The Power of Affordable Video in Podcasting | Kendall Breitman

Sadaf Beynon [0:06 - 0:50]: Welcome back to PodJunction podcast, where podcasters learn to grow their business. In this episode, today we are talking video podcasting, and it is going to be with the help of a guest by the name of Kendall Breitman. She's the community manager at Riverside FM, and she's a bit different from our usual guests where we have podcasters, but she's got equally valuable information to give us as podcasters. So in this particular episode, you're going to learn how video podcasting is becoming more popular and how it can grow your audience. The tools that you need to start video podcasting without breaking the bank, and how to use short form content to promote your podcast.

Matt Edmundson [0:51 - 0:54]: Very good. And my name is Matt Edmundson.

Sadaf Beynon [0:54 - 0:56]: Oh, yeah, I forgot you were there.

Matt Edmundson [0:56 - 1:11]: This is Sadaf Beynon. We got about the whole introduction. So if this is your first time to the podcast, I just thought I'd introduce who we are. But a very warm welcome to you. It's good to be with you, jet lag and all.

Sadaf Beynon [1:11 - 1:14]: Yes. Tell us about your trip, Matt.

Matt Edmundson [1:14 - 1:15]: What do you want to know?

Sadaf Beynon [1:16 - 1:18]: Well, why you went to Miami, first of all?

Matt Edmundson [1:19 - 2:23]: Well, one, because it's warm. So. Yeah, it's never warm in the UK this time of year. So when I had the opportunity to go to a conference in Miami, I said yes, because why would you not? 33 degree heat. Yeah, I got a little bit sunburnt. It was interesting. The hotel that I stayed at had a sort of member's area to the beach on South beach in Miami. And South beach is a lovely beach. Beautiful beach, quite coarse sand, which surprised me. But white beach, Jeremy, and lovely, stunning. And as part of your hotel fee, they give you a lounger on the beach. And so I went down to the beach, and I thought I'd take my laptop. I'll do a little bit of work on the beach. South beach, why would you not? Wonderful opportunity. So I went down there, and it was 33 degrees, and I thought, I am going to cook like five minutes, and that's it. I'm done, because I'm going to be out of here until they then told me it was $100 to rent the umbrella.

Sadaf Beynon [2:23 - 2:24]: Oh, wow.

Matt Edmundson [2:24 - 2:27]: So I didn't stay on the beach very long.

Sadaf Beynon [2:27 - 2:28]: Came back in.

Matt Edmundson [2:28 - 2:34]: Yeah, because I would be looking like a lobster right now had I done that. But it was an awesome time. Yeah, yeah.

Sadaf Beynon [2:34 - 2:36]: And you just got back yesterday. You're very jet lagged.

Matt Edmundson [2:37 - 2:47]: A little bit. Yeah, yeah, a little bit jet lagged. I'm not quite sure what day it is, but that's okay. So let's get straight back into the podcast studio. Why not? Because that makes a lot of sense.

Sadaf Beynon [2:47 - 2:47]: Yeah.

Matt Edmundson [2:48 - 2:52]: Okay. So, Kendall Breitman, Riverside FM.

Sadaf Beynon [2:52 - 2:52]: That's right.

Matt Edmundson [2:52 - 2:56]: Like you say, this is not our usual, because normally we talk to people who have a podcast.

Sadaf Beynon [2:56 - 2:56]: That's right.

Matt Edmundson [2:56 - 3:01]: And pick their brains, but today we're talking to Riverside FM people.

Sadaf Beynon [3:01 - 3:10]: Yeah. So she is a community manager, and she helps the thousands of communities that Riverside has and helps their creators.

Matt Edmundson [3:10 - 3:11]: Right.

Sadaf Beynon [3:11 - 3:17]: Be able to. Well, she advocates for them, so she helps them figure out things out on Riverside and support them.

Matt Edmundson [3:17 - 3:20]: Very good. And have you explained what Riverside is?

Sadaf Beynon [3:20 - 3:34]: Well, we've talked about Riverside a lot on this podcast, so if you've been listening to us, you'll know what it is. But if you haven't, it's a platform where you can record and edit your podcast. So, yeah, I thought it'd be fun to have them on.

Matt Edmundson [3:34 - 3:41]: Yeah, it's one of the platforms we use to do our podcasts on, so be great to have them. It's really cold in the studio today.

Sadaf Beynon [3:41 - 3:42]: It is very cold.

Matt Edmundson [3:42 - 3:51]: I'm like, at the conference, sorry to go on about this. I know Miami was 33 degrees, but the conference was like, minus six.

Sadaf Beynon [3:51 - 3:53]: The air conditioning, we were like, can.

Matt Edmundson [3:53 - 4:16]: You turn it down? I just. I'm sat there in Miami in the conference in jeans and a pullover because I'm so cold. I'm like, I feel like I'm back at the conference. Of course, what I don't have is a pool just directly outside where I can walk around it and warm up again. But never mind. Anyway, let's stop talking about Miami. So shall I play the clip?

Sadaf Beynon [4:16 - 4:16]: Yeah.

