Amelia [00:00:00] Hello and welcome to The Softer Cast, a podcast for small business owners and creatives who want tender podcast advice without any tech bro bullshit.

Amelia [00:00:10] I'm Amelia Hruby and I'm the founder of Softer Sounds, a feminist podcast studio for women and non-binary entrepreneurs. On this show, I answer your questions about podcasting.

Amelia [00:00:22] Today's question was submitted by my friend and Softer Sounds client, Stephanie Graham of noseyAF podcast. Shout out to Stephanie. She reached out and asked me, "Should I put my podcast on YouTube? And how do you record your show for YouTube? Tell me all your secrets."

Amelia [00:00:39] So, in today's episode, I'm going to talk about the new question [chuckles]. Last episode was an age-old question:

Amelia [00:00:46] Should I start a podcast?

Amelia [00:00:47] Today is a new age question:

Amelia [00:00:49] Should I put my podcast on YouTube? To video podcast or not to video podcast? That is the question.

Amelia [00:00:59] So, let's start by talking about why everyone is suddenly talking about video podcasting and putting your podcast on YouTube. Well, a lot of this is coming out of the podcast industry itself.

Amelia [00:01:09] So, in Fall of 2021, YouTube hired their first full-time hire, as far as I know, to oversee podcasting efforts specifically. So, in Fall of 2021, YouTube makes this full-time podcast hire.

Amelia [00:01:22] And then in Spring of 2022, they shared an extensive presentation on their podcasting plans with Podnews, the, kind of, podcast industry news source. And over the summer, like as this news spreads, that YouTube is getting into podcasting— over the summer of 2022, I started to see podcast hosting platforms create a lot more content about putting your podcast on YouTube.

Amelia [00:01:48] In fact, when I did a quick Google search to try to find these things I remembered seeing [laughs lightly]— you can really tell that, like, all of these major platforms, all published posts called, “How to Start a Podcast on YouTube," but like they're all the same. Literally the names are, "How to Start a Podcast on YouTube 2022" from Buzzsprout, "How to Start a Podcast on YouTube in Seven Steps [2022 Guide]" from Riverside, "How to Start and Upload Your Podcast on YouTube" from Castos [chuckles].

Amelia [00:02:13] So, we see some of these major podcast-hosting platforms and recording platforms start to talk about how to start and upload your podcasts on YouTube because of this announcement from YouTube itself that they're going to start putting a lot more money and resources into podcasting and into having podcasts on YouTube.

Amelia [00:02:34] So, I think that's creating a lot of buzz, that's bringing more and more podcasters to me and my clients, my friends, asking if they should be putting their podcast on YouTube. It's probably why you're listening to this episode, thinking to yourself, "Should I put my podcast on YouTube?"

Amelia [00:02:49] [Chuckles lightly] I think there are two other factors that are kind of lending themselves to this. One is that more and more remote recording platforms have video capabilities. So, a lot of people are recording on Zoom, which is obviously a video call platform. But you've got much more accessible platforms now like Zencastr and Riverside. They're being launched all the time where you— when you're recording there, they can also capture high-fidelity video.

Amelia [00:03:14] So, I think a lot of folks are seeing like, well, this video is being recorded. I have it. Should I put it somewhere? Another motivating factor, I think, for the question— should I put my podcast on YouTube— is that YouTube has an algorithm, which maybe means that more people might discover your podcast there.

Amelia [00:03:34] Podcast discovery is challenging. One of the best things and worst things about podcast listening apps like Apple Podcasts and Spotify is that they're not delivering you new podcasts based on algorithm. So, there isn't an algorithm there serving up suggestions. The suggestions are happening either through human curation or through what other listeners who listen to a show have heard recently, or just through, like, catery— category-specific recommendations.

Amelia [00:04:02] So, podcast discovery is not as algorithmically-fueled, for instance, as everything you're doing on social media is. But YouTube has an algorithm that shows you different videos in that side panel or automatically plays them afterwards and really emphasizes that sort of discovery in a way that podcast listening platforms don't at this stage.

