Many business owners, especially in the fields of digital marketing, TV, commercials, and video production, think that captioning is nothing more than a luxury. They view it as an unnecessary expense that does not really add any value to their business. However, this could not be further from the truth. In fact, captioning is more important to your business than ever before.
Captioning is the process of adding text to video or audio content. This text can be used to provide a transcript of the audio, to provide translations of the dialogue, or to add context and additional information about what is happening in the video.
Captioning can be done using either closed captioning or open captioning. Closed captioning is the most common form of captioning and is often used for television shows and movies. On the other hand, open captioning is less common but is growing in popularity, especially for online videos.
Videos With Captions Mean Not Just Compliance but Growth
There are several reasons why captioning is more important to your business than ever before.
Many Are Watching Videos with the Sound Off
First, more and more people are watching videos with the sound off. This is especially true on social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter, where users scroll through their feeds without necessarily watching or listening to the videos that are posted. As a result, if your videos do not have captions, you are missing out on a large portion of your potential audience.
It Makes Your Videos More Accessible
Another reason is that it makes your videos more accessible to a wider audience. This is because captioning provides a written transcript of the audio content in your video, which makes it easier for people with hearing impairments or who do not speak the same language as the audio track to understand and follow along.
Important for Legal Reasons
Moreover, captioning is also becoming increasingly important for legal reasons. In the US, for example, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requires businesses to provide captions for all publicly accessible videos. This applies to both online and offline videos, such as those shown in public places like restaurants and hotels. If you fail to comply with this law, you could be sued and fined.
Providing Translations for Non-native Speakers
Not only does this option make it more convenient for deaf or hard-of-hearing individuals, but it can also help those who don’t speak English as their first language. In fact, depending on where you post your videos, some content-hosting websites can automatically translate your captions into other languages.
So, if someone from another country is interested in learning about your brand but doesn’t speak English, they can still easily understand what’s being said by translating the closed captions into a language they’re familiar with. By doing this, you have the potential to reach an even wider audience and make your marketing strategies that much more effective.
Features That Attract Attention
When you post videos on social media, some platforms have them play automatically without sound as users scroll. If someone has their phone muted, closed captioning can help them follow along without turning on the volume. This is especially useful when somebody is in a public or noisy place.
Improved Brand Awareness
By incessantly displaying your company’s name in front of consumers, closed captions improve brand awareness. Additionally, if you post the captions as a video transcript, you can also help increase your brand awareness.
Transcripts are written documents of what is said in the video, word for word. Like closed captions, these documents help make your content more accessible and that is why even YouTube added transcripts to their app a few months ago.
Using them also allows companies, blogs, and other videos to quote your material more easily which can improve brand awareness and marketing efforts.
Captioning is Also Important for SEO Purposes
Finally, captioning is also becoming increasingly important for SEO purposes. This is because search engines are starting to index and rank videos with captions higher than those without. This means that if you want your videos to be seen and ranked by potential customers, you need to make sure they are properly captioned.
Summary
In conclusion, there are many reasons why captioning is more important to your business than ever before. If you are not already using captions for your videos, now is the time to start. Not only will it help you reach a wider audience, but it will also improve your SEO and make your videos more accessible to a global audience.