Matt Edmundson [4:16 - 4:18]: All right, let's do that. We'll be back after this.

Sadaf Beynon [4:19 - 4:22]: Why do you think video podcasting is becoming so popular?

Kendall Breitman [4:23 - 5:21]: I think that video podcasting is becoming more popular just because it's kind of a. It's letting people choose how they want to consume their content. So there are some people that are always going to be audio only, you know, like, that's how they want to consume that content. But with video podcasting, it ends up creating a different experience for people. So, for example, if you're not as much of a listener, you want to watch YouTube videos, it ends up breaking you into that aspect of content creation. Or I think that a lot of podcasters are using video, even if they're creating audio only, they want to then create the clips and be able to create teasers for their content. And so having video is just an essential part of that. So I think also as we're kind of going into the video podcast realm, more platforms like YouTube pushing shorts or Spotify pushing video, more of these platforms are starting to push video as a way to keep people onto their platforms and engage with audiences.

Sadaf Beynon [5:21 - 5:37]: I want to come back to what you were just saying about the reels and the shorts, but for those that are just starting out, what would you say are the essential pieces of equipment and software that they would need for a high quality video podcast?

Kendall Breitman [5:37 - 7:05]: Mm hmm. I would definitely say Riverside. And I'm not saying that just because I work there, really. I'm saying that because what I think, really, the beauty of Riverside is, is that it opens up more people to create content from their living rooms, from their offices, wherever they'd like. So you don't need, like, there used to be this blocker of, like, if you want a podcast, you need the studio. You need to bring people in. And now, with Riverside, it really opens up the ability to tell stories more easily and still in a professional way. And then as far as setup, I mean, I use Riverside. I'm right now recording from my iPhone. I connected my phone to my laptop, because you're going to, like, max out at 720p, like, lower quality video from your laptop camera. But we all have high quality webcams in our pockets now. So if you just have a phone, you can connect it to Riverside. And then I'm using a sure microphone. There are a ton of different budget microphones that you can use. For example, the Samsung Q two, uh, is a popular one under $100. The Audio Technica 2100 X. ATR 2100 X, also a budget microphone. So really just need a microphone. Riverside, a camera, a camera phone, and you're good to go. So you don't. I think there's a lot of people think there's a lot of hoops to jump over to make that setup, but there really aren't. There aren't that many obstacles to kind of overcome as far as setup in order to create a video podcast.

Sadaf Beynon [7:05 - 7:15]: Yeah, I like what you're saying. I think often people think you have to break the bank to get started, and actually, you don't. Just good lighting, a good microphone quality camera, as you're saying.

Kendall Breitman [7:15 - 7:45]: Yeah. And I think it's important to point that out, because I think that when we block stories to make them so that, like, only you can only tell your story in a podcast if you're willing to invest a ton of money, we're gonna get a lot less stories and a lot less perspectives. The more that you can open it up and make it accessible to more people. The better the platform, the better the medium becomes. The better podcast, the more we challenge ourselves and the more that the audiences can hear different types of stories and perspectives. So I think it's important.

Sadaf Beynon [7:46 - 7:56]: That's a great point. I really like that. That. Yeah, it does. The more accessible it becomes, the easier it becomes for people to share on a podcast. Absolutely, exactly.

Kendall Breitman [7:56 - 7:57]: Yeah.

Sadaf Beynon [7:57 - 8:13]: Going back to what you were saying about short form video content. So, TikTok, Instagram reels, YouTube shorts are huge right now, as you pointed out, too. How can podcasters leverage short form videos to promote their content and engage new audiences?

Kendall Breitman [8:14 - 10:37]: So, a few tips that I have here. One of them is that for regular kind of reels and shorts, and by regular, I mean the ones that we all see all the time, the two stacked people that are talking about something from the podcast, you have 3 seconds to grab people's attention. So some people will have the context, and then it'll get to the funny joke or the moment that they wanted to highlight. I would highlight that within the first 3 seconds, and you can always add the context later. So put the funny quote, then back up the conversation and show the full quote, if that makes sense. So really just grabbing their attention. That's number one. Number two that I recommend is that sometimes the best thing you can do is clip up your questions. We're always focused on the answers that your guests gave. But how powerful could it be if you make a reel that's like, what do you think is the best thing that podcasters need to do? What do you think is blah, blah, blah? What would you say about asking all of the questions back to back? Clip them all together, and then I'm wondering the answers to all of the questions that you just asked. If I want to know the answers, then I tune in. So I would recommend doing that. And then a third recommendation is actually like going away from the normal kind of reels. I think that if you post, like, people want to get to know you as a host, they're connecting to your podcast because you're having great guests on, but also because they want to hear from you. Like, that's for me, the reason why I go to a podcast is for the host. And so I always recommend that people actually put themselves a little bit more forward on their social channels. And what does that mean? That can mean that I record a story on Instagram talking about like, oh my gosh, I've gotten such great feedback for this. I love hearing from you guys. Like that kind of thing. Maybe it's a day in the life at your business. Maybe whatever you can do to make really authentic content. So I think that some podcasters start and end with making reels, but I really think that there needs to be more attention to creating kind of that personality building content. Record a story of yourself, make people feel connected to you and like they're your friend. That, and they listen to your show and you're in their ear every hour, once a week.

