Influential Introvert: Communication Coaching for Professionals with Performance Anxiety - Video Podcasting: Essential Tips & Tools to Get Started (and What Not to Waste Your Time On)

Episode Date: November 13, 2020

Have you thought about adding video to your podcast? You might know that YouTube is the second-largest search engine after Google -- people can’t get enough of video and consumption is only going up. There’s also a lot more video on social media. So if you’re trying to grow your audience, should your audio podcast also show up as a video show? Today, my friend Andrea Jones is back to talk to me about who should and shouldn’t bring video into their podcast production; how producing video positively altered her life in massive ways; and the tips and tools you need to get started with video if you’re a team of one. Andrea is founder of the Savvy Social School and host of the Savvy Social podcast. She is the go-to expert for all things social media, and in our discussion, she also talks about how we can repurpose the video we create so we are not constantly reinventing the wheel when it comes to content creation. show notes 👉sarahmikutel.com***Hiya, I'm your host Sarah Mikutel, podcast launch consultant at your service.Are you ready to launch a podcast that builds your brand and business, connects you to your global community, and grows your influence? Visit sarahmikutel.com to see how we can work together.Here’s a special treat for you: Use my Buzzsprout affiliate link to sign up for their podcast media hosting and get a $20 Amazon gift certificate. I’ve gotten to know the Buzzsprout team over this last year and love their customer service so much, I moved my shows over here. sarahmikutel.com/buzzsproutDo you ever go blank or start rambling when someone puts you on the spot? I created a free Conversation Cheat Sheet with simple formulas you can use so you can respond with clarity, whether you’re in a meeting or just talking with friends.Download it at sarahmikutel.com/blanknomore and start feeling more confident in your conversations today.

Have you already watched at least one video today? Probably people are obsessed with video and video consumption is only going up. So is this something that you should incorporate into your podcast? This could help you connect with your audience better because they love to see your face. And it can also help expand your audience. You might know that YouTube is the second largest search engine after Google. And we're seeing so much more video on social media, on Instagram alone. You've got IGTV, you've got stories, you can do video in your feed, then we've got TikTok. And it's just growing and growing the amount of video that people are consuming. So is this right for you? Should your audio podcasts also show up as a video show? Today, my friend Andrea Jones is back to talk to us about

who should and shouldn't bring a video into their podcast production. She also shares how producing video has altered her life in really massive ways, really good ways. And she gives us the tips and tools we need to get started with video if we're a team of one. Andrea is founder of the Savvy Social School and host of the Savvy Social Podcast. And she is the go-to expert for all things social media. And in our discussion, she's also going to share how we can repurpose the video. we create. So we are not constantly reinventing the wheel when it comes to content creation. Let's dive in. Welcome to podcasting step by step, where you will learn how to create a podcast that's irresistible. I'm Sarah Magatel, a podcast launch consultant and an American who has been permanently based in

Europe for more than 10 years. I especially love helping fellow expats and location independent entrepreneurs build their online brands and businesses through the magic of podcasting. for one-on-one support, visit sarah micotel.com to book a podcast launch BIP day with me or to check out one of my online courses and make sure that you grab my five-step formula for getting on podcasts at sarah micotel.com slash pitch formula. Welcome, Andrea. Thank you so much for coming back. Thank you so much for having me. I know that you identify as an introvert, but you have actually been putting yourself out there for quite a long time. And YouTube, So how did you first get started with that?

Yeah, so I had no friends. That's the first step. And I actually found the internet just to be a fascinating place. I started looking on the internet for communities talking about the Harry Potter books, like different forums and things, which led me to some YouTube videos. And YouTube at the time was just starting.

This was like 2007, 2008. And I found it fascinating that you could talk about your thoughts in a video and kind of connect with other people. And so that's kind of how I got started in the YouTube space. I liked that I could pre-record the video. I could edit it down. And I could kind of put it out there. And then, you know, at the time, I'd make like one or two videos a year. And that was me socializing.

