How can Subtitles and Closed Captions be Used as a Great YouTube Marketing Strategy?

If your marketing strategy includes YouTube videos, then you might already be using video optimization techniques. Some common video optimization techniques include using keywords for video naming, titles and descriptions, tagging, and categorizing.

Did you know adding subtitles and closed captions are also important YouTube marketing strategies that can deliver desired results?

What are Subtitles and Closed Captions in YouTube Videos?

Subtitles are text displays that appear on the screen for viewers that do not understand the language being used in the video. Subtitles are commonly seen in video-streaming channels.

Subtitles are helpful for people watching a video in an unknown language. They are also useful for people that mute their videos due to external disturbances such as a noisy or crowded atmosphere.

Closed captions, on the other hand, are text translations of all the sounds being used in a video. In addition to the language being spoken, closed captions display all relevant sounds associated with the video. Closed captions are helpful for viewers that cannot hear.

Visually-impaired viewers that use screen readers can also benefit from closed captions. The reason these captions are called closed is that they can be turned off. A variant of this option, called open captions, cannot be turned off.

Benefits of Using Subtitles or Closed Captions in YouTube Videos?

Adding subtitles and closed captions can make a great difference to your digital marketing results. How do they make a difference?

Here are some key ways in which closed captions and subtitles make an impact:

Reach Hard-to-Access Audiences Easily

People with disabilities and those that are non-English form a significant percentage of the global population. Without subtitles and captions, you will miss out making an impact on this significant population. This means, you will be losing a valuable brand engagement opportunity.

Videos with subtitles and closed captions make your content accessible to visually-impaired people and those that have hearing issues. In addition, your brand can reach non-native English speakers.

Increase the Impact of your Content

Did you know 85% of Facebook videos are watched without sound? While this is a Facebook statistic, the relevance can be applied to other media platforms such as YouTube videos.

So, how can you ensure that your content conveys your brand message to audiences?

Captions and subtitles show the way.

With closed captions and subtitles, you can make your video content reach audiences that watch videos on mute. Let your audiences enjoy videos in whichever way they want to while you ensure that your brand message reaches them, with sound or without!

Connect with your Audiences’ Emotions

Research shows that using captions increases video view time by about 12%. Another study shows that using captions increases audience engagement by 17%.
Video reach is important. More important is what your audience does with your videos?

• Do they like it?
• Do they share it?
• Do they add it to their favorites?

Closed captions and subtitles increase audience engagement by making it possible to connect to their emotions even when the videos are watched without sound.

Even with the sound off, audiences can understand your videos. They can easily connect to emotions such as anger, positivity, sarcasm, and pride, portrayed in the videos.

With closed captions and subtitles, viewers get to experience your videos in the way they deserve to be, even without sound. Imagine the impact your video can then make!

An increase in audience engagement leads to improved brand interactions, awareness, and conversions, which have a positive impact on sales and revenue.

Make your Videos More SEO-Friendly

While search engine algorithms may not be able to crawl videos, they can crawl any associated text. Closed captions and subtitles provide this text for search engines.

In addition to titles and meta-description, transcriptions offer an opportunity for keyword inclusion, which improves your video visibility. With improved visibility, you can achieve your organic traffic goals more efficiently.

In Conclusion

Adding closed captions and subtitles to your YouTube videos is worth the effort. You can witness improved video reach, content comprehension, and audience engagement. Enable your YouTube marketing to create extra impact by using the caption and subtitle strategy.

When adding captions and subtitles, ensure that they are accurate and in sync with the auditory content. Well-developed captions generate a positive impact on audiences.