How To Make a Vodcast To Connect With Your Audience (2024) – Shopify

Video is a powerful marketing tool. It consistently ranks as the most engaging form of social content. However, short-form social media videos and ads can only tell so much story. They’re great for showing off your newest product, but they’re less effective for getting your audience to know your passionate lead designer or interviewing a leading sustainability expert. For that, you need something more expansive, like a vodcast.

Read on to learn how to get started with vodcasting—and get a head start with insider insights from Jill Dunn, co-creator of the Breaking Beauty podcast.

What is a vodcast?

The term “vodcast” (short for “video podcast” or “video-on-demand-cast”) refers to a podcast with a video element. Many vodcasts are video versions of audio-first podcasts. Some also include additional visual elements, like animations or graphics. 

Vodcast vs. podcast: What’s the difference?

Many vodcasts started as podcasts—but adding video can change your reach and approach. Both vodcasts and podcasts rely on high-quality audio and require specialized production equipment like microphones, headphones, and audio editing software. Vodcasts incorporate visual elements, making video and audio quality equally important. On top of audio equipment, you may need a good camera, a tripod, lighting, a backdrop or green screen, and video editing or animation software.

Major podcasting platforms like Spotify and Apple Podcasts support in-app video content streaming. Many vodcasters also upload episodes to a video-first social media platform like YouTube. Although vodcasts require more active engagement with screens, Breaking Beauty podcast co-creator Jill Dunn says vodcast viewers can also multitask.

“A lot of people very passively watch content on Spotify or YouTube,” she says. “They put it on their smart TV, and they clean their house, but there’s something about being able to check in and look over.”

Ecommerce companies can use both podcasts and vodcasts for content marketing. Both are ideal for storytelling, audio dramas, interviews, news, commentary, educational content, and other long-form narrative structures. Vodcasts can also accommodate product demos, tutorials, and visual explainers of complex subjects.

Benefits of vodcasts

Jill cites the opportunity to build strong customer relationships as a major benefit of vodcasting.

“You feel like you’re getting to know a friend,” she says. “It’s like you’re interacting with the host. It’s that much more personal and authentic.”

Vodcasting can also help brands attract new viewers and boost engagement. Here’s an overview of the benefits:

Increased engagement

Vodcasting can be an effective way to tap into video marketing, boosting engagement and capitalizing on video’s unique ability to connect with audiences.

“We are living in the world of seven-second viral videos. It’s an engagement play,” Jill says. “Vodcasting offers your audience a chance to slow down and get to know you.”

Creators can also use video platforms to connect with like-minded individuals through community-building tactics like livestreaming.

Broad demographic appeal

Vodcasting can help you appeal to a wider audience than podcasting alone. One 2022 study found that video is the most popular marketing content form for users between the ages of 18 and 44. It’s tied with email and newsletters for users aged 45 to 54, and is the second most popular form of content with users 55 and up.

Additionally, YouTube is now the most popular podcast platform in the US: 31% of listeners say it’s the platform they use most.

“YouTube is No. 1 for discoverability,” Jill says.

Amplified media value

If you already run a successful podcast, adding video content can boost the marketing value of your podcast without significantly increasing your workload. Many successful vodcasts film audio podcast recording sessions, so you’ll need to invest in visual production infrastructure, but you won’t necessarily need to rework your existing content strategy.

Adding video also gives you the opportunity to post that content on social media, where it can go viral.

“Podcast clips are just gold on TikTok and on social media,” Jill says. “If you create the video assets, you can then really get creative about how you’re reusing that content and how you’re going to parlay it on social.”

Increased content flexibility

Audio is a great medium, but it’s hard to demonstrate an oil change technique or showcase a makeover with an audio-only format. Vodcasting offers the chance to incorporate product demonstrations, customer testimonials, and how-to videos into your content.

Visual content can be particularly valuable for ecommerce companies.

“We talk a lot about beauty products, launches, new products, and innovation, and overwhelmingly, the feedback has been ’Where can I watch this? Where can I see it?’” Jill says. “I think having those visual aids is really key to sharing your message.”

