Customize Your Episodes with Dynamic Content

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We'll explain how using Dynamic Content in Buzzsprout can make adding timely messages, ads, and announcements across new and old episodes quick and easy to do! 

Check out more on Dynamic Content here! 

If you have questions about using Dynamic Content, email us at [e-mail].

Have a topic or question we should address on a future episode? Text us or email the Buzzsprout Podcaster Success Team at [e-mail]

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Episode Transcript

Cara Pacetti (00:00):
Welcome to Podcasting QA, brought to you by
the people at Buzzsprout.
I'm your host, Cara Pacetti,and I'm bringing you the best
tips and strategies to keep youpodcasting with confidence.
In today's episode ofPodcasting QA, we are talking
all about dynamic content.

(00:20):
Dynamic content is a really funfeature in Buzzsprout that
allows you to share timelyinformation with your audience.
And I have brought in an expertto help me answer this
question.
Lindsey is joining me, and sheis a part of the Podcaster
Success team here at Buzzsproutand has been answering questions
and serving our podcasters forover four years now.
She has helped many, manypodcasters not only launch their

(00:44):
podcast, but grow it withconfidence.
Lindsay, thank you so much forjoining me to answer this.

Lindey Perez (00:48):
Yeah, absolutely.
Thanks for having me.

Cara Pacetti (00:50):
So first, I want to start with what is dynamic
content in case you've neverheard of it before.
Dynamic Content allowspodcasters to insert short audio
clips to all or some of yourepisodes.
You can add these audio clipsas a pre-mid or post-role, and
you can decide whether or notyou want to apply this to your

(01:11):
whole back catalog or just addit to a few certain episodes.
This feature is super powerfulbecause the content is
non-destructive, which means youcan swap out that pre-mid or
post-role at any time to easilyupdate your episodes.
This means you can addinformation for maybe an ad run.

(01:31):
You can add an announcement ofan upcoming event.
So dynamic content is a verypowerful tool.
Lindsay, can you walk usthrough how to set up dynamic
content inside of yourBuzzsprout account?

Lindey Perez (01:44):
So dynamic content is actually available to every
Buzzsprout user.
Whether you're on a free planor a paid plan, you can access
that within your account.
You're going to go to theepisodes page, and then from
there, you're going to see a tabcalled dynamic content.
There, you can upload youraudio files and either add them
as a pre-roll, a post-roll, or amid-roll.
You can also select whether youlike them to be applied to all

(02:06):
of your episodes or some of yourepisodes.
You could do past episodes,future episodes.
Now, there is a limitation.
The audio file can only be fiveminutes long.
But the beauty is that you havetotal control as to what you
are adding to your episodes.
So this is different than thedynamic ad insertion where your
host might be placing ads intoyour podcast.

(02:27):
This is fully in your control.

Cara Pacetti (02:29):
That's a great point, Lindsay.
Sometimes podcasters will hearthe word dynamic content and
automatically assume that thisis dynamic ad insertion.
So we at Buzzsprout are goingto be placing advertisements
within their episodes.
And that's not the case here.
Although that can be a usefultool, dynamic content is, again,
really powerful because youhave full control of what you're

(02:51):
adding there.
So while dynamic content can beused for monetization, there
are also some uses for dynamiccontent that's just different
than dynamic ad insertionbecause you, as a podcaster,
have that control.
So I'm really glad you broughtthat up.
When you add dynamic content toyour episodes, they will
automatically play in all ofyour episodes across all of your

(03:12):
directories where your podcastis listed.
So, Lindsay, can you tell ussome ways of using dynamic
content that's different fromusing it for monetization?

Lindey Perez (03:22):
Yes.
Okay.
So you might have a giveawaythat you're doing that you want
to add in as your pre-roll.
And then you might also have apost-roll where you do a
listener survey.
And then in the middle for yourmid-rolls, you might have some
ad reads.
You could talk about a sponsorthat you have.
You could talk about buzz routesubscriptions.
There is a lot of flexibilitywith what you can do with

(03:42):
dynamic content.

Cara Pacetti (03:43):
Those are really great examples, Lindsay.
I mentioned before that dynamiccontent has many uses besides
monetization, but let's talkabout how dynamic content can be
used for monetization.
So if you've created arelationship with the business
on your own and you've agreedwith them that you'd like to run
an ad about their business inyour podcast, that is something

(04:06):
that you can do through dynamiccontent.
Like Lindsay was saying, youcan upload up to a five-minute
audio clip.
Sometimes advertisers orsponsors will give you a script
or they'll let you as thepodcaster get creative with it.
You can record that content,upload it to that dynamic
content page, and then you candrop those ads inside of your
episode.

(04:26):
And so the beauty of this isthat on that dynamic content
page, you can actually see thedownloads for the episodes
containing that content.
If you've agreed to a certaintime frame that you're running
that ad, you can remove the adafter that timeframe has passed
and you can let that sponsorknow, hey, I received 50
downloads for my episodes thatcontained your ad.

(04:49):
Or sometimes advertisers orsponsors will base their
agreement with you solely ondownload numbers.
And so you can provide that assoon as you reach 50 downloads,
go ahead and remove thatcontent.
When you remove the dynamiccontent from your episodes, that
update will show in thedirectories within 24 hours.
And you can provide thoseanalytics and that data to the

(05:12):
sponsor or advertiser.
So that's another way of usingdynamic content for
monetization.
I want to clear up somethingthat can be a little bit
confusing for podcasters who arejust starting out using the
dynamic content tool.
Since there is an option to addthis content as a pre-or
post-role, we've seen wherepodcasters will upload their

(05:34):
intro or their outro for theirepisodes as dynamic content.
Lindsay, have you seen that inthe support inbox at all?