That was like as far as it went. And so that's how I got started into it. just I didn't really have a lot of friends. I grew up in a very small private school. There was 12 people in my graduating class, for instance. Wow. So I didn't know a lot of people who liked what I liked or were into the things that I were into. And so for me, the internet kind of like opened that up. I think when a lot of people look at YouTube thinking of like, is this something, a place where I want to be like putting myself out there, one of the first things they think about is the comments. They can be kind of nasty on YouTube.

So was it like that back in the day? And how do you deal with that? I think there was always nasty comments on YouTube, but the kind of like the big YouTubers get it a lot more than the smaller ones. And so I was able to like build up my community around me so that we were commenting on each other's videos and it wasn't really such a hateful place. That being said, I still like if someone discovered my videos, I still got less. of comments. It's funny because I got lots of comments about how my voice sounds. And now I get the

opposite with the podcast, which is kind of funny. But, you know, there was just people just being mean, belligerent, whatever the case may be. But I had my friends and my community around me. And we, like, I built some really powerful relationships. I mean, it was even to the point where in 2012 and 2013, I actually went to a YouTube convention. or conference and called VidCon, which is still around today and hung out with my friends in real life that I had met in this YouTube space. So it felt like just one big family and we were supporting each other. So even if a mean comic kind of slipped through the cracks, it didn't really impact me as much. And I didn't have a lot of subscribers. I think I had like 200 subscribers or something

like that. So I definitely wasn't up there with like the famous YouTubers. I love the idea of using YouTube for community. Because I think when I hear about it now, I'm always hearing about it as how it can be used as a marketing tool, which of course it can. But I really like the idea of community. So how did that work? Were you just talking about what you were interested in? And then you were following people who are interested in the same things. And then you were just sort of like chatting in each other's comment section. Yeah. That's exactly it. We would find similarities and talk about those things, whether it be like one of the people was in the same area as me. So we had a lot of commonalities there.

I was with a lot of booktubers because I started off like reading Harry Potter books and would just watch their videos and leave comments. And they'd come watch mine, even though I really just talked about my life at the time. Like lifestyle blocking, I guess you'd call it now. But, you know, you were encouraged to leave comments at the time and start conversations. And we actually ended up forming a little Facebook group where we would kind of chat amongst ourselves. And we created a channel together where we all took turns posting videos on different topics. And so we just kind of built this little community around what we were doing.

How are you using video as part of your podcast? It's funny because I, like just to go back a little bit and give a little history, I met my husband on YouTube. So, yeah, I was going to bring that up. Yeah. It's kind of like, I guess I'm like saving the best for a last, go into this story. Yeah, well, I think it's an important piece to it because up until that point, it was not related to like my business at all. And when we met, the funny thing is he had only been YouTubeing for about a year. He stopped immediately.

He just was like, I don't, because he actually got a lot of hate from his, one of his videos got a little bit popular. You got a lot of hate and was like, yeah, no, I don't want anything to do with this. I kept going for a little bit, but then dropped off. So we kind of stopped doing YouTube videos for a while. Then I started the business. And with my social media business, I found that there were a lot of people doing podcasts, like a lot of my clients. And so that's how I got back into the content creating world after just working on my business for four years without really creating YouTube videos, I started podcasting. And when I first started, I was just putting a static image with like just the audio playing up as the YouTube video on my channel. It wasn't really working,

so I stopped it for a long time. And then someone left a review that said, I found this podcast on YouTube and now I'm a huge fan. And it was just that one person who left a review on Apple podcast where I was like, oh, I need to do this more. So that's what started up the video piece again. And so now it's more of a, it's a video show, basically, that also is an audio show. Yeah. Let's talk about what you mean when you said it didn't, it wasn't working originally on YouTube. Because I've definitely heard that you shouldn't put a static image and then just play the audio of your podcast.

Like, yeah, maybe some people will listen to that. but people generally come to YouTube to watch video. And so if they come and it's a static image, they will like bounce pretty quick. And then that can affect your YouTube channel overall if you do want to bring in video. Yeah. And it's the nature of YouTube.

