Video plays an important part in social media strategy as I explained in my recent blog post.
With video getting 59% more engagement than other post types and Mark Zuckerberg saying “video is critical for the future”, it’s well worth embracing video. However, not all entrepreneurs like to be in front of the camera and for this reason, many businesses are not using video.
The good news is that video can still be used effectively, using images and text, without having to show your face. You can create eye-catching videos with an array of backgrounds using still images or moving images. Then overlay your text but not too many words on each slide so the reader has time to take them in. Music can be added too if required.
I tend to make mine 1-3 minutes for Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin. Instagram needs to be one minute or less if using in the IG feed but you can make them up to 10 minutes if using on IGTV.
These animated videos are perfect for:
- Blog teaser
- Announcing forthcoming product
- Lists of tips
- Tutorials and how-tos eg. showing how to make a recipe
- Showcasing your products
- Quotes
- Your breaking news
- Announcing your latest offer/Black Friday deals
- Daily hashtags themes in your Facebook Group or on your Page.
Here are five great apps for helping you create eye-catching short videos for your social media accounts.
Headliner
A great app for creating social media videos from your current content. Just upload your blog, text or longer form video and customise.
Headliner is also ideal for creating podcast promos as you can upload your audio file (the app will import up to 10 mins) using their Audiogram Wizard.
Once uploaded you can then choose the snippet of audio you want in your promo (and even get a transcription). The free option is great but you can upgrade for more options from $12.95/month.
Ripl
Ripl offers a wide variety of templates that you can customise with your brand colours, fonts and own photos. I like the ‘Daily Inspiration’ such a ‘Ideas’, ‘#Socialsaturday’ or ‘#WisdomWednesday’. Upgrade gives you options such as longer videos, more designs, own music and scheduling. The app is easy to use and you can create a video in minutes.
You can upgrade from $14.99 a month
Lumen5
Lumen5 is available on desktop for free or you can upgrade for more options, eg to remove Lumen branding.
Start with a link or text, select your format and platform, then choose a style. Lumen will take select text from your blog and add it to a video scene. You can amend any text, add scenes and sub-scenes, highlight words and add music.
Lumen cleverly selects video or photos that match your text. Sometimes that image doesn’t quite work so you can choose your own images or pick from stock. It sometimes takes a while to render your video and you can’t share directly from the desktop but overall I do love this app and use it a lot with my clients.
Upgrade from $49.99 a month but there is so much you can do on the free account.
Wave.video
Wave provides you with over 300 templates under various headings such as Business, Fashion or Food. Or you can start from scratch and build your own video, choosing from their library of over 1.5 million mages and videos. Music is available too on the paid plans.
I like the Calendar they provide, showing you all the daily and monthly awareness events from which you can take inspiration.
Paid plans start at just $8.25 per month.
Animoto
An easy to use app enabling you to create landscape or square videos. Animoto offers a wide variety of templates whether you want to tell a story, build an audience, promote a product or service. Or you can build from scratch.
You can customise videos by uploading your own images or you can use their stock photos. Each video allows a change fonts and colours, and you can add more blocks (scenes) such as photo, text, quotes, videos. If you want you can add music too. Create on desktop and mobile, cost is from £7.99 a month otherwise your videos include a ‘trial’ watermark.
With such easy-to-use cost effective apps, making videos for social media is accessible for every business owner.
Comment below to let me know what you think of these apps, or if you love to use another social media video creating app.