December 8, 2025 • 7 mins
There are lots of ways to promote your podcast. Visual soundbites let you turn your audio into short video clips that are easy to share on social media. With Buzzsprout, you can quickly create simple, customizable clips without needing extra technical know-how.
If you have questions about using visual soundbites, email us at support@buzzsprout.com.
Have a topic or question we should address on a future episode? Text us or email the Buzzsprout Podcaster Success Team at support@buzzsprout.com
Keep podcasting!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Cara Pacetti (00:00):
Welcome to Podcasting Q&A, brought to you
by the people at Buzzsprout.
I'm your host, Cara Passetti,and I'm bringing you the best
tips and strategies to keep youpodcasting with confidence.
Today we're tackling thequestion: how does a visual
soundbite help me to promote mypodcast?
(00:20):
A visual soundbite is a featurethat is specific to BuzzSprout,
but I've also heard these shortclips referred to as
audiograms, amongst otherpodcast hosts.
To briefly describe what avisual soundbite is, it's a
short segment of your audio thatwe will help you turn into an
engaging social video.
Now, why are we taking an audiopodcast and creating video
(00:43):
clips from it?
Well, let me explain.
When it comes to promoting yourpodcast, we've found that video
is much more engaging andreally is the clear leader in
social content.
There was a study released in2024 that was put out by Buzz
Monitor, and the findings showthat video formatted posts take
the lead when it comes to socialsharing.
(01:05):
And the most popular platformsfor video sharing are Instagram
and TikTok.
While video production can bevery difficult and is really not
for everybody, visual soundbites make it really easy for
you to share your audio in avideo format so that you can
take full advantage of what wealready know to be true about
social media viewing.
(01:26):
Now that we've gone through thewhy it's important to use a
visual soundbite to promote yourpodcast, I want to walk through
the steps of creating a visualsoundbite inside of your
Buzzsprout account.
When you click create asoundbite inside of your
Buzzsprout account, it will takeyou to a page that will allow
you to preview your entireepisode.
There's a player there and youcan listen to the whole thing.
(01:47):
And while you're listening, youcan decide which segment of
your episode you want to use forthat soundbite.
The visual soundbite can beanywhere from 15 seconds at
minimum up to 60 seconds.
So since we are talking aboutchoosing the best segment to use
for your soundbite, whatexactly should you include in a
(02:08):
visual soundbite?
Think of it like an engagingconversation.
This is a short clip of youraudio, so you want to find a
segment that really motivatesyour listener to find your
episode and keep listening toit.
What is something that was saidduring that episode that you
know will grab your audience'sattention?
You know them best.
So make sure you make that clipvery inviting and very
(02:31):
engaging.
Sometimes we will seepodcasters use a visual
soundbite as a teaser or atrailer for an upcoming episode.
The cool part about thisfeature is that you can actually
create visual sound bites whenyour episode is still in a draft
mode inside of your Buzzsproutaccount.
And so you would follow thesame steps, even with your
(02:51):
episode being unpublished,create the visual soundbite and
then share that on your socialmedia platforms, letting your
listeners know what is to come.
One way of making this visualsoundbite super engaging is by
including a clip of you and yourguest.
And so if this is a well-knownguest and you have been
(03:13):
promoting that this episode isupcoming and you are featuring
this guest that you know yourlisteners will want to hear
from, create a visual soundbiteand include some of their
commentary.
Once your listeners hear theguest, of course, they are gonna
run over and make sure thatthey're subscribed to your
podcast so that when thatepisode goes live, they'll be
there to hear it.
Those are just some of the waysthat you can use a visual
(03:35):
soundbite to really engage yourlisteners and to promote your
podcast.
Once you've selected thesegment that you want to use for
your visual soundbite, the nextstep is to customize the image
that you want shared.
So the way visual sound biteswork is that you will have one
static image and then there willbe waveforms playing in front
of that image.
(03:56):
Even though it defaults to yourpodcast artwork, you can select
whatever image you would likeadded there.
So once you've selected theartwork that you want to use for
your visual soundbite, the nextstep is to select which size
you want for the soundbite.
The reason that we offer you acouple of different variations
in sizing is because each socialmedia platform presents their
(04:20):
posts in different ways.
For example, the squareorientation that you'll see
there, that's the standard forFacebook and Twitter.
These sites typically use asquare orientation or a square
image.
Then you'll see a landscapeorientation.
So this orientation is greatfor sites that optimize video.