Sadaf Beynon [10:37 - 10:58]: Yeah. Okay. So I love the tips that you've given us. So the hook is important. I like the idea about clipping the questions back to back. Who never hadn't thought of that. But, yeah, that's so good for, again, getting that intrigue, isn't it? And love what you're saying about people coming for the host, because that's such a good point.

Kendall Breitman [10:58 - 10:59]: Yeah.

Sadaf Beynon [10:59 - 11:00]: Yeah.

Kendall Breitman [11:00 - 11:24]: I would say that I like. Oops. I would just say that I stole. I stole. I will give credit where credit is due. I stole the idea of clipping the questions together from the call her daddy podcast because they always do that on the call her daddy podcast, and it actually really works. You see the celebrity that you want to hear from, and then you hear all of her questions, and by the end of it, you're like, what are the answers? So I think it's really powerful. It's worked for. It's worked.

Sadaf Beynon [11:28 - 11:36]: If that got you curious and you want to catch the full episode, be sure to subscribe to the show. We've got plenty more great conversations coming up.

Matt Edmundson [11:40 - 12:30]: Welcome back. Welcome back. That was good. I enjoyed Kendall. It's the first time I've heard from Kendall, which we were saying before we hit the record button is, well, it's a bit of a surprise, really, because for every other guest that's been on this show, I've known them in some capacity. Either I've been on their show, they've been on mine, or we've connected somehow. But this one, I've. I've not spoken to Kendall. This is just, this is quite. It's quite refreshing to sit back and hear that. And the thing I loved about Kendall is obviously, she does work for Riverside. I mean, you know, it's putting that out there, but she obviously has access to what a lot of people are doing across podcasts, and she can see what's working across podcasts in many different industries in many different ways. And so that's why I'm excited to hear more of what she has to say. I take it we have more episodes with Kendall.

Sadaf Beynon [12:30 - 12:34]: Yeah. So we've got another one next week and then a full episode coming out after that.

Matt Edmundson [12:34 - 12:40]: Fan Dabby dozy. Fan Dabby dozy. So we're on episode 43 because it says number 43 on your whiteboard.

Sadaf Beynon [12:40 - 12:40]: Yeah.

Matt Edmundson [12:40 - 12:47]: Yeah. So, okay. So, you know, when it's completely unrelate to anything, this is just me having a curious question.

Sadaf Beynon [12:47 - 12:48]: Yeah.

Matt Edmundson [12:48 - 12:54]: So next week will be 44 with Kendall. Does that mean Kendall's full episode will be 45?

Sadaf Beynon [12:54 - 13:30]: Yeah, well, actually, this is a bit complicated, but since you opened this can of worms, I'm going to have to go with it. So if you go to Apple podcasts or Spotify or whatever, and you look at Podjunction podcast, you'll find that they're all numbered. But the numbering on there doesn't necessarily coincide with this number here. Anymore. Anymore. Because I've changed things up. And so this is number 43 of the co host episode where Matt and I are talking.

Matt Edmundson [13:31 - 13:35]: But it's not actually episode 43 of the podcast because we've now started putting out all the full episodes.

Kendall Breitman [13:35 - 13:35]: Yes.

Sadaf Beynon [13:35 - 13:39]: So that's on me. I changed things up this last week.

Matt Edmundson [13:39 - 13:44]: Okay. So maybe next week when you turn up, we say we're on episode 863.

Sadaf Beynon [13:44 - 13:45]: So don't be surprised.

Matt Edmundson [13:47 - 13:49]: That's good to know. I'm glad I opened that kind of work.

Sadaf Beynon [13:49 - 13:50]: Yes, I'm glad you did.

Matt Edmundson [13:50 - 15:02]: Well done, me. So anyway, let's get back to Kendall. Rather than our ability not to talk about podcast numbers, why video podcasting is becoming more popular and how you can grow your audience was the first thing that they're going to learn. And so I think you started out by asking the question, why video podcasting? Why should we think about it? And the answer, which stuck out in my head was when she said, because it gives your audience the ability to choose how they consume your content. And that, I thought was actually quite smart because we can look at our stats. Like, for example, with e commerce podcasts. I've always said that 99.95% of people listen to on audio. We have not created a YouTube. We do put the videos on YouTube, but it's minuscule compared to the numbers that listen to the audio. Right. And that's mainly because I think we've grown the audio version of that podcast when we started out. But I'm wondering whether in ecommerce, whether we should say, listen, you can watch the video. If you prefer to use a the YouTube, you can see it on YouTube.

Sadaf Beynon [15:03 - 15:03]: Yeah.

Matt Edmundson [15:03 - 15:05]: Spotify now start doing video.

Sadaf Beynon [15:05 - 15:07]: Yeah, they're pushing it to. Yeah.

Matt Edmundson [15:07 - 15:19]: So you choosing how you consume your content. I must admit, I never watch. I say never. I would. Most of the time, if I'm going to consume a podcast, it's audio.

Sadaf Beynon [15:19 - 15:20]: Mm hmm.

