When it comes to online marketing, video is king. Video transcription provides a text version of all of the words spoken in the video and optimizes this marketing tool for visibility in search engines. Today, with people watching videos on their mobile device, it’s not just about good visuals. Text-driven video is crucial for marketing success. Creating appealing and effective text can enhance the video and work wonders for your campaign. But the question is – how can you optimize the use of text in videos? Or, what is the right way to use text in a video? Here are some expert tips on using text correctly in videos.
- Achieve the right balance: Space out. The golden rule is to use only that much text as is necessary to enhance the video. The text should not be the main focus, but should blend with seamlessly with the visual content. The aim should be to provide context and clarity and convey the main point, without detracting attention from what’s going on. An article in animoto.com points out how pet photographer Kristie Lee used text and images effectively in an advertisement using Marketing Video style Blank Slate which allowed both her text and her images to stand out.
- Add captions: With mobile viewing, most videos are watched without sound. It is reported that 85% of videos on Facebook are watched without sound. In this situation, captions or subtitles are the key to increasing engagement. A digital transcription service provider can help add captions to your video. Captions are synchronized to the audio.
- Use text to introduce people and brands: An article in business2community.com recommends using text in video to introduce people and brands. If you’re interviewing someone, mention the person’s name and designation. If you are showcasing your brand, use colors and font styles that reflect those in your logo and other printed materials. Such text will help establish authority, integrity and context very quickly, and give your video a professional look.
- Keep it short: Use text to highlight the story, not detract attention from it. For this, you need to keep the text short and use it to highlight important information.
- Break up the video into segments: Use text to organize your video into smaller segments. For instance, text can be used effectively to feature Q&A, display steps in a tutorial or summarize a long story. Using text for segmentation can give your video content a cohesive flow with a beginning, middle, and end.
- The ever so important calls-to-action (CTAs): Using strategic CTAs is crucial to guide your visitors through the buyer journey. Whether it’s to subscribe to a newsletter, get a free trial of a service or buy a product, including short, well worded CTA at the end of the video is crucial to boost conversions.
- Ensure clarity and legibility: To effectively deliver your message to your audience, make sure that the text is clean and legible. With ground knowledge of typographic rules and fonts, you can use text as a powerful design element to convey your message.
- Choose the right colors: To create separation between the text and the background image, choose contrast colors. The colors should match the mood of your video.
While these tips can help you use text the right way in your video, you need to be careful to avoid the following mistakes:
- Don’t stuff the screen with text: Large blocks of text will overwhelm viewers. A good strategy is to use short sentences. Text should be used only to provide context to the video, not overpower it.
- Don’t block the visuals: Place the text in an unobtrusive place where it doesn’t mar the visual assets. The text should flow naturally with the visual content.
- Don’t use text that is too small: Take care to see that font size is not too small as it will be difficult to read.
Videos with transcripts and captions improve your search engine optimization efforts in many ways:
- Videos and podcasts with text can reach a larger audience
- Text makes videos accessible to those with hearing problems
- Captions synchronize the text with the audio content
- Using the text-based captions and associated metadata, the media can be indexed for searching. Any word said in the video is searchable
Digital transcription services are the best option when you need to convert audio and video files into text format on a regular basis. An experienced video transcription company can ensure accurate text to establish context quickly and promote stronger organization. By adding the right amount of text in your marketing videos, you can deliver effectively your content to your targeted audience.
