Social Media Podcasting

A podcast  is a digital radio (or video) programme downloadable from the internet. Podcasting started to take off around 2004 and it zoomed from ‘geekdom’ to mainstream so quickly that ‘podcast’ was voted 2005 ‘word of the year’ by the editors of the New Oxford American dictionary. Podcasts started as audio blogs. People then figured out a way of distributing them using the same RSS feeds that were being used to distribute blog post information. It was then possible to subscribe to a podcast as one would a blog.

Suddenly you could listen to a whole range of programmes and voices whenever and wherever you wanted. It was radio without a station telling what you could hear and when. Just as blogs have allowed people to become writers without having to deal with a media channel controlled by someone else, podcasting has allowed anyone who fancies it to become a broadcaster.
With the right kind of ‘podcatching’ software on your computer the latest edition of any podcast you subscribe to is automatically downloaded every time you log on. Most people use iTunes. Go to http://www.apple.com/itunes/store/ for loads more information on podcasting and a huge list of available podcasts. You can listen on your computer or transfer the file to an iPod or any other kind of MP3 player. You don’t have to have an iPod to listen, the name came from the fact that the iPod was taking off at the same time and the ‘pod’ (play on demand) part fitted this new medium. Podcasts are usually free.

Creating a podcast :

Podcasts are usually recorded and edited using home equipment and done for the love of it. There is specialised podcasting software available like Apple’s Garage Band or Quicktime Pro. These packages make it quite simple to record, mix and format the audio files correctly. Just like bloggers, though, many podcasters are trying to figure out ways of making money from their podcasts and turning listeners into revenue. A lot of people are producing music podcasts. This has meant a huge move to circumvent traditional rights issues about downloading music from the Internet. There is now a large body of music that is classified ‘podsafe’. This has either been composed especially for podcasts (as jingles’ etc) or the artist has specifically decided that they want their music to be available via the net for all who want to hear it. 

Radio stations have realised that they have a whole new way of using their content. They began packaging their output so that fans could listen to their favourite shows whenever they wanted to (without the music). The BBC is awash with podcasts (www.bbc.co.uk/podcast). In South Africa, 5Fm was the first station to use them. Now nearly every radio station offers them – have a look at Classic FM, Talk Radio 702 and East Coast Radio. Educators and teaching institutions have latched on to podcasting as a way of sharing content and providing tuition for learners who cannot be present at lectures or tutorials. The corporate world is also realising that podcasting can add huge value to their communications mix. The term ‘podcast’ is increasingly being used to cover any audio or video that is embedded in an organisation’s web site. podcasts as a marketing tool Podcasts offer an incredible opportunity for marketers. The bottom line is that you now have a way of getting content to your target markets without having to persuade a media channel to carry it or to pay huge advertising rates.

Podcasts are:

Targetable – you can create highly relevant, niched content and then promote it to a specific target market.

Measurable – you can see how exactly many downloads and subscribers you have.

Controllable – it’s your content. Responsive – set up a blog alongside your podcast, alter content according to the comments, you are actually having a conversation with your market.

Boundary free – it’s the Internet. Relatively inexpensive. However, the content must be:

Excellent quality – like anything on the Internet, it is just as easy to unsubscribe as it is to subscribe. Quality content is what keeps listeners coming back.

Real – while there is value in having product or service information embedded in a web site, there is no point at all in producing an audio version of a company brochure as a regular podcast. Consumers are losing faith in the content of traditional media. Even if editorial is not actually paid for, a lot of the time it has been influenced in some way by advertisers. Although there are podcasts that carry adverts, people can fast forward straight past them and the chance of real success lies in branded content. This is not about advertising or even just product information. It is about coming up with ideas for real programmes that, through informing or entertaining, enhance your customers’ experience of your brand.