Audience

In the last episode we talked about Tom Webster's approach to using YouTube for growing your podcast.

A quick recap of that is:

After shipping that episode, I felt like, while it was great I said we should be considering video -- I didn't really get into how you could that for your show. More specifically, if you're already neck deep in producing your weekly audio show, how the heck are you going to find time to do video.

I think for a lot of us, and I'm guilty for encouraging this, the "just ship it" method is great. Grab your phone, grab your earbuds, start recording and get your content out there. Once you can start to measure your shows success, that's when many us start investing in better audio tools. Wether that's an upgrade to your microphone or spending $300+ on Hindenburg or a Descript subscription. Both tools, by the way, I cover on our YouTube channel, youtube.com/castos

Where am I going with this?

The novice audio creator, you and me, find ourselves tasked with creating better audio and better shows as time marches on and suddenly Edison research data says…hey, do video too!

It's a big lift. So what can we do, the solo creator, do to help make this whole video thing easier and why?

Back to the Why for a second…

Aside form the quick key points mentioned earlier, I think it's healthy to make your why all about the audience. Why do we want to augment audio with video? To make the experience better for the listener, give them content in a different context, and build a deeper connection. The second why is to give your podcast the opportunity to punch into the best moments of each show and get that out into the world -- in video.

If you ran up to someone on the sidewalk and said "hey listen to this 45 minute long audio episode" they'd probably laugh at you. That's what it's like dumping your episode on to social media. But a 30 second video or audiogram clip? Much better chances.

So what type of video is the best for podcasters, at least in the year 2021.

Audiograms

Audiograms are probably the most commonly used video clip you can produce for your podcast. You've seen them before, they generally display your show's cover art and an animated waveform as the video plays. There are a lot of tools available to create audiograms, a very popular tool called Headliner will make your job easy. Bonus for Castos customers, if you're on our Pro plan and above, you have access to this for free. Descript another one of Castos integration partners also creates audiograms in their software.

Video clips with subtitles

If you're looking for more full-length synergy between your podcast and YouTube channel, i.e. everything in your video is engaging to share, adding subtitles to your video clips works great too. Lots of tools can help you generate an SRT file -- a file that houses a timestamped closed caption -- and add it to your video clip export. I'll recommend Descript again because it kills two birds with one stone: the transcript and the video edit.

Combine the best of both worlds

If you spend any time in the marketing or business world, chances are you've come across Gary Vaynerchuck before. I can feel you gripping your chair now like, "God Matt, what are you going to recommend from his universe?!" Well, the clips he shares on Twitter and Instagram are a mix of great looking audiograms with pro-level video edits. Yes he has a team and for 99.9% of us, doing that type of work is either too time consuming or expensive.

I was looking for ways to replicate some of that content for you and remember that you can get some level of pro looking clips like Gary's from Canva.com. Some of them even free. Sure you'll still have to spend some time putting it together, but that extra effort might make all the difference.

Bonus: Live streaming

Video isn't just about static assets you upload, at least not in my opinion. Many of us know what live-streaming is all about, but there's some added value to be had which deepens your audience connection. Friend of the show Evo Terra does this really well with his podcast for podcasters, Podcast Pontificiations.

He live streams the show and gives us all the juicy details to what goes on before and after taping an episode. He talks to his audience, lets them in behind the curtain and gets to work. It's an over the shoulder view of how the sausage is made.

You're convinced…now what?

It would take me a whole extra episode to talk about how to record video, so I'll give you a list of platforms to check out to ready your recordings:

I'd love to know how you're using video for your podcast to find new listeners, engage in different ways, and most importantly encourage social sharing of your content that you've worked so hard to create.

And remember, if you're a Castos customer on our Growth plan, you can automatically publish your audio right to YouTube. If you're a Pro plan customer, you can host video podcasts too. Knowing is half the battle!

Thanks for listening and don't forget to follow us on Podchaser, Podcast Index, Apple or Spotify. If you received some value from today's episode, leave us a review and tweet that review to us at @castosHQ on Twitter.

Matt is back from vacation. On this episode of the Audience podcast, he tackles the subject of growing an audience in the most tactful way possible. Matt offers tips and advice based on statistics, his own expertise on podcasting, and through the lens of his unique perspective from being in the industry for so long. Even after the biggest year in podcasting, the classic word-of-mouth marketing techniques are still best. Listen in to find out how to utilize it best in 2021, for your podcast.

If you have any questions about this episode or want to get some of the resources we mentioned, head over to Castos.com/podcast. And as always, if you’re enjoying the show please share it with someone who you think would enjoy it as well. It is your continued support that will help us continue to help others. Thank you so much! Never miss another show by subscribing at castos.com/subscribe.

