Social media and influencers go together like peanut butter and jelly. Fans may find your work just as delicious, especially if you’re creating engaging, thoughtful content.

You may be a huge fan of video or use it more sparingly, but it should certainly be a part of your content calendar. And whether you’ve been an influencer for years or are just getting started, there’s power in video transcriptions.

What is a Video Transcription?

A video transcription is taking the audio from a video file and converting it to a text version. This can be done via humans, automated software, or a combination of both. Typically, transcription only includes the spoken words in a video, but it can expand to feature things like music or sound effects.

It’s important to note that video transcriptions are normally delivered verbatim. Video captions can sometimes be condensed – you’ll often see this on live broadcasts or in scenes with a lot of talking in a short amount of time. But with transcriptions, you’ll get the full text of the audio.

The Power of Video Marketing on Social Media

Welcome to 2019, where 80 percent of all marketing is video. Social media influencer marketing is booming with visual content. If you’re not building out your video strategy, now’s the perfect time to start.

You have a variety of options when it comes to influencer marketing. If you’re a fashion blogger, you may partner with a clothing company to show off their threads. If you’re a food critic, perhaps you’ll team up with a restaurant to give a taste of their new menu. You can also join forces with another influencer in your space, offering shoutouts, giveaways, and other goodies for your fanbases.

One of the most common ways to feature a brand is via a post or video on social media. You’ve seen these in your feed, and have no doubt developed some yourself.

But here’s something important to remember: while a social media influencer post is a fine way to market a product or service, creating an influencer video is even better. People retain 95 percent of a message when that message is absorbed via video. If they only read a message by itself? Just 10 percent retention.

There’s still plenty of power in the written word, though – you just need to combine that message with your video marketing. And there’s a super easy way to do it: video transcription and captions.

7 Reasons Why You Need Video Transcriptions and Captions

As a social media influencer, you’ve got a lot of pull on social platforms. People come to your page because they know you’ll provide them with useful information and teach them new things. You can provide even more use for your audience by adding video transcriptions and captions to your videos. Here are the benefits:

1. Increase Accessibility

Chances are, your video has some kind of audio in it, whether it’s a vlog, narration, or interviews. You’re already capturing a wider audience by using video. If the video doesn’t have any captions or transcriptions, however, you’re missing out on a vast audience. 48 million Americans suffer from some form of hearing loss. Luckily, you can make your video content accessible by simply adding captions and/or transcribing your video.

2. Reach New Audiences

If you’re partnering with other video influencers, you have the opportunity to reach new audiences. Their fans trust and respect what they have to say, and if they’re promoting you or your brand, their fans will be more inclined to check you out. Transcription and captions take that trust even further. If someone is only able to watch the video in a crowded place, they’ll need the ability to read what’s going on. If they only see a soundless video, they’ll have no idea that you or your brand is getting mentioned. However, if they have transcriptions or captions handy, they can easily see what’s being talked about, hop on over to your website, and view your content for themselves.

3. Enhance Viewer Experience

Including video transcription and captions in your content also makes for a better overall user experience. Maybe you said something at the three-minute mark that really resonated with an audience member, but they can’t quite remember when you said it. With a transcript, they can easily scan for that particular part. Similarly, if you or someone you’re interviewing has an accent that’s difficult for a certain portion of your audience to understand, the captions will make sure that message is clear.

4. Boost Your Views and SEO

You probably know that Google and other search engines will scan sites for specific keywords. The better your Search Engine Optimization (SEO), the higher you’ll rank when someone searches for a particular word or phrase. But did you know that your videos can have SEO, too? If you include both short and long tail keywords in your video’s content, that’s an extra boost to your SEO – as long as you transcribe and caption the video. Add transcription and you’ll have even more SEO juice, as well as a way for people to easily link to a specific sentence or section of your video.

5. Explain Your Messages Clearly

Transcribing video can help clear up any possible confusion in your message. You or someone you chat with may stumble over a question or use lots of “ums,” “uhs,” or other filler words when speaking. That can be hard to follow during a video, but if you’ve transcribed or captioned your message, you’re ensuring that you’re delivering it to your viewers in the most accurate way possible.

6. Easier to Create Derivative Content

How many times have you sat down to create a piece of content and felt completely stuck? Video transcriptions and captions can help if you have no idea where to begin. Not only is a transcription itself a new piece of content – if people can’t watch a video, they can still read your message via the transcription – it opens up opportunities for additional content down the line. Maybe your video featured a segment on five cool examples of event marketing. You can turn each one of those entries into their own blogs or expand them into individual videos. And since the content is already laid out in front of you, it’s a lot easier to get the ball rolling with this derivative content.

7. Improve Average Watch Time

Here’s an interesting statistic: 85% of people watch Facebook videos on mute. Here’s another one: if you upload a video on YouTube and include captions, you’ll see, on average, nearly 13.5% more views than if you didn’t have captions at all. Whether your audience has to watch their video without sound due to the environment, disability, or another reason, they’ll stick around longer if the video has captions.

How Can You Transcribe Audio Faster?

Now that you know the benefits, you may be wondering how to transcribe a video. Sure, you could sit down at a computer, type out a few words at a time, then rewind the video to catch any words you missed. However, video transcription can be a long, tedious process, particularly if you’re creating long-form content. Moreover, you may find yourself making errors if you try to rush through everything.

Rather than the DIY route, you could work with an affordable transcription service. It’ll free up a ton of extra time for you to create new content – and it’s a whole lot easier.

Get More Value From Your Existing Video Content With Rev

Something else to consider: what if you already have a massive video library? You could have tens, hundreds, or even thousands of videos just sitting there without captions or transcriptions.

While there’s no doubt your content is impressive, you aren’t getting the full mileage out of it if you haven’t transcribed and captioned your videos. Luckily, there’s no need to panic if your videos are without transcriptions. Just submit your videos to Rev and we can go through all of your existing video content and create accurate transcriptions in no time.

How Long Does it Take to Transcribe 1 Hour of Audio Using Rev?

With our new Rush transcription delivery offering, we’ll return accurate transcriptions of hour-long video files in 3 hours or less. Most of your videos probably won’t be one hour long, but if you do create lengthier content, you still won’t have to wait long to get it transcribed. For regular delivery, we have an average turnaround time of just 14 hours for files between 30 and 60 minutes long.

Imagine how much more time you’ll have to focus on your content, knowing that you won’t spend any of your energy on transcribing.

What to Consider When Choosing the Best Video Transcription Service

Of course, Rev isn’t the only transcription service out there. The decision is ultimately yours, but there are a handful of things to consider when you’re choosing.

• Turnaround Times. Rev’s eight-hour turnaround time for extra lengthy videos is faster than other services. Be mindful of how quickly you need a video transcribed. Some services also charge an additional fee for rush jobs.
• Level of Accuracy. If you’re paying to get something transcribed, you would hope it’s done well, but that’s not always the case. Rev guarantees 99% accuracy in all of its transcriptions, no matter the length.
• Fees. Sometimes the price listed on a company’s website isn’t reflective of the actual costs. You may encounter additional fees for rush work, transcribing longer files, or transcriptions for videos with multiple people speaking. Be sure to read all the details before making a decision.
• Security and Confidentiality. If you’re uploading a video that’s not yet public, you’ll want to know that your transcription service is hosted on a secure site. Also check to make sure all parts of the process are confidential, and that your files won’t be compromised.

Put simply, you’re missing out on potential fans – and potential customers – if you’re not using video transcription and captions. Ready to get started and see how they can take you to new heights? Check out Rev’s transcription services here.