Slideshow or Marketing Video? Which to Choose for Social Media Promos

Hi there! This article refers to Animoto Memories, an Animoto legacy slideshow-making tool. As of October 2018, all Animoto customers have access to our new easy-to-use, drag-and-drop video maker.

Click here to learn more about what you can do with Animoto for social media today. Have a question about Animoto Memories? Reach out to our Customer Success team.

Photographers: when you sit down in front of Animoto to make a video that’ll stand out on social media, you’ll now see two different options — Slideshow Video Builder and Marketing Video Builder.

It can be difficult to decide which to choose if you’re not familiar with both products. To help you decide, we’ve created two versions of the same wedding photography promo — one as a slideshow video and the other as a marketing video — along with a list of features used in each video.

Note: The Marketing Video Builder is available for Animoto Professional and Business customers.

Social media promo in Slideshow Video Builder

Take a look at this example of a promo created for Vanessa Joy Photography. It was created with 10 photos, two captions, and one text block, using Soft Focus video style. The song, “All About Your Heart” by Mindy Gledhill, is available with both lyrics and as an instrumental in our music library.

Slideshow Video Builder features used:

A variety of features were used to create this video — some are unique to the Slideshow Video Builder; others are not.

• Video styles: The Slideshow Video Builder has more than 100 design-rich video styles to choose from. Styles determine the look and feel of your video and (with the exception of our three customizable styles, Frameless, Documentary, and Classic) have set colors, fonts, and animated video effects.
• Text: The text in this video was added by adding captions on photo blocks and filling out the titles and subtitles in our slideshow title blocks. Text layout and font are set, based on your style selection.
• Logo: A logo was added to this video using the Slideshow Video Builder’s logo feature, which can be accessed by Professional and Business customers. In slideshow videos, logos can be placed at the beginning and/or end of videos, animated, and placed on either a black or white background. Learn how to add a logo to a slideshow video on our blog.

Social media promo in Marketing Video Builder

And now, here’s the same video (with the same 10 photos and text), created using our Marketing Video Builder. The style is Hi-rise and you can find it by selecting “Start from Scratch” when you start your Marketing Video project.

Marketing Video Builder features used:

This video features many of the advanced customization options in our Marketing Video Builder, designed to help you create content that feels on-brand, looks professional, and stands out whether you’re sharing it in your studio or on social media.

• Video styles: We currently offer five marketing video styles. Each has its own text animation and transition treatments. However, you are able to choose from a variety of fonts and font layouts and select your own colors, making it easy to create a video that feels like your brand.
• Storyboards: This video is our “Social Media Ad” storyboard, which can be found under the Photography marketing videos section in the storyboard selector. We have 18 different pre-built storyboards you can choose from, including 3 built with photographers in mind. Once you select a storyboard, you can simply drag and drop your own content into it, or customize it for your business. You can read more about storyboards in this blog post.
• Collages: Each marketing video style allows for several different collage variations, letting you include 2, 3, 4, or more images at once, for a more dynamic presentation. This video features one photo collage, which cuts 12 seconds off of Vanessa’s promo, a key feature when the seconds count in capturing your audience’s attention. It also makes her video more visually interesting at the same time.
• Text customization: The Marketing Video Builder lets you adjust the size, color, and positioning of your text, and while there is no video in the video above, you can add text over video clips as well. Using the text customization features, Vanessa was able to select text colors and styles that stand out and are easy to read on mobile devices (where most social media videos get watched).
• Logo block: Adding a logo in the Marketing Video Builder is a little different. You can place a logo at any point in your video (not just the beginning or end), animate it, adjust the size, and choose any background color you’d like. You can also add text to a logo block, letting you add your website or other information, in addition to the logo itself.

Did you prefer the slideshow video version or the marketing video version? We’d love to hear why in the comments. Do you prefer one builder to the other when it comes to making photography session videos of your own? Let us know!