Digital Marketer’s Guide to Podcasts, Webcasts, and Webinars

Podcasts, webcasts, and webinars are a perfect way to broadcast messages to your target audience. According to the 2017 Infinite Dial Study, 67 million Americans – almost a quarter of the US population – listen to podcasts every month. On 24 reported more than 60,000 global webcasts in 2015. They are a unique way to present Digital Marketing Certification information that is often informal, interactive, and efficient. But how do you know which media is suitable for your business purpose? Which will increase the highest presence or give you the biggest bang for your money? Should you test it all?

In this article, we discuss the main features of this broadcast media to decide which one is the right tool for your needs.

Podcast

Podcasts are only audio files that can be downloaded to your audience or download from the Internet and listen to their comfort.

It would help if you started a microphone and exciting topic, so podcasting is generally more accessible and cheaper than webcast hosting or webinar. You can make essential podcasts with your smartphone, although you might want to invest in microphone and audio software dedicated to a more polished final product.

Podcasts have been recorded before, so they are not suitable for situations that need audience interactions. Also, without the help of visual aids such as slide presentation and body language, you must switch to other ways to effectively involve your audience. One of the benefits of this format is that you can make mistakes and experiment with various topics when recording. You can then edit or cut the segment before the final release. Another benefit is, unlike live broadcasts where audience members can be set at different times and missing parts of your message, podcast listeners get all images (if they do it listen from beginning to end). Listeners also have the flexibility of consuming content at any time, anywhere. Unlimited dial studies found that 18 percent listened to podcasts occur in the car.

Another important consideration is the makeup audience. The Infinite Dial Study reports that podcasts are slightly more prevalent among men than women (27 percent of American men listen every month, compared to 21 percent of women). Podcasts are also more prevalent among younger listeners. For example, 31 percent of Americans in the 25-54 age groups use monthly, while the figure is smoothed to 12 percent for those aged 55 or more.

The main feature of the podcast difference is that people can subscribe to receive your latest recording automatically through RSS feeds. This makes a good podcast choice for repetitive content that might be part of the episodic series.

Webcast

Like podcasts, webcast follows the “one-to-many” model where you, broadcasters, share messages with your audience through one-way information flow. As a result, you can reach many people, but not many are present-to-host or present-to-participants present outside the primary text chat.

One of the main differences between podcasts and webcasts is that webcasts include audio and video. Another difference is that the webcast is served directly, even though it can also see it later. Webcast, therefore, is a good choice for sharing events with a broader audience. For example, Apple released the iPhone X in September 2017 during a special event at Steve Jobs Theater in Cupertino, California. However, the auditorium only has a capacity of 1,000 seats. So, Apple immediately drains events on its website, allowing millions of people around the world to listen and share in excitement through the webcast.

The meeting is another good way to use webcast. For example, the annual shareholders of Berkshire Hathaway in Omaha, Nebraska, attracted more than 40,000 participants per year. Starting in 2016, the company began streaming meetings on Yahoo, allowing investors to participate without traveling.

Like podcasts, webcasts can be made at low costs using only smartphones and free broadcasting platforms such as YouTube, Facebook Live, or Periscope’s Twitter. However, the cost certainly can begin to increase in the form of audiovisual equipment, expenses for promotion, and more, depending on the scope of your webcast.

Webinars

Webinars, or “web seminars,” similar to webcasts because they were initially sent directly and included audio and video components.

Webinars are usually used for educational and training purposes, so they need a significant level of interaction in the form of:

– Text, audio, video chat

– File sharing

– Pointer and pen on the screen

– Survey

– Quiz

– Polls.

To enable richer interactions, webinars are kept relatively small (in the order of tens or hundreds of participants, compared to podcasts and webcasts that can easily reach millions).