Captions are not only a helpful accommodation for many of your viewers, they also offer marketing benefits. Adding text to your videos highlights the story you’re telling while maximizing accessibility for your audience.
Below are four benefits of adding captions to your marketing videos.
Grow your audience
If the goal of marketing is to reach as many customers as possible, why would you automatically exclude a group by skipping an important step in your marketing videos? Roughly 5 percent of the global population experiences a form of hearing loss, while 15 percent of Americans are deaf or hard of hearing. Captions make your videos more accessible to millions of viewers.
Depending on your industry, you may be legally required to make your content accessible. Many government agencies and contractors are required to meet accessibility laws, and many funders ask that their funds be used for creating accessible products. To honor the spirit of those intentions, accessibility should apply to any marketing for the products as well.
Adding captions also makes your videos more accessible to viewers for whom English is not their first language. Captions offer greater clarity, particularly for unfamiliar technical jargon. Multilingual captions are also helpful if you’re marketing to a multilingual audience.
Reach viewers watching content on mute
While you designed a video that includes hilarious dialogue or thoughtful music, there’s a good chance your viewers will watch your video on mute. People watch videos on social media while scrolling through their phones on public transit, in waiting rooms or on the couch with family – places where no one else wants to hear your video.
Autoplay is standard on social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram, but when viewers are watching on mute autoplay still isn’t enough to grab a viewer’s attention. Captions keep viewers watching longer without making them commit to plugging in headphones or bothering their neighbors.
Punch up your marketing
Even copy-heavy channels like email newsletters and blogs benefit from video – especially video with captions. Your original marketing video can be repurposed for numerous channels, particularly with the help of captions. Use snippets on social media, with captions for viewers scrolling on mute. Create GIFs with captions to illustrate a quote or concept. Take the transcript for the video to create a blog post.
Improve SEO
Search engines aren’t able to watch your videos, so any text you can provide with your video helps search engines better understand your content. Adding a transcript allows you to plug in keywords and backlinks, making the video more discoverable. Uploading professional captions demonstrates to search engines your video is valuable.
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About Us
Spin Creative is a video production company and creative agency helping marketers create winning video and creative strategies that engage, inspire and activate targeted audiences. Spin is headquartered in Seattle with offices in San Francisco and London, serving brands around the globe.