Today you’ll learn about:

Resources/Links:

Podcast Index: https://podcastindex.org/ 

Podchaser: https://www.podchaser.com/ 

Tom Webster’s Keynote: https://www.insideradio.com/podcastnewsdaily/to-be-discovered-edison-s-tom-webster-says-podcasters-need-to-reach-into-new-places/article\_c8b7e27a-f60c-11eb-8ed0-7fab7c703dd4.html  

Castos Academy: https://academy.castos.com/ 

Castos, private podcast: https://academy.castos.com/private/ 

Castos, website: Castos.com/

Castos, YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/castos  

Clubhouse video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8729ZpWpmIw 

On this episode of the Audience podcast, Stuart talks about creating podcasts and episodes with narratives. Narrative podcasts have their own format and their own style but are not limiting within the narrative format. Stuart explains what makes a narrative podcast different from an interview podcasts and how to craft one well. He also goes over best practices, the pros and cons, and how a narrative podcast can make you stand out in the sea of podcasts out on the internet right now.

If you have any questions about this episode or want to get some of the resources we mentioned, head over to Castos.com/podcast. And as always, if you’re enjoying the show please share it with someone who you think would enjoy it as well. It is your continued support that will help us continue to help others. Thank you so much! Never miss another show by subscribing at castos.com/subscribe.

Today you’ll learn about:

Resources/Links:

ObscureBall 

Descript: https://www.descript.com/ 

Castos Academy: https://academy.castos.com/ 

Castos, private podcast: https://academy.castos.com/private/ 

Castos, website: Castos.com/

Castos, YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/castos  

Clubhouse video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8729ZpWpmIw

On this episode of the Audience podcast, Sam Chlebowski, the host of The Creator Spotlight Series, talks with Anya Smith of the Matters of Belief podcast. The top two topics we generally avoid when making pleasant conversation are politics and religion. Today Anya shares why religion should not be on that list. It is obvious by her curiosity, expertise, and enthusiasm about the topic, why people feel so comfortable talking with her about spirituality and religion. In addition to these topics, Sam and Anya also talk about how she first got started in podcasting, her tips for newbies, and her goals for the future of the Matters of Belief podcast and website.

If you have any questions about this episode or want to get some of the resources we mentioned, head over to Castos.com/podcast. And as always, if you’re enjoying the show please share it with someone who you think would enjoy it as well. It is your continued support that will help us continue to help others. Thank you so much! Never miss another show by subscribing at castos.com/subscribe.

Today you’ll learn about:

Resources/Links:

Matters of Belief: https://mattersofbelief.com/ 

Matters of Belief on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/matters-of-belief/id1565719966

Matters of Belief on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/34PNDTOGw9HuCzpes0nH5j 

Castos Academy: https://academy.castos.com/ 

Castos, private podcast: https://academy.castos.com/private/ 

Castos, website: Castos.com/

Castos, YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/castos  

Clubhouse video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8729ZpWpmIw 

On this episode of the Audience podcast, Craig talks with Tony Merkel from the Confessionals podcast. Tony was able to live the dream: quit his job and become a full-time podcaster. Today on Audience, Tony talks about creating a community, suggestions for new podcasters, and lessons that he has learned about audience growth. Tony shares his bootstrap knowledge to help new podcasters but he also shares an inspirational message about being passionate about the things you love, and not being afraid to dream.

If you have any questions about this episode or want to get some of the resources we mentioned, head over to Castos.com/podcast. And as always, if you’re enjoying the show please share it with someone who you think would enjoy it as well. It is your continued support that will help us continue to help others. Thank you so much! Never miss another show by subscribing at castos.com/subscribe.

Today you’ll learn about:

Resources/Links:

Tony email: [email protected] 

The Confessionals podcast: https://www.theconfessionalspodcast.com/ 

The Confessionals podcast Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theconfessionalspodcast/ 

Hammer Lane Legends podcast: https://www.hammerlanelegends.com/

Castos Academy: https://academy.castos.com/ 

Castos, private podcast: https://academy.castos.com/private/ 

Castos, website: Castos.com/

Castos, YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/castos  

Clubhouse video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8729ZpWpmIw 

On this episode of the Audience podcast, Sam Chlebowski is joined by Eric Stauffer from the Proper Cents podcast. Eric talks about everything from his background and journey into podcasting to his workflow and process for coming up with content for his podcast and website. Proper Cents is a wealth of information about financial news and advice. He also gives his advice for new podcasters in terms of content creation, growing your podcast, and the process of podcasting. He even chimes in on the 15-year mortgage versus a 30-year mortgage.

If you have any questions about this episode or want to get some of the resources we mentioned, head over to Castos.com/podcast. And as always, if you’re enjoying the show please share it with someone who you think would enjoy it as well. It is your continued support that will help us continue to help others. Thank you so much! Never miss another show by subscribing at castos.com/subscribe.

Today you’ll learn about:

Resources/Links:

The Proper Cents Podcast: https://www.propercents.com/ 

Castos Academy: https://academy.castos.com/ 

Castos, private podcast: https://academy.castos.com/private/ 

Castos, website: Castos.com/

Castos, YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/castos  

Clubhouse video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8729ZpWpmIw 

Content emergency fund with Sam

Today's guest is none other than our very own Head of Growth, Sam Chlebowski.

