Social media already plays a huge role in our daily lives. How many of us wake up every morning and the first thing we do is turn on our phones and have a quick scroll through Twitter, Facebook or Instagram? If you’re nodding your head in agreement, you’re probably not alone!
One of the beauties of social media is the quick-burst nature of getting information. New stories, photos, blogs and videos are all within easy reach and easily digestible for our fast-paced lives. Video, in particular, is a social media trend which seems to be here to stay.
Currently, online users view more than 500 million hours of video each day on YouTube. According to Cisco, by 2020, online video will make up more than 80% of all consumer Internet traffic.
So what is it about video that appeals to online audiences so much? Well, as previously mentioned, we’re all living fact-paced, busy lives, and video plays a crucial role in that. Instagram engagement rates are currently their highest on weekdays between 9-5. Most people, you’ve guessed it, are at work or school during those hours where phones are typically required to be on silent. Haven’t we all once been caught out looking at an Instagram story, a funny Snapchat, or worse, another cat video on Facebook, during an important class or meeting?
Businesses should understandably start making video content a priority moving forward. The statistics don’t lie and consumers are also more likely to retain information they’ve heard in a video rather than reading it. But, the power of video content can all be wasted if you’re not captioning your content properly.
Here are a few more important reasons you should be captioning your content:
1. Auto-play sounds on videos can be disruptive and jarring for viewers – especially users with anxiety or nervousness.
2. Accessibility! About one in eight people in the United States identify as having some form of hearing loss. That’s even higher than dyslexia figures.
3. International viewers may not understand spoken English but have better reading comprehension. This is especially important in countries where a lot of households do not speak English as their first language.
4. The fact-paced nature of social media, particularly scrolling through Instagram and Facebook, means we don’t all have the time to focus on a video, but we do have the time to read a quick quote or caption.
To get you started with captioning, there’s a range of options becoming available now through apps and add-ons. Additionally, Recite Me’s software also includes Read Aloud and DocReader features that will add audio description to your website. Ultimately, captioning your content needn’t be a hassle or overwhelming process, but these simple additions can make the world of difference to your audience.