So YouTube wants people to not just find your video, but to watch all the way through. And that's how YouTube assigns value to your video. And this comes from changes in their product. So it used to be as many views as you got to your video. video as possible. That's how it would be important. It would show up on the discovery page or the search page and those things. And so people would put crazy headlines like click on this video for boobies or something like that. And then people would click on it and there wouldn't be any boobies

and they would be upset. And so YouTube noticed that and started putting a lot more value on the percentage of the video being watched. And so when you have a video that's a static image and someone who's looking for an actual moving video, click on it, and they see that, they click away. And so YouTube may determine that as not as important. I will say that I have a client, a past client, who has done this for years and still gets an astronomical amount of listens on YouTube. So it can work if people already are in the habit of going and listening to the show on YouTube, especially if they tend to be desktop users. So they just open it in another tab and they'll listen to the show. The challenge comes into the mobile app. So if you don't have a premium

YouTube account, you have to keep your screen open to that page in order to listen to the podcast. So it's not like you can turn it on and then navigate over to Facebook and keep listening. And so that's also where it's a challenge for YouTubers to produce like static podcasts because there's no reason for someone to stay on that and keep watching it. Right. So for your client who is getting traction on YouTube with just the static images, are they listening to the whole thing? Did she look at those metrics? Yeah. People actually listen to the whole thing. And I think it's her demographic tends to be a little bit older. They're just a lot more patient with the technology and that sort of thing. So they click open to it and they listen to the podcast on YouTube.

I also think that's the nature of podcasts. That audience may not understand that they can listen to it on an app or something like that. So something that's evolving, I guess, when it comes to behaviors. So, all right, so you're bringing back the video. So walk me through the process of how you're using video and your podcasting. This is evolved. So I'll say what I'm currently doing and then we're changing it next month. So I'm trying to streamline it a bit.

So what I would do is I would record an interview with my guest via Zoom. Zoom.us, that Zoom. And we would just record both, look, when you record on Zoom, it records both the video and the audio files. It exports both. So that's what I would send to my editors. And they would edit the show together. So after I recorded the interview portion, I would then record an intro and an outro. I don't know what the technical terms are it for these.

It's kind of like after the music plays, but before the interview portion, you could probably tell me. I say episode intro and outro. Okay. You got it. You got it. Okay. Gotcha.

So I record those after as well. And then send all of those pieces to the editor. And they kind of stitch together the audio and the video. I think they do the audio portion first, taking notes. and then they go to the video and edit that based on the notes. My show doesn't need a lot of editing because it is very casual. It is kind of like a not highly produced show anyways, and so that has worked very well for us,

except I have become the bottleneck. So what happens is I would record the interview and then go, I'll record the intro and outro later. And my team's literally like, Andrea, we're waiting on you to record these. And I found it challenging because then I'd have to like redo my makeup and like do that whole thing again and sit down to film again. And I was like, this isn't working. So going into next month, we are going to change basically the format of the show to record it all at once. So my guests will

essentially be in a green room of sorts where I can do the intro, bring on the guest and then do the outro all in the same block of time, which helps me to not be the bottleneck, to get farther ahead. It just requires more planning because there's a lot that I talk about in the intro, so I'll have to do a bit more research to prepare. But I think that should produce a better show. And then we're also doing a more formalized, like before the intro. Is that called a bumper? I don't know. Yeah, you mean like your standard intro that is for every show. Yeah. Yes. Yes, that. So we're doing a more formalized version of that before and after the video as well. That will obviously have the audio version for most of our listeners are still on the apps, on the podcast apps, but we'll also have a video version for YouTube that is a bit more dynamic and hopefully pulls more viewers in on that way as well. So you have got a team helping you out, which is great. But do you have any advice for people who

well, actually, maybe say who video might be good for and who it wouldn't for, maybe some things that we should know before we even jump into video and like how we could make this a possibility if we're a one-man band? Yes. So first of all, I will say I did my first 20 podcast episodes it's myself. And I found it very challenging to stay consistent with the show, just doing it myself. So if anyone's doing that, props to you. I wouldn't worry too much about the video portion yet. I do find that it helps for a discovery, like that one person who left the review, who was like, I found you on YouTube. But there are other ways that you can get people to discover your podcast. I wouldn't worry about it too much. If you are in the place to do video,

