Captioning Your Videos: A Guide for Every Social Media Platform

Can you believe nearly 85% of mobile users watch social media videos with the sound OFF? Truthfully, I can. I almost never have my sound on - I’m always worried about my phone going off in an exam room or waking up a kiddo at home. It’s just easier to leave the phone’s sound off. Consider this stat along with the fact that:

1. Videos are the preferred social media content (from the perspective of users and algorithms alike) and

2. We have just a few short seconds to capture our viewer’s attention.

Combined, these reasons make captioning your videos a worthy investment of time and, in some cases, money. Captions are a great way to improve the length of watch time and get your viewer to understand your message. Even on image-heavy Instagram, captions can increase view time by 12%. ​ Adding captions sounds hard but really can be done in just a few steps. A quick note about file type: I had never heard of an .SRT file (SubRip file type) before I started captioning videos, so don’t feel bad if you hadn’t either!

Here’s the roundup of the platforms and options:

Facebook Auto-generated:

• Click "What's on your mind, [Name]?" at the top of your feed.

• Click the video or media uploader icon.

• Select and upload your video.

• Click "Video Options" on the video thumbnail.

• Choose "Add Captions" on the left.

  • Opt for auto-generated captions or upload a .srt file.

• Click "Save", then "Post".

Upload your own caption file (we recommend Rev.com to generate):

• Click Photo/Video at the top of your timeline or newsfeed.

• After the video has loaded and you’ve added your title and description, click “subtitles and captions” in the right-hand toolbar.

• Click “Upload” under “Add New Captions.”

• Select your file and file type(s) and click next when uploading is complete. Note: you’ll be looking for a file that looks like this: YourCaptionFile.en_US.srt.

• Choose the default language for your caption file (English).

• Publish your video.

Adding captions to previously posted videos:

• Click “Edit Post” and follow the steps above

LinkedIn

• Add media in a new post

• Select video file from computer and upload

• Hit the CC button under video in Editor

• Select Auto Captions or Upload SRT file

• Click Apply

• Add post caption, hashtags, etc and post OR schedule for later

The only downside with adding captions to a LinkedIn video is that currently, I haven’t found a way to schedule captioned content.​

Instagram Instagram has recently expanded capabilities for captioning videos, especially if you are posting natively though Meta Business Suite. There are also a few apps that can help with this (we like Kapwing), or you can use traditional video editing software like Adobe Premier Pro.

• Manage captions either before or after sharing your video.

• Before sharing a video or reel:

  • Tap "Advanced Settings".

  • Scroll to "Accessibility".

  • Tap "switch off" or "switch on" next to "Show Captions" to toggle them.

• After sharing:

  • Tap "more actions" below the video.

  • Tap "Advanced settings".

  • Again, tap "switch off" or "switch on" next to "Show Captions" to adjust

• Remember: Captions will automatically display for available posts unless you deactivate them. YouTube

• Begin by signing into YouTube Studio.

• Navigate using the left menu and choose Subtitles.

• Select the video you wish to add subtitles to.

• Click on ADD LANGUAGE and pick your desired language.

• Under the 'subtitles' section, hit ADD.

Note: If you’re using a service like Rev.com, you’re in luck! Rev integrates with YouTube and will auto-upload your captions.

Happy Captioning!

​The Social DVM Team

#socialmedia