Easy Ways To Add Captions to Video

Did you know as much as 85% percent of people use Social Media with sound off? If your video content has no captions or subtitles for speech, people will just scroll on to the next post.

Adding captions to your videos will help keep your audience watching and ensure they're getting the information you're telling them.

More importantly if you add captions, you will be making your content accessible to people with hearing disabilities.

Advancements in technology has meant that the social media networks are now offering auto-generated captions to transcribe the spoken word. These are becoming very accurate, especially when it comes to accents. However, you may have to go in and edit the odd word they don’t pick up.

3 Easy Ways To Add Captions To Video

Follow my three easy tips for adding captions and subtitles to video. You’ll notice a real difference in engagement. Watch the video above or follow the instructions below ↕️

1. Instagram or Facebook Stories from your mobile phone

Use the Text sticker

• Upload your video to an Instagram or Facebook story
• From the top of the screen tap on the Text sticker
• Type in your own captions, change colour and add animation
• Tap and hold on the Text to position it where you want on the screen

OR

Use the Caption sticker on Stories or Instagram Reels

• Upload your video to an a story or Instagram Reel
• From the top of the screen tap on the smiley face icon
• Tap on Captions sticker
• Captions will auto-generate
• Double tap on the captions to edit any words
• Go to the colour wheel at the top to change the colour of the captions and add background
• Tap and hold to position the captions where you want them on the screen
• Pinch the captions to change the size
• At the bottom of the screen, you can change the font

 2. Auto-generated captions on Facebook

• Go into Facebook Creator Studio
• Tap on the green Create New button on the left-hand side
• Upload Video
• Go through the on-screen prompts
• In the Optimise section, tick Captions
• Captions will be auto-generated

Similar functionality is also available on other social media networks. On some platforms you will be able to click in and edit the captions.

 3. Rev.com and Kapwing.com

Rev.com is a transcription and captioning service (paid) which can be used with Kapwing.com (free and paid versions), an online video editor to add captions onto your video. For a small fee, use Rev.com to get the caption file. Then use Kapwing.com to add your captions onto your video.

• Go to Rev.com Get started > English Captions > Caption your video and follow on screen prompts to upload your video file (.mov or .MP4)
• Within a few hours they will send you back either an .srt file which is a text file containing your captions or there is also the option for them to burn the captions permanently on to your video. If you are planning on issuing the same video in different formats it is best to get the .srt file so you can use it on multiple video files
• Once you have the .srt file you can use Kapwing.com to add the subtitle file onto your video
• Go to Kapwing.com > Create a new project > add your video > Subtitles > Upload .srt file
• Edit your captions on left hand-side panel and download your video.
• With Kapwing Pro (paid version) you can auto-generate subtitles, removing the need for Kapwing.com

What is an .srt file

An SRT file stands for a SubRip Subtitle file. It is a plain-text file that contains information regarding subtitles, including the start and end timecodes of your text to ensure your subtitles match your audio.

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