I would say, think about how you edit first. So if you're editing your show yourself and it requires quite a bit of edits, then adding video into the mix is going to double the amount of time you spend editing possibly more. So for instance, if you have a lot of stops and starts, if you have to do a lot of sound leveling, those sorts of things can really lengthen that editing process as well. And then when you're thinking about adding the video portion to YouTube, we do quite a bit of research on search terms as well. So because it is a huge discovery platform and we want people to find the podcast, that can add on extra time as well. So if you're kind of thinking about approaching video for your podcast, something that is interesting that I haven't tried out myself, but I've seen other people do, is create a summary of the podcast in video format.

So it's a completely separate piece of content. So let's say you have an episode that teaches people, I'll pick on you, Sarah, that teaches people like all about innigrams and what it is, then maybe you create a YouTube series of videos or videos that point back to the podcast like the call to action is go listen to the podcast for more. But maybe it's two minutes on like what is an Ineagram one or something like that or what are the, the numbers mean in your gram? So it's a totally different content piece that can point back to the podcast. So if folks discover you through YouTube, then they can become a super fan and listen to the podcast and get all of the juicy bits. I like it. And that's also something where you could record the whole video, the whole episode or whole interview, but then you don't need to use the whole video if you don't want to. You could just take out like that juicy bit, as you said,

and then use that kind of as a five-minute teaser on YouTube, pointing to your podcast. Yes, exactly. I like that idea. So do you put the whole video of your podcast episodes on YouTube? I do, yes. So beginning to end, you can consume the episode in the podcast format or the video format. There are some differences. So sometimes I share my screen.

and on the podcast, you would never know because you're listening to it. But if you're on YouTube, you may see that. There's also some dynamic things we add in. Like if I'm talking about a specific link, I'll put the actual URL up on the screen. So there are different things that we do in the YouTube video versus the audio podcast, but we are an audio first podcast. So it's really designed for the audio listeners first, and then YouTube is kind of secondary. I was actually playing yesterday with video on. So Descript is my favorite editor now. I use some other tools as well, but I do most of my editing in Descript in there and actually know a full video editor as well. And I don't really know anything about video editing. So I was like, oh my God, this is going to take me forever. And it actually was pretty intuitive and fun to play around. So I don't know if I will be doing video poddict.

you know, a lot in the future. But it was nice to know that, oh, this is something that I can actually do. Yeah, I'm the same way. The editing piece I do not like, which is why I proudly brand my show is slightly unpolished because, I mean, who has that kind of time? And so for me, that my YouTube videos are the same way, like going even way back to my earlier videos, very little editing, because I find the editing process to hold me back from actually creating more content. And so I think that, you know, tools like Descript can make it a lot easier and more accessible for people instead of having to learn something like Final Cut Pro or something intense like that. Do you ever record? So one of one flow that I've seen is ideally, I don't know how many people

are actually doing this, but recording your interview or your solo show live. So doing like a Facebook live or something on Streamyard where you're going to multiple platforms live and then taking that video and putting it on YouTube and then cutting it up and, you know, putting it on social. Do you ever record live your podcast episodes? I don't, but I was thinking about doing that for episode 200, which we should hit next year, maybe next year, end of 2021. Because I saw someone else do that and I was like, oh, that seems fun, but that would be a special occasion. But I do have a client who does this. So she does a Facebook live show and she was struggling to reach as many people as possible. And so this year we actually tested this for her in turning it into a podcast

and then turning that into a YouTube video. And also we did a bunch of micro videos for social media. So she would say something that we could cut into like a 30 second clip that we could put on social media as just a standalone concept, not even referencing where it came from and that sort of thing. And that has worked really well, especially the little videos, like the 30 second to a minute videos. And then her podcast. So we were finding that not everyone likes Facebook. So she was doing these Facebook lives, which would attract a certain audience, but there was a whole segment who were like, I would never get on Facebook. I don't like Facebook. And they're listening to her podcast. The challenges.

is she is a Facebook Live first show. So people who listen to the podcast sometimes will cut out different things as much as we can related to commenting below or, you know, hey so-and-so, welcome to the show. So we try to cut those pieces out. So that does become a challenge because we can't get them all depending on how she says it. Yeah, yeah. So for the listener, sometimes they may not get the full experience because it is Facebook live first, but it's working for her enough and her audience likes it enough to continue listening.