Amelia [00:04:24] So, I think another factor motivating the desire for many podcasters to get on YouTube is to help with that discovery, to kind of have the YouTube machine behind you, bringing more people to your show.

Amelia [00:04:35] Now, if you're familiar with me or my work on Off the Grid podcast, you know that I am very skeptical and critical about algorithms. The YouTube algorithm in particular has been shown to radicalize viewers on the site.

Amelia [00:04:50] So, I'm not sure that, you know, YouTube having an algorithm will not necessarily bring you any more viewers or listeners but I do understand that desire for discovery and for growing your show with algorithmic— with algorithmically-boosted [laughs] discovery.

Amelia [00:05:08] So, I think that's why everyone is suddenly talking about video podcasting and putting your podcast on YouTube. You've got, like, YouTube coming out and saying that they're going to support podcasters more. You've got podcasting platforms, having these video capabilities, and you've got this genuine desire to help our podcasts get heard. Or on YouTube, seen in the process.

Amelia [00:05:29] So, to get to Stephanie's question then: Should I put my podcast on YouTube? But how do I record my show for YouTube? Well, I'm going to start with that latter question. You might, in fact, be watching this on YouTube, because I have put this episode on my podcast host and on YouTube [chuckles softly]. And how do I do it?

Amelia [00:05:45] So, I record all of my episodes in Riverside. That is my favorite platform for recording. It's— I've got an affiliate link in the show notes if you want to sign up and get your own plan today. And I like Riverside because it records high-quality audio and high-quality video simultaneously. And that's really what you need to have a podcast that is both on a podcast listening platform and on YouTube. I also really like that Riverside has built-in, like, minor video editing, so you can like add your brand logo to the video. You can put video side-by-side, you can reformat the video for different platforms if you want it on YouTube or you want it on Instagram.

Amelia [00:06:27] So, those capabilities really brought me to Riverside. And that's the technology that I use to record video and audio. And so, I can have my podcast both places. But it's not just about having the technology. Part of the reason people love podcasts is because you can edit them. You can make mistakes, start over, do whatever, and the listener— like the end result, no one will ever know because you edited it— or someone edited it. You can also edit video, but video editing is a much more involved process than audio editing. It takes literally more physical— more digital space on your computer, which relates to physical space, I suppose [chuckles].

Amelia [00:07:12] I'm not tech savvy in the hardware side of computers, but video editing is more involved in that way. And it's also much more obvious when a video is edited. If you cut out a section of an audio conversation, the listener will likely never, ever know. You cut out a big chunk of a video, you're going to see that clip in it, you're going to be able to tell like, "Oh, this person was in one place on the screen, now they're in the other place. Something must have been taken out there."

Amelia [00:07:37] So, I think that a reason— like a question that comes up for me around video and audio podcasting is that editing piece. So, what is my solution to the challenge of editing?

Amelia [00:07:50] Well, I record my videos in one take and I publish them as they happen [laughs]. So, if you ever watched the YouTube videos of this podcast, or if you're watching this right now, you're going to catch every time I restart, every time I say something off, every time that, you know, I scratch my face or my cat jumps in the frame, it's all going to be there on the video.

Amelia [00:08:13] The audio, however, does get edited. So, you know, I can cut things out of the audio, I can make it sound more polished, I can improve it, or I can skip, like, a weird story I told that nobody really needed to hear anyway. The audio is an edited, polished product, whereas the video is really somewhere I'm just showing up more live and unfiltered. So, that was my solution. I don't know that that solution will work for everyone. It comes from just a general comfort of being on camera and a lot of podcasting experience [chuckles lightly] that's made me comfortable speaking off the cuff. But that is how— to answer Stephanie's question— those are all my secrets [chuckles] for recording my podcast for YouTube and for the audio podcast, video and audio podcasting simultaneously.

