Here at Ecamm, we’re all about learning together as a community. We have amazing communities on Facebook and Discord and a video hub packed with helpful tutorial and training videos. This year, we hosted our third annual Leap event – Leap Into Podcasting.
Leap Into Podcasting was a 2-day interactive virtual summit completely focused on helping you take the LEAP into video podcasting. With an amazing lineup of expert speakers, we covered all aspects of video podcasting from getting started to software and hardware to workflows, advertising, best practices, and more.
If you missed it, you can get access to our replay portal by purchasing a digital podcasting guide.
In this post, Katie and Doc Rock share their top takeaways from the Leap Into Podcasting event.
Watch the video podcast episode
Catch The Flow by Ecamm live every Tuesday at 12pm Eastern on YouTube. Audio-only episodes drop on Tuesdays on your favorite podcast platform.
Shownotes and episodes available at flow.ecamm.com
Wherever you’re at, just start
We say this almost every day in every piece of content that we create: you just need to start. This is applicable for video podcasting, live streaming, blogging, and even social media marketing. You can’t drive a parked car. Before you can get to cruising, you need to get in, put the car in drive, and hit the gas. The same goes for your podcast.
One of our key takeaways from Leap Into Podcasting this year was to “just start.” Yes, the gear is important. So is the format, the software, the content. But all of that is irrelevant if you don’t start. Take the first step and make those additions as you go. That’s what almost all of our expert speakers did. It’s how they got to where they are now.
Find your purpose
You must define your purpose first. Once you have your purpose defined, most of the other excuses fall off like a snake shedding their skin. When you have a purpose, you won’t freak out about tiny mistakes because you know that you’re delivering something that is providing value to another person.
So here’s an example: say my purpose is to go to the soup kitchen and feed the needy. Let’s say in my chili, I didn’t put as much salt as I normally put. I’m off by like a smidge, right? I’m not going to win the Texas three alarm chili cook off. But to the man that was sleeping under the mailboxes around by the Costco, he doesn’t care. He finally got something to eat. I helped him even if it wasn’t my best chili.
Knowing that you’re delivering value to someone will help you get over your personal pride or your fear of being on camera. Your focus should always be on the viewer and the listener and not on yourself. Espree Devora said, “find your intent and purpose.” That was a huge takeaway for us.
Find your unique way
In this new world of video-first and video podcasting, many people are not getting started because they’re worried about how they look on camera. Rather than saying no to video and losing a ton of opportunities, find ways to do what feels best to you.
Espree said, “I know that I don’t like being on camera, but I have value that I wanna bring to people, and I know that video is impactful. So I’ve done an insane amount of research and I’m gonna hire someone to animate me, and I’m gonna put that over top of my voice. Done. I’m still doing video. I’m doing it in the way that works for me and I’m hitting my goal.”
Get out there and find your unique way. It might be that you have an overhead camera focused on your hands. Or maybe you can think even more outside the box. The Obitchuary podcast has a new TikTok channel where they create videos using puppet versions of themselves rather than being on camera. And you know what? It works. Don’t lose out on something because you’re worried about how you’ll look on camera. Make that experience your own and find creative ways to make it work for you.
It’s OK to ask for help
These days we all do a lot. We’re amazing at multitasking and often take on more than we should. Don’t forget that it’s OK to ask for help. Whether that’s hiring a virtual assistant, bringing on a co-host, or asking a high school student to intern. You don’t need to hire a huge team, but sometimes getting some extra help can give you the time and bandwidth to focus on the content of your show.
Chris Giles of Black Thai Media shared that he leverages virtual assistants from around the world to help check off those recurring tasks and keep him on track.
So no matter what size your podcast is, no matter what level you’re at, having an extra set of hands, having someone else that you can bounce ideas off of and having someone else that can help take some of that weight off your shoulders is gonna help you stay consistent and continue to create content.
Start with a podcast tour
Kirk Nugent from How it All Werks is not new to failure. He’s also not the kind of person to let failure stop him in his tracks. Speaking on the topic at Leap Into Podcasting, Kirk shared that one of the ways he was able to launch a successful show was to be a guest on many, many other podcasts first. He did a podcast tour.
Our key takeaway from Kirk’s session was that podcasters of all levels should consider going on their own podcast tours. See how it feels and what the experience is like on other people’s podcasts and use that information to build your own. Once you’ve been a guest on a few podcasts, you’ll have a really good idea of what you liked and didn’t like about the process.
Kirk has one of the best guest processes and checklists out there because he knows how it feels to be a guest on someone else’s show.
Listen to other podcasts
This should come as no surprise, but is worth including as a takeaway from Leap Into Podcasting. If you’re creating your own podcast, you should also listen to other podcasts. Like going on a podcast tour, listening to other podcasts is going to give you tons of great ideas for what you can do with your own podcast as well as just getting to know the medium better from a different perspective.
While you’re listening, be sure to also pay attention to how your favorite podcasts run ads, handle sponsorship, and what format they do. Do you listen on Apple Podcasts or Spotify? All of this information is going to help you make better decisions for your own content. And while you’re there – be a good podcast citizen and leave a review.
Get Into The Flow with Ecamm
Want to catch The Flow live? Join us every Tuesday at 12pm Eastern on YouTube or listen wherever you get your podcasts.
If you have any questions for us, please send them to flow@ecamm.com or be part of our live studio audience on YouTube.