So I think it can work for some people, especially people who are super busy and have the support to kind of have it transform into multiple pieces. But if you're thinking about creating a podcast, I think it's really hard to do a live show and then turn it into a podcast because kind of like the assumption with live shows is that there is interaction. So I, I think from a viewer perspective, if I were watching a live show and the hosts never read out a comment, I would feel weird about that. But if I was listening to a podcast and I was like hearing a comment read from a live that I don't even know where it happened, that I would feel weird about that. So it's kind of weird. Yes. I guess certain platforms should just stay in their lane.

Yeah, I think the live recording live can definitely add another layer of complications. I have heard of someone who will welcome everyone for a few minutes at the beginning and then say, all right, guys, I'm really happy you're here. And now I'm going to dive deep. So I'm not going to do any comments right now. But like stay with me. And, you know, in 20 minutes, I'll like answer all of your questions. So that's something that could work. But it definitely requires, I guess, some discipline. I'm sure there is the urge when you've got all these different chats flying through to want to engage. Because as you said, that's the point of doing something live or else just listen to the podcast if they're not going to be talking to you, right? Right. Exactly. That's what I was

thinking to you. And I get so distracted by comments that I would definitely stop and respond to one. But I like the idea of a live show. I just personally think that if you have this space to do it, it should be something separate. So I think that the kind of like the purpose. of a live show is that interactive element. All right. So some of the benefits of adding video to what you're doing is people like watching videos. And I think a majority of people watch at least one video a day. We're all trying to grow our platforms. And so video is something that could help with this. But video is a completely different beast from podcasting. You mentioned for YouTube, like people used to do clickbait titles. What are some non-gross

ways we can, if we create a YouTube channel to attract people and get them to keep watching. Yes. So YouTube, like, you know, people say the riches are in the niches, that sort of thing. So if you have a very specific problem that you're solving in your YouTube video, it's a lot easier to actually have people find that video, watch it and enjoy it. So one of my most popular their videos is how to remove background in Canva from your image. It's so specific, but the only way that people find that is they literally type in those specific words. So if you think about it more like a search engine, right, and more like as specific of a topic as you can get, that will help people discover you. So there's kind of two different buckets of content that I have on my channel. The first

bucket is purely designed for people who've never heard of me before to find me. And in those videos, I talk a lot about making sure they subscribe, making sure they download a freebie of some sort or comment below because I really want to get to know them. And then I have the podcast videos, which are more for the people who have been watching for a while. They already are familiar with my content. And so for me to put those types of videos up, it's a specific type of person and it's a specific purpose in that person's experience. So for me, not a lot of people will find the podcast and then sit there and watch a 30-minute video if they've just found me for the first time. So I'm typically gearing those like two to five-minute videos for those purposes.

And it does kind of take a bit of pre-planning that feels a bit awkward at first. So for instance, I'm planning a series of videos right now, all with 2021 in the title. So if people are searching for like Instagram tutorial for 2021, hopefully my video will pop up in their search results. So it does feel sometimes a little bit too planned out and too strategic. But I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing because I do want people to discover me, find my brand and hopefully appreciate my teaching style enough to consume my other content. So if you even have things that aren't teaching based, so if you have, for instance, a podcast

that is more entertainment based, for instance, let's say it's more of like an entertainment style show, you still can win on YouTube because a lot of people go to YouTube for entertainment. I like to use audio dramas as an example, especially the spooky scare. ones because people love those. And even if you have a show that's not teaching something, people may still search in like, what's the scariest haunted house in Buffalo, New York? So if you could be there in that search and then you have a podcast episode kind of like telling that story, then that could be an interesting way to use video to help people to discover you. I like, I really like what you said about you have like your pillars for different levels of how well people know you. So the first level

