YouTube Podcasts

What is a podcast?

A simple definition of a podcast is a series of digital files in video or audio recordings that are available on the internet for downloading

Are podcasts on YouTube?

YouTube is not an official platform for podcasting, but many YouTubers use it for podcasting. YouTubers use YouTube for distribution, SEO, growing their podcast audience, and complementing their platform. 

How to Start a Podcast on YouTube

Approximately 30 million people visit YouTube daily. That makes it a perfect platform to do podcasting on. You can create your podcast today and make it available to the millions who access YouTube every day.

People who use YouTube for podcasting have better visibility on YouTube and Google. They can reach to more audience without having produced the same content twice.  

Here, you will learn how to expand your audience by using podcasts on YouTube.

Simple Audio to Video

To start your podcast on YouTube, you can use audio from your podcast and proceed to create a video. That is possible by putting cover art on the screen. This is a simple method, but not the best. 

You must put engaging art cover preferably by creating visually exciting slides to accompany your words. This method allows the owner to use key phrases to enhance SEO. It works well, but it can be done in a better way.

Film Your Podcast

When recording your podcast audio, record a video of yourself as well and upload it on YouTube. That is going to gain you more followers in a hassle-free manner.

Supplemental Videos

Fact: short videos (about 5 minutes) have been known to do better compared to long videos.

Ensure that you create supplemental videos to impact on your podcast. Find ways of making the content of your podcast visual. Make sure that the visual part of the podcast displays things you are talking about. 

Highly visual videos are always more engaging on YouTube. Many viewers are going to like your podcast, blog, and website.

Steps to Making a YouTube Channel for Your Podcast

1. Sign up for a YouTube account and log in. Create and customize your YouTube channel and create a name for it.
2. Select your country from your dropdown. Fill in personal info where necessary, and select your privacy settings. On finishing, click “All Done!”.
3. Use this format to create your RSS feed. http://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/api/users/yourchannelname/uploads
   this RSS will be useful for podcast application, mp3 players, directories and people who subscribe to your podcasts using their smartphones.
4. On your homepage, click “Upload” to add videos on your channel. Here, you can add multiple videos or do a live recording. Every video is automatically added to your RSS to enable subscribers to download.
5. All your podcasts RSS to the URL of your website for visitors to easily subscribe to your YouTube podcast. Use this format: http://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/api/users/yourchannelname/uploads

How to Create an Enhanced Podcast Feed

1. Log in to Feedburner.com using YouTube username and password. This Google-owned service allows podcasters to create enhanced feeds and tracking of statistics and provide a summary of podcast performance.
2. Add your podcast RSS feed URL to the “burn a feed right this instant.” Confirm “I am a podcaster” section and click “next.”
3. Edit “Feed Title Field” to add the title of your podcast. Click “Next” to generate and enhanced feed to use as the subscriber link on your site.
   

Why do You Need Your Podcast to be on YouTube

YouTube can be used for many reasons apart from a video platform. Both young and older adults are familiar with how YouTube works. That is encouraging for podcasters because they can upload their content to reach out to a big audience of loyal fans. The discoverability of your podcast is enhanced when it pops up in peoples “up next” suggestion. If the pop up reaches a big audience, there will be people who will show interest, view your content, and subscribe.

Use the “more by this editor” to allow crossover for the audience looking for different content. It supports features like cover art and dynamic sound waves that will be useful in enhancing your audio.

Podcasters need to know that YouTube is a powerful tool used by millions every day for audio content. People listen to music audio releases, audio clips, and radio shows that they missed. YouTube introduced YouTube Music for audio content. It is, however, not popular. It is recommended that you use the YouTube platform to avail your content from toddlers to the elderly. 

You might consider using YouTube Music in the future, once it becomes popular to everyone.

Top Reasons for Podcasting on YouTube

Podcasting on YouTube has registered great success for those who have tried it. That is despite many perceptions that people have about podcasting on YouTube. The following reasons will convince you to podcast on YouTube.