(04:40):
For example, YouTube or ifyou're sharing a video on, say,
a website.
And then the last option you'llsee there is the portrait
orientation.
So the portrait orientation islike the landscape, but it's
flipped up and down.
And these are best for anystory-like sharing platform.
For example, Instagram orFacebook.
(05:01):
They have an option for a post,but they now have the option
for sharing reels or stories.
And that's where that portraitorientation comes in handy.
Also, TikTok and YouTube Shortswould be a great place for
sharing the portraitorientation.
So it's really up to you if youwant to create and share
different variations of yoursound bites based on which
(05:23):
platforms you're sharing on.
You can absolutely do that.
The other option you'll see onthat page is to have artwork
only, or you can have your textand your artwork showing.
The artwork is the artwork thatyou select.
It can be your podcast artworkor an image that you've uploaded
that is specifically for thisvisual sound bite.
And when you select artworkonly, it's going to be the
(05:46):
waveform just in front of theimage.
The other option is to includetext and artwork.
So you can customize the textand really add whatever you
want, but we've prompted you toadd your podcast name and your
episode title.
Those are all of yourcustomization options for
creating your visual soundbite.
Once you've selected all ofyour options and you are
(06:08):
confident and you're ready forthis thing to go, all you have
to do is save your work and wewill automatically populate that
right inside of your BuzzSproutaccount.
You'll head back to yourepisode details page and you'll
see an option to download thevisual soundbite.
If you're using our BuzzSproutapp, you'll actually get a push
notification.
So love getting thatnotification that my visual
(06:31):
soundbite is ready.
And I can even head to my appand save that to my phone.
Just keep in mind it's going tobe an MP4 file, so a video
file.
From there, you can save thevideo file to your device and
start sharing.
I also recommend adding a linkto your episode when you share
those visual sound bites, eitherlink to your Buzzsprout
website, or you can even grab aURL from your Apple listing and
(06:55):
share your episode that way.
The main goal here is just toget your listener from your
visual soundbite to your podcastlisting.
I hope after this episode, youare excited to start using
visual sound bites to get theword out about your podcast.
Our podcaster success team isalways eager to help you with
any questions.
So if you have them, reach outto us at any time by emailing
(07:16):
support at buzzsprout.com.
If you have a question you'dlike answered on a future
podcasting Q&A episode, makesure to click the send us a text
link in the show notes.
Be sure to join us every Mondayto kickstart your week.
Thanks for listening.
And as always, keep podcasting.
Welcome to Podcasting Q&A, brought to you
by the people at Buzzsprout.
I'm your host, Cara Passetti,and I'm bringing you the best
tips and strategies to keep youpodcasting with confidence.
Today we're tackling thequestion: how does a visual
soundbite help me to promote mypodcast?
(00:20):
A visual soundbite is a featurethat is specific to BuzzSprout,
but I've also heard these shortclips referred to as
audiograms, amongst otherpodcast hosts.
To briefly describe what avisual soundbite is, it's a
short segment of your audio thatwe will help you turn into an
engaging social video.
Now, why are we taking an audiopodcast and creating video
(00:43):
clips from it?
Well, let me explain.
When it comes to promoting yourpodcast, we've found that video
is much more engaging andreally is the clear leader in
social content.
There was a study released in2024 that was put out by Buzz
Monitor, and the findings showthat video formatted posts take
the lead when it comes to socialsharing.
(01:05):
And the most popular platformsfor video sharing are Instagram
and TikTok.
While video production can bevery difficult and is really not
for everybody, visual soundbites make it really easy for
you to share your audio in avideo format so that you can
take full advantage of what wealready know to be true about
social media viewing.
(01:26):
Now that we've gone through thewhy it's important to use a
visual soundbite to promote yourpodcast, I want to walk through
the steps of creating a visualsoundbite inside of your
Buzzsprout account.
When you click create asoundbite inside of your
Buzzsprout account, it will takeyou to a page that will allow
you to preview your entireepisode.
There's a player there and youcan listen to the whole thing.
(01:47):
And while you're listening, youcan decide which segment of
your episode you want to use forthat soundbite.
The visual soundbite can beanywhere from 15 seconds at
minimum up to 60 seconds.
So since we are talking aboutchoosing the best segment to use
for your soundbite, whatexactly should you include in a
(02:08):
visual soundbite?
Think of it like an engagingconversation.
This is a short clip of youraudio, so you want to find a
segment that really motivatesyour listener to find your
episode and keep listening toit.
