Podcasting is making in roads into every areas of our lives and endeavours. In the corporate world, it is fast becoming a marketing and communication tool. More recently, it is being embraced as a viable and effective way of training and onboarding new employees.
Using a video podcast to train your team follows the same protocols as using podcasts for market outreach, entertainment, or other needs. For a quick guide, you can go through our previous article on how to record a video podcast, which includes tips on how to start a video podcast.
Why You Should Consider Training Your Team With A Video Podcast
1. More People Prefer To Listen And Watch Rather Than Read, Including You.
Studies show that audio and video materials are more effective than text-based training manuals, and an employee is more likely to retain 65% of the materials covered even after 6 months compared to 10% retention for text-based training. Now is the time to switch to podcast-based training if you’re yet to make the switch.
2. Provides Practical Ways Of Handling Work-Related Experiences
I bet you’re familiar with the slogan ‘Just do it!’ Employees are more concerned about getting their work done and will find any training that does not provide hands-on experience boring and irrelevant. Podcasting provides an interesting way of training your team by embedding relevant video demonstrations, testimonials, links to relevant reference materials, etc. For more relevant info on training your team using podcasts, go through our guide on how to record a video podcast.
3. It Is Employee-Centered
Employees can listen and watch podcasts repeatedly while offline and at their convenience. This makes training less burdensome for you and your team since your team can work the training into their schedule rather than trying to fit themselves into your training schedule even when it’s inconvenient.
4. Builds Team Spirit
Podcasting fosters collaborative work by allowing team members to like and share podcast episodes. You can also use podcasting to build team spirit by creating an embedded forum or platform where team members can interact by discussing podcast episodes, making suggestions, sharing ideas, asking questions, learning, and working together.
5. Millennials Prefer Podcasts As A Training Medium.
Training starts from the known to the unknown, using a familiar training medium. Millennials feel more comfortable handling digital devices, mobile apps, streaming and podcasting platforms, and more. Training millennials on your team using a video podcast medium makes it easy to get the best out of them. You will find our article on how to start a video podcast handy in creating the perfect video podcast for training millennials on your team.
6. Podcasting Delivers On Time.
Podcasting is a fast means of getting messages out; hence, you can use it to connect workers to important live training, meetings, and events remotely wherever they are.
7. Podcasting Delivers Information In Actionable Bits.
With podcasts, you can break large chunks of information into episodes small enough for your team members to assimilate and use learned concepts in solving work-related issues.
How To Train Your Team With A Video Podcast
As I have outlined earlier, training your team with a video podcast is similar to starting a podcast show. You will need the same set of equipment and setup processes. Considering this, you should read our previous article on how to record a podcast video, which will go a long way in helping you train your team using a video podcast.
1. Create An Outline For Your Training Video Podcast
Trying to create video podcasts for training your team without following any outline can confuse you and your team; hence, it is best to draw out a training outline you will stick to before starting a training podcast episode.
2. Keep It Short And Simple.
This is the best time you should remember the acronym KISS! Your training podcast should be short and simple, focusing on one objective per episode. You should also avoid using technical jargon and slang because it makes your podcast boring and difficult to follow.
While planning how to start a video podcast for training your team, you should keep it short and simple, focusing on one objective per episode while aiming to produce referenceable training podcasts.
3. Focus On Producing Quality Video Podcasts
Your goal is to increase productivity; that starts with investing in producing podcast episodes with high-quality video and audio, just like the professionals do! This makes your podcast episodes enjoyable enough for your team to want to listen to them repeatedly to help them retain the information in your podcast episodes without being compelled to do so.
Therefore, before planning on how to record a video podcast for your training sessions, you should invest in quality podcast equipment, editing software, and podcasting space. It is also helpful to host specialists on your podcast shows that can give valuable insights.
4. Make Your Podcast Episodes Engaging.
Storytelling is one great way of capturing your listeners’ attention. To ensure a high level of engagement, you should weave in captivating stories your listeners can connect and relate to. You can share stories of your personal job experience to drive home your point and make your podcast engaging enough to make your team want to listen and use it as a reference.
5. Create An Interactive Platform For Your Podcast
Hate to admit it, but podcasting leaves no room for your audience (now your team members) to interact with the host, hence the need to create a forum where your team can ask questions, make suggestions, and interact with you (as a podcaster). If that sounds like too much trouble for you, a closed Facebook, telegram, or WhatsApp group will do the trick.
6. Choose The Right Time To Publish
If you’re planning on producing a video podcast to train your team, you should publish it as soon as you’re done. If, on the other hand, you’re planning on releasing an explainer series on how to maintain a good work ethic, you can schedule it weekly to make your employees look forward to the next episode.
7. Promote Your Podcast
Yeah, you heard that right! Promoting a private podcast isn’t as challenging as promoting a podcast to the public with the intent of growing your audience base nevertheless, you should make sure to check the following boxes:
- Notify your team members ahead of the scheduled podcast release via email and social media handles
- Make an official statement about the scheduled video podcast
- Post flyers about the scheduled podcast on noticeboards, the cafeteria, and other visible places.
- Release teasers to get your team members looking forward to the scheduled podcast release.
- Check out more tips in our previous articles on how to record a video podcast.
Use Titles That Best Describe Your Training Podcast Series
Using titles that best describe your podcast series makes it easier for your team members to find any podcast episode. Therefore, make your podcast titles simple by avoiding using ambiguous phrasing, clickbait, or memes. For example, a good title for your podcast on work ethics can be ‘5 work ethics that boost productivity.’
9. Link Your Video Podcast Episodes To Your Company Website
Having a website and social media handles that link to your video podcast episodes is very important when considering how to start a video podcast. The same applies to publishing video podcasts to train your team; you should link all uploaded podcast episodes to your organization’s website. Also, all video podcasts linked to your organization’s website should be organized for easy accessibility and in downloadable formats.
10. Get A Good Podcast Host.
When planning on how to start a video podcast to train your team, you should also consider choosing a good host for your podcast channel. A good host should check the following boxes:
- Storage capabilities
- Website integration
- Analytics tools
- Content repurposing
Make Your Podcast Channel Private
Setting your podcast channel private and accessible by your team members only prevents the public audiences from accessing your video podcasts and possibly giving you a bad rating.
12. Get Feedback From Your Team Members.
What your team members think or feel about your video podcast episodes is important; feedback, advice, and suggestions can help you produce streamlined video podcasts for training your team members. Don’t forget to check out our podcast articles if you’re having challenges figuring out how to start a video podcast in training your team.
Final Thoughts
Video Podcast is a cost-effective means of training embraced by employers and employees. Below is a summary of tips on how to record a video podcast to train your team members.
- Keep it short and simple.
- Make it relevant to your team’s needs.
- Maintain a professional, conversational, and friendly tone while recording your video podcast
- Use clear and concise language to engage your team
- Use quality tools and equipment that guarantees high video and audio quality
