There is a lot of hype these days about how important video is in modern marketing, but let’s be honest, it can be pretty hard to actually produce. Between learning your camera’s settings, your editing software, lighting, audio and storyboarding, there’s a lot that goes into creating quality video content for your audience. Plus, looking at the frequency you would need to create and post these videos in order to really experience success with them, is it really worth all the effort and expense?
What if this didn’t have to be the case? What if you could create engaging videos, specific for your content, professionally animated, and visually appealing, all in a matter of minutes? What if you could even do it from your phone? Well, it’s true, app developers have noticed the discrepancy between the popularity of video on social media and the skills and time required to actually produce this content, and created solutions so that anyone can create short, social-friendly videos in practically no time, with little to no training.
In today’s social media landscape, many of the most engaging videos across platforms might not even have true videos in them, but rather a combination of animated images, graphics, and text. These videos are great for Facebook feeds, as they can be auto played in people’s feeds without them having to turn their audio on. This is also the easiest type of video to produce, thanks to the awesome apps we discuss below.
Start making engaging Facebook videos today with these featured apps:
Adobe Spark Video (iOS, Web, and Android) is an incredibly easy platform for creating visually stunning videos in minutes, with very little effort. Borrowing features from Adobe’s professional video software, Premiere and After Effects, Spark takes the most popular effects and transitions used by directors, editors, and animators and puts it in the hands of every marketer in a clean and simple user interface. Set up your scenes similarly to a powerpoint or google slide presentation, add your text and import your video or photo assets from a multitude of sources. Pick from a variety of included icons or free music choices, hit preview, and there’s your video. Make changes as you’d like, then share to any of your platforms from one screen. Spark is a free product, although you do unlock some extra features and assets if you also have a Creative Cloud account.
If you’re not the biggest fan of the Adobe ecosystem or interface, another great and similar option is Ripl (iOS, Android). Creating your video is a similar (and still very easy) process compared to Spark, but when using the free version you will notice that you have significantly fewer options when it comes to themes and animations. There is a pro version available that unlocks an extensive library of assets and themes for your use, and also removes the Ripl branding from your exports, and comes in at about $10 per month.
The main differentiator for Ripl is it’s excellent sharing functions. In addition to helping you create your video, Ripl has an impressive sharing interface for you to add your descriptions (complete with hashtags) for each of your social accounts, and even schedule the publish time for these posts.
Spark and Ripl are first on our list for a reason, but admittedly it does feel like both of these programs were made for mobile-use first. If you’re a marketer who primarily works on desktop (as I would guess many are) Animoto may be worth taking a look at. This app is definitely catered more to a “marketer-type” persona than a “creative-type,” and made with desktop editing in mind (although they do also feature mobile apps and a plugin for Adobe Lightroom).
Animoto keeps the form and function of the previous two apps, making videos very quickly with a clean and easy-to-use interface, while providing a user experience that may feel more suited for an office environment. An added benefit to Animoto is the capability of editing your photos directly from the app before placing them into your animation scenes. Also unlike the other apps mentioned on this list, Animoto does not feature a free level of service and costs $22 per month per user for most accounts.
So there you have it, three options to start making engaging, converting videos for social media that you can start using today.