is like the bite size and then when they fall in love with Andrea, they can move on to like the longer form content. I really like that pillar idea. Can you talk a little bit more about the keyword search? So YouTube is a search engine. I think it's the second largest after Google. So what do we need to know about keyword search? Yes. So keyword search is, it's tough because oftentimes we think about it from our position. So for instance, if I am a yoga instructor and I have a podcast about yoga and I want to create yoga tutorials on YouTube, I may start off with something like the sun salutation sequence,

right? But if you're new to yoga, you would be like, what does that even mean? Like maybe people are going to start with, is yoga stretching or isn't something different? So you've got to think about how people would use it, not how you would say something. So an example would be one of my clients is a lawyer in Boston. And so when we're looking at her YouTube strategy, she could talk about like litigation in Boston. She tends to use big words. And so what we come in and do is like, hey, how do real people?

say this, like actual everyday people. And we found one of her highest videos was something she was kind of hesitant about at first, but it was how to dress for your first court date in Boston. So it's a way simpler way for people to understand her professional perspective. She could still add her expertise, right? But people aren't necessarily searching for the big words or the big concepts. So you really have to try to boil down what you do into something that is a search term. So there are a lot of tools out there to help with this. One of my favorite is vid IQ. I don't, I believe it's a premium tool. One of their competitors is TubeBuddy, which may have a free version, I'm unsure. But they do have this Google Chrome extension. And what I like about this

is I'll go to someone who's doing something similar in my industry and look at their videos and see what search terms they're putting in their tag section. And that will help you kind of start your research for that. And then even looking at some popular videos on similar topics, going into the comment section and seeing what questions people are asking because those are the questions people are also searching for. So for an example, let's say you are someone who creates planners and you want to have a special ring binding on your planner. You may not know what that's called, so you may call it the spirally ring thingies on your binder. So if you're creating a video, I wouldn't put the technical term.

I would put the spirally ring thingings in the title because that may be what people are searching for. That's probably like a ridiculous example. But I hope it makes sense for like using the terminology that people are using and not what you know is to be correct. Yes, that's very helpful. And it goes back to your pillars as well. Like for the intro videos where people are just. getting to know you, you can put in the language that they would use. And then there can be an education piece for like your other content once they start learning from you. So I really like

that. So keywords, I'm guessing that in the title, that's searchable, your YouTube title. And then in the description, anywhere else keywords are used? Yes. So title description. And then also there's the tags section of the video. Now, recently this year, YouTube just have like a little blurb that say the tags don't have a big impact, but I still want you to put the tags there because they're still there. So part of me is like, why would YouTube put that little, this doesn't have an impact, but keep that section there. It's kind of bizarre. So still put it in the description. And then also there's there's a ranking on YouTube for quality of your keyword. And it's part of their algorithm that's not clearly,

defined, but the hypothesis is if someone uses that keyword, finds your video but doesn't watch it, then, and they leave, then YouTube may start, even if you are the only video in that category, may start placing other videos above you that solve that person's problem more so than your video does, even if their videos don't have that keyword at all. So it's part of the kind of YouTube's algorithm. So you do want to make sure that if you do have those keywords, that your video actually solves that problem as well. Again, goes back to that like YouTube wants to keep people on their platform. They want to kind of deliver up the right videos as people are searching for them. And so that helps. And then it also helps for related videos. So even if someone doesn't find your video specifically,

if they're watching a video in that category, YouTube could suggest your video as the next one for them to watch based on the keywords that you have. And what about thumbnails? So those pictures that get you to click. I often find that people make themselves look so ridiculous, I guess, because it's more eye-catching. What do we need to do to grab somebody's attention in a thumbnail? Yes. I am not a fan of those, like, gimmicky thumbnails. There's like a specific design that's a YouTube thumbnail that we kind of, when we see it, we know it's a YouTube thumbnail. But the idea behind it is just to get you to click on it. So it's like the clickbait headline, same thing, the clickbait image.

