14 Tools for Marketers to Quickly Make Engaging Videos for Social Media
We love watching videos, and this trend shows no signs of slowing down. Peter Roybal from LinkedIn recently shared just how much video we are consuming:
Online video consumption has exploded in recent years, with video at nearly three-fourths of online traffic and two-thirds of U.S. consumers watching mobile video daily.
The rise of video makes it an essential part of every marketing strategy — especially on social media.
Gary Vaynerchuk summed it up nicely:
The single most important strategy in content marketing today is video. Whether it’s video on Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat or Youtube, the content you need to be thinking about creating and marketing on social for your business is video. Period.
You might not have a background in video production but this shouldn’t prevent you from creating standout videos for social media. A growing number of tools can help you to quickly and easily publish engaging video content.
With these tools you can:
- Create videos from your own photos, videos and audio.
- Turn blog posts into videos.
- Turn audio into transcribed videos.
These tools are listed in alphabetical order — if I’ve missed any let me know and I’ll add them to the collection.
Adobe Spark
With Adobe Spark you choose from one of 8 templates based on the type of story you want to tell. You then add photos, video, text or audio and you’re ready to publish. This is a common model for a number of tools — I’ll refer to this as “Template, Upload, Publish”.
Unfortunately, the promo video (below) explains very little about what Abobe Spark is.
But this demo by Amy Schmittauer Landino provides a good overview:
Spark is included with Adobe Creative Cloud plans, or $9.99/month.
Check out Adobe Spark.
Anchor Videos
Anchor describes itself as “Radio, reinvented”, and it’s a game-changer for audio recording.
Broadcast your voice, music, and conversations, all for free. Share anywhere, or turn your audio into a podcast with one tap.
While Anchor is a tool for recording and broadcasting audio, you can also turn your audio into a transcribed video.
Here’s how it looks:
Check out Anchor Videos.
Animaker
Animaker describes itself as “your own animation studio on cloud.” The promo video is a bit unusual, but by the end you get the idea of the types of videos you can make:
It’s priced from $12/month for 5-minute, standard definition videos, and up to $39/month for the Business plan.
Check out Animaker.
Animoto
Animoto is one of the established players with a solid product that has improved over the years. It sits in the “Template, Upload, Publish” model.
It’s priced from $8/month for standard definition, watermarked videos to the full suite of features at $34/month.
GoAnimate
“You’re just about ready to go jump off a cliff and then you discover GoAnimate.”
I’ve never heard a line like that in a promo video before! Similar to Animaker, GoAnimate is a tool for creating animated videos.
It’s priced from $39/month for watermarked, standard definition videos, and then $79/month for high definition without watermarks.
Check out GoAnimate.
Lumen5
Lumen5 is a unique concept that turns your blog posts into videos using artificial intelligence.
It’s free for watermarked, standard definition videos, or $49/month for unlimited high definition videos.
Check out Lumen5.
Magisto
Also harnessing artificial intelligence, Magisto is “The only end-to-end video marketing powered by A.I.”. It’s similar to the “Template, Upload, Publish” models, but with some A.I. flair.
Rocketium
Rocketium is in the “Template, Upload, Publish” camp, with auto-sizing for different social media platforms and collaborative video creation.
It’s free for watermarked videos, with other plans at $19, $49 and $149/month.
Check out Rocketium.
Shakr
Shakr follows the “Template, Upload, Publish” model, with an emphasis on creating video ads.
It’s priced at $99/month.
Check out Shakr.
Promo
Promo By Slidely made a big splash on Product Hunt this year by providing millions of stock videos that can be built on to quickly create branded videos. You select the video footage, and then your messaging, music and logo.
It is priced from $49/month for one video.
Check out Promo.
Quik
Quik is an app by GoPro that works with photos captured on your GoPro, phone or other device. Originally an app for iOS and Android, there is now also a desktop version (although the reviews on YouTube are mixed).
It’s free to use, although some of the features (e.g. QuikStories) require GoPro hardware or come at additional cost.
Check out Quik.
Renderforest
Also in the “Template, Upload, Publish” camp, Renderforest has a broader range of templates — from animations and typography to music visualisers and infographics.
There’s a free version with watermarks, then $9.95 per export in standard definition and $19.99 per export in high definition.
Check out Renderforest (affiliate link).
Soapbox by Wistia
Soapbox is a Chrome extension that allows you to record your webcam and screen simultaneously. When you finish recording, you can switch between full screen and split screen layouts.
With a Pro account ($12.50/month), you can download your videos and access an unbranded sharing page.
Typito
Typito is another “Template, Upload, Publish” solution — I couldn’t see any particular features that set it apart from others.
There’s a free account (with Typito branding that can be removed for $5), then plans from $15/month for 5 high definition videos and $30/month for 12 videos.
Check out Typito.
Wave
Wave is also a “Template, Upload, Publish” tools, with 2.5 million stock videos and easy conversion to 6 different formats for social media platforms (e.g. square, vertical, Facebook cover photos).
It’s priced from $39/month for a Pro account (there’s also Agency and Enterprise plans).
Check out Wave (affiliate link).
