There is no doubt that video content is superior over all other platforms when it comes to drawing in people and keeping them continually interested.
But if you're not convinced, and you want to talk numbers, then you should know that there are 500 million people every single day, watching videos on Facebook.
Moreover, a substantial chunk, 33% to be specific, of online activities pertain to people viewing video content. Undeniably, videos have power and influence over people across the globe, and that’s why businesses always include them in their marketing campaigns.
However, there's a tiny detail that holds a significant impact when given attention to in terms of using videos to speak to the world–the captions. Some people may think that it's such a minute thing to have a substantial effect, but in reality, you can take your videos a lot further when you know how to use them.
Let's find out how you can turn this small element into a massive feature!
Video with captions statistics will show that they genuinely help clarify any content since people can read off them as they view the videos. In essence, there will be no confusion as to the spoken aspect of your clip since the subtitles are explicitly given on the screen. Moreover, they are synced to the video’s playout time so you can follow along as the words are being spoken on film.
Sometimes these captions may be turned off, and at other times they are a permanent, unremovable part of the video. Ideally, they shouldn't obstruct any part of the content, even as they must stand out to be readable by the audience.
There are two ways on how you can generate captions on your videos. You can either be creative by making them yourself, or you can use the auto-generated ones.
Using your creativity
If you choose to make your video captions, you can do so, especially if your content is heavy on speech or voice-over elements. Of course, it will require resources to put them in and to edit them, which you must have.
Going this route will allow you to be unique in your subtitles and give you control over your captions' accuracy and overall quality.
Auto-generated captions
On the one hand, if you can't make your captions, you can depend on the ones automatically generated by hosting platforms like Vimeo and YouTube. The format is relatively standard, but you have minimal options to customize them on some video players.
The downside to these instant subtitles is that they are inaccurate since they are run by algorithms through machine learning and are subject to errors here and there. If you see mistakes, an excellent workaround is to do a manual edit in your video settings, if available. It's added work but a lot less than if you have to do the captions yourself.
When should you put video captions?
As far as video with captions statistics will tell us, it's always necessary to add these subtitles to any video content. However, there are certain situations when there is no need to do such, though rare. What are these unusual circumstances? It’s when the content of your video is purely sound, and words are entirely absent.
If your content has spoken words like a do-it-yourself tutorial video or a clip featuring your brand, captions are in order. How then do you decide if captions will enhance or hurt your film? The key to arriving at a decision is to examine the target audience for your campaign and the platforms by which you will distribute your content.
After a careful analysis of these two factors, you can then decide to include captions in your videos to improve its effectivity.
How will video captions help you?
We have so far talked about how captions enhance the overall quality of videos as backed by video with captions statistics. But the benefits don’t end there. You will be surprised to know that these subtitles can do a whole lot more for your business than merely improving the readability of your content.
I am talking about search engine optimization, expanding metrics on engagement, and helping your videos become widely accessible even for those who have disabilities.
You can benefit from Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Anyone who has ever Googled (which is about everyone) is familiar with search engine optimization or SEO. When you provide a transcript, by way of captions, to your videos, it immediately becomes subject to the browsing crawl of search engines. This step gives your content ranking on search results. If you rank high, your video, of course, will reach remarkably more significant clout.
Another way by which you can use SEO to your advantage is to add appropriate video content to your website and other pages.
You can make your videos widely accessible
Not everyone who can potentially view your videos can understand the language spoken in the clip or even hear the words due to their disability. Again, we refer to video with captions statistics, which will tell us that more than 28 million Americans cannot hear or, if they can, have great difficulty.
If you have captions, you make your content accessible to this segment of the population, and you help them benefit from your videos. Another sector is the non-English speaking people who will entirely depend on your subtitles to appreciate what your content is about and why they should keep watching.
If you don't provide subtitles to your content, you bypass these groups of people, and you lose the opportunity to tap them on your marketing campaigns.
You can work videos with captions statistics (on engagement) to your advantage
So, let's get on with specific figures to support our claims. How do video captions enhance the engagement metrics of your content? Is it worth the effort to include them in your clips?
Let me provide you with some data that will further our promotion on providing subtitles to video content. Some of them may surprise you, and some make perfect sense. For instance, 84% of those who watch videos on Facebook do so on mute, making subtitles necessary.
Another one is based on a study done on some videos with captions and some without. The results showed that captions brought about a 41% uptick on viewers. Also, subtitles caused an 78% increase in the likelihood of these people watching the videos in their entirety.
Moreover, an experiment conducted by Discovery Digital Network revealed that in general, videos with captions have 6% more viewers than those that don't, while Facebook also supports this fact by indicating that view time is improved by 13% when subtitles are available.
If these videos with captions statistics do not persuade you, coupled with all the benefits we have just talked about, I don’t know what else will. You will have great difficulty refuting these figures and searching for proof that captions do not improve the quality of video content everywhere!
Just make sure that your captions are created to be readable and with words that resonate with your target viewers. This way, you can draw them in and fully engage them throughout the clip to make a huge impact.
Final words
Convincingly, captions do so much for your video content, and it's such a great thing to know that it takes so little to add them in. They don't cost much compared to other add-ons to your content, but they provide significant value to your overall output.
Think of the captions as the finishing touches to your videos as you work on your content narrative, the unique effects, and the video graphics. In the end, you want people to be attracted to your videos so you can authentically connect with them and boost your brand image.
Think of the captions as the finishing touches to your videos as you work on your content narrative, the unique effects, and the video graphics. In the end, you want people to be attracted to your videos so you can authentically connect with them and boost your brand image.
It’s so much more for so much less. Think about it.
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