• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Amanda Webb Spiderworking - Google Analytics Setup and Training | Digital Marketing Measurement Support

Your Friendly Google Analytics Geek | Taming GA4 One Report at a Time

  • Tel:+353 1 442 9410
  • Home
  • About
  • Work With Me
    • Google Analytics Done-for-you
    • Training & Mentoring
  • Speaking
  • Blog
  • Get In Touch
You are here: Home / Video / You Gotta Add Captions To Your Facebook Videos (And The Rest) – 1 Minute Moment #93

You Gotta Add Captions To Your Facebook Videos (And The Rest) – 1 Minute Moment #93

October 17, 2017 by Amanda Webb

Share
Tweet
Share
Pin
Email
WhatsApp
You Gotta Add Captions To Your Videos
You Gotta Add Captions To Your Videos

Do you want to know a secret? I make a lot of videos but I have an awful habit of scrolling past them on my Facebook newsfeed.

Sometimes I’ll stop to watch more and it’s usually for one of two reasons:

1. Something interesting happened in the shot
2. Something in the captions caught my attention

And you know what? I’ll happily sit there and watch the entire video with the sound off, reading the captions.

Sometimes it’s because I’m in a public area and at others, it’s because I don’t need to hear, I can see and understand without the sound.

I'll happily sit there and watch the entire video with the sound off, reading the captions.Click To Tweet

A report from Digiday shows that I’m not alone, a whacking great 85% of videos on Facebook are watched with the sound off. On YouTube it’s different, people watch and listen but even on YouTube captions give you an edge. When YouTube is indexing video content it can read your sub-title file to have a better idea of what the video is about.

If we are going to get more people watching our videos for longer we’re going to have to add captions.

But isn’t that hard? It doesn’t have to be…

How do I subtitle a video?

Adding captions to video fits into two main categories.

There are YouTube and Facebook who let you upload a caption file or generate them for you.

Then you’ve got Instagram, LinkedIn or Twitter where you have to burn captions into the video itself (hard coding).

Let’s start with the easy ones. YouTube and Facebook

Both Facebook and YouTube have an auto-caption feature. The YouTube one is better at interpreting our words and once it’s generated and you’ve edited the file you can download it.

So upload your video to YouTube you can use the subtitle file on both YouTube and Facebook.

How to create an SRT caption file on YouTube to use on Facebook

Upload your video to YouTube, wait for the auto-caption file to appear in the ‘Captioning’ menu

Add captions to your youtube video
Add captions to your youtube video

Click edit to amend any mistakes and download

Edit captions on your youtube video
Edit captions on your youtube video

Why can’t I upload my SRT file to Facebook?

The first time I tried to upload my SRT to Facebook it failed. It turned out I’d just named the file incorrectly.

Here’s how to name your files so that Facebook will accept them.

For example, if you are downloading a file called caption-my-video you’ll need to add the language and country code.

For English UK this is .en_GB for US English it’s .en_US.

So your filename will become caption-my-video.en_GB.srt

You’ll get a full list of language and country codes on Facebook.

If you don’t use this convention Facebook will reject your file.

Now upload your SRT file to Facebook. When you upload a video to your Facebook page click the captions tab and upload the file.

Upload your SRT file to Facebook
Upload your SRT file to Facebook

Magic.

That’s the easy bit done, now let’s look the more challenging networks.

Caption videos for Instagram, LinkedIn or Twitter

Instagram, LinkedIn and Twitter don’t currently support uploaded caption files, they don’t have auto-captioning, they’re simply not subtitle friendly.

For these networks we have to add the captions in at video creation stage.

Tool time

Apple Clips (iOS only)

This is a handy tool that adds captions to video as you shoot it. Choose a caption style, start to speak and when it’s finished you can edit any mistakes before uploading it to social media.

To edit captions click on the video you created and click the text icon (it’s a series of lines) at the bottom of the screen. Now you can go in and edit the captions.

It’s probably the quickest and easiest way to hard caption videos as you record them. On the downside you can only caption videos you shoot straight into the app, you can’t add titles to pre-recorded video.

Camtasia

Camtasia is an editing tool for Mac and PC and it’s the tool I use to edit video. It’s pricey but if you are serious about editing video on your computer it’s worth it.

Camtasia makes use of that SRT file you downloaded later, add it to the caption track and you have a fully captioned video. More on that here.

So what are you waiting for?

Add captions to videos and you will get more people to watch. You’ll grab their attention and stop the scroll. Go make some

Get a headstart on Google Analytics 4 & understand the lingo with the GA4 phrase book

Related Posts:

  • Amanda looks a little confused, an Instagram logo floats to her left. The words 'Instagram Story Lists' also float
    Share Instagram Stories To Audience Lists - Digital…
  • A giang 'X' logo and Amanda looking like the news will bubble from her mouth. She's smiling, but does she mean it?
    The Great Twitter Rebrand - Digital Marketing News…
  • Amanda has her mouth open about to proclaim the biggest news of 2024... horizontal TikTok
    TikTok In Landscape Format? - Digital Marketing News…
  • most-viewed-on-facebook
    What Content Gets Seen On Facebook? - Digital…
Share
Tweet
Share
Pin
Email
WhatsApp

Filed Under: Video, Video Tips

Primary Sidebar

Work With Me

From Google Analytics Training to the ROI Escalator Programme. Find out how I will help you get more ROI for your business

Amanda, smiling with red hair draped over her shoulders. You can trust her (but I would say that wouldn't I)

Get ROI Help Straight To Your Inbox

Get daily tips and inspiration on how improve your digital marketing ROI using analytics

Privacy Policy

Let's Connect

let's connect on LinkedIn Subscribe on YouTube Follow on Facebook

Footer

Google Analytics Certified
Very Blog Awards Winner
Social Media Examiner Winner
Social Agency Scout
  • Done For Your Google Analytics 4 Packages
  • Training & Mentoring
  • Speaking
  • That Analytics Podcast – Learn to love your stats
  • FREE Webinar: Finding the Gold in Your Google Analytics
  • Get In Touch

© Copyright 2017-2024 Spiderworking.com - Social Media For Small Business · All Rights Reserved · Privacy Policy · Cookie Policy · Maintained by FlyingFish.ie