Matt Edmundson [15:20 - 15:27]: I think the only podcast that I occasionally consume that's not audio is maybe the diary of the CEO.

Sadaf Beynon [15:27 - 15:27]: Okay.

Matt Edmundson [15:27 - 15:32]: Because I found him on YouTube versus on the audio podcast.

Sadaf Beynon [15:32 - 15:32]: Yeah.

Matt Edmundson [15:33 - 15:41]: And I've never made the. I've never made the link, so I think, I don't know what it is, but whenever I listen to something on audio, I just kind of stick with audio.

Sadaf Beynon [15:41 - 15:46]: Yeah, yeah, I see what you're saying. I think when it's YouTube, you have to kind of be sitting down.

Matt Edmundson [15:46 - 15:47]: Yeah.

Sadaf Beynon [15:47 - 16:04]: To be able to consume it. So you're getting it from, you know, like, the full surround sound experience. But I think what I, what I find interesting, actually, about it being on, on video as well. Like you, I often just do audio when I'm driving, but when I.

Matt Edmundson [16:04 - 16:05]: It's good. You don't do video when you're driving.

Sadaf Beynon [16:06 - 16:35]: Yeah, exactly. But when I'm cooking or I'm in the kitchen doing stuff that needs doing, I've got like, that little, you know, Google home screen at home. And so I'll often listen to it on Spotify. And when I pull it up, like, the video shows, if there's a video there, it shows. And it's actually quite nice because I am just listening, but just glancing over and, like, figuring out who it is I'm listening to, putting the face and the name and the voice together is quite nice.

Matt Edmundson [16:35 - 17:06]: Yeah, that's really cool. So, yeah, I mean, it's good that we're making it so guests can choose how they consume their content, but it is also a case of people like Spotify now are giving you more options by including video links. Right. So they will bring the video up as well. Yeah. And how that all works. And I wonder whether Apple podcasts will start doing that. I wonder whether some of the other pod, like, I uploaded a podcast episode for the first time to captivate, which is the podcast platform we use with.

Sadaf Beynon [17:06 - 17:08]: We've been using for a long time.

Matt Edmundson [17:08 - 17:24]: We've been using it for a long time. And to be fair, it's been a while since I've had to upload a podcast episode. But this morning, for whatever reason, I went, boy with the details. I was uploading a podcast episode to captivate and going, oh, this is new. Oh, that's new. Oh, this is interesting. And even there, they're asking for the YouTube link.

Sadaf Beynon [17:24 - 17:25]: Yeah.

Matt Edmundson [17:25 - 17:34]: So if you listen to the podcast. I think on their platform they'll also bring the video up as well. So again, you get so a lot of the podcast players seem to also be including video.

Sadaf Beynon [17:34 - 17:35]: Yeah.

Matt Edmundson [17:35 - 17:51]: So having that multi output actually is a really good thing. So, yeah. Number one, it allows your audience to consume your content in a way that makes sense for them, which I think is super, super important. And I still think for the majority of podcasts that's going to be audio.

Sadaf Beynon [17:51 - 17:51]: Yeah.

Matt Edmundson [17:51 - 18:06]: I do think video is a big thing and I think it will become a bigger and bigger thing, but I still think it's. But giving, despite just thinking it's still mainly audio, I think having that is the video option is very, very good.

Sadaf Beynon [18:07 - 18:11]: Yeah. As you're saying, it's going to become bigger. So doing it now, you're expanding your reach already, aren't you?

Matt Edmundson [18:11 - 20:04]: And let's be real, I mean, you know, again, Kendall picked up on this. It's not hard to do a video podcast. I mean, it is a little bit more involved than audio, but compared to what it was when you did a video podcast a few years ago when we were doing them, geez, man, it is so easy right now. And in fact, while she was talking, I downloaded, I forgot that they had the Riverside app. I actually used the Riverside platform and I'm like, they've got an app. Part of me is tempted to go, I'm just going to record podcasts all over the place. I don't have to be in my posh studio with my nice camera at home. I can just do it with my iPhone. But I think it's an interesting one, isn't it? I think the technology is there now to make it easy to do video podcasts. So I don't know if you have a good excuse not to do video. I think occasionally, like I was listening to the Carey Newhoff podcast and he had Jim Collins on who wrote the book good to great. And Carrie does both the video podcast and the audio podcast. Again, 99 times out of 100, I'm on the audio on the Apple podcast player, or snipped is my favorite podcast player of choice. But he, on that episode, which came out last week with Jim Collins, said this is an audio only podcast. He didn't say why. So I don't know if they had issues. I don't know if Jim didn't want to be on the video, and maybe you'll get some guests that don't actually want to do the video podcast. But other than that, there's no real excuse not to have video. I don't think it's complicated. I mean, we've got nice cameras, we've got a studio set up, but she did it on her, on her iPhone. I mean, that's crackers. You know, you can now do that.

Sadaf Beynon [20:04 - 20:10]: Yeah, for sure. I had a thought and it's gone.

Matt Edmundson [20:12 - 20:14]: Okay. Does that happen often?

