Social Video Bootcamp Challenge #3: Say it with text.
Hope you’ve enjoyed Challenge #1 and Challenge #2 of our Social Video Bootcamp! This week’s challenge is designed to help you create silent videos that’ll stand out in the social media feed, and especially on Facebook – where over 85% of video is watched with the sound off. Check out the video below and then read on to find out more.
The Challenge: Say it with text.
Today, some videos autoplay with sound. But, for the most part, people are watching videos in their social feeds on mute. Therefore, when trying to reach an audience on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, it’s important to plan for sound off. This week’s challenge is to create an engaging square video that makes sense with or without the audio playing.
Challenge Tips
We’ve put together a list of 5 tips that’ll help you create a video with text that stands out on social media. You’ve already seen them in the video above, but we’ll dive in now to give you a bit more insight on each tip.
Tip 1: Make sure your text is big and easy to read
Remember that many people will be watching your video on a mobile device, which means that it will be displayed pretty small. For this reason, you’ll want to make sure that your text is big and easy to read. To change the size of the text in your video, click “SEE MORE” on the block you want to edit. Then, in the “EDIT TEXT” area (which you can find by clicking on the “T”), use the slider on the right to make text bigger (or smaller).
Tip 2: Use filters to make text more legible
We recently introduced a new feature – Filters – that are designed to give the photos and video clips in your video a consistent look and to help your text stand out. Check out the video below to see how they work and read more on our blog.
Tip 3: Keep it short and sweet
In video, it’s best to keep the text at a minimum. After all, video is a visual medium and video viewers aren’t looking to read a lot. For this reason, it’s important to think about how to say what you want to say in as few words as possible. Use just enough text to get your message across.
Tip 4: Use text customization for an “on brand” look
Did you know that you can customize your your text color and font with our Marketing Video Builder? Change your colors per block, or click the Design icon in the menu on the left to change the colors and font across your entire project at once. This is an easy way to customize your video so that it matches your brand.
Tip 5: Test before you post!
Finally – don’t forget to test your video before posting to social media. Watch it on a mobile device without sound to see if the text is legible and if the story makes sense.
When you’re done with your Challenge #3 video, we’d love to see it! Share it here in the comments or head over to the Animoto Social Video Marketing Community on Facebook. Share your video there and get feedback from the Animoto team and other group members, or just watch what other Bootcamp participants are making for inspiration. Happy video making!