Having recently been asked to discuss the podcasting potential for a local law firm we've found that there's a definite market out there for it in the legal service... an example from our forward thinking Canadian cousins can be read on www.lawyersweekly.ca just search for ..."Podcasts: way for law firms, lawyers to develop ‘strong bonds’ with listeners" by Luigi Benetton.
In spite of "appropriate attribution" LittleSmasher wasn't allowed to show you any of it here but it was all about how great podcasting is as a tool reach out and form strong bonds with clients and partners.
Worth a read, I'd say.
As long as you read it from the appropriate digital space of course.
A 'Live' Podcast? No such thing.
There really is no such thing as a 'live podcast' no matter what people might offer. It's a marketing term trying to repackage a live stream. Internet Radio, if you like. Or an event that's been recorded 'live' and added to an already established Podcast feed.
But it's still not a live podcast, is it?
Firstly, a podcast is a podcast if it has an RSS feed that uses 'enclosures' to push the mp3 files to the listener. Too technical already? Maybe. That's OK.
I'll bluster on for just one more paragraph about RSS if you do't mind... a user subscribes to the RSS feed and downloads/catches the audio when it becomes available - using iTunes, Juice, your browser's feedreader or maybe Android's Google Listen for example.
So a user, 'a member of your audience', can use their computer or their mobile phone to 'catch' the audio as and when it becomes available - without you having to drag them to your webpage or 'mail list' them.
You provide the content and the listener can decide when to listen to it. Not the other way around. And it's designed, thanks to the RSS feed, so that listeners don't have to keep returning to a web page to check if there's a new episode available. That's the beauty of podcasting.
So, if it's you providing the podcast series, it's a chance to put your messages, the key points of your business or website maybe, into the ears of your target audience. The art of creating an effective podcast is therefore making it engaging and encouraging for the listener to then spin off back into the website past your front page. Or to push a telephone number to call, or an email address to message.
Yes, yes, I suppose video can also be 'podcasted'. It's sometimes referred to as 'vodcasting' but it's nowhere near as flexibly engaging as audio [and was never part of the original definition, so there *rasp*]. It still requires an RSS feed of course - the user needs to download the media and take it away with them without having to visit a webpage, don't forget. But I won't go into RSS feeds again.
And if the self-proclaimed social media gurus are to be believed then the average length of video watched via YouTube is around 2 minutes. Not really much time to push your point, inform or educate. And it's a bugger to get a format right for a whole range of mobile devices. And where are they going to watch it?
People do not watch their 'automatically downloaded' video whilst driving.
What do you mean why?
It's generally harder to watch video while moving about in the outside world overall, wouldn't you say? That's just asking for a raft of Darwin Award nominations.
So, yes, Audio is, by far, the superior medium for podcasting. With the mp3. An audio compression format that may have been superseded by other compression formats but never in ubiquity.
Every personal entertainment device can play an mp3 file.
When asking someone if they use podcasting I often get the response that they've moved on to video. Which almost invariably means that they have a YouTube clip embedded in a web page somewhere.
It's certainly not podcasting. And it's certainly not 'moving on'. If anything it's a step back. And it's understandable, too, that people should do this to themselves. It's a comfort zone thing. People limiting themselves to what they understand. And that's OK.
As far as I'm concerned I'd rather that situation than one in which the internet is flooded with really badly written and produced podcasts. All those seminars you see advertised on how "You too can podcast" ...? Bit like telling you that you too can create your own promotional video. On your own. Using free software. Your own script and that HD Camera you got for Christmas.
Have you tried making your own video?
One that other people would watch? One that wouldn't embarrass you and your business? One that adds value to your website?
*Shiver*
Talk it over with a professional first. You'll feel really pleased you did when you get your first podcast series up and engaging your target audience in the interesting things about your business.
But it's still not a live podcast, is it?
Firstly, a podcast is a podcast if it has an RSS feed that uses 'enclosures' to push the mp3 files to the listener. Too technical already? Maybe. That's OK.
 |
| Juice: a simple podcatcher for your computer |
So a user, 'a member of your audience', can use their computer or their mobile phone to 'catch' the audio as and when it becomes available - without you having to drag them to your webpage or 'mail list' them.
You provide the content and the listener can decide when to listen to it. Not the other way around. And it's designed, thanks to the RSS feed, so that listeners don't have to keep returning to a web page to check if there's a new episode available. That's the beauty of podcasting.
So, if it's you providing the podcast series, it's a chance to put your messages, the key points of your business or website maybe, into the ears of your target audience. The art of creating an effective podcast is therefore making it engaging and encouraging for the listener to then spin off back into the website past your front page. Or to push a telephone number to call, or an email address to message.
Yes, yes, I suppose video can also be 'podcasted'. It's sometimes referred to as 'vodcasting' but it's nowhere near as flexibly engaging as audio [and was never part of the original definition, so there *rasp*]. It still requires an RSS feed of course - the user needs to download the media and take it away with them without having to visit a webpage, don't forget. But I won't go into RSS feeds again.
 |
| The mp3 file: ubiquitously playable |
People do not watch their 'automatically downloaded' video whilst driving.
What do you mean why?
It's generally harder to watch video while moving about in the outside world overall, wouldn't you say? That's just asking for a raft of Darwin Award nominations.
So, yes, Audio is, by far, the superior medium for podcasting. With the mp3. An audio compression format that may have been superseded by other compression formats but never in ubiquity.
Every personal entertainment device can play an mp3 file.
When asking someone if they use podcasting I often get the response that they've moved on to video. Which almost invariably means that they have a YouTube clip embedded in a web page somewhere.
