Christiana Comer:
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.
