I listen to over thirty business podcasts, almost all of which are conversations around branding, comms, PR, and Alternative Investment Management. Some have low viewership on YouTube, yet personal blog favorites do very well (Rich Roll, Simon Sinek, and Tim Ferriss ). Why?
Blogs: Dynamic written content
A few weeks ago, I poured over the Top 50 Private Equity websites and the 50 best PE firms for Entrepreneurs. The purpose of this was to get a sense of how many firms are actually creating dynamic content that’s less about news & media and more about insights and ideas. (Next, I’ll be looking at Hedge Funds).
Fewer than ten had blog pages. I was surprised.
Business Podcasts: Dynamic audio content
Fast forward to this week and my daily two-hour podcast walks. Strolling around the city is an excellent visual backdrop to hear deep conversations across multiple themes. Excitement comes when a talking point from one industry conversation can become a learning point for another. It’s all about possessing a curious mind and connecting insights.
This week particularly, certain episodes were so compelling that I wanted to view the conversation. I assumed, as with my favorite podcasts, video interviews had been conducted and posted on YouTube at the same time as to the podcast show.
No, not the case. Only a few business podcasts were on YouTube and viewing numbers extremely low.
Video business podcasts: Dynamic visual content
Curious, I decided to conduct some research and discovered common issues:
- Meta descriptions contain little or no content
- Low use of tags
- Inconsistent thumbnails
- Comments switched off
Key Facts to Consider
- YouTube is the second largest search engine after Google. Listeners may discover you via YouTube and not your podcast
- A recent study by Wordstream revealed that 59% of executives say they would rather watch a video than read text
- Interview hosts have face-to-face conversations because they recognize it is more engaging for them and for the viewers watching
- Repurpose your business podcast videos on a platform that’s built for it
Actionable Solutions
- Description – write at least 300 words. The first two lines appear in search results, so make them matter
- Links – add your social links (including the podcast) and those of your guest
- Tags – include the keywords that describe the video and the conversation’s topics/themes
- Comments – switch them on. Comments are content and tell YouTube someone is interested in what you have to say
- Thumbnails – make visually consistent. Include the video title on the thumbnail artwork
- Navigation – use ‘Playlists’ by grouping together videos by themes. When you share a video, share it as part of a playlist so that when the video ends, the next one in the playlist comes on
- Transcriptions – YouTube creates captions automatically. Make your own and upload. Create videos with various language versions
- Tech – get better lighting and half-decent mics rather than talking to your computer’s mic
Final thoughts
Business Podcast hosts are overlooking YouTube as an integral and vital part of their marketing strategy.
If you or your company host a blog, consider implementing the above solutions or have a chat with us.
Raise the bar. Raise your voice.