• YouTube Supports an Enormous Audience

Second, from Facebook, YouTube supports over 1.8 billion monthly users.  Other social media platforms like Twitter and Instagram are way behind YouTube. Therefore, place your bait where many fishes live. You are going to attract and catch lots of new ones.

• YouTube and Google Have a Perfect Relationship

Google bought YouTube in 2006 at 1.65 billion dollars. Over the past 12 years, YouTube has expanded to many countries and got many users. It is currently worth $100 billion. For a blog to succeed, it must invest in Google SEO services. The Google SEO is also applicable for YouTube by enhancing accurate search results that is a real deal-breaker for podcasters. 

• YouTube Owns the Present and the Future

Just like “Google it!” became an ordinary verb to many people, the same case applied to “YouTube it!” to many people now and in the future. When you meet someone, and you discuss an event on TV, a music release or something on the trend, the first place to visit is YouTube. Considering that 1.8 billion people are out here watching and subscribing new content every month, what about in 10 years? Podcasters must take this chance to seize this opportunity of podcasting on YouTube because it is the best currently and unbeatable in the future.

What you need to do!

The above 3 points have helped you understand the power that lies on YouTube. Create a YouTube channel and consistently brand your podcast on the rest of the social media platforms. Create original content targeting a specific audience to upload on your channel. Follow updates on YouTube and Google for useful marketing tips.

How to Turn YouTube into a Podcast Network

Some of the most prominent YouTube scholars have managed to make podcasts work on platforms that were not designed for them. YouTube Might not be popularly recognized for podcasts, but these creators have proven that YouTube is an authentic podcast network. These creators are Logan Paul, Emma Chamberlain, and Marques Brownlee. 

A recent survey on Canadian adults proved that 43% of them searched for podcasts on YouTube in the past year. That is despite YouTube having been designed for videos, not podcasts. YouTube lies ahead of Apple Podcasts(34%) and Spotify(23%). 

It is possible to leverage search algorithms on YouTube, reach new audiences, increase the money you make and grow rapidly in the coming years. There are YouTube podcasters who are pulling millions of views days after they upload their podcasts. These podcasters have a highly dedicated audience who get YouTube notifications in the form of an RSS feed. That happens every time the podcaster uploads a new episode. YouTube is the most preferred stop, ahead of Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

YouTube podcasters are now breaking their shows into pieces and spreading them across several channels. That enables them to reach bigger audiences. They run full-length episodes on their podcast channels. Using several channels is an excellent method of growing your podcast channel.

Consider the H3 Podcast that uses the “YouTube Podcast” format. Hila Klein and Ethan have three channels; H3H3 Production with 6M subscribers, H3 podcast with 2M subscribers, and H3 Podcast Highlights with 1.3M subscribers. The H3H3 Production is purposely for exclusive collaborations, long commentary pieces, and comedic sketches. H3 Podcast and H3 Podcast Highlights are dedicated to the podcast. 

When other YouTube podcasters embrace this technique, they are going to have an in-built audience whenever they create new channels. The benefit of keeping a podcast on a separate channel is to give room for creators to work on two different types of content. People who visit and subscribe to your channel for comedy, pranks, cat videos, etc. are more likely to be turned off by extended interviews or too much talk.

YouTube podcasters can, therefore, expand their audience and still maintain their existing fans. Every channel will have its audience, but the podcaster will benefit from all the channels they create. That makes the podcaster generate more income from ad revenue on YouTube.

YouTube is a potent tool for podcasters. It is simple to start and grow a podcast by reaching to a more loyal audience on the internet. Podcasting must be the next move for all creators. YouTube, however, has not responded by making any changes to their product to accommodate podcasting. You can, however, develop your podcast by collaborating and understanding how they will use YouTube to their advantage.

Developing podcasts is the way to go for creators. That is because it is growing at a promising substantial rate. Starting, developing and expanding your podcast on YouTube is very simple. Identify a field with a high audience prospect, generate high-quality content consistently, and see how easily you are going to succeed in podcasting.