How to make a vodcast

1. Set goals
2. Plan your content
3. Source equipment
4. Practice on camera
5. Record your episode
6. Edit your episode
7. Choose a hosting platform
8. Promote your podcast

Creating a vodcast can boost brand awareness and build stronger relationships with your target audiences. Here are seven steps to make your own—whether you’re adding video elements to an existing podcast or starting from scratch:

1. Set goals

Start by identifying goals for your vodcast. If you already have a podcast, why are you adding video? Do you want to attract new audiences, increase traffic to your online store, or boost conversions on a particular content type?

Set goals and determine the key performance indicators (KPIs) you’ll monitor to track success. If you don’t already have a podcast, identify your target audience first, and then set goals and KPIs.

2. Plan your content

Choose your focus area and develop a vodcast content calendar that maps out at least three months of episode subjects, so you can take the time to create quality content.

Generally speaking, valuable content entertains, informs, or educates audiences. Ecommerce business owners can also choose subjects that help audiences engage with their products. For example, an expert cake decorator with an online bakeware business can create a vodcast that shares expert baking and cake-decoration tips.

3. Source equipment

Choose a quiet recording space and gather your vodcasting equipment. Your exact needs will vary based on your production type, but at the bare minimum, you’ll need the following:

• Headphones
• Microphones
• Video camera
• Camera lenses
• Microphone
• Studio lights
• Recording software
• Video editing software
• Audio mixing and editing software

You might also need additional equipment like animation software, a background or green screen, and portable equipment for on-location episodes. Jill recommends user-friendly remote podcasting platforms like Riverside.fm.

“They have made it pretty seamless to create a studio and get great-sounding video and audio,” Jill says. “They even have some built-in AI features that can get you a transcript or create AI-generated show notes—just these things that will help save you time on the admin front.”

4. Practice on camera

Getting comfortable on camera takes time, so start with a low-pressure test session. Then review your test footage, taking note of posture, lighting, body language, background, and intonation.

Here are a few tips:

• Practice good posture. Find a comfortable, professional posture that you can maintain for the duration of a recording session, and experiment with camera angles to see what looks best on film.

• Make eye contact. Your camera is your audience, so don’t ignore them. If looking into the camera feels unnatural, pretend there’s a friend on the other side of the lens.

• Imitate the pros. Playing yourself is a shortcut to an identity crisis—so instead of trying to just be yourself, imitate a vodcaster whose style and presence you admire. You’ll end up playing the version of yourself best suited to the vodcast form.

5. Record your episode

Test your equipment, review audio and video quality, set your lighting, and take steps to minimize background noise and interruptions.

If you’re recording your vodcast episode at home, pick a time when outside traffic is quiet, set your phone to Do Not Disturb, and ask other household members to steer clear of your recording space. If you’re on location, get close to the mic, use soundproofing materials or natural barriers to reduce background noise, and consider microphone windshields (to lessen noises like popping sounds) if necessary.

Jill recommends recording on multiple tracks.

“Make sure that everybody that you’re recording is on a separate track,” Jill says. “When you’re editing, you need to cut crosstalk, and it enables you to cut if your dog walks by in the background while I’m talking. It just makes for a better end result.”

6. Edit your episode

Use your audio mixing, video editing, and animation software to assemble your episode. Common editing tasks include removing mistakes, adjusting audio levels to increase clarity, and reordering sections to strengthen the episode narrative. You might also add graphics or animations and custom intros and outros.

Jill also recommends the editing software Descript.

“You can upload your audio to this particular format, and it will give you a transcript, and then you can just edit in Descript like you would a Word document,” she says. “It will make the edits for you and spit out the MP3 or the MP4, and it’s always improving.”

7. Choose a hosting platform

Before you publish your podcast on platforms like Spotify and Apple Podcasts, choose a podcast-hosting platform and upload your episodes.

Look for a platform that supports audio and video content like BuzzSprout or PodBean, upload your episodes, and submit RSS feeds to podcast platforms to syndicate your content. If your podcast host doesn’t support video, you can use your current host to distribute audio content to key platforms and upload video recordings to YouTube separately.

8. Promote your podcast

Once your vodcast is live, promote it on your website, social media accounts, and other marketing channels.

Jill also recommends selecting podcast guests who will promote you.

“You can be strategic about choosing your guests as well,” she says. “Ask them upfront if they’ll be willing to promote [your podcast] and collaborate. Share the links with them; share social assets with them. Ask them to put it in their newsletter. These types of things really help spread the word about your podcast.”