Podcasts.
They’re becoming increasingly popular, so much so that latest figures from Ofcom suggest that around 6 million people in the UK tune in to a podcast on a weekly basis – up 50% in just 5 years.
So it’s safe to say that podcasting is booming.
The media industry has begun to embrace podcasting too – and we’re seeing an increase in the number of clients requesting for their podcasts to be transcribed.
Why transcribe?
The reason is simple in most cases: you may find it boosts your number of listeners. Providing a transcript is an excellent way to show that you have a fully inclusive approach to your work – anyone who is hard of hearing or even deaf is able to access your podcast through your transcription. That’s a potential 11 million people in the UK who wouldn’t otherwise be able to enjoy it.
But there are other reasons too why providing a transcription of your podcast could be useful.
- It’s great for SEO – your search engine optimisation will be much improved. Google (other search engines are available) isn’t out there waiting to listen to your podcast. In fact, search engines cannot currently look at sound files, only text, so providing text content for them means that people can text search for your podcast using particular keywords and are much more likely to find it. It can make all the difference between being able to grow an audience and remaining stagnant in the ether of the internet.
- It’s an added bonus for marketing – being able to extract snippets of text and send out by social media is a great way to generate interaction with your audience and communicate with them. It’s easier to be able to share content from a website using a URL. When it has someone online that it can be found, being able to tell people about it is much easier.
- Maximise the fun – by providing a transcript you’re enhancing the user experience. It means your audience can access the podcast ina variety of different ways and can enjoy the format they feel most comfortable with.
- Create new content from your podcast – use your transcripts to create new content, which will help maximise the return on doing your podcast in the first place. Remember that not everyone is familiar with or a regular user of podcasts yet. Use some of the content to write a blog, or create a social media campaign… you never know, you may end up converting some new listeners in the process!
Choose FSTL
FSTL has experience in transcribing podcasts for a number of clients. Why not take the first step towards reaching a new audience with our podcast transcription service today?