Blog Post: Video Captions are a Necessity on Social Media
By Abbey Szumloz
As video becomes the most popular ad and content format across social media platforms (thanks TikTok!), it’s important to remember best practices to ensure your campaigns are successful. One of the many and often overlooked factors to consider when producing a video ad is the addition of captions. Video captions are a necessity for organic and paid content on social media.
Inclusivity
Captions are essential for users who have hearing impairments. The World Health Organization (WHO) reports that about 5% of the world’s population has a hearing disability. While it may not seem like a large number, these are valuable people who deserve to feel included and recognized by brands and companies. By not including captions in videos, paid or organically, your brand is sending the message that it does not value these customers. It’s important to ensure your brand is making efforts to be inclusive of all people.
Increase View Time
Think of all the times you pull out your phone to scroll your social media feeds; it’s not always in the comfort of your own home. Sometimes it’s waiting in line for coffee, sitting at the DMV, or riding on public transportation. Wherever it is, you’re not always able to have sound on without being seen as rude or disruptive to the people around you. Studies have shown that around 85% of users scroll Facebook on mute. If the video ad relies on the audio to communicate its message and social media scrollers can’t understand the ad without the audio, they’re going to scroll by the ad within the first few seconds.
By implementing captions into the video creative, the brand message can now effectively reach those 85% of users who are watching on mute. Facebook statistics also show that subtitles can help increase overall view time by 12%, as the ability to read something on screen helps engage users, wherever they are.
Brand Recall
For people who do explore social media with their sound on, captions are still a necessity. While the most important information should always be conveyed within the visuals of the video, including captions that match the audio can help improve brand recall and ad messaging. When users hear and also see the information the ad is trying to convey, the overall effectiveness improves. As people are served thousands of advertisements each day, it’s important to ensure your brand’s messaging is the one they remember and keep top-of-mind. Captions are a necessity.
If you’re looking for an easy and inexpensive way to help boost your next video campaign, try implementing captions to help reach and engage a larger audience of people. With today’s technology, it has never been easier to transcribe your videos and add automated captions with ease.