The thumbnail is really to get someone to look at your post. So it's very similar to an image that you would create for like an Instagram post. If someone's scrolling through the feed, why would they stop and look at your post over the ones around it? So when you're creating your thumbnail, you do want to keep that in mind. Why would someone stop and look at this thumbnail over the ones around it? So for my kind of, I should name this something, but for those videos where people are just discovering me, those shorter videos, for the newer person to my concepts, my thumbnails are probably going to look a little bit different than the people who've been in my kind of realm, my circle for a while. I don't really need to use something crazy to pull them in. But I mean, the concept's the same in that you just want to have something in addition to the headline that. encourages people to click on your video. What about equipment?

What else do we think? So when we're doing podcasting, we've got a microphone, and that's pretty much all we need, our recording software, if we're doing, you know, a remote interview. And so, like, I guess camera, lighting, is there anything that we need to be thinking about? Yeah.

So if you can record in front of an open window during a bright sunny day using your phone. that's often the best place to do so. It's a really good place to start for a lot of us because, I mean, the technology for smartphones is insane for video. And so that's typically a great place to start. If you want to increase your production quality,

you can get a point-and-shoot camera. Or I have the Canon M-50 mirrorless camera, which was about $700 to get the camera. with all of the microphone and all of those things. So you can start there when you're thinking about recording the videos if you want to kind of take them to another level. But I honestly mostly just use my built-in camera on my computer. I think there's also one by Logitech that's fairly inexpensive, like a webcam that you can use.

The most important thing is the quality of the content. And you can do some interesting things with editing. as well. As long as it's brightly lit though, that's the most important thing. So even if you have the best camera in the world, if you don't have proper lighting, that's going to be very tough to produce a video that actually looks great. So that natural lighting is kind of like the best way to go. So what if we are in a fairly noisy apartment asking for a friend and you have to record in a bag room and I want to like plug mic into my computer. So I'll need some like other lighting sources. Do you have any recommendations? If you don't wear glasses, a ring light is great.

So kind of light up your face. I found that I have glasses and my ring light is challenging to use. So I bought additional lights. I spent quite a bit on my setup, I think for me. I bought the newer studio lights because my space is a bit smaller, but they also have like box lights. Just search on Amazon for some lights. You can see the range from like a hundred bucks to 500 bucks depending on what you want to invest in. Ring lights tend to be a really great place to start. And when you say ring light, just for anyone who doesn't know, it's literally a light that looks like a big ring. and it's just meant to like brighten up your face and get the shadows out of there. And then you mentioned box lights.

So I'll include some links in the show notes of some suggestions. Well, this has been a super helpful, Andrea. Could you just like walk us through really quick what your repurposing process is with your podcast, audio and video? Like walk me through from like, yeah, start to. when you're promoting. Yes. After I record the episode, I will then turn it into a blog post. So especially the, like my solo episode. So that's one way I repurpose them. The blog post is not a transcript. And typically it has a different headline. And that's for search purposes, purely for search purposes. So if someone's searching on Google and they land on the podcast page, the podcast just

serves a different audience. They're probably not going to sit and listen to a 20 minute episode if they've never heard of me before. So I take those episodes and turn them into blog posts that are more so for those people who just want like the quick hits. I typically mention that it used to be a podcast episode as well in case people are interested and they want to find that episode. That's that. Obviously, the podcast is audio and video. So that's one way to take the same, same recorded piece of content and kind of have multiple purposes. I pull quotes from my guests from the show or quotes that I've said as well. So those turn into social media posts. So different impact phrases or little kind of bite-sized nuggets of information, those get turned into social media posts. And then I also

take video clips from the episodes and turn those into social posts as well. Typically, just to promote the podcast episode, but for my clients, I have found that that works as well for Drace's evergreen content. Specifically, if you don't have a lot of content, I tend to produce a lot of content. So I don't like rely on that as much. But those little video clips, like 30 second clips can be great to introduce some concepts from the episode, give social media viewers kind of like a taste of what that would look like, and then direct them back. back to the episode. And then also what we've been experimenting with is a roundup style posts. Let's say someone wanted all of the episodes around content creation. Then we'll create like a

