You’re a blogger with a track record of creating and publishing consistent posts. Or, you have blog posts that have done very well in the past but attracting little attention today.
Or, maybe you just made a fresh WordPress installation for a new blog. And you’re wondering which content formats to focus on.
As long as you create content of any sort, this post should benefit in many ways. It is possible to maximize the reach of your content assets beyond what you’re presently doing.
Contents come in various formats such as text, image, audio, and video – with text and image being the most popular of them all.
What if I told you that there’s more to benefit from having more video content? And that you could actually convert already-existing text contents into videos.
I can almost hear you ask me, “Why and how do I convert my text contents to videos?”
Not to worry, I will address both concerns in this post. But first, I want us to take a sneak peek into video marketing.
The main topics covered in our guide on converting text contents to video include:
- What is Video Marketing and Which is The Best Video Marketing Platform?
- Some Impressive YouTube Stats
- 10 Reasons For Converting Text to Video Content
- Different Video Formats
- Step by Step Guide in Turning Text to Videos
- Conclusion
What is Video Marketing and which is The Best Video Marketing Platform?
Video marketing is a type of marketing strategy that employs the use of videos for promotion, engagement and education purposes. Video marketing is an integral component of effective marketing campaigns.
Videos are the most attractive content types, especially if well packaged and delivered. They are used for introductions, tutorials, promos, etc.
Videos can be directly attached to a web page or blog post, but are mostly published through video marketing platforms. Some examples of video marketing platforms include YouTube, Facebook video, Periscope, Vimeo Live, and Instagram.
Bloggers and video creators leverage popular video marketing platforms in order to reach a wider audience. This is why YouTube is the most preferred video marketing platform.
Having an impressive 2-billion monthly logged-in YouTube viewership, there are other facts and figures about YouTube that should make you consider it for publishing your videos.
Some Impressive YouTube Stats
There are so many obvious reasons for choosing YouTube as our preferred platform for creating, publishing and broadcasting our video content.
Here are some facts to buttress our choice of YouTube:
I. YouTube is currently the largest video publishing platform with an average of 2 billion monthly users. That’s about half of the total number of Internet users globally.
II. YouTube is the second largest search engine, second only to Google search. There are millions of contents on the platform, covering virtually all niches and industries.
III. YouTube has support for most major languages in the world, with viewers from all countries in the world. Think about the global reach that your videos are exposed to by simply publishing them on YouTube.
IV. 45% of global internet users watch a minimum of one-hour video weekly, with YouTube and Facebook having a huge chunk of that figure.
V. Internet users spend an average of 30% of their time online watching videos. Which video platform gets the largest piece of the pie from this? If your answer was YouTube, then you are definitely right.
Since YouTube gives the highest potential for your videos to be watched, our post will center on the platform.
Just in case you’re still trying to grasp the general direction of this post, consider these reasons for converting your text contents to video.
10 Reasons for Converting Text to Video Content
1. Great content marketing tool
Content marketing is an approach to online marketing that entails the use of original, quality and consistent posts to position a brand. Content marketing strategists make use of text, audio, images, and videos as components of their toolkits.
Videos are great because they are visually stimulating and very appealing to a wide audience, especially those who may not like to read texts for some reason or the other.
2. Reach a wider audience
Videos convey your message in a relaxed form to viewers. Anyone could watch your video content while engaging in other activities.
Having video content gives you a wider reach that includes the much younger generation.
3. Keep all contents refreshed
You would agree with me that contents seem to have their life spans. I’m talking about the period when they trend or make a greater impact.
Having your text contents re-purposed as videos is a great way of keeping content fresh and stimulating.
You can edit the text into more friendly video content before converting them.
4. Present a face to your content
Regular readers of your blog posts may have become fond of your writings. Your stories or style of communication may have made a great impact on them, yet without them having a glimpse of how you look.
Turning your text to video provides a face to your posts – giving it a much more human touch and allowing your audience to connect with you at a deeper level.
5. Get more traffic from Google
Have you ever noticed that some search results on Google produce so many videos as results? Google owns YouTube and therefore accords privileges to the video publishing platform in its search results.
Having a video of your content will make your content more visible on Google. That’s a massive boost in traffic from Google.
6. Ranking on YouTube is much easier
Agreed, Google search is the largest single source of organic traffic to your blog posts. Yet this doesn’t come cheap, as millions of web pages compete for the popular keywords.
This isn’t nearly the case on YouTube, as fewer videos are published on YouTube. The competition is less stiff, and you can easily get your videos found if your contents are relevant.
7. Build authority in your niche
Bloggers, internet marketers, and brands are more easily able to stamp their authority through video content. Videos act as proof that you are the originator of the content.
