From Edie: Learn why captions are essential for writers on YouTube and how to use them to boost accessibility, SEO, viewer retention, and engagement.
YouTube for Writers, Part 7: Why Captions Matter and How to Use Them
by Samantha Tschritter @SETschritter
Boost accessibility, SEO, and viewer retention with accurate captions
Think about it. How often are you waiting in a doctor’s office or scrolling through reels beside a sleeping spouse, or sneaking a quick glance at your phone during a family function? What’s the first thing you do to the volume on your phone? Turn that sucker down. Or consider the millions of viewers who have hearing loss. In these cases, videos with captions get attention, while other reels are swiped off the screen.
Talking about captions may sound basic and boring, but you are missing out on simple ways to gain views on your social media platforms.
Captions serve critical purposes that most creators don’t realize, such as:
- Hook
- Viewability
- Attention retention
- Brand familiarity
- SEO/ Algorithm optimization (Wait, what? We’ll get there. Keep reading.)
In this post:
- The purposes of captions
- How to play captions and text off one another
- Caption formatting
- The best apps to use for captions
- A vulnerable reason why captions matter to me
The Purposes of Captions:
1. Hook
Most high-performing YouTube shorts and Instagram/ Tiktok reels have three hooks in the first three seconds. For more on this jump back to YouTube for Writers, Part 5: How to Repurpose Content Into Reels and Shorts. But I’ll say this now: Captions are a simple, no-brainer hook that snags audience attention.
2. Viewability
I touched on this above, but if a viewer is watching a video in a quiet setting, shorts and reels with captions will win out every time.
3. Attention retention
Moving captions are a silent persuasion. Captions that appear and disappear as we speak encourage viewers to read along—and keep reading—like a story they want to know the ending of.
4. Brand familiarity
When we use captions and use the same font and template style, we are quietly building brand awareness and familiarity.
5. SEO/ Algorithm optimization
I’ll explain this one to you now if you promise to keep reading. The first words we speak and the first words on the screen trigger social media algorithms to send our content to specific audiences. This is why knowing your audience (YouTube for Writers, Part 2: How to Define and Reach Your Target Audience) is so important.
Therefore, rather than this:
“Hi. My name is S.E. Tschritter and in today’s video we’re going to talk about …”
Do this:
If you’re not using captions on your videos, you’re losing views, hurting your SEO, and pushing potential readers away—here’s how to fix it. Hi, my name is S. E. Tschritter and I’ve been studying social media influencers for the last three years.”
The simple, hard truth is this: viewers care more about the value you give them than what your name is. In addition, people search for topics for often than people.
- Daily Bible Verses
- Clean reads
- Closed door fiction
- Romantic suspense
- Devotional thoughts about perseverance through trial
- What the Bible says about loving our enemies
- Articles about the book of Jonah
- Children’s books for kids with disabilities
- Encouraging, Christian blogs about writing
Whatever your audience is looking for, are the words you need to flip into an attention-grabbing, SEO-saturated hook.
EXAMPLE:
Audience is Looking for “Encouraging Christian blogs about writing.”
Hook (First words spoken and captions on the screen)
As a new or aspiring author, knowing where to turn for great writer tips for writing a fiction or non-fiction book. Hi. My name is S. E. Tschritter and I’m an award-winning, best-selling author. In this blog/reel, I’ll share my top ten favorite influencers and resources that are my go-to’s for advice and writer support.”
The Difference Between Text and Captions and How to Play Them Off of One Another
Obvious: Captions follow your voice word-for-word in real time.
Less Obvious: Text should NOT follow your thoughts word for word. Text is a punch of words: A summary, an attention-grabber, a key takeaway, or a correlating thought that reinforces your message. Text also grabs a viewer’s attention and can be on the screen at the same time as the captions. Call to Actions (CTAs) are great to put in text.
- Read description below to find out why: (Lengthens the amount of time a reader watches your reel)
- Follow for more encouraging content.
- Join S.E. Tschritter’s newsletter for three free chapters of The Prodigal’s Son: Crackhead to Jesus Freak.
Caption Formatting
- Here, Youtube fails. DO NOT USE YouTube to insert captions. We never want our viewers to have the ability to read our thoughts before we speak them. YouTube posts captions one to two sentences at a time, whereas optimal engagement for captions happens with one to two words.
- Chose a caption template that shows two-five words at a time.
- Oftentimes you can change the font and the style of the captions AFTER choosing the template
- Check spelling! I have to correct “Tschritter” every time. However, there are other words that the captions feature will “mishear.”
The Best Apps to Use for Captions
- Capcut (paid): This is what I use because then I don’t have to reformat the captions in order to upload shorts/ reels to Youtube/ Ingstagram/ TikTok
- Capcut (free): DO NOT USE for captions. You have to type them by hand. I used to do this. It stole hours of my life.
- Tiktok and Instagram both provide FREE caption templates. After creating and posting the video, you can download it from either platform to upload it to Youtube with captions in place. The downside is the watermark for each, but that is another problem for another day.
A Vulnerable Reason Why Captions Matter to Me
My late husband and I used to take turns reading books to our daughters before bed. For all the reasons I don’t need to explain to writers, this time together with our kids mattered. He died of cancer at the age of thirty-eight, when our daughters were eight, seven, and four. After he passed, I felt like a ghost of myself and no longer had the energy to read to my children, but I knew how valuable that reading time is for children and I didn’t want my girls, especially the four-year-old to miss out on that early development.
At the end of the night, my girls and I snuggled on the couch together and watched kids shows on Netflix—and I turned the captions on, so my kids were reading along with the characters as they watched the show. All three of them read above their age level. The then four-year-old is now eleven, and she finds typos in my work. Captions make reading possible to a broader audience and they are a servant’s offering to your viewer. They provide just one more facet to sharing God’s generous love with the world around you. Viewers don’t just hear of God’s grace. They are reading it at the same time.
TWEETABLE
Don't miss the rest of this YouTube for Writers Series!
Tschritter currently resides in Simpsonville, South Carolina with her husband, their three teen and preteen daughters, cats named Pitter and Patter, and their Siberian husky whom she lost the vote to name Onomatopoeia. Nothing refreshes Tschritter’s soul like gardening. She gardens to work through plot holes, writer’s block, character development, and book ideas. Tschritter spends a great deal of time gardening. You can find her on social media at Linktr.ee/LoveSamEvans.
Excellent information! Thank you.
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