Christiana Cromer gives a tip about using video to promote your audio-only podcast

Christiana Comer: 00:00:01

Hi, I'm Christiana Cromer.

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I'm a community manager for

Descript and today I'm going to

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give you a tip about using video

to promote your audio-only podcast.

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So I'm a community manager

at Descript, which is an AI

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powered audio and video editor.

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So you upload your media and instead

of editing it in a, like a traditional

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DAW, or being deep in the tapes,

you can edit it like you would

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a Word document or a Notion doc.

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So our promise is that if you can edit

a Word doc, you can edit in Descript,

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which I love because it's opened up

the doors for more people to become

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podcasters and creators or, marketing

people like me who aren't traditional

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video editors can work on their

video chops and make some cool stuff.

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Earlier this summer, we launched this

thing called Underlord, which is a new AI

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editing assistant that lives in Descript.

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Don't be scared.

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AI is not taking over Descript.

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We believe that the creative control

should always be with the creator.

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So think of Underlord as a

very smart intern that you

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can offload drudgery tasks to.

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And also new in the world, especially for

podcasters is what we're calling Rooms.

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A year ago, we were lucky enough

to acquire and combine forces

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with SquadCast, what we're using

for this podcast right now.

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And making good on the promise

to seamlessly add remote

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recording into the Descript app,

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we're creating Rooms, which is our

new collaborative remote recording

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studio that we just opened up the

beta yesterday, which means remote

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recording will be right inside your

Descript editor that you know and love.

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It's super exciting.

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And yeah, I'm excited

for people to try it out.

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Like many of us, I got into podcasting

via becoming an avid listener of

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podcasts back when I was in school.

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I just kind of fell in love

with the format on my frigid

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walks to my 8am classes.

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Podcast hosts were my best

and motivating friends.

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And, as I was just working, you

know, further in my career, I

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realised that media is something

I'm super passionate about.

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And, I had a mentor who was working

at Descript and a community role

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opened up and I wanted that role.

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Um, I'd also played around with having

my own little podcast that I was

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just tinkering with to see what it

would be like to learn more about it.

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So I had some experience

using Descript and just like

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learning more about the space.

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But my true foray started when

I got the job at Descript.

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I've been here for three years, three

years working in the industry, and

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it's a pretty amazing space to work in.

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There's a million things to love about

podcasting, but what came to me as I

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was thinking about this was the long or

longer form format where you can be on a

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walk, or you can be doing the dishes, or

you can be sitting in your room quietly,

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whatever you want to do feels like such a

balm for the type of content that we get

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served on our social platforms, right?

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When I get to the part of my day

where I'm listening to my podcasts

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feel so It's like a warm blanket.

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Um, unless I'm listening to some like

news podcast, of course, but then I'm

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anxious or true crime or whatever I

know that like, there's the podcasting

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bubble and people were always worried

about, you know, what's going on with the

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industry, but I actually think that the

long game, there's going to be more and

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more audio content because we're tired.

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We're tired of looking at our phones

and ingesting 1 million pieces of micro

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content a day, and it just feels like

a format and a medium that is like,

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good for the soul not to be too, um,

philosophical about it or whatever, but

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I just, it feels different than other

ways of consuming content right now.

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It feels better for my brain.

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And it's more of a connective medium.

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I feel close to some of these hosts

and the creators that I listen to

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versus oftentimes I'm like, what was

that one TikTok, that one person?

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It was so funny.

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I have no idea who they were, right?

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So I'm not hating on all that stuff.

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I think creators that do

that work are also awesome.

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And there's a lot of cool stuff

that happens on social right

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now, but, podcasts are just...

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they just feel good.

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They make me feel good.

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So my big tip, here it

is: always record video,

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even if you make an audio only podcast.

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You can use that long form video

recording for social clips and promotion,

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sending assets to your guests that

there'll be more willing to share.

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I mean, everyone loves to see

themselves rendered on screen.

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And creating highlight reels for your

website to share with prospective guests.

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And of course, as like roundups for

your season, say you want to do a

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collection of all the people you

had on video is a really cool way

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to like showcase your guests and

showcase the work that you're doing.

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Stuff like that.

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So just to be very clear, I am not saying

you have to have a full video podcast.

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I think thought leaders in our

space that say you need to have

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full video podcasts are wrong.

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I don't think that's true for everybody.

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You know your audience and your craft

the best, maybe the type of show you do

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lends itself to the audio-only experience.

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I think that's awesome,

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and I don't think that

you should change that.

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But to me, it is 100 percent

worth it to record video at this

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point for promotional purposes.

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And that's my big tip.

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you can find me on LinkedIn.

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Just search Christiana Cromer

also on Twitter and Instagram or

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at descript.com/community, if you

want to keep up with the stuff

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we're doing over at Descript.

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And you can see all of my

links in the show notes.

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Thanks for listening to Podcasting People.