Anyone can hide behind the text to “copy and paste” others’ contents on their blogs. Through video presentation, your viewers will know you as the source of the contents – helping to position you or your brand as an authority in your niche.
8. Live stream videos to your viewers
Wouldn’t it be great broadcasting live videos to your viewers? You would be able to share valuable content in real-time.
9. Build channel subscribers
Channels are great for building an audience for your content. With a higher subscriber base, you can get your content to a greater number of people
YouTube makes it easy for channel owners to build their audience by increasing their subscribers.
10. Different video formats to choose from
Videos can be used to produce different kinds of content to different target audiences.
Though there are lots of different types of video formats available, I’m limiting this section to 5 because they cover virtually all.
Different Video Formats
I. Vlogs – Originally coined from the words “video” and “blogs”, it is a simple video type that involves directly speaking into a web camera.
A web post can be easily turned into videos by reading the post’s contents while facing a camera.
II. Video tutorials – The internet is awash with step-by-step guides and tutorials on any topic you can think of. These blog posts can be turned into visually-stimulating content using video editing software like iMovie.
III. Interviews – Interviews are great text contents, and much better in video forms. If you have recorded interviews with an audio recorder, you can add images of the interviewee and produce video content.
You can also invite guests to speak about the contents you have previously published as text.
IV. Product Reviews – Reviews help the audience experience the subject under review before they invest their time or money into it.
It is worth noting that videos give a better experience when reviewing products. Viewers can make better-informed decisions after watching your product reviews in video formats.
V. Animation – Animations are cool for communicating messages to both younger and older viewers. It doesn’t have to be a Disney quality animated, as a tool like Animatron Studio would suffice.
Step by Step Guide to Turning Text into Videos
Available stats prove that YouTube is the most ideal video publishing and marketing platform. If you have a channel on the platform, then you can skip this step to the second.
Step 1 – Set Up Your YouTube Channel
You will need a Gmail account to login to YouTube. With this, you can log in to the YouTube account, and from the top right corner click on your profile icon, and then click the “My Channel” icon from the drop-down menu.
You will be greeted with a prompt from which you will click on the “Creator Studio” button, and you’re good to go.
Step 2 – Turning Your Text Contents to Videos
There are lots of tools available to use in turning text to videos. We will focus on 2 of them – ScreenFlow and Lumen5.
I. ScreenFlow – ScreenFlow is a video editing tool designed for Mac computers. It is also used for screen recording, and recording soundtracks.
The first thing you need to have ready is your soundtrack. Ensure that you have rights before using any musical files.
You have to edit your blog contents first, to ensure that it is appropriate for videos. What you will have at the end of the day is a script that you can place in a PowerPoint slideshow.
The recommended length for your video should be between 4 – 5 minutes to maximize your viewers’ time.
You will then read your blog contents using an external microphone, reading from the script that has been copied into the PowerPoint presentation.
After clicking on the slide show, start reading the text aloud. You can then add the soundtrack and any visuals on the timeline.
II. Lumen5 – This is a great online video editor used for turning text content into social videos.
By simply entering the URL of the post, Lumen5 fetches the text, pulls in all images from the post and places them where you need them to be.
What Lumen5 does is placing your article’s text in a series of slides, alongside background images.
This video comes without audio and can be used to repurpose your blog posts depending on the needs.
Step 3 – Creating YouTube Thumbnail for Your Video
After creating your channel on YouTube, and uploading your newly made video into your channel, you will need a thumbnail for the video
Thumbnail is the visible representation of your video. It creates a first and lasting impression if done well.
Here are some free tools to help with creating your thumbnail – Canva, Adobe Spark, FotoJet. You could also contract a graphic designer on Fiverr to create one for you.
The YouTube thumbnail dimension is 1280 x 720 resolutions, uploaded in .jpeg, .gif, .bmp, or .png formats. File should be less than 2MB, aspect ratio of 16:9.
Step 4 – Adding a CTA (Call to Action) Overlay
A YouTube CTA Overlay includes the following – A small image, website URL, and a Call to Action!
You are required to link your YouTube account to your AdWords account before enabling the YouTube CTA Overlay.
Step 5 – The video is complete and ready to explore a new viewing audience.
Conclusion
So, having your text contents repurposed into videos is a great way to keep your articles fresh.
You can also reach a wider audience, especially if you are planning to publish the video on YouTube.
Videos are great marketing tools that are essential for content marketing, good for building authority in your niche and building a deeper connection with your audience.
Follow the simple steps outlined in this post, and you will find it easy to turn your blog posts into videos.
Do you want to start a website of your own today, so you can connect your YouTube channel easily? Get online entrepreneur certification and get rolling. Check out Wealthy Affiliate and do not hesitate to let me know if you need anything going forward.