Today, without a video strategy for social media, your business is losing out on an unprecedented time for brand building. That’s because social media companies from Facebook to LinkedIn have realized that video is the best way to keep users engaged. In response, their algorithms give a lot of advantages to video content.

What does that mean for your business' social media strategy? In short, if you put out video content, it’s going to get viewed and interacted with more. But the benefits of starting a video podcast (AKA a Vodcast) go far beyond gathering views.

Why you should consider starting a vodcast

If you approach creating a vodcast purely to get more people to see your band, you’re likely going to miss out on deeper advantages. Specifically, vodcasts allow you to learn a tremendous amount about your potential customers all while building a powerful brand. Here’s how:

The opportunities for creating microcontent are huge

The system seems obvious: you put out each video episode and then go create the next one. But that process actually misses the most valuable part of running a vodcast for your business: microcontent.

Okay, but what is microcontent? Essentially, every time you create an episode, you take pieces of it and turn them into shorter video clips, audio clips, blog posts, memes, charts, etc. Then, you take all that microcontent and put it out in several waves (You can look to GaryVee as the master of this system).

When you do this, each piece of microcontent is a small experiment to determine what themes, ideas, etc. resonate with your audience. That content also translates into many more opportunities for sharing and drawing in new viewers.

Plus you’ll have tons of great content for all of your company’s social media feeds. Now, instead of constantly worrying about what on earth you’re going to post to keep your feeds fresh, you just need to focus on creating microcontent and putting it out.

It’s a great way to stand out in your industry

Another major advantage of creating a vodcast as a part of your video strategy for social media is brand building. Both your audience and your competition will take note when you’re the first company in your industry to start creating quality video content.

Just look at some of the vodcast examples from companies who are pioneering this strategy to get a feel for what it could do for you.

It offers a new way to educate your customers

Companies are always looking out for new ways to educate prospective and existing customers alike. Whether it’s showing them all the ways your product or service can benefit them or just making it clear that you offer something unique.

By creating entertaining video content, your prospective customers will happily watch content that educates them on these and other key points. The result is more customers getting moved down your funnel towards becoming buyers.

A vodcast is a fantastic platform for building thought leadership

Another benefit to consider alongside building a more powerful brand for your company is building a more powerful brand for key people within that company. Whether it’s your CEO, head of marketing, or someone more junior you’d like to promote, a vodcast is an excellent platform for propelling a powerful personality.

Vodcasts are about more than just setting up a camera

Okay, so you’ve got a sense for the value a vodcast can bring to your business, but what does it take to actually create one? We’ve gone into more detail about setting up a recording space and actually recording a podcast elsewhere, but here are the critical things you need to know beyond the practical basics.

Giving your audience options

One important benefit of creating a vodcast alongside all the accompanying microcontent is that it gives your audience options for enjoying your content. Consider how network TV late night shows utilized Youtube to vastly expand their reach. Today, millions of people who never watch a full episode of their shows on their respective networks watch countless video clips from then on Youtube.

In other words, giving their audience options has led to a substantial increase in their reach. For you, this means putting out microcontent as well as things like releasing an audio version of your show as a podcast. The more ways your audience can enjoy what you’re creating, the greater you reach and impact.

Plus, more channels gives you more places to put out microcontent and learn about your audience. For example, if your audience on LinkedIn has different preferences than your audience on Pinterest, that can translate into better insights about the subtleties of your potential customer base and how you can appeal to them.

Thinking about entertainment first

Ultimately, when you create a vodcast your competition isn’t other businesses, it’s other video content creators. That’s why you need to think of your content as entertainment first. If you put together a show that’s essentially a long infomercial for your product or service, not many people are going to watch it willingly.

Experimentation is key

You’ll also want to keep in mind that you’re unlikely to get it right the first time. The best shows all experiment: trying out formats, themes, ideas, etc. until they get it right. Fortunately, the microcontent mentioned above makes this much easier by creating a built-in way to rest various formats and ideas with your audience as you go.

But in general, always be ready to pivot. Falling in love with your first idea and resisting any change to it no matter what your audience says is a recipe for failure. Flexibility, experimentation, and open eyes and ears are keys to vodcast success.

What are you waiting for?

If we’ve got you convinced but you’re wondering where to start, don’t worry. We’ve got years of experience helping companies like you create compelling video content. If you’re feeling stuck at step 1, feel free to schedule a brainstorming session with us.