It’s a big day here at Casted. One we’re very excited about. Today is the day that we announce that Video Podcasting is making its way into the Casted platform!
So... aside from announcing this exciting endeavor, we wanted to dig in a little deeper on what we’re releasing, why we’re releasing it, how it works, and what value it will bring to our Casted users.
Check out a sneak peek below!
So what are some of the big takeaways we want you to know ahead of this major feature release? Read on to find out.
What is a Video Podcast?
Video podcasting in Casted will be the ability to add, manage, and activate podcast videos in the same way you do your podcast.
Since the pandemic happened, we’ve seen more and more people shift to video interviews, video podcasts through Zoom and other tools, so this will be a seamless transition for so many brands that are already podcasting to now use video as a way to create a multimedia experience.
Why Did We Add Video Podcasting into the Platform?
So for starters, tons of brands are already recording their podcasts as videos. Some brands are uploading those videos on YouTube, cutting them up, creating clips, mini videos...you get the picture. But there are lots of brands who aren’t doing anything with them. Maybe they don’t have the time, or maybe something else. But there’s a ton of value getting left on the proverbial cutting room floor when you don’t take advantage of that video.
Merging Workflows
Whenever we’re developing a new aspect of Casted, we spend a lot of time talking to our customers and prospects about the feature. And one of the things we were seeing was that a lot of people record the videos but they don’t have the time or tools to create bite-size video clips or effectively wring that content out. It’s very similar to the problem people face with podcasting.
It’s a separate workflow and a big ask of a team to create video clips. So we wanted to make that easier, a more cohesive experience. Because if you’re hoping to create a video podcast and use that in your marketing, it’s a ton of work, and almost maddening, to make the exact same edits and clipping and production on your video that you already have to do on your podcast. So why not do it for both at once?
Driving Connection
Additionally, something we’ve also talked a lot about is the intimacy of podcasts. Well that’s still very true with podcasting, but it’s also true for videos. Videos were kind of the gateway drug into that intimacy. Once videos started blowing up… you couldn’t JUST do written content anymore.
It’s all multimedia. But there's a reason behind that. We want to interact with humans, and videos are a great way to see people and pick up on nuances and personalities. And while sometimes audio is better without video… because you want to be cutting the grass or washing the dishes, or driving your car, there are also times where audio is better with video.
The point overall here, is that this is still a medium to drive connection. We’re not telling you to ditch your podcasting strategy and go all in on video. We’re telling you that you can use video as part of your podcasting strategy to further connect with your audience by putting faces with voices and adding context into videos. You should be able to do that. And it shouldn’t be a nightmare experience for you and your team.
And we truly believe that more holistic multimedia marketing strategies serve our audience and us better. Because at the end of the day, if you’re creating connections by adding value to your audience through amazing, fun interviews, that will build the trust you need to drive conversion later on.
How is Casted Making Video Podcasting Easier and More Accessible for Brands?
Well… anything you can currently do with podcasts in Casted… you will now be able to do with video podcasts. So if you upload a video podcast to Casted, you have the same ability to access, amplify, and attribute that content.
This includes:
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- Updated landing pages with video players
- Updated Embed players for video
- Videograms
- Adding/managing video
- Easily upload from Google Drive/Zoom
- Video Analytics
Checkout all you can do with podcasts in the platform already here.
Using Video Podcasting in Your Strategy
Just like podcasting, there’s a ton of different use cases that would work for this scenario, but let’s keep it simple and talk about a few.
Brands with Existing Video Podcasts
First up are brands that already have a video podcast (or who record a video podcast and only use the audio). In this case, all that has to happen is to start uploading those videos into the Casted platform. Then you can slice and dice your video podcast the same way you do your audio podcast to amplify into content, social media, marketing emails, sales cadences, the list goes on.
Brands with Video Series
Next are brands who are recording interview-style video series (or even narrative series), webinars, panel interviews, etc. These brands can actually CREATE a podcast from this content. We’re working with a few customers right now to do this. As a lot of video content has moved to be more conversational in nature, it’s a natural progression to pull that audio into the podcast medium. They’re likely already marketing that content well, but now they also have the option to offer that content to people on the go who don’t want to necessarily watch a video. And there’s the ability to syndicate it to podcast apps and get in front of a new audience through those channels.
Internal Education
There are a ton of great use cases to utilize this internally. To take video content and transform it into digestible content for employees to listen to, interact with, etc. There are tons of companies who use webinars and video series to educate their employees for sales enablement, product marketing, HR initiatives. The list goes on. This is a great opportunity to turn those videos into podcasts that your employees can listen to instead of watching someone talk at them on a screen.
Exclusive Content
Assets like webinars tend to be great lead generation tools for brands. But they can also be a great value add to the subscribers you already have. The same can be said about podcasting. Releasing private episodes is a great way to create exclusive content just for your subscriber base. For instance, we release special bonus episodes of The Casted Podcast that we only send out to our subscribers.
You can do the same with video series, webinar content, etc. This gives you the ability to provide those subscribers a multimedia option for how they can digest this content. It also gives you the opportunity to create teasers of that content to entice your audience to convert to subscribers!
Of course, not every webinar or video makes sense as a podcast. As we said before, sometimes video is better with audio and sometimes it’s not. But, those are just a few scenarios that can help you envision how you can use Casted for both!
The Value of Video Podcasting
So we’ve talked about the what, why, how. Let’s get really deliberate and actually spell out the value of this product for marketers.
Process (and Tool) Consolidation
We are very aware of all the work that marketers are doing. And as more channels and mediums emerge, marketing teams aren’t expanding to handle that new work. Instead, they are learning and teaching themselves, all while trying to become as efficient as possible so they can continue doing all the other things they need to do.
So at Casted, we wanted to help make the process of podcasting (and now video podcasting) easier and more accessible.
As we talked about earlier, this is typically two different workflows, so streamlining and merging two processes into one is a huge value. Even if you produce your own video and rip the audio, if you want to create audio clips vs video clips, you need different tools and potentially different skill sets. With Casted, you now can upload a video, create video clips, audio clips, and pull a transcript to amplify your podcast across your marketing and sales initiatives.
Owning Your Audience
We talk a ton about the value of hosting your podcast on your own website - it gives you immediate access to your audience and their behavior. And that’s no different when you add video podcasting into the mix.
Hosting that video podcast on your own site and through Casted combines your metrics, gives you access to new metrics, and gives you a better understanding of how people are interacting with your podcast content - video or audio!
Access to a Multimedia Experience
Even in a world where we are Zoom-fatigued, we still find value in seeing people’s faces in videos. There are moments when all we want is audio, because we want to get up and do something else, but sometimes engaging with a video is far more meaningful in the moment. And being able to intermix those mediums together into one strategy that’s focused on driving connection is such a powerful tool for marketers.
This addition also unlocks podcasting for a lot of people who think they don’t have the time or resources to podcast. A lot of those people are already creating video series or webinars. And the more we move towards a conversational formatted webinar, the more it makes sense to turn that content into podcasts to help those brands tap into a new audience.
Stay tuned for more information regarding our video podcasting future in the coming weeks! Too excited to wait? Let's chat now!
