Podcasts have exploded in popularity over the past 10+ years. With over 30 million podcast episodes available as of December 2019, it's no surprise that 51% of the US population has listened to at least one podcast.
Undoubtedly, there is scope for all marketers to leverage this boom in podcasts and begin creating podcasts as part of your marketing toolkit.
There has been an ongoing debate about whether to opt for podcasts or webinars as a way to increase sales, but to that we say: why don't we have both? Instead of brainstorming podcast topics and creating content from scratch, you can repurpose your existing webinar into a podcast.
Podcast Vs. Webinar
Before we explain how to create podcasts using existing webinar content, we want to describe the difference between podcasts and webinars. Podcasts are an audio file posted to a website or streaming service that is available for download or streaming, whereas a webinar is a live, web-based video conferencing tool that connects the audience to the webinar host.
Both tools allow businesses to interact with their audiences and are beneficial for knowledge sharing and thought leadership, which is why they have both experienced a boom in popularity in recent years.
Benefits of Podcasts
The popularity of podcasts can be attributed greatly to the growth of people commuting to and from work in recent years and the flexibility podcasts offer the modern commuter. In 2019, 22% of podcast listening took place in the car.
People listening to music and podcasts, while on-the-go, has undeniably contributed to the success of the format. Business-wise, they’re an absolute godsend to many who want to create audio content, as they’re so easy and quick (depending on how quickly you manage to record) to make.
All that’s needed to create an effective podcast is a quality microphone, suitable audio recording equipment, or even just a quality smartphone, as sometimes that’s all you need.
Releasing your podcast into the virtual space is also simple, with a large range of distribution channels available (iTunes, SoundCloud, Spotify), there are various options for uploading and sharing your audio content with audiences.
Podcasts are an effective medium for those who are looking to inform audiences, without overloading them with information. If your presentation is content-heavy, then a webinar would be a more suitable medium.
But, how do you convert a webinar into a podcast? We’re glad you asked.
Converting Webinars to Podcasts
When it comes to repurposing your webinar content into a podcast format, there are a couple of options we would recommend you take:
- Extract the audio track from a recording and upload it directly as a podcast
- Re-record the audio and repurpose the content slightly to improve the audience engagement
Harvesting the audio track from the video recording of your webinar is the easiest and quickest option, but not necessarily the most suitable. This process involves isolating the audio track from the chosen presentation (there are several programs that can do this), converting this to a .mp3 file and then uploading it onto your chosen platform.
Thus, you have a podcast.
It’s a quick and easy process that gives you a piece of audio that adds another string to your bow, so to speak. However, this method also presents some drawbacks, such as:
- Podcasts remove all visual representations, so to listeners, the speaker will be referring to something that simply isn’t there.
- It’s not the best practice to have audio gaps, so this may be jarring to listeners.
Therefore, taking the original script from the webinar and re-recording the audio track makes the subject matter more suitable for a podcast format. Granted, you’re recording a composition twice, which will take a little more time, but you’ll be extending the life of your content and reaching a new audience.
This process also allows you to repurpose the content, so you can add in details that were potentially not present during the live event e.g. if you accidentally forgot to mention a useful tidbit of information, or a viewer raised an interesting point during a Q&A session, you can address that when you re-record the audio.
How to Publish a Podcast
Wondering how to post your podcast now it’s been re-recorded and edited? Well, how you distribute your podcast is entirely up to you. However, generally podcasts are uploaded onto platforms such as:
- Spotify
- Podcast.com
- Soundcloud
- Stitcher
- Overcast
- Podcast Addict and others.
Distributing your podcast on multiple platforms will help you to extend the reach of your audience and you can drive traffic directly to your website by posting it directly there. However, keep in mind that if you don’t have a significant amount of traffic to your website, you’ll unlikely to gain many new listeners by choosing this option.
As far as how to actually use the webinar content, again, it depends entirely on what you hope to achieve. Are your podcasts targeting existing webinar viewers? If so, then releasing them as an accompaniment to the original presentation is an effective way to lend versatility to your existing content. Looking to broaden your reach and tap into a different market segment? In that case, create a specific area on your website, dedicated to your audio content.
So, you want to create a podcast from a webinar? Remember that there is no right or wrong way to go about repurposing your webinar content. Just remember to consider your audience first and foremost.
