Creating podcasts for your workforce on a $200 budget

Will audio kill the video star? Probably not, but First Data found it’s sometimes the better option

Video’s the hot new thing for intranets and Web sites alike. But in all the video frenzy, have you forgotten about audio? Sometimes a simple podcast will do the trick.

It’s the reason why National Public Radio programs and podcasts are still around, even in the face of 24/7 TV news coverage and YouTube. And it’s the reason why Glenn Antonucci, manager of communications at First Data, decided to go with a podcast rather than a video to broadcast new company white papers internally. Video, he said, would be too distracting.

“For some content, I would consider video before audio, but when you’ve got this scenario with intricate, tech-heavy white papers, I don’t think video is the way to do that,” Antonucci says. “Audio focuses you in on the words, on the exchange during the interview; it’s a better way of engagement than with video, because you get caught up in it.”

If you’ve ever read a white paper, you realize they can be a little dry, so engagement was key for Antonucci—getting First Data employees to pay attention to breakthroughs coming from the company’s different departments in the form of white papers.