Podcasting!

Podcasting, a relatively "new" phenomenon can be used for more than the much advertised playing of music videos on an iPod. According to wikipedia.com, podcasting is the distribution of audio and video files online, on personal computers and mobile devices.

Can It Help My Business?

Podcasts can help businesses both internally and externally. John C. Hayes disscusses several uses in his article, "Podcasting" on about.com. Aside from the obvious external use of advertising a product or service, I picked 2 of Haye's methods and added one from my own experience.

1. CEO CubicleCasts: Hayes describes this as a weekly cast in a radio show format, perhaps with the CEO interviewing employees on ideas/concerns, or giving them best practice advice alone. I think that any improvement to the "monthy newsletter" that would actually get employees interested could be great.

2. ConferenceCasts: Hayes describes these as "best of" podcasts, to update those that perhaps missed a conference session. He advises to keep the casts under 15 minutes and that an "audio team" would need to edit and get it ready for disribution relatively fast.

3. Training Casts: This concept was first introduced to me when working for a technology solutions based company over the summer. The idea is to provide required or professional training to employees in an easily accessbile format. This is a combination of Haye's "HR Podcasts" and "Welcome Tours". Either way traditionally stagnant training can be updated through podcasting.

More great information on podcasting can be found in Hayes' full article.