program, you can apply. Unfortunately, I’m none of those things…yet. Working on it.
With Amazon’s incredibly large and diverse audience, I think it has to be a consideration for retailers and brands this year.
Despite a lot of the workforce working remotely at the moment and no longer commuting, podcasts have never been bigger.
According to a recent study from Edison Research and Triton Digital, 75% of Americans are now familiar with podcasting. That’s 212 million people and an increase of 10 million in just one year.
If you think you have something to say and you want to turn it into a podcast, there’s no better time to get started. Plus, the barrier to entry is low.
With tools like Anchor and an iPhone, you’re pretty much all set.
In a recent interview with fitness coach Jordan Syatt, he talked about using an iPhone to record all of his podcasts when he was first getting started.
“If you go back and listen to my first 50 podcasts, you’re going to notice a dramatic difference in the sound quality, and that’s because I was literally just recording them on my phone. My podcast still did very well with those episodes,” says Jordan.
“Regardless of how good the sound quality is…what matters most is what you’re saying, the message you’re getting across.”
With that being said, I’m guessing if you’re reading this, you have some sort of smart phone. And you also have access to free apps like Anchor. That’s really all you need to get started with a podcast.
Now, I also understand how awesome it is buying new gear. Even if you want a high-quality mic, it likely won’t break the bank.
Below are a couple mics that myself and a former colleague, Wallen Augustin, co-host of the Savvy Dialogue podcast, chatted about in a previous episode of K-Stream.
Wallen and his wife have two of the Rode PodMics, as well as the Rodecaster Pro, and their show sounds like it’s done in a professional studio, when it’s really done from the comfort of their own apartment.
They also use Anchor, which allows them to bring in guests, edit the audio, insert sound effects or music, and publish across platforms all from within the app.
This is just the infancy for podcasting, and I can’t wait to see what 2021 brings.
I had the pleasure of having Christoph join me for my latest podcast. We talked about how to get the most out of your content, how to decide what and where to post, how to determine the best content strategy for your business, why live stream and much more.
In the clip below, Christoph talks about some of the first things he talks to clients about when it comes to developing a content marketing strategy, as well as some red flags to look out for that might signal a client you should stay away from.
My latest podcast features strength and conditioning coach Jordan Syatt. I’ve been following Jordan’s work for quite some time on social media, and one thing I’ve always loved about Jordan is his authenticity. It’s no BS with Jordan. He’s real with his audience. He’s real with his clients, and I very much appreciate that, along with so many others.
Not only is Jordan a great fitness coach, he’s an excellent content creator and marketer for his own personal brand and business. He’s built a following of more than 728,000 people on Instagram and more than 148,000 subscribers on YouTube. He puts a lot of work into his content, and I think you’ll appreciate what he has to say around how his content has evolved over time, his thought process behind what to post next, as well as his inspiration along the way including folks like Gary Vaynerchuk, who Jordan worked as a personal trainer for for three years.
Love what he says in the clip below about why he’ll always handle his own posting, no matter how big the audience. No one can replicate his voice and feelings. Individuals relate more to that.
If you want to follow Jordan’s work, check him out on social media @Syattfitness, and his website is syattfitness.com. Enjoy!
