Podcasters love an audience. Because of this, it can be very tempting to “play in traffic” on YouTube. In other words, snatch some of the crumbs available from being on the world’s second-most-popular site.
But videos on YouTube, or any video-streaming service, are not the same as “podcasting,” at least not the same as audio podcasting. Each has its own strengths and weaknesses to consider and, because of this, should be treated differently.
That’s the entire message of this post – fewer than 100 words (so far), but it needs to be said, because so many podcasters are missing this.
You are either making an audio podcast or a YouTube video – you are not making both. At least not at the same time.
A Problem for Podcasters Who Record Over Zoom
Zoom, the popular video teleconferencing software, is great for many things. I use it for my podcast coaching group and God knows the COVID lockdown of 2020 would have been much more difficult without it.
But it’s not a great way to record audio podcasts. Yeah, it’s accessible to people and you don’t have to explain how to use it as often as you would something made for audio, like Cleanfeed, which can be a plus for guests who aren’t technically savvy or when you feel like you have no other options. But you need to keep in mind that adding video to an audio-only creation is an easy way to mess it up at a very foundational level.
It’s not Zoom’s fault – the same thing happens with face-to-face, in-person interviewing. But because so many people are using to doing “Zoom calls” these days and don’t consider them to be something that will be heard beyond people who are on the session, you’re much more likely to hear comments like:
“See this? That’s exactly what I’m talking about.”
“As you can see, my new book has a ton of pages, so it’s going to take a while for you to read.”
“You can tell by looking at my office that I’m a very organized person.”
Each of these comments leaves audio-only listeners out of the full experience and it’s exactly why I recommend, if you’re creating something that will be consumed only via audio, you record it without using video.
The opposite is also true. If you have an audio-only creation, why bother with posting it on a video service?
If you want to take advantage of the full audience of YouTube and how that audience consumes content that, you will be far better off creating something that uses video as well as audio. And if the only video you do have is a “talking head” that adds nothing to the audio you’re creating, that doesn’t count.