Over the last two months, Sam has been helping our team iron out some of the creases in-between the marketing & sales teams here at Castos. His background in the web services industry and managing expectations of small business owners navigate uncertain waters is a huge boon to our podcasters.

Sam and Matt help define what the "Head of Growth" role means along with his day to day responsibilities. They will unpack the lessons learned to help apply some of the same tactics to podcast creators looking to grow their audience.

The duo eventually came across the idea of investing in a "Content Emergency Fund" illustrating how podcast content can easily feed into your "banked" content.

Content Emergency Fund

A successful podcast which continues to increase downloads and broaden its reach doesn't stop at the audio file streamed to an app. It requires you to invest in other areas of content marketing, like blogging and/or email marketing.

The bad news? It takes more time to create more content.

The good news? Repurposing old podcast episodes to feed new areas of content, even if it's years old, is an affordable route to take. Sam refers to it as the Content Emergency Fund!

Wether you're stuck or crunched for time, you can lean on old episodes to draw new ideas from.

- Write up a new blog post about the book a guest mentioned
- Post audiograms from your top episodes
- Email out a series of mini-courses quoting the best lessons from your back catalog

Keep the content flowing; keep repurposing your old episodes!

In this episode Matt and Craig talk through the fundraising round that Castos has recently completed.

Castos, a leader in podcast hosting and analytics, has successfully closed an investment round of $756,000. With investments by Automattic, Joost de Valk of Yoast SEO, and individual investors, Castos will use this additional capital to fuel its advance into the Private Podcasting market. 

With podcasting, and audio content in general, showing no signs of slowing now that the worst of the pandemic seems to be behind us, Castos believes that the future of podcasting is in tools that allow creators to own their own content and distribution channels through Private Podcasting. 

Castos’ roots in the open source community through their Seriously Simple Podcasting plugin for WordPress along with the investment from Automattic (the company behind WordPress.com) further strengthens the ability for WordPress users to own their content, the platform that it’s built on, and the control they have over how it is distributed. WordPress with Seriously Simple Podcasting and Castos as the hosting engine means that podcasters can own their content and data, and the ability to manage Private Podcasts right from WordPress just enhances that ability.

Castos’ founder and CEO, Craig Hewitt, recounted “We have seen a significant increase in interest from customers with online courses, membership sites, and digital communities wanting to provide exclusive podcast content to those members, as well as companies wanting to provide private podcast content for their employees. We see this as an area of the podcasting market that’s at a tipping point, starting to explode in popularity.”

With Castos’ existing Zapier integration, REST API, and direct integrations with tools like Elementor, Descript, MemberSpace, AdBarker, and Alitu, the company will continue to give podcasters the tools and extensibility they need to harness the power of audio to grow their brand...whether that’s externally with customers, or internally with their teams.

Hewitt said that “We hear from companies over and over again that they’re looking for the ‘Step Away Experience' where employees can engage with their internal content without having to be glued to a screen. Something that is remote first, asynchronous, audio-based, on demand….and of course, hyper secure. Private podcasting fits the bill perfectly for these companies, and that’s what we’re delivering to brands across the globe.”

Castos has been, to this point, a mostly self-funded company, taking only a small investment when joining the TinySeed startup accelerator in 2019. Today they are a team of 13 located in 4 continents, serving thousands of passionate podcasters all across the world. 

“We’re thrilled to have the opportunity to put this investment to work in furthering our product offering, continuing to build out our team, and provide podcasters with the solutions they need to better connect with their audiences.” Hewitt said. The majority of the funds will be used to build out their sales and marketing teams, and on designers and developers to accelerate work on their suite of products.

On this episode of the Audience podcast, Matt talks about what the step away experience is at Castos. In a world that was changed by the events that happened in 2020, employers and work expectations must also change. Employees and team members no longer commuted to work or walked into boardrooms for meetings. Instead all of that was replaced with virtual meetings after virtual meetings. “Zoom fatigue” became widely experienced. Today Matt talks about how to utilize private podcasting in new ways and how to help achieve and maintain that work-life balance in our new normal.

If you have any questions about this episode or want to get some of the resources we mentioned, head over to Castos.com/podcast. And as always, if you’re enjoying the show please share it with someone who you think would enjoy it as well. It is your continued support that will help us continue to help others. Thank you so much! Never miss another show by subscribing at castos.com/subscribe.

Castos Academy: https://academy.castos.com/ 

Castos, private podcast: https://academy.castos.com/private/ 

Castos, website: Castos.com/

Castos, YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/castos  

Clubhouse video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8729ZpWpmIw 

In today's episode of Audience, Matt explores the boundaries of being called a "Creator" and how it relates to the creator economy.

This is episode 1 in a series that will explore what a creator means in the larger context of podcasting. There are a few challenges for you ahead:

Matt shares a clip from an interview with actor Ethan Hawke titled, Give yourself permission to be creative.

This is a crucial step for you to start thinking beyond just producing shows for marketing or a simple goal. Find deeper connection with yourself (as the creator) and your audience. 

If you enjoy today's episode, please share it on your social media!

Give yourself permission to be creative | Ethan Hawke https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRS9Gek4V5Q