Lindey Perez (05:42):
I have seen that come through.
And that always makes it alittle bit difficult because if
you do ever want to use apre-roll or a post-roll for
something else, it makes thathard because then you're going
to have to take away your intro,let's say it's music or a call
to action.
Then you're having to removethat in order to insert your
timely information or somethingthat you really want your
listeners to know that'shappening right now.

Cara Pacetti (06:04):
Absolutely.
And I think this happens withnewer podcasters because they
think, well, I'm just a coupleof episodes in.
I don't know if I plan tomonetize or not.
But then once you're threeyears in and you have 50
episodes under your belt and youget that ad opportunity, it's
going to be really hard to goback and replace all of those
pre and post roles.
And so that's why our bigrecommendation is just to bake

(06:26):
that intro and outro into youroriginal audio that you're
adding to Buzzsprout and leavethose spots open for your
dynamic content so that you canadd timely information or add
opportunities as they arise.
Now I want to switch gears andI want to focus a little bit
more on adding dynamic contentas a mid-roll in the middle of

(06:48):
your episodes.
We have technology here atBuzzsprout that will
automatically find insertionpoints in the middle of your
episode based on the length ofyour episode and based on
natural pauses that our systemcan automatically identify.
So when that technologyidentifies mid-role placements,
those will appear inside of thedetails page in your Buzzsprout

(07:11):
account.
Those will automatically beidentified by our smart
insertion technology.
And you can pick from any ofthose mid-rolls to use for your
dynamic content placement.
Once you've selected theinsertion point that we've
identified for you, you stillhave the flexibility to manually
move that insertion pointslightly if you want to see it
in a new spot.

(07:32):
Now, if you have an episodethat you've uploaded and it's
under 23 minutes long, you willactually have to manually add
that mid-roll placement.
So the technology can'tidentify the insertion points
because the episode is shorterthan 23 minutes.
We still want to give you theopportunity to use mid-rolls.
So under the mid-roll settings,you will see the option to

(07:54):
manually add those mid-rollplacements.
And then you can add thedynamic content there.
So now that we are addingmid-rolls into the middle of
your episode, that means that weneed to get your listener from
your normal episode into thisnew dynamic content that you've
added.
And the best way of doing thatis by adding a transition.

(08:15):
So when you're hosted here withBuzzsprout, we automatically
include that transition for allof your dynamic content.
So all of those mid-rolls willstart with a Buzzsprout, I'll
call it a jingle.
It's this little noise.
You've probably heard itbefore, but you'll hear the
noise play, the jingle.
And then this will bring yourlistener into the dynamic

(08:37):
content that you've added.
The reason that we include thatis because it's very jarring to
be listening to an episodeabout maybe about podcasting,
this podcasting QA episode.
And then in the next breath, Iam talking to you about
HelloFresh and how their steamedbroccoli is the best.
The listener is left wondering,what on earth just happened?

(08:58):
And so adding a jingle cues thelistener, hey, content is
coming, whether it be an ad,whether it be an announcement,
uh, it's going to be a littledifferent than what you are
listening to.
And we also provide the optionto add a transition.
So we have a couple of stockoptions for you that we've
already pre-uploaded in yourBuzzsprout account underneath

(09:18):
the dynamic content page.
There are different messageslike we'll be right back, or we
have just the music.
So you can hear just the jingleand then your dynamic content
will start playing.
Another option is to actuallyupload your own transition.
So if you would like to be theone letting your listener know
that, hey, this is a messageabout an upcoming event, you can

(09:41):
add that transition into yourdynamic content.
Then once the dynamic contentfinishes playing, you'll hear
that same little jingle and itwill take you out of the dynamic
content and back into yourepisode.
It's very helpful to, again,let your listeners know that
you're taking a break, playingthat mid-roll, and then getting
right back into the content.
And so I hope that's helpfulwhen it comes to adding dynamic

(10:03):
content, whether it be as a preor post-roll or even a mid-roll.
I know there's really creativeways for using dynamic content
in your episodes.
We hear about those all of thetime in the support inbox from
our podcasters.

Lindey Perez (10:16):
And so if you have a creative way that you're
using this, we would love tohear from you.
Um you can either send us amessage via fan mail or you can
send us a message to the supportinbox and just kind of tell us
how are you using it?
What are you using it for?
Have you received any feedbackfrom your listeners that they
love it as well?
We just love to hear how ourpodcasters are using different

(10:37):
features that we've created.

Cara Pacetti (10:39):
And if you have any questions about dynamic
content, you could reach out toLindsay or I or any of the
podcaster success specialistshere at Buzzsprout by emailing
us at support at buzzsprout.com.
If you have a question you'dlike answered on a future
podcasting QA episode, justclick the send us a text link in
the show notes.
And we'd love to create afuture episode based on that

(10:59):
question.
Thank you for joining us,Lindsay.
Thank you so much for helpingme answer this question today.
Yes, absolutely.

Lindey Perez (11:05):
Thank you so much for having me.

Cara Pacetti (11:07):
Be sure to join us every Monday to kickstart your
week.
Thanks for listening.
And as always, keep podcasting.