round up style blog post that's like 10 podcast episodes on how to write social media posts or how to create content or those sorts of things that we can put all together as well. They're not really doing that great, but I think it could, there's a lot of potential there. And for one of my clients, we do this as well. Anytime he goes on holiday, he doesn't want to record a new episode. So we'll create like a blog post roundup of different episodes, send it to his email list and posted on social. So some of his newer audience members can come back and listen. And then the last thing is reviving past episodes. So I do produce a lot of content. So I don't do this as much on the other platforms. But on Twitter specifically, I'll tweet out past episodes just to kind of fill in that content and

bring up things that are related. So for instance, if someone on my show is talking about measuring your social media metrics, then I may also say, here are two other episodes if you want to learn about data and analytics. It's kind of a similar topic. So I'll bring up similar topics that way on Twitter. I love how you're experimenting and you try things. And even if it doesn't seem to be working, well, we're just going to give it a go and see how it works. And If we decide we don't want to do it, we won't. Are you using your video on IGTV at all? Or are you TikToking? So I did test. Yeah, I did test both of those. I just find that it doesn't work as well.

Because I think it's the nature of the platform. Like TikTok videos are TikTok videos. And you can tell when it's not made for that platform and doesn't really seem to work. Same thing with like Instagram Reels. If it's not that style of video, it doesn't. really seem to work. Still out for debate, though, since it's so relatively new, I would love to find a way to, like, take content we already have and still use those platforms because who has time to start a whole new strategy for TikTok? That feels like a lot of energy. So, you know, the debate is still going on for that platform. I see a lot of potential for getting attention, specifically if you have entertainment-based content. So whether it's funny or interesting or scary or something

like that, I could see those platforms working really well. I am not on TikTok. And I do watch Reels sometimes, but I, yeah, I'm never watching business content on Rails. I'm always just watching people dance pretty much. I don't know how I fell down this rabbit hole. Like the Explorer page on Instagram for the longest time never gave me anything I was interested in at all. And I was like, why is it suggesting this stuff for me? But then a few months ago, I don't know, I started watching one dance video and I fell down this rabbit on now. The only suggestions that I get are people dancing and it's entertaining. Would I watch reels on, you know, social media or online marketing? Maybe. Yeah, I think that's the thing too. It's like,

Like, if you could make it funny, maybe. But I don't, I just don't think that's how we're using the platform. And so I do want people to be mindful of that too, because I think it's easy to get caught up in, oh, you know, somebody went viral on TikTok. So if I just do the same thing that my business is going to like, you know, 10X or whatever. But I think you just have to fit in. So I actually was looking at Dr. Phil's TikTok the other day. Oh my gosh.

low because that's, you know, my job is to like study these things. And so even he is approaching, like he makes content specifically for the platform. Like he's, he makes content. It's still talking about his topics, right? But it's TikTok content. It's using the trends, the things that are happening on TikTok. And so I think even from that perspective, you could probably take what you're doing to some extent. But, you know, he's got teams and teams of people. And so I think, you know, he's got teams and teams of people, you know, helping him with that. So for as normal folk, I think it's challenging to figure that out. Yeah. And as you said, the last time you were on here, like, pick one platform. They are different. And we can't try to like force everything into like this one piece of content

because you need to get, you need to like go all in on the type of content you want to make in TikTok. Is it going to work on LinkedIn? You can give it a try. But you should probably pick one and focus on the content that's working well on that platform. Exactly, yeah. Andrea, where can we find out more about you? Well, if you're listening to this podcast, you probably like podcasts. So check out the savvy social podcast for more tips and tricks, social advice, and help. And we're on YouTube as well.

or if you're on social media, I'm at OnlineDrea. Everywhere. I love Instagram, so that's why I spend a lot of my time. Thanks, Andrea. Thank you for having me. That's all for now. To learn how you can sign up for a one-on-one podcast launch BAP day with me or to learn more about one of my online podcast courses, visit sarahmicatel.com. And make sure that you grab my five-step formula for getting on podcasts at sarah megatel.com

slash pitch formula. Do you ever go blank or start rambling once? someone puts you on the spot. I created a free conversation sheet sheet with simple formulas that you can use so you can respond with clarity, whether you're in a meeting or just talking with friends. Download it at sarah micotel.com slash blank no more.