Put Your Video Caption Know-how to the Test [Cheat sheet included]

Put Your Video Caption Know-how to the Test [Cheat sheet included]Pop quiz, scorching shot.

As client demand for on-line movies continues to climb, understanding how audiences work together with this sort of content material is a vital consideration for digital entrepreneurs. Surprisingly, many individuals want the sound of silence when it comes to their viewing habits. A recent Preply survey discovered that 41% of Americans select to have video captions turned on when watching on-line content material, largely due to watching content material in public settings.

Savvy entrepreneurs are catching on to this development, and tapping into the “no sound” expertise for movies on their company channels. To do that nicely, it’s essential to perceive the ins and outs of video captions.

At Convince & Convert, we’ve got partnered with a whole lot of manufacturers to produce social media content material and strategic plans for channels like TikTook, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. Unfortunately, we’ve discovered that captions are one piece of the course of that’s usually neglected by busy entrepreneurs, despite the fact that incorporating them into movies could make or break the success of a marketing campaign. 

How nicely do you stack up when it comes to realizing the ins and outs of video captions? The quiz under relies on real-life questions which have come up in our consumer initiatives. It’s okay for those who draw a clean on the solutions. We additionally present a cheat sheet so you’ll be able to wow your colleagues afterward by pretending you knew the solutions all alongside.

41% of Americans choose to have video captions turned on when watching online content. Click To Tweet

Quiz directions

Read the questions under, and replicate by yourself degree of information and confidence in answering each (don’t fear – there’s no time restrict). For the overachievers on the market, you’ll be able to copy these questions onto a clean doc and jot your solutions down to examine to the cheat sheet. For everybody else: simply have enjoyable with it, and maintain studying to be taught one thing new. 

  • What is the distinction between captions and subtitles?
  • Do all of the main social media platforms present automated captions?
  • Which is healthier to use on social media movies: open captions or closed captions
  • Do you’ve got to embrace captions for on-line movies to be ADA compliant?
  • Can closed captions enhance your search engine marketing efforts?

Video captions quiz cheat sheet

What is the distinction between captions and subtitles?

First issues first…there’s a distinction, and phrase alternative issues. Getting this reply proper is essential to guarantee you can talk successfully together with your workforce, with distributors, and together with your viewers. 

Captions are used to describe the audio parts of a video to viewers who can’t hear the sound. They point out what’s audibly occurring in the video, together with when music is taking part in, the phrases persons are saying, and if there are every other sound results happening. There are various kinds of captions that can be utilized: open captions and closed captions.

Subtitles are used to assist translate the video dialogue into a distinct language by means of written phrases on the display screen. They are created with the assumption that the viewer can hear the audio in the video, however that they don’t perceive the language being spoken. They sometimes solely translate spoken phrases and don’t embrace different background sounds.

difference between captions and subtitlesCredit: lexcode

Do all of the main social media platforms routinely generate video captions?

Yes! It’s taken them years to get right here, however now the largest social media platforms all have the functionality to routinely generate closed captions if you add a video. This contains:

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • TikTook
  • LinkedIn
  • YouTube

The not-so-subtle context right here: Any video you add to these channels ought to embrace captions. But don’t cease there. Be positive to assessment them first! The AI-generated textual content will prevent lots of time (no extra handbook transcriptions) however it isn’t at all times correct. You’ll need to catch any errors earlier than your viewers begin blowing up your feedback by recognizing a hilariously mis-captioned quote. 

Which is healthier to use on social media movies: open captions or closed captions?

Trick query! The reply right here is that it is determined by your model and your objectives for the video.

Open captions are when the phrases are “burned in” to the video file. The textual content at all times seems with the video; the viewer can’t decide to flip them off. They provide you with extra management over the look, model, and placement of your textual content. Some manufacturers do a fantastic job of utilizing open captions to create eye-catching graphics that encourage folks to cease scrolling their social feeds. They may even function an inventive approach to incorporate textual content as a part of the visible story. 

open captions vs closed captionsCredit: Convince and Convert

The downsides to open captions: they don’t seem to be nice for multilingual audiences, as totally different variations of the video are wanted for various languages. It shouldn’t be as straightforward to create them or make adjustments to them as soon as they’ve been added to the video. They are additionally not as accessible, since display screen readers can’t entry the textual content.

Conversely, closed captions are added to movies as a separate file, and they are often turned on or off by your viewers. It offers viewers extra management over how they need to have interaction together with your content material. It can be a lot simpler to make changes, as you solely have to edit textual content and never the precise video file.

Do you’ve got to embrace captions for on-line movies to be ADA compliant?

For most organizations the reply to that is “yes”, however there are a couple of exceptions (ADA compliance doesn’t apply to non secular organizations nor to personal golf equipment). Regardless of legality, it’s at all times finest follow to be sure that your video content material is accessible for all audiences.

For context, the Americans with Disabilities Act is a US legislation that forestalls discrimination towards people with disabilities. It requires native and state governments, in addition to companies and nonprofits that serve the public, to talk simply as successfully to folks with disabilities as these with out. This contains offering accessible net content material comparable to on-line movies.

ADA doesn’t have clear and particular requirements when it comes to video captions. Therefore, when making ready video content material, technique is to comply with the guidelines set by the Federal Communications Commission. The FCC created these guidelines for tv programming, however they’re simply as related for social channels. Captions want to be:

  • Accurate: Captions match the spoken phrases in the dialogue and convey background noises and different sounds to the fullest extent doable.
  • Synchronous: Captions coincide with their corresponding spoken phrases and sounds to the best extent doable and should be displayed on the display screen at a pace that may be learn by viewers.
  • Complete: Captions run from the starting to the finish of the program to the fullest extent doable.
  • Properly positioned: Captions mustn’t block different essential visible content material on the display screen, overlap each other or run off the fringe of the video display screen.

Can video captions enhance your search engine marketing efforts?

Yes! This is one other key issue to contemplate when deciding between utilizing open vs. closed captions. Adding closed captions will permit search engines like google to crawl the textual content file and perceive the context of your video so as to enhance its rating. Additionally, captions (open or closed) will even allow extra viewers to perceive your video, main to an extended video watch time – one thing that algorithms extremely favor.

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How did you do? We grade on the honor system right here. If you discover that you’re in want of some additional assist when it comes to social media video technique or manufacturing, we’re right here to assist! Reach out to us at any time to be taught extra about partnering with our workforce of strategists.