Sadaf Beynon [20:15 - 20:19]: No, I don't think so.

Matt Edmundson [20:20 - 20:20]: Okay.

Sadaf Beynon [20:20 - 20:22]: But anyway, carry on. Might come back to me.

Matt Edmundson [20:22 - 21:59]: Okay, well, the only other thing I was going to say on this, the reason I like video and the reason why I think we tell people to do video. So all our clients at Pod Junction, in case you don't know, dear listener, we do do the whole podcast and agency thing. And we do help clients, especially CEO's and leaders, get up and set up with their own podcast to grow their business. It's what we do. We always tell people to do video podcasts because yes, it gives your audience a chance to consume the content in a way which makes sense for them, but also because of the assets it gives you. Right. So if you did audio only, you would have the audio. You could get the audio transcribed from the transcription. You could create the blog post. You could also take out quotes for social media. You could in theory, do audiograms. They were popular a few years ago, which is just where you have on social media, like the podcast cover art or a picture of the guest, and you just play the audio. So there's no video, it's just kind of audio over a picture. You could do that, but you're kind of limited really. Whereas if you have video, even if you don't put the full video on YouTube, you can create reels, you can create YouTube shorts, you can create your little TikTok snips and all that sort of things. You can put clips on your stories, you've got a whole raft of things which you can do, plus you've still got the audio, you've got the podcast, you can create the blog post, so you can do all those other things, but for very little effort. Recording the video also gives you a whole bunch more of assets you can use for content creation.

Sadaf Beynon [21:59 - 22:10]: Yeah, and then like, she was talking about the short form content, wasn't she? You could use that for all of those things. Like the question clips that she mentioned. Sorry.

Matt Edmundson [22:14 - 22:16]: I like the little move away from the microphone.

Sadaf Beynon [22:16 - 22:21]: I'm trying to, you know, spare you, I think.

Matt Edmundson [22:21 - 22:22]: Good job.

Sadaf Beynon [22:23 - 22:29]: But yeah, that was Matt, by the way. I can't see him. That's not me. That's him.

Matt Edmundson [22:31 - 22:33]: Did your idea come back to you.

Sadaf Beynon [22:33 - 22:39]: Yeah, it did, actually. So we were talking about audio, video, and how most people still will do audio.

Matt Edmundson [22:39 - 22:40]: Yeah.

Sadaf Beynon [22:40 - 23:00]: And we've mentioned before that I often do the pre calls for the various podcast that you host. And when I first started doing them, I was very, you know, I was very upfront about, okay, this is our. This is how we do it. We've got an audio, we've got video. This is what it's gonna look like. And then I slowly started. I found myself kind of moving away from it.

Matt Edmundson [23:00 - 23:00]: Right.

Sadaf Beynon [23:01 - 23:22]: Because it just felt like kind of people knew this information. But actually, there are still people who will say to me, oh, is this audio and video, or is it, which way is it? Is it live streamed? So I found myself pulling that back into the conversation, because actually, it's not as popular. Not as popular, not as done as I thought it was.

Matt Edmundson [23:22 - 24:44]: Yeah, yeah. That's an important thing, actually. If you are going to do video, which I think you should do, then, yes. Telling people ahead of time that you're going to do video. I mean, I've had people turn up to video podcasts, and I'm like, you do know this is a video podcast, right? And they're like, uh, okay. You know, their hair's all disheveled. They sat there in their pajamas. And I'm like, I'm just recording this. In fact, one of the things that I say to guests when we start recording the podcast, I say, listen, just so you know, especially if I record on ecamm, whereas with Riverside, we don't tend to do this as much, but with ecamm, because it records the side by side automatically. It used to be that we just. We just had the guest on the whole time, you know, now we've got multicams, and we can do different edits and cuts and things. So in the early days, we just. It was just one edit, and it was just like, there was me and the guest sat by side on the screen. Right. And so I'd have to say to the guests, listen, I'm not being funny. You're on the screen the entire podcast, right? So you're ahead. When I introduced the show, if they're watching the video, and if you watch any of the, say, the e commerce podcast videos or the push to be more videos, you'll see me going, hi, this is Matt. Welcome to Dot, dot, dot. And you'll see the guests sat next to me on the screen. Right.

Sadaf Beynon [24:44 - 24:46]: And so zoned out.

Matt Edmundson [24:46 - 25:00]: Well, the thing about it is, when you're doing the intro, the guests can't see what you're recording. All they can see is me just chatting to them, like, you know, like on Zoom or something. And as a result, they can forget that they're on screen.

Sadaf Beynon [25:00 - 25:00]: Yeah.

Matt Edmundson [25:00 - 25:34]: And so I've had to say to guests, listen, I'm not being funny. You're on from the beginning. You're on until the end. So until the whole thing fades to black, if I'm on camera, you're on camera. Right. Which is the way we used to record our podcasts. If you pick your nose, it's gonna be on the video. If you clean out your ears, it's gonna be on the podcast. I'm not taking it out. And so we've had to. I've now introduced this as a little. A little clause at the start before we start recording.

Sadaf Beynon [25:34 - 25:34]: Yeah.

