Content is an integral part of keeping a business in the public eye. By consistently uploading and releasing quality information – whether because of its informative nature or pure entertainment value – you’re consistently increasing your value as a brand, establishing yourself as an expert, and putting your own company ahead of the competition by virtue of the fact that you, not they, are teaching your clients how to make the best of your products or services or any other useful information.

That aside, however, content starts to get complicated when you realize that it can be pretty much anything. A webinar is a type of content, and an extremely successful type of content at that. Blogs are very useful, and much less resource-intensive. News articles are helpful content, as are sharable infographics, short explanatory videos, and other snippets of audio, text, or video.

Then there’s the videocast. A videocast can be helpful if you know what you’re doing; otherwise, it can backfire on you. But just like a quality webinar, a videocast can (for a relatively low cost) do wonders for your business online.

First: What is a Videocast?

Ever heard of a podcast? A podcast is an audio broadcast uploaded and hosted online. It’s much like a radio episode, heard either in real-time or afterwards. Podcasts became a thing quite recently, as a portmanteau of Apple’s iPod and the word “broadcast.”

A videocast is basically a podcast with video content, as per the Oxford Dictionaries. Videocasts, just like podcasts, are typically very long and meant to be informative or entertaining. And just like their audio counterparts, videocasts can amass a very large following for their content, style of delivery, or other reasons.

Why You Need a Videocast

Videocasts are great for two reasons: video content stands out online, and creates more of an impression than a simple image or snippet of text will; and secondly, video is much better for SEO. Because it’s so relatively rare, good quality video tied to a company will help search engines easily identify a company as reputable for the apparent quality of its content.

That’s the basis of the relationship between SEO and content, and it’s also the basis for the usefulness of a videocast specifically for your company or business. Recording a webcast is best done with a quality enterprise cloud webcasting solution such as BlueJeans, removing as much headache from the method as possible by making it simple and fast.

There’s a difference between a videocast and a webcast, although that difference is really minor. A webcast is an event, live streamed and specifically hosted to invite a large number of people. After the webcast is over, it can become a videocast, recorded and uploaded for later viewers to watch all over again.

5 Tips on How a Videocast Should Be Recorded

Now that you know why you should have a videocast for your company, it’s all about making sure you don’t mess it up. Thankfully, videocasts are really simple. All you need is the right hardware (a little more than your average office cubicle, but much less than a recording studio) and the right software.

#1. Get a decent microphone.

Step one is to have a microphone. This is what’s really important. Camera quality isn’t quite as important, since a basic laptop camera will probably do, but a laptop mic is about the worst thing you can use for a webcast. Instead, as per MakeUseOf, choose a quality non-professional microphone and buy yourself a cheap pop filter.

#2. Have a good camera.

Again, what matters here is that you’re not too grainy and your lighting doesn’t make you seem undead or silhouetted entirely. Lighting really matters here. Keep a light source behind your camera in front of you, not enough to cause glare all over your face, but enough to keep you illuminated and easy-to-see.

#3. Don    ’t talk over each other.

Once the webcast starts, etiquette matters too. If you get too rowdy or excited, someone has to step in to remind everyone to keep things civil. Let people finish their sentences clearly before talking.

Talking over each other may not be as much of a deal on talk shows where lip-reading is still somewhat valuable. But with potentially grainy video at times and the danger of audio problems, you need to make sure everyone has the time to talk without worrying about getting cut off.

#4. Keep an eye on the time.

Webcasts need to follow a schedule, and videocasts shouldn’t get too long. Keeping a timer on your side to make sure that you’re not running out of time talking about something irrelevant also helps you keep the conversation on-topic.

#5. Choose a format.

A webcast can follow several formats. You could have an interview format, where you ask the questions and get the answers. Alternatively, you could be talking alongside someone about a service, offering a tutorial of some kind.

Get inventive. Get creative. Webcasts and videocasts should be interesting, allowing you to play around with your imagination to best figure out how to use the time in your interest.