What is something that was saidduring that episode that you
know will grab your audience'sattention?
You know them best.
So make sure you make that clipvery inviting and very
(02:31):
engaging.
Sometimes we will seepodcasters use a visual
soundbite as a teaser or atrailer for an upcoming episode.
The cool part about thisfeature is that you can actually
create visual sound bites whenyour episode is still in a draft
mode inside of your Buzzsproutaccount.
And so you would follow thesame steps, even with your
(02:51):
episode being unpublished,create the visual soundbite and
then share that on your socialmedia platforms, letting your
listeners know what is to come.
One way of making this visualsoundbite super engaging is by
including a clip of you and yourguest.
And so if this is a well-knownguest and you have been
(03:13):
promoting that this episode isupcoming and you are featuring
this guest that you know yourlisteners will want to hear
from, create a visual soundbiteand include some of their
commentary.
Once your listeners hear theguest, of course, they are gonna
run over and make sure thatthey're subscribed to your
podcast so that when thatepisode goes live, they'll be
there to hear it.
Those are just some of the waysthat you can use a visual
(03:35):
soundbite to really engage yourlisteners and to promote your
podcast.
Once you've selected thesegment that you want to use for
your visual soundbite, the nextstep is to customize the image
that you want shared.
So the way visual sound biteswork is that you will have one
static image and then there willbe waveforms playing in front
of that image.
(03:56):
Even though it defaults to yourpodcast artwork, you can select
whatever image you would likeadded there.
So once you've selected theartwork that you want to use for
your visual soundbite, the nextstep is to select which size
you want for the soundbite.
The reason that we offer you acouple of different variations
in sizing is because each socialmedia platform presents their
(04:20):
posts in different ways.
For example, the squareorientation that you'll see
there, that's the standard forFacebook and Twitter.
These sites typically use asquare orientation or a square
image.
Then you'll see a landscapeorientation.
So this orientation is greatfor sites that optimize video.
(04:40):
For example, YouTube or ifyou're sharing a video on, say,
a website.
And then the last option you'llsee there is the portrait
orientation.
So the portrait orientation islike the landscape, but it's
flipped up and down.
And these are best for anystory-like sharing platform.
For example, Instagram orFacebook.
(05:01):
They have an option for a post,but they now have the option
for sharing reels or stories.
And that's where that portraitorientation comes in handy.
Also, TikTok and YouTube Shortswould be a great place for
sharing the portraitorientation.
So it's really up to you if youwant to create and share
different variations of yoursound bites based on which
(05:23):
platforms you're sharing on.
You can absolutely do that.
The other option you'll see onthat page is to have artwork
only, or you can have your textand your artwork showing.
The artwork is the artwork thatyou select.
It can be your podcast artworkor an image that you've uploaded
that is specifically for thisvisual sound bite.
And when you select artworkonly, it's going to be the
(05:46):
waveform just in front of theimage.
The other option is to includetext and artwork.
So you can customize the textand really add whatever you
want, but we've prompted you toadd your podcast name and your
episode title.
Those are all of yourcustomization options for
creating your visual soundbite.
Once you've selected all ofyour options and you are
(06:08):
confident and you're ready forthis thing to go, all you have
to do is save your work and wewill automatically populate that
right inside of your BuzzSproutaccount.
You'll head back to yourepisode details page and you'll
see an option to download thevisual soundbite.
If you're using our BuzzSproutapp, you'll actually get a push
notification.
So love getting thatnotification that my visual
(06:31):
soundbite is ready.
And I can even head to my appand save that to my phone.
Just keep in mind it's going tobe an MP4 file, so a video
file.
From there, you can save thevideo file to your device and
start sharing.
I also recommend adding a linkto your episode when you share
those visual sound bites, eitherlink to your Buzzsprout
website, or you can even grab aURL from your Apple listing and
(06:55):
share your episode that way.
The main goal here is just toget your listener from your
visual soundbite to your podcastlisting.
I hope after this episode, youare excited to start using
visual sound bites to get theword out about your podcast.
Our podcaster success team isalways eager to help you with
any questions.
So if you have them, reach outto us at any time by emailing
(07:16):
support at buzzsprout.com.
If you have a question you'dlike answered on a future
podcasting Q&A episode, makesure to click the send us a text
link in the show notes.
Be sure to join us every Mondayto kickstart your week.
Thanks for listening.
And as always, keep podcasting.
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