Never heard of the term 'Shortcast'? Don't worry, Shortcast is actually one of the newest trends in the market.

Also known as a mini podcast, micro podcast and bite-sized podcast, Shortcast are basically short podcast that have their own content or promote another longer podcast.

In this article, we are going to go through everything about Shortcast with you - major trends, hacks, tips, and many more!

What will be covered:

What is a Shortcast
Types and Use Cases of Shortcasts
Benefits of Shortcasts
How to make a Shortcast?

💡 What is a Shortcast?

Shortcast is a combined word of 'short' and 'podcast'. A wide definition is that Shortcasts are simply short podcasts. Since Shortcasts are shorter than podcasts, it has more options in their format (e.g. video) available for the audience.

A Shortcast is a short digital audio file made available on the Internet. Unlike traditional podcasts that are usually 40 to 60 minutes long, Shortcasts have a much shorter duration.

There are controversies about how short it should be, but a general rule of thumb is that it is 5 minutes or less.

A good analogy to understand shortcasts is YouTube shorts. YouTubers use YouTube shorts to promote their main content by posting small clips. Similarly, Shortcast are mini podcasts that either have their own content or promote the content of another main podcast.

As mentioned earlier, Shortcasts are also called mini-podcasts, micro-podcasts and bite-sized podcasts!

Podcasts started to gain popularity in 2014, more than 55% of the total American population has been exposed to podcasts.

Shortcasts started to get attention in 2020 after short videos hit big. Social networking platforms like TikTok and Instagram reels are performing really well. It is widely believed to have contributed to the attention timespan shortening for the younger generation. You can now upload audio on Instagram or even upload it on Facebook these platforms to share your Shortcast on these platform.

Source: Wistia [2021 State of Video Report]

🎧 Types of Shortcasts

A shortened version of a podcast

Most traditional podcasts are an hour long. That's why some platforms will find authors to do Shortcasts as a shortened or abridged version of a long podcast.

Abridged podcasts are the best way to attract users to start consuming their content with a lower entry barrier. The abridged version is usually the end product instead of a trailer (or a 'bait' in the marketing sense).

It summarizes everything you have to know as an audience so you can literally skip the long version.

One example of a Shortcast curation platform would be Blinkist. They pack key insights of a whole book and have the authors share the book summary in Shortcast format of 15 minutes, with 5 sections (3 minutes each). They mostly invite famous authors for content curation.

An example in textual format would be SparkNotes, which many of us once used as a student. They create a shortened version of the book and make a summary of it, so their users do not have to read the whole book if they do not wish to.

Audiogram Shortcast Videos

But how to promote Shortcasts?

The answer: Upload Shortcasts in video format on Social Media.

The most effective way is to directly distribute Shortcasts onto social media instead of uploading them on Spotify since it is easier to get an audience and followers in this way. YouTube Shorts, TikTok, Instagram Reels and Linkedin are by far offering the best organic reach at present.

A big trend in recent years is to use videos with waveform instead of plain audio to do Shortcasts, which ties back to my point about social media growth. It's also way easier to do it compared with creating podcasts on Spotify.

You may use tools such as Jupitrr to make shareable videos with auto-generated captions and post them on social media. These videos help you gain followers at least 5X quicker than using plain audio on streaming platforms.

Using Audiograms for Shortcast Promotion

It is the fastest and easiest way to promote a Shortcast, without the need to learn how to use complicated video editing software.

Check out our guide to create an animated Text Audiogram which is eye-catching and gets a lot of engagement on social media.

Trailer Shortcasts

Apart from an abridged version, Shortcasts can also be in a trailer format.

Unlike abridged content, trailer shortcasts are selected parts from long-form content instead of one whole clip.

With trailer shortcasts, you won't need to make extra effort to create standalone audio as you can just reuse the original video. You can add some background music to ignite some curiosity in the viewers.

Just like movie trailers, trailer shortcasts can be good marketing material for your podcast.

Many trailer Shortcasts are quotes by creators or famous people. Joe Rogan's Instagram pos t is a great example of a trailer shortcast -

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/0:47

An Instagram post by Joe Rogan promoting his podcast

Why should you make Shortcasts?

To Listners

Smaller commitment: One of the most common reasons for people to not start a podcast is because it feels like a big commitment to start one. Some topics will last for a whole hour, not to mention some have multiple episodes. Before it even started, people had already given up. Shortcasts have the advantage of making the audience feel it's easy to start.
Higher completion rate: It is more likely for the audience to finish listening - it's shorter! Starting Shortcasts can increase the completion rate for the audience and indirectly help increase your total listenership hours.

To creators

Lower commitment and cost: Lower commitment and costs are required in producing Shortcasts, which enables creators to produce quality content more consistently. To be honest, we humans are all procrastinators. Shortcasts minimize the friction it has for creators to make new content.
Higher post frequency: Shortcasts help creators publish at a higher frequency due to the lower effort per post. We all know that the algorithms of social media sites like Instagram, YouTube and Linkedin are all taking post frequency into account in a heavy way.

For instance, posting twice a day on Facebook is recommended by marketing experts. Shortcasts will make creators easier to commit to that.
More experiments: What your audience likes is one of the most underrated aspects. In startups, we call making experiments an 'iteration' process for making the best product. It is the same for creators! Shortcasts enable quicker iteration cycles and faster to reach content-market fit.
Easier for distribution: Long-form podcasts require the creator to have an RSS feed to upload (and get approval...) to streaming platforms such as Spotify. However, with the use of social media which your audience visits every day, the marketing aspect for your audio content will hugely benefit.

👩‍💻‍ How to make a Shortcast?

The easy way

Start with quick sharing on social media. But wait, you can't upload audio files on Instagram and Linkedin. You need a video.

BTW, don't try to do the way on the right, the marketing ROI will be miserable...

Forget about video editing software like Premiere Pro and Final Cut Pro! Those are made for professional video editors.

A quicker way is to upload a voice recording, select templates and distribute it on social media using audiogram generation tools such as Jupitrr. Instead of learning everything about video editing, Jupitrr is created just for making audiogram videos.

What's more is that there are features like auto-caption generation, 1080 HD video output, and it's free for audio under 10 minutes!

👉🏻 Create a free Shortcast now

The advanced way

If you are looking for the traditional way, you can upload to Spotify with an RSS feed (RSS is a feed that allows users to get updates to websites in a standardized, computer-readable format). Without an RSS feed, an audience will not be able to get access to a podcaster's content.

After that, you can submit the podcast to streaming platforms such as Spotify, Buzzsprout, PlayerFM etc. The approval process will take up to 5 days.

Most good RSS feeds are not free. If you have a high conviction that your podcast will be successful, getting one is great for you. However, if you do not have thousands of audience yet, putting it out on social media is an easier way to (1) test out your content strategy and (2) gain early momentum for listenership.

Conclusion

I still remember those days when Facebook and Instagram marketing was not a thing? Smart business owners or marketers are always those who took advantage when the space is still in its infancy.

Podcasting is now more likely to be a future trend for creators to gain income, as the revenue growth has been staggering - 72% in 2020 and 47% in 2021.

Shortcasts are an up-and-coming trend in the social media and podcast space. It is also free to try things out. Will it work? Try it out and you'll know. 😉

Start creating audiograms now