Matt Edmundson [25:34 - 26:39]: I say it to every guest. I just want you to know, do whatever you like on camera. But it's going out, bro. And they're like, okay, thanks for the heads up, because you're quite right, the guests zone out a little bit. So when you're reading the intro, especially if they're nervous or they've been on the podcast, they're not really paying attention to you. They're thinking, what am I going to say? Do I look all right? What's my hair like in the camera? You know, all those kind of things. And then it's like, well, let me introduce Matt. And as soon as I hear my name, then I'm poked up. I'm kind of interested. But until that point, I can almost disengage and forget. So if you do video podcasting, my top tip, because you never know what's going to be on video, let them know, because you can get some funny results. That's all I'm saying. I'm not naming any guests, but you know who you are if you're listening to this and have been on my show anyway. So video podcasting is becoming more popular and how it can help grow your audience, and we've covered that. So the tools you need to start a video podcast, without doubt, obviously, Kendall is going to mention Riverside Dot FM.

Sadaf Beynon [26:40 - 26:42]: I was like, dot dot, dot dot.

Matt Edmundson [26:42 - 29:12]: It quote, s like we practiced that. Yeah. So Kendall's going to talk about Riverside, which I think is fair enough. I think it is one of the key platforms for podcasters at the moment. Yeah, I would say you don't need it. It's not essential, but it is really good to the point where, I mean, full disclosure, our journey with Riverside was a bit checkered wasn't it? We started using Riverside, and it was like, this does not work well. It's got out of sync. So by the time you'd got to the end of the video, the voice was all kind of out, and it caused us quite a few problems. And then ecamm, which is a piece of software I use on the Mac, when we did live streaming, they came out with the ability to do interviews direct. So the way ecamm used to work, you had to do it a bit convoluted. Like, a guest would have to dial in via Skype. You'd have to bring the Skype video into ecamm. It was complex. Where then ecamm just brought in this interview feature directly, which actually is quite good. The problem is, and the reason why we've now gone back to Riverside for interview recording if we're not live streaming, is simply because sometimes, even in today's high broadband, fast computer era, the Internet drops out. And whether that's Riverside's computer. Sorry, ecamm's computers bringing in the video feed, whether it's actually the Internet, sometimes it drops out. And so you can get images which become pixelated. Sometimes the audio drops, and that's a little bit annoying. And the reason I like Riverside, and there are obviously other platforms out there, which we'll talk about, but the reason I like Riverside is it records both the video and the audio locally. So what do I mean by this? So, if you're my guest on the show and you dial in from your computer, Riverside records the audio and the video from your computer direct onto your computer as a file, and then uploads that to its servers, and it does the same from mine. Now, we still see each other. We can still hear each other. But if the Internet drops, or if the audio goes a little bit funny as we're talking, when it comes to the podcast, it looks perfect and sounds perfect, because what Riverside does is it syncs the two files together, which were recorded locally. And that is. I think that's really clever.

Sadaf Beynon [29:12 - 29:15]: Yeah, I think that was a bit of a game changer for us, wasn't it?

Matt Edmundson [29:15 - 30:18]: Well, that's why we went to Riverside in the first place. I just don't think they had the technology working, which is why we went to ecamm. And the reason why we've gone back to Riverside for podcast recording is because I think they've now got that working. And, I mean, I don't know. I don't think we've had any fault. I think sometimes when I'm talking to guests on Riverside, their picture will freeze. And so I'll say to guests, I'll say, listen, if you're on, you know, as we're recording this, if my picture freezes slightly, don't worry about it, because I can still hear you. And I know that in the final podcast, that's not going to be like that. That freezing's not going to happen because of the way they synchronize it. And conversely, I've had guests freeze, the pictures freeze, and I'm talking, like, maybe like a second or two, but I can still hear their audio, and so I can still carry on the conversation. And that works super, super well. So that's the reason why I'm a big fan of Riverside. It's why I've moved off ecamm to record the podcast. In fact, I don't think there's any podcast I now record on ecamm.

Sadaf Beynon [30:19 - 30:20]: Just this.

Matt Edmundson [30:21 - 30:28]: Oh, yeah, that's true, actually. We record. And why did we record Pod Junction then on ecamm rather than Riverside?

Sadaf Beynon [30:30 - 30:41]: I'm not sure. I think. Well, I think we were using ecamm primarily in this studio anyway, and then we moved back to Riverside. So this was all set up on ecamm, but our one on one conversations.

Matt Edmundson [30:41 - 30:54]: Are all on Riverside. I think ecamm, like, in an in person studio like this is brilliant. I don't think you're going to do any better. I don't think Riverside would be better than ecamm. Because you and I are next to each other.

Sadaf Beynon [30:54 - 30:55]: Yeah.

Matt Edmundson [30:55 - 31:24]: It's not like you're at your house and I'm at mine. If we were remote, then I would use Riverside. But because we're in the same place. Yeah, we can use ecamm. And ecamm records all the different camera angles, which is great. It records the audio, it plays the clips. It creates the video all in one. And then we can then take that, bring it into descript, if we want to, and start to do the multicam shots. Although, have you seen this new feature by road that's come out?

