Promoting Podcasts
Perhaps before we even talk about promoting podcasts, we should start
with a discussion about when Webcasting (posting multimedia files online
for streaming or download) is and advantage and when it is appropriate
to podcast (creating an RSS feed so people can subscribe).
Teachers tend to work with a "captive audience", relatively small groups
of students. If there is a class Web or blog (or school district
"Teacher Homepages"), perhaps it is effective to simply post multimedia,
tell students about it, identify it on a course syllabus, and leave it
at that (Webcasting). Students can access the information (either streaming or
downloading) at their convenience or when the media is part of a class
assignment.
There are 2 advantages to posting files on a Webpage (Webcasting) in this
manner:
- No need to create a subscription service (RSS feed)
- Most likely, only students will use - it is highly
unlikely to have any "issues" with bandwidth usage, because a
relatively small group of people will be accessing resources
on a limited basis.
Podcasting makes sense when there is an ongoing series of media,
regularly being produced and uploaded, that students are expected to
access. For example, it could be effective to post reviews of
homework, perhaps providing answers and short explanations or
illustrations of solutions. If this was being done weekly, it
would be a definite advantage for students to automatically download
media via a subscription so that it is ready to use when they are ready
to review it.
Note that in this case, even though we would use an RSS feed
(subscription service), there is still no real need to promote the podcast. Students can simply be given the feed via email or a
class Website. It would also be possible to create CDs for students or
offer them other options to have access to these files.
When Webcasting or podcasting, there may be no reason to promote the
media other than to inform students that it is available and give them
access to the files in a convenient manner.
Advantages of promoting podcasts include:
- Sharing resources with other tech-savvy professionals
can be a real advantage - others that are interested in your
content probably have media that they can also share with
you.
- Sharing resources across the Internet can put you
in-touch with others that can help and provide feedback
about your work.
- The Web is a unique media that lets people from around
the world to collaborate on projects without having to
coordinate busy schedules or even get
together.
- As more and more educators create and share multimedia,
a vast array of resources in different formats becomes
freely available to teachers, students, and any other
interested stakeholder.
When students are creating podcasts, however, they will probably enjoy
the process of promoting. In fact, once they create multimedia
projects, many will choose to share them online, promoting as they see
fit, whether teachers ask them to or not.
Remember, digital projects can be transmitted easily and cheaply.
It is difficult to control who will use them. For personal safety,
students should only be identified by first names or a pseudonym.
Under no circumstances should projects include
identifying
details such as last names, addresses, student sports teams, or names of
community or other organizations.
Students should never be asked or encouraged to
post information on the Internet without first developing a blanket
media permission form that students and parents/guardians need to
approve. Here is an example from
Salem Public Schools
Podcasting is really nothing more than a way of distributing
multimedia - students can create meaningful, authentic projects that
integrate information and technology literacy skills without actually
posting files for Webcast or podcast.
In many cases, simply working with students to create projects and
submitting the final project on a CD, DVD, or other storage devise is
sufficient. We do not recommend using the Internet to share
student work unless students, families, faculty, staff, administration,
and the school board agrees that it is appropriate.
Advantages to having students share projects online include:
- They are more likely to take pride in their work,
applying themselves to edit and revise to achieve
higher-levels of quality.
- Students that share resources can build the same type
of learning community that educators create when they
share and collaborate online.
- Using and posting online media is probably the
single-most powerful way to bring the "real-world" into
the classroom.
12 Strategies for Promoting Podcasts
- Use Tags in Your Text. Probably the
most important thing to do, and the easiest too, is to
be sure that files that are posted online contain
information about their content. Librarian's call
this "metadata." Sites that search for information
look for codes, called
"tags," to locate information and make searches possible.
Be sure that the
RSS feeds for podcasts identify what the
series (channel) and episodes (items) are about. One popular site for
searching various media is
Technorati.
Suppose a podcasts and its supporting Web are about
algebra and factoring polynomials. "Tags" could be
created by using links like this:
<a href="http://technorati.com/tag/algebra" rel="tag">algebra</a>
<a href="http://technorati.com/tag/factoring+polynomials"
rel="tag">factoring polynomials</a>
The rel="tag" tells search engines that the link is a tag.
