IT’S ALL ABOUT THE CAPTIONS!

As social media channels become increasingly choked with content, it is becoming harder to stand out when consumers scroll through their feeds.

A few years ago, we saw visually appealing images being added as opposed to or as well as text to posts - this is now no longer enough. Now we are seeing social media feeds being brought to life through the increasing use of video, making people notice and slow down when going through their feed, something we’ve covered in our earlier blog on video content ideas.

So now that everyone is hopping on the video bandwagon, how do you stand out and generate engagement? By adding captions! Yes, captions are essential. You will have noticed or experienced yourself that videos on social media start with the sound off!

Stand out captions immediately let content consumers know what the video is about.

Benefits to adding captions

1. Engagement

If viewers can see what the video is about with the sound off, then it gives them the chance to turn on the sound and find out more.

2. Improves SEO

If you have a video on your website, as search engines can’t watch the video, they can only crawl text. This means that captioning can help boost your search engine optimisation creating a bigger impact than a video without captioning.

3. Accessibility

Some viewers may have hearing difficulties and adding captions makes your content more accessible to a wider audience.

4. Captioned videos can be watched anywhere!

Whether you are on the bus, in an office or just watching TV with the family, captioned videos can be consumed anywhere without disturbing anyone.

How do you add captions?

There are many ways that you can quickly and cost effectively add captions to your video. YouTube captioning is very straightforward and free. A popular and efficient tool is Rev.com to get your video transcript and you can then use a platform called Kapwing to get the subtitles burnt onto your video.

Whilst Rev.com is very cheap, it is important to carefully go through, check and amend any transcripts. The benefit of Kapwing is you can easily edit and change the font and style of the captions on your video.

Captioning adds many benefits to your video and social media and although there are quick and cost-effective systems out there, it can take time and focus away from the day job. Cal Partners is an award-winning marketing and digital marketing agency. We regularly help clients with video content, animation and captioning as part of their overall digital marketing strategy. Find out more here.