Sadaf Beynon [31:24 - 31:25]: No.

Matt Edmundson [31:27 - 34:05]: Tell you why. It's getting exciting in the tech space, ladies and gentlemen, if you're a bit of a tech nerd like me, then. And if you're into your podcast in tech, one of the things that you're going to come across is sound desks. Right? So the microphone, I've got the Shure SMB seven, I think it is, which is, like the industry microphone. Like, it's a nice microphone. I really like this microphone. You're on the road. Podmic, which is also another great microphone. It's for podcasting. They're both XLR, which is just the type of plug you put into them. Because they're XLR and not USB. They go into a sound desk, which you can't see, which is over the side. One of the most common used sound desks, I would say, is the rode procastere. They've got the Procaster duo. They've got the Procaster two. Now. I think they've got another one as well. I think there's like three or four of them, depending on how many inputs you need. So if it's just you, you just. The little duo is great. If there's four of you, you can use the bigger one with the. And it just, it just does so many wonderful things to your audio. And if you want to up your audio game at some point, that is definitely worth looking at. I have the rodecaster at the house, the studio at the house here we've got the Mackie DLZ creator, which is a similar thing. The reason I didn't go for the rodecaster here is because of the way the mackie deals with multiple microphones. I thought it was better. Anyway, I won't go down that this is for another podcast. But rode is a big name. The rodecaster is a big name in podcasting. They have just released a new bit of tech, which in effect looks like a really, really clever camera switcher. Right. So here in the studio, we have three cameras and the way we switch the camera. So if you watch this online, we could just do a one camera shot, which is you and me set by side. But we've got a camera focused on you, we've got a camera focused on me. And then in post, we can clip between those three cameras, which makes it visually interesting. Right. So that switching, that moving between cameras is called camera switching. Rode have just bought out a camera. I can't remember what it's called, but it's in essence, it's a really clever camera switcher that's got the audio features. 90% of the audio features you have in the rodecaster are in this. So you don't need both necessarily. I mean, I would probably still have both because you get the best adaptability, but you don't need it. What it does do, though, which I think is genius, is it auto camera switches based on who's talking.

Sadaf Beynon [34:05 - 34:06]: That's cool.

Matt Edmundson [34:06 - 34:40]: Yeah. So you're then saving a lot of the post edit stuff. So now you don't need this, no. So I don't need the stream deck. So what I'm, if I was rebuilding the studio now, if I was starting again from scratch, that's a bit of tech I would look at for video, if you're doing in person video podcast thing and to see whether that would work for you with the automated camera switching, just because it saves editing. And I think if we got something like that with an auto camera switcher. So if you start talking, your camera comes on. My camera comes on when I start talking. I just think that's genius.

Sadaf Beynon [34:40 - 34:40]: Yeah.

Matt Edmundson [34:40 - 34:50]: And it just saves a whole bunch of editing time and anything for saving time. I'm like, that's, that's really great. So, um, yeah, that, I mean, there's some real, you know, interesting tools out.

Sadaf Beynon [34:50 - 34:53]: There you can use, but they come with a big price tag too.

Matt Edmundson [34:53 - 34:54]: I think it's about a grand.

Sadaf Beynon [34:54 - 34:57]: Okay, so there are cheaper ways to do this. As she was talking about.

Matt Edmundson [34:57 - 34:58]: Yeah. Riverside.

Sadaf Beynon [34:58 - 35:00]: Yeah. And budget microphones.

Matt Edmundson [35:00 - 35:14]: Yeah, budget and some. And the microphone she's, she suggested actually, especially the audio technical ones. Brilliant. You know, really, really good. There's another usb microphone called. Which rode have done the rode podmic. I think you've got that.

Sadaf Beynon [35:14 - 35:15]: I've got that one.

Matt Edmundson [35:15 - 35:21]: Yeah, the black one. I really, really like that microphone. That sounds really good. Jen's got one as well, hasn't she, for the rooted podcast?

Sadaf Beynon [35:21 - 35:22]: I'm not sure.

Matt Edmundson [35:22 - 36:39]: Yeah. Yeah. Which is where I first came across it. So you can use us band XLR on that, which is just, it's a great microphone, but again, it's like a hundred and, and something, maybe $200. I can't remember the exact price, so it's not cheap. But with podcasting, the one thing you have to definitely invest in more than anything else is the sound, is the audio. So if you've got, if you're going to invest anything, invest in a good quality mic. The cameras, I think, come later down the line. I think if you're going to do a video podcast, get a good microphone first, which sounds counterintuitive, but I think you should. Then you can use your, just like Kendall was saying, use your iPhone. Right. Because that can now be a webcam on your computer. I don't know what you can do on PCs to be. I'm really sorry, because I just know Mac, but I know I can use my iPhone as a, as a really high end webcam. So after microphones, I think is lighting. Good lighting. So sit by a window if you can. But if you're recording podcasts at night. Get some. You can't see it, but we've got some lights, which I can control from my phone because it's got me bothered to climb up and turn the knobs. But, yeah, I think, you know, good mic, good lighting, then you can go get the sexy camera. Is that helpful?