The "+" sign is used for the space in a two word tag.
The link can actually go anywhere, like the Wikipedia
entry on algebra, but it will still be seen as a tag by
search engines.
- List Your RSS Feed in Directories.
While the most obvious place to post your feed link is
on
podcast directories,
do stop there. Since podcasts are uploaded to a
Web server with a "homepage", use meaningful text posts
and links to other resources to accompany your podcasts
- post it in a content-rich Website. Submit your feeds
to RSS and blog directories too. Here's a list of
55 popular feed services
to use.
- Be Sure to Subscribe to Your Podcast. This
is important, submitting starts the process.
Directories don't know that a feed actually works until
at least one customer subscribes to that feed. Often, this is what
starts the process of indexing by that service.
You can be more-sure that sites you post a feed to
acknowledge your subscription by indexing it if you
subscribe to it too.
- Be Sure People Can Find You Via Search Engines.
We find information on the 'Net in one of 2
ways. We either see a link from a site we visit or
we locate sites via search engines like Google.
We can't control who links to our work (though we can
ask), but we can control information on our site.
Be sure to provide short and accurate summaries of video
or audio. Use the text in your podcast's
"homepage" to "sell" your content to visitors so they
know why its worth their time. Search engines will
"see" this when they sent bots crawling your site as
part of their indexing. Find the
keywords and phrases that others use to describe similar
content and use them in your text-based descriptions of
content.
- Use an Email List. This may seem
strange - the whole point of podcasting is to provide feeds
for automatic subscriptions, right? Remember, many
are just getting started. In fact, some studies show
that the vast majority of podcasts are either viewed as
streams or downloads and are never transferred to a
portable devise. Some people don't understand RSS
feeds or choose not to use them. Accommodate
people by providing the option of getting an email
notice when you have something new. Free services like
Feedblitz handle
the details.
- Share With Other Blogs and Podcasts.
Look for other Website and blogs that feature the same
content that you do. When possible, add thoughtful
comments on those sites - some "comment" forums
allow those that post to include a link to
their homepage. Be sure to be respectful and, if
posting links in comments, keep them on-topic. No
one likes to read comments from people that are not
adding to the dialog. A
comment, for example, might bring up some relevant
information in a short post and refer people to a link
for more information.
- Have Interesting People As Guests. In
the end, its the people that make any media interesting.
If you can, try to identify other people that can share
expertise on our Webcasts or podcasts. This also
provides an apportunity to create links between related
sites, a powerful tool that helps search engines find
you.
- Participate on Related Sites - Offer to Be a
Guest. As you identify and share with other
people and sites, offer to help them with their content
as a guest contributor, blogger, or participate
in their podcasts.
- Use Press Releases. Don't forget
traditional media, letting newspapers, TV stations,
radio stations, and public relations groups know what
you offer takes little time or effort and can generate
attention. Use events like special
guests, local-interest stories, interviews with
newsworthy guests, your 50th and 100th episode, annual
anniversary, and/or contests as a justification for sending
press releases.
- Take Advantage of Social Books. Related
to tagging, assign keywords to a particular URL.
Different services use this differently. Identify the ways specific
social network sites might connect users
with your podcasts. For example,
del.icio.us (a
social bookmark manager) lets you add a link (use your
podcast's homepage, not the feed or episode links) where
your podcast is available for download. Use
appropriate keywords, when people search del.icio.us so they can see the links
to resources with those
tags and find your podcast.
- Use Relationship Marketing, Connect With
Listeners. This is really the key and a current buzzword in business circles. Help
people take ownership of your "brand." One way is to
encourage and incorporate user feedback in your podcasts. Create a sense of community. Actively
solicit feedback from listeners by providing ways to
call and leave messages or send email feedback.
Share positive emails, reading them during your podcast.
Use questions from listeners too, answering them during
your podcasts.
- Join a Network. There is power in
numbers - the "superblogs" and podcasts got started with
this technology early and hooked up with others that
were innovating with technology. Creating a group
that shares resources, linking from one site to another,
creates a network. Being part of a group of
bloggers, podcasters and video bloggers with common
themes increases traffic for everyone.
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