It's certainly not podcasting. And it's certainly not 'moving on'. If anything it's a step back. And it's understandable, too, that people should do this to themselves. It's a comfort zone thing. People limiting themselves to what they understand. And that's OK.
 |
| iTunes/iPhone have podcatching capabilities built in to their software |
As far as I'm concerned I'd rather that situation than one in which the internet is flooded with really badly written and produced podcasts. All those seminars you see advertised on how "You too can podcast" ...? Bit like telling you that you too can create your own promotional video. On your own. Using free software. Your own script and that HD Camera you got for Christmas.
Have you tried making your own video?
One that other people would watch? One that wouldn't embarrass you and your business? One that adds value to your website?
*Shiver*
Talk it over with a professional first. You'll feel really pleased you did when you get your first podcast series up and engaging your target audience in the interesting things about your business.
Event Podcasting: a great way of promoting & remembering your event. "It'll be like having our own radio station"
This is another great way of using podcasting. And this example is being carried out by experienced podcasters who know how to make an engaging podcast for their target audience.
Amplify’d from www.prfire.co.uk
Fairport and FolkCast create Cropredy Festival podcast
See this Amp at http://j.mp/n7k15A
Those crazy Swiss and their radio porn...
Along with clocks, chocs, banking and illegally gained cash stashing, is this about to join the national stereotype landscape?
Amplify’d from www.news.com.au
See this Amp at http://bit.ly/ixzm18
LinkedIn Recruiter Podcast
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| "A Marvellously Nice Chap" |
The trouble with this type of podcast is that one tends to get distracted by the quality information instead of focussing on the job at hand. Edit, edit, edit.
Still, it'll be good for the scripting process, I'm sure. That's later.
Vintage Books understands podcasting
Vintage Books are using podcasting in a great way that supports and promotes their sales. Talking to their Authors and getting them to read passages from their books, or discussing issues raised in their books brings the listener closer to the company's products.
Whether the listener is a regular buyer of books or not, creating this engaging podcast and generating a regular following means that when it is time for purchasing decisions to be made it will be Vintage Books at the top of the list of considerations.
Well done Vintage.
Whether the listener is a regular buyer of books or not, creating this engaging podcast and generating a regular following means that when it is time for purchasing decisions to be made it will be Vintage Books at the top of the list of considerations.
Well done Vintage.
Amplify’d from www.vintage-books.co.uk
Vintage Podcast
Podcast 8
15/04/2011
Featuring: Martin Amis, David Lodge, Evie Wyld, Jane Shilling, Rebecca Asher, William Goldsmith and Annalena McAfee
listen to podcast
Podcast 7
17/03/2011
Featuring Jo Nesbo, Michael Longley, Maxine Hong Kingston, Evie Wyld, Kevin Barry, Leo Benedictus and Annalena McAfee
listen to podcast
Podcast 5
07/02/2011
Featuring Julian Barnes, Anthony Quinn, Susan Hill and Brighton Rock director Rowan Joffe
listen to podcast
Podcast 4
15/12/2010
Featuring Nigella Lawson, Richard Briers, Fatima Bhutto, Blake Morrison, Alison Weir, Danny Kelly and Milton Crawford
listen to podcast
See this Amp at http://bit.ly/hqFdgR
Well done that man #Quakebook Pass it on
Been cobbled together by the lovely brother of a lovely lady from Leicester. He lives in Japan and is 'Our Man in Abiko'. He managed to put this together within days of the event with the help of people from all over the world. Yoko Ono contributes. Nice one.
Register your interest for a hard copy. Or just buy the soft copy.
"The Quakebook - A Twitter-sourced charity book about how the Japanese Earthquake at 2:46 on March 11, 2011 affected us all"
http://www.quakebook.org/
Register your interest for a hard copy. Or just buy the soft copy.
"The Quakebook - A Twitter-sourced charity book about how the Japanese Earthquake at 2:46 on March 11, 2011 affected us all"
http://www.quakebook.org/
Product Description
“The primary goal,” says the book's editor, a British resident of Japan, “is to record the moment, and in doing so raise money for the Japanese Red Cross Society to help the thousands of homeless, hungry and cold survivors of the earthquake and tsunami. The biggest frustration for many of us was being unable to help these victims. I don’t have any medical skills, and I’m not a helicopter pilot, but I can edit. A few tweets pulled together nearly everything – all the participants, all the expertise – and in just over a week we had created a book including stories from an 80-year-old grandfather in Sendai, a couple in Canada waiting to hear if their relatives were okay, and a Japanese family who left their home, telling their young son they might never be able to return."
ONE HUNDRED PERCENT of the price you pay (net of VAT, sales and other taxes) goes to the Japanese Red Cross Society to aid the victims of the March 11 earthquake and tsunami.
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
100% of the price of this book goes to the Japan Red Cross Society!,12 April 2011
First things first, 100% of the price of this book goes to the Japan Red Cross Society, so please buy it.
ByDerek J. Johnston "windhoek" (Glasgow) - See all my reviews
This review is from: 2:46: Aftershocks: Stories from the Japan Earthquake (Kindle Edition)
There are also various images and illustrations peppered throughout the book which capture moments and ideas appropriate to the book's content.
If you've seen footage of the tsunami and its devastation, you'll understand why there are few first-hand accounts of it included in the book. In fact, most stories are from people who experienced the earthquake from the relative safety of Tokyo or other modernised parts of Japan. There are also some international contributions from people concerned about the people of Japan - sometimes particular people.
At a press conference, the book's editor 'Our man in Abiko' said that if the book is ever revised to include additional content, those who purchased it beforehand won't have to pay again to access it. Instead, it will be available as an update to download and augment the original book.
This book has enhanced my sympathy and affection for Japan and her people, please buy it so she can blossom once again.
See this Amp at http://bit.ly/eHI2aV
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