Sadaf Beynon [36:39 - 36:41]: That's very helpful. Thank you.

Matt Edmundson [36:41 - 36:49]: Welcome. I don't know how long that bit went on for. We've been talking looks. 37 minutes. Wow. We're only supposed to do a 30 minutes show.

Sadaf Beynon [36:49 - 36:50]: Yeah, sorry, guys.

Matt Edmundson [36:50 - 37:01]: I joke. That's because the clock has not been on the screen yet. Just rabbiting on. I'm very sorry. Very, very sorry. So, number three, how do you short form content to promote your podcast? You can talk. I've talked.

Sadaf Beynon [37:01 - 37:31]: All right, well, I thought the things that she said were really helpful. So, you know that you want to grab attention in the first 3 seconds and have something like a hook that served as a hook. And then she had the ideas of the question clips, which I thought was interesting. But what I found most interesting actually, in what she said was that it's a chance to showcase the host. Because for me, again, my podcasting journey has not been as long as Matt's.

Matt Edmundson [37:32 - 37:33]: You're not as old as me.

Sadaf Beynon [37:33 - 38:05]: Yeah, my hosting journey hasn't been as long as Matt's. But it's not that. It's not just about the guests. Your listeners are coming on because they want to get to know you. And I was always like, oh, they just want to know the guests. So let's just make it all about the guests. And you can kind of sink into the background, but actually, you kind of need to be more vocal and talk more about what your niche that you are covering and show yourself to. Be a bit of an expert in the area.

Matt Edmundson [38:06 - 39:33]: Yeah, you do. I think this whole, I was never a fan of the phrase personal brand. I have to, you know, my personal brand. And there are a number of reasons why I won't go into it now, but there are a number of reasons why I'm not a fan of that. But that said, I think people want to know you as the host probably more than your guests. Your guess is what keeps the content interesting, keeps people coming back. So it's not the same stuff all the time, but fundamentally, every week people are listening to you and they do get to know you and want to know about you, and that I find fascinating. So giving them an opportunity to do that better. With Instagram, having some kind of social media connection is super important. So we've just started to up our Instagram game. We're starting to a LinkedIn game because we know we need to do this better where the podcast is concerned. So as much as I dislike social media and try and fight all of these things, is it essential? No, but I think if you're building an audience rather than just focusing on the guests, if you want to also build an audience and you want to actually build your credibility in an industry, I think you need to. You need to do something. Whether that's Instagram, whether that's LinkedIn, depends where you're, where your people are. Where your people are, as they say. But yeah, I think you've definitely got to do something because they are coming to listen to you. And maybe we'll talk about that more in future episodes.

Sadaf Beynon [39:33 - 39:40]: Actually, we're going to be talking a bit more about that in the next episode. Well, almost like we planned that segue.

Matt Edmundson [39:41 - 40:21]: That's almost like we're professional. But yeah, no, that's cool, man. I enjoyed that. Kendall, thank you for coming on the show. Genuinely enjoyed that. We've got Kendall again next week, an episode, whatever number it's going to be. And then you've got the full interview with Kendall coming up. So make sure you like the show, subscribe to it, follow it, whatever language makes sense for the platform you're on, because everybody's changing it all the time and I can't keep it. Anyway, whatever it is, whatever works, do stay connected with us. We would love to see you. Of course, you can also sign up for the newsletter, which you've started putting together at podjunction.com. podjunction.com. Yeah, yeah. And the newsletter has got a whole bunch of stuff in.

Sadaf Beynon [40:21 - 40:22]: Yes.

Matt Edmundson [40:22 - 40:23]: You're putting some time and energy into it.

Sadaf Beynon [40:23 - 40:25]: Yes, I am.

Matt Edmundson [40:25 - 40:42]: So awesome. The first one looked really good, by the way. I saw that. No, it's great. And so, yeah, you get the new format newsletter, which is starting to come out, which Salaf is putting a lot of time into. Lots of tips, lots of tricks and all that sort of stuff in there. So make sure you subscribe to that as well. You can get that for free. Is that right?

Sadaf Beynon [40:42 - 40:43]: Yep.

Matt Edmundson [40:43 - 40:44]: Or they got to, like, give you their right kidney.

Sadaf Beynon [40:44 - 40:46]: Actually, I just need your email address.

Matt Edmundson [40:48 - 41:06]: It's about the same price then as your right kidney, but yeah, with just your email address. But sign up for free at podjunction.com. anything else from you? No, I think that's it from me. So thank you so much for joining us. Have a fantastic week, wherever you are in the world. We'll see you next week. Bye for now.

Sadaf Beynon [41:10 - 41:43]: And that brings us to the end of today's episode at Pod Junction. If you've enjoyed the insights from this episode and want to hear the full conversation with today's special guest, don't forget to visit podjunction.com, where you'll find more information about how you can join Pod Junction cohort. Whether you listen while on the go or in a quiet moment, thank you for letting us be a part of your day. Remember, every episode is a chance to gain insights and to transform your business with podcasting. So keep on tuning in, keep on learning, and until next time, happy.