If you are a blogger or content creator like me, you must have thought of creating short videos like Instagram reels or YouTube shorts to make your content more visual and appealing. The idea is to get people hooked on what they see.
The question remains: how do we make these videos without spending too much time or energy or money?
This is where this article comes in handy — I will share with you a step-by-step guide to create short videos from your articles for free.
For resources I used for this project, please see the Additional Resources section at the end.
Let’s get started!
The Result
I created this in about 20 minutes. Here is how it looks like:
Here is the step-by-step guide on how I did it:
The Script
I used the above article (I wrote) as my script!
Creating short videos such as reels or YouTube shorts are way trickier than a normal video on YouTube. Why?
It requires one to distill all the information into a few short sentences especially if its more than 800 words.
Pro tip: Try to distill the information into actionable steps. Or create a TLDR of actionable steps.
For example, here's a video of Google flexing the camera in their Pixel phone (more or less, right?).
Tone
This may seem an insignificant part of creating a video, but it is crucial for reaching the emotions of your viewers.
In fact, you can tell a lot about what people are feeling by watching their reactions to your content.
How can you achieve that?
Think about the emotions you might want your audience to experience and then align these ingredients to the same emotions:
Tone of the content
Color Palette
Images/footage
Fonts
Audio/music
Pro tip: When searching for stock footage or images, try to search with the same emotions you want your audience to feel.
For example, if you want your audience to feel excited, try searching for images with the word “excitement” in them and see what you find.
Footage
Nothing beats recorded footage shot by your own camera.
However, there are a number of websites that offer free stock video footage and gifs to use in your own videos.
Even experienced youtubers sometimes use stock footage in their videos.
Lumen5 comes with thousands of video and GIF elements prebuilt in. You can also add your own visuals to the mix.
For more free resources on how to get your own stock footage, please see the Additional Resources section.
Pro tip: Mixing your own footage with stock footage can help create the most effective video.
Audio
There is no substitute for the sound of your own voice.
But don't worry—there are plenty of text-to-speech tools out there that will read your content for you. Resources in the Additional Resources section.
Adding music and other sounds will improve your video if you can accommodate that as well.
If you want to create an emotional response in your audience, make sure that the music is appropriate for the feeling you are trying to convey.
Pro tip #1: It's important to test the volume levels so your audience won't be startled. Play around with the controls and go for ambient effect.
Pro tip #2: Search for music based on the feeling you want to achieve, rather than only by name.
Finishing Touches
Lumen5 adds a watermark at the end of the videos created on the free plan.
I have never edited video, myself.
That's where Canva comes in.
Why Canva? Tons of resources and super easy to use!
I went onto YouTube and watched a tutorial video oh how to edit a video on Canva, which I have linked to in the Additional Resources section below.
I was able to convert the video for different social platforms and apply a finishing touch with Canva.
I also removed the Lumen5 watermark.
Pro Tip: Always include a call to action in your videos. Its a great way to drive traffic to your blogs!
Tips and tricks
Ideally, you would want to keep your video shorter than 16 seconds (10-12 seconds is the most effective length). Plan it wisely!
Incorporate keywords into your video's title and tags to make it easier for people to find through the search engine.
Nothing beats your own footage and audio! Platforms like Pinterest give preferences to the fresh video pins over the stocked or overly used ones.
Add subtitles to your video if you are including dialogue.
Captions is your place to shine! Add more context and drive traffic to your own resources.
Schedule, Schedule, Schedule