Business Podcasting Made Easy

Posted on 08. May, 2010 by Guest Post in Business, Entrepreneurship, Internet

If you spend any amount of time on the Internet, you’ve no doubt heard of podcasting. Several television and radio shows are available as podcasts, and some shows are created solely as podcasts. Aside from the entertainment podcasts provide, they’re also a valuable business communication tool. It doesn’t matter if you work for a large company, or are a small business owner, podcasts offer a way for you to get in touch with clients and customers alike. For both business and personal applications, one way to create podcasts is through the use of an audio conferencing service.

You may have to sit in on conference calls at work from time to time, or you may host them to keep in touch with clients if you run your own small business. They’re a money saving way to allow groups of people in different locations to communicate without the travel expenses meeting in person would require. They can also be planned and executed much more quickly than physical meetings, if the need arises suddenly. Along with many other features, companies that provide audio conferencing services usually include the ability to record conference calls, and then provide the calls to you as digital audio files. A quick and easy way to provide the recorded calls to the clients who participated, or to anyone else who has an interest in hearing or referring back to the calls, is to create a podcast.

Say your company conducts an important meeting that occurs on a regular basis, or the CEO wants to address all the company’s employees. This may not be possible because the company is divided into branches located in different regions, or key players may not be able to attend. Traditionally, this type of leadership communication has been accomplished through physical meetings, printed newsletters or mass emails. Printing hundreds, or perhaps even thousands of newsletters can be expensive, and uses a lot of paper, making it an unfriendly environmental practice. And chances are, that email blast is getting deleted before it’s even read.

Both of these approaches are fine, but there’s a big difference between reading a letter most people will assume was written by the CEO’s assistant, and actually hearing that person’s voice. Turning a regular company address into a podcast is not only inexpensive and environmentally friendly, it can help boost employee morale knowing the leader of their company took the time to speak to them, even if it is from a different location. Making the meeting or address available as a podcast later on allows those who missed out to stay up to date and not fall behind on new developments within the company. It’s also a way for a company to keep employees informed about company changes and happenings.

What if you just want to create your own podcast, business related or not? You can still use an audio conferencing service to make the recording. The only thing is you’ll need someone willing to sit on the other end of the line while you record your show or course. A call needs at least two participants. Then again, if you’re one of those people who still uses a landline in addition to a cell phone, you can set the entire thing up yourself. Just set one phone in a quiet location with no interruptions or you’ll end up with feedback or echoing noises on the line that will ruin the entire recording (the ‘Mute’ button works great for this).

Once your podcast is recorded, you can make it available through an RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feed on your own Web site or Intranet, or you can make it available through iTunes, where many people go to find podcasts of interest. Apple has certain requirements before a podcast can be listed in their service, the most important of which is that it cannot be hosted on iTunes, so be sure to familiarize yourself with the procedure to help ensure the process goes smoothly.

After the podcast is recorded, edited, and made available for download or subscription, all that’s left is to publicize it. If you’ve created a podcast for business purpose, this can be as simple as sending out an e-mail to all the company’s employees letting them know when and where to access the podcast. For a program aimed at a larger audience, it may take a bit of marketing via a blog or social networking site like Twitter. Once you get the hang of it, creating podcasts will help you communicate more effectively, and reach a broader audience.

Amanda Mitchell is a freelance writer specializing in getting the most for small businesses.

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Tags: Business, entrepreneur, Internet Marketing, Websites

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