You’re keen to get your podcast out there, and you are probably looking for as many ways as possible to get it in front of potential listeners. Is it a good idea to include YouTube in your audio podcast’s marketing strategy?
First of all, is it even possible to upload an audio-only file to a platform that deals solely in videos? Well, it is, kind of. It’s possible to upload the audio of your podcast, but you’ll have to manipulate it so it looks like a video file. You can combine your podcast audio with an image, such as your podcast artwork, to create a video file. Using this super simple workaround allows you to easily upload your podcast to YouTube for all your eager listeners to enjoy.
But is there any value in putting your podcast on YouTube? There are pros and cons to leveraging the platform to add another way to listen to your show and get it in front of a huge potential audience.
Why Put Your Podcast on YouTube?
Some people prefer to consume content through YouTube. Maybe they manage all of their subscriptions there and use it to play music as well as watch videos. In fact, many people say YouTube is their go-to platform for enjoying podcasts.
It is a simple process to add your podcast to this additional platform, so why wouldn’t you make it easy for people to find and listen to you? Even if somebody is new to the idea of podcasting, pretty much everybody is familiar with YouTube.
It’s a breeze to upload your show to YouTube. Nowadays thanks to YouTube’s improvements after Google Podcasts shut down, you only need a few clicks and your podcast can be live on YouTube!
Why Not Upload Audio to YouTube?
Audio is the perfect medium to enjoy while you’re busy with routine tasks. Podcast audiences often listen to shows in the car, in the gym, or even while out for a walk. Video needs a little more attention and is not conducive to multi-tasking. Because YouTube is a platform mainly for video content, it hasn’t been overly friendly for listening only in the past.
However, things are changing. YouTube continues to put more muscle behind its podcasting features and promotion, encouraging podcasters to utilize the platform, even for audio-only uploads. Check out their page about Podcasting on YouTube and also their best practices guide.
Whether your podcasts contain actual video content or are just audio, YouTube seems to be encouraging them all.
Alternative Strategies
Maybe you’re thinking of recording your interviews via Zoom and getting around the video only issue that way. Remember that recording video will generate added expenses such as editing and equipment to do it properly. It’s much easier to create a high-quality audio recording than a high-quality video recording.
If you are committed to the idea of having a YouTube presence, there are alternatives to uploading full shows. You could consider using your YouTube channel to publish audiograms as YouTube Shorts, to show an intro or highlight reel, or even as a way of adding additional content in the form of a pre or post-interview chat with your guest. YouTube elaborates on these various strategies in the above-mentioned best practices guide for podcasting on YouTube.
But you can indeed upload a full video version to YouTube instead, rather than audio-only! It is becoming more and more common to do so.
Conclusion
So long as you avoid the negatives like annoying your subscribers or creating extra work/expenses for yourself, there’s not much downside to putting your audio podcast on YouTube.
In our experience, this practice tends to be most effective when you already have a following. We haven’t seen YouTube be overly generous in sending organic traffic to audio-only content, though with their recent push to expand their podcast playback functionality, this could be changing.
As mentioned, there is plenty of data suggesting why YouTube is a good platform to be on, but this doesn’t necessarily mean that you’ll see any benefits from uploading your audio-only podcast there. As YouTube continues to grow in popularity as a platform for podcasts, it’s likely that the audience numbers will continue to grow as well.
Need help with editing your podcast? Get in touch with East Coast Studio.