Amelia [00:09:01] So, let's get to the heart of this question. Should you put your podcast on YouTube? Well, of course, the answer depends on your goals. You know, I think that if you really want to maximize your audience, putting it on YouTube can help with that. There are plenty of people that tell me that they only watch my podcasts on YouTube. That said, while, I have podcast episodes with hundreds of downloads. I think my most watched YouTube video has under 100 views, so the YouTube algorithm is certainly not boosting my videos anywhere personally. That's just my one-person anecdotal account.

Amelia [00:09:38] But I do think that you can— the reason I still put my podcast on YouTube is to maximize that visibility for an audience and because, in my experience, it's not that challenging to record the audio and video simultaneously.

Amelia [00:09:52] So, again, should you put your podcast on YouTube? Well, it depends on your goals.

Amelia [00:09:56] Do you want to maximize your audience? — Is the first question I would ask.

Amelia [00:09:59] A few more questions you consider—

Amelia [00:10:01] Do you love being on camera? Are you comfortable on camera? Do you feel good? Just kind of like being there and owning this visual space. Do you have a camera-ready space to record your show? So, one of the reasons people often like podcasting [chuckles] is because you can do it in bed, you could do it in your closet. Sometimes you need to record in the not-the-prettiest spaces because that's where you're going to get good audio quality. So, do you have a camera-ready space to record your show where you can still get good audio quality? That's another question I'd ask when considering if you want to put your show on YouTube.

Amelia [00:10:35] And then finally, do you have resources for audio and video editing? Because your show might require that. Either you need to be really comfortable with that one take going up on the Internet, or you need to have resources for video editing that can adjust that for you.

Amelia [00:10:50] I would also say if you do want to maximize your audience— that first question I asked— you probably want a video editor who could make your videos much cooler and flashier than the sort of, like, one take recorded on my MacBook Pro [laughs] version that I'm doing of this because YouTubers are on their A-game, y'all, and there are so many amazing YouTubers out there and they are editing their videos. So, if you really want to grow a YouTube audience, then I think that you want to be thinking about:

Amelia [00:11:20] How your videos can be more edited and a little flashier than my approach. So, at the end of the day, should you put your podcast on YouTube? I'll tell you what I tell my clients. This is, like, the expensive advice for free [laughs]. It's not really expensive. I'll tell you this. I tell my clients this. I think you should only put your energy into putting your show on YouTube if you plan to also invest time in YouTube strategies. So, if all you're doing is what I'm doing, throwing up that MacBook one-take recording, probably not going to see a lot of return on that.

Amelia [00:11:57] But if you really want to grow your audience and you're willing to both work on your podcast marketing strategy and your YouTube marketing strategy, then let's do it. If you've got the energy for that and audience growth is a priority, let's go. I'd love to see you on YouTube and in my podcast app.

Amelia [00:12:15] And if you're like me, you just like to be on camera and look at your face while you record and you're happy with just putting that on YouTube as it is, great, put it on YouTube, let's do that too.

Amelia [00:12:24] Check out the link in bio or below in the YouTube video [laughs] for my Riverside affiliate link. Get yourself in there and start recording video and audio together today or just start practicing. See if you like it and you can always go from there.

Amelia [00:12:38] That's it for today's episode where I have once again gone longer than my promised less than ten-minute episodes [laughs]. I hope that you enjoyed this episode.

Amelia [00:12:48] If you did, please subscribe in your favorite podcast listening platform and share it with a friend. And of course, you can head to softersounds.studio/softercast for show notes and free downloads for podcast beginners and pros. We've got a great Podcast Launch Toolkit if you're just thinking of launching a show. And we've got a really helpful 3-step Podcast Audit if you're looking to improve your current podcast and make it even better. I guess that's what improved means— improvement all around, but with the Softer Sounds tender approach.

Amelia [00:13:21] We'll be back in two weeks with another podcast answering your questions. You can submit those via email to hi@softersounds.studio or on SpeakPipe at speakpipe.com/softercast. Can't wait to see you on the softer side of podcasting. Bye.