Accessibility in Marketing: Why You Should Always Include Captions in Your Videos

This blog is in partnership with Zubtitle.

Having video captions on your content is essential for your audience. Captions are extremely considerate and helpful to those who are deaf, hard of hearing or suffer from miscommunication. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), there are currently 466 million people in the world with disabling hearing loss. With the rise of TikTok and Instagram reels, we're fed videos every day. As marketers, we need to team together to support those who need captions.

Captions Help Attract and Engage More Users

You should be consistent with captions when you add audio in a wide content strategy. If people can rely on your brand for including subtitles, they will keep coming back for more. This increases the chance of consumers sharing your content by word-of-mouth too, as they may know someone else who can relate. It's all about helping others whilst implementing a brilliant marketing strategy.

Engagement rates fluctuate, but when you add captions to video content it actually increases the amount of view time. Video captions attract more users, as they know you've put time and effort into being more inclusive. This makes your brand more likely to be remembered for satisfaction reasons. We're all about inclusivity, which is why we encourage you to use captions too.

Benefits of Adding Captions to Your Videos

Indexing for SEO (captioning on your website)

When you add captions to video content, your website's SEO can be increased through closed captions. Search engines aren't able to watch your video, but they can index the words to boost your content ranking. Not only do captions help your consumers, but they increase your chances of being seen. This is great for business growth from a technical point of view, as any help towards SEO is top tier marketing.

User Experience

As a marketer, you want your audience to have the best possible interaction with your business. When you add captions to video content, you give your audience the chance to understand and enjoy what you have to say. Besides, adding captions betters the user experience because it represents inclusivity. The marketing industry thrives from being inclusive of different demographics, and deaf or hard of hearing consumers are just as important. All of this will inspire consumers to return, and hopefully become loyal, to your business.

Helps Non-Native English Speakers

For those who aren't native English speakers, captions make it easier for them to comprehend your message. By reading subtitles, they have time to pause and process what you're saying. They can look up words they're not familiar with, which is a great learning opportunity. Using captions means you can post easily without worrying that your audience won't understand your message, and people across the world can enjoy your content.

How to Add Captions to Videos

People often wonder how to add captions to videos, as it can be quite time-consuming. Luckily, we can recommend a brilliant way to become avid caption users without any hassle.

Use Zubtitle

Our favourite way to add captions to video content is by using Zubtitle. You can use the software to caption your videos for you, which is the dream. No matter if it's a 15-second TikTok clip or a 10-minute YouTube video, their software can help you. Personally, you can edit the captions to cut down on filler words, such as 'erm' or 'like'. This will keep users engaged and interested in reading on.

According to Zubtitle, 80% of social videos are watched on mute. This is an insane amount! Alongside helping those who are deaf or hard of hearing, users tend to watch videos in silence for convenience. How often do you watch videos on mute? It's probably more times than you realise, as it's something a lot of us don't actively think about.

Of course, as marketers, you want to be on-brand. This still stands when you add captions, as they need to fit with the aesthetic of your business. On Zubtitle, adjust the colours of the words to match your brand palette to make it all come together. As well as this, you can add headings to your video to capture your audience's attention immediately. We'd also recommend re-sizing the captions to coordinate with your visuals, as you don't want them to cover up the content.

Aside from adding captions to your videos, you can also add a progress bar and brand logo with Zubtitle. This is another fantastic way to capture the attention of consumers, as it sets your content apart by looking even more professional. With a fabulous brand logo in the corner, your video will definitely be more memorable.

If you're unsure about adding captions, Zubtitle has a free trial in which you can add captions to a video of your choice. Simply upload your content, sit back and let the software do the work for you. It's an incredibly efficient way to make your content accessible. Those who are deaf, hard-of-hearing, or simply prefer captions, will thank you for it!