You have probably seen a few blog posts out there showing you how you can take any text, paste it into a video maker, and you'll get an okay-looking stock footage video with text overlay.
But what happens to the text before the copy-paste stage? How do you decide which bits of information to convert into video, and which ones are better left out? How do you convert different types of text?
We're here to answer all of those questions.
Here's what you'll learn:
- Why you should convert text to video
- The 6 different types of text you can convert
- Our 5-step framework for transforming any text to video
- How to create videos from text than actually look good
We also have a short video tutorial, if you are a visual learner:
Why convert text to a video format?
It's something we talk about in almost every blog post, but for good reason.
There are 4 main reasons why we choose to convert text to video:
- Great videos make complex ideas more understandable because the information is presented not only through text but also through accompanying visuals and voice overs.
- A video is usually also shorter, which helps retain the ever-shortening attention spans of people.
- Videos can also be shared across different platforms more easily than text, which needs to be shortened or altered to fit a specific platform.
- Video marketing is the new buzzword, so much so that we use video on our site and on every social media platform.
6 different types of text you can convert to video
No two text-based pieces are created equal.
Text-based communication ranges from instant messages, emails, blog posts, PDFs, newsletters, to books and dictionaries, and not all of these can (or should) be converted into video.
Here are a few instances where transforming text into video makes sense:
1. Newsletter to video
If you have a content marketing strategy, you likely already use newsletter emails.
But why not kick it up a notch and transform a plain and basic text-based newsletter into video content?
In fact, including video clips in email marketing can increase click-through rates by up to 300%.
Intrigued? Read our full guide on creating a newsletter video.
2. Blog post to video
A blog article is the most obvious piece of content to convert to video.
Doing that allows your audience to choose between watching a 3-minute video summarizing the content or reading the full post.
Summarizing an article into a short video isn't a straightforward process. That's why we've created a comprehensive guide on converting blog articles into videos.
And a video tutorial:
3. Knowledge base article to video
A knowledge base (otherwise known as a help center) is the perfect platform for transforming text-based articles into videos.
A knowledge base is usually made up of how-to guides and FAQs and includes step-by-step instructions to break down a process. This can make the articles a bit long and dry to read, so making an instructional or explainer video instead can lead to better information retention.
If you want to learn how to do that, we have (you guessed it 🤓) a detailed breakdown of how to create knowledge base videos in a text and video format.
4. PowerPoint to video
While PowerPoints are a mix of text-based and visual media, they tend to be fairly text-heavy.
In 2022, video is king and video presentations are becoming the new norm. They are simply more engaging, more memorable, and more shareable.
If you want to learn more about making engaging video presentations, we also have a guide and a video for that. 😉
5. Website text into marketing videos
If video marketing is something you plan on getting into any time soon, looking at any existing text-based material you have and converting it into video is a good first step.
You can convert text into explainer videos for your website, make promo videos for social media platforms, how-to videos for YouTube, and more.
6. Written business communication
Think case studies, internal communications, onboarding & orientation, or any other business presentations.
You can take anything that is typically a lengthy and boring read and turn it into an engaging, yet professional video in just a few minutes.
But enough talk, let's turn text into engaging video!
A simple 5-step framework for transforming any type of text to video
Instead of teaching you how to simply paste text into video editing tools, our in-house learning experts took the time to develop a 5-step framework for converting text to video.
Step 1: Start with a purpose
The first building block of creating engaging videos is ideation.
Think about why you want to transform text into video content in the first place:
- Why is video the perfect medium?
- What is the target audience?
- Where will your audience view the video?
Do you want to summarize an article and entice users to read further? Maybe you want to explain a concept? Demonstrate a skill?
The purpose of your video will determine its structure and how you approach the conversion process.
Step 2: Identify the key parts and structure
Now that you have a purpose and a goal in mind, it's time to scan your text and identify the key parts and structure.
Any type of video you create will have a title or instruction and an outro.
If you're converting an article to video, your main goal is to summarize the key points of the article, so that's what will make up the bulk of the video.
If you're using video to explain a concept, the structure will look a bit different. You show the outcome, before explaining it and including examples to hook the audience in. Ending with a recap is a good idea to make sure viewers retain the information.
Whatever the purpose of your video is, the next step is to chunk the text.
Step 3: Chunk the text
You now have a structure you want the video to follow, but which parts of the text should you include?
In this step, you are essentially creating a video script and a storyboard, and thinking about which sentences you want to keep, and which ones you want to replace with visuals.
The important point here is to leave out any irrelevant and overly-detailed information and keep it straightforward.
We recommend including 3-4 sentences per chunk to make sure the video is easy to follow.
Step 4: Match text with layout and paste
Now it's time to create a video using a video tool.
We will be using Synthesia STUDIO later in the post to demonstrate, but this can be done in any video creation/video editing tools.
If you're not a professional graphic designer or video editor, we recommend using video templates to get started with video creation.
You can simply pick out slides that have the needed layout for your script, paste your text in there and adjust the design as needed.
Step 5: Visualize your content
The final step is the most fun one, in our opinion.
You have your text, your layout, and your template in a video tool, and now it's time to style it.
Think of ways you can visually represent what is being said in the video.
For this, you can use:
- a human or AI presenter
- a screen recording
- stock images or video footage
- text on screen
How to turn text to video using Synthesia STUDIO
Now that you're familiar with the general framework for transforming any text into video, let's go through the practical steps of creating a video online using Synthesia STUDIO.
Step #1: Start with a template
If you're not a graphic designer or video editor, you can easily create videos using templates.
The ones you can find in Synthesia are professionally-designed, customizable, easy to use, and include helpful layouts for all kinds of scenarios.
To start with a template in Synthesia STUDIO, go to your dashboard, click on 'Templates' on the left-hand side, choose one and select 'Create video'.
Step #2: Select an AI presenter
Here's something that sets us apart from other text-to-video makers: human-like AI avatars.
Yes, you can create talking head videos without ever having to pick up a camera and cringe watching yourself on video (or is that just us? 🥲).
To add an AI avatar in Synthesia STUDIO, click on 'Avatar' on top of the video canvas and choose one that fits the style and topic of your video.
Step #3: Paste in your video script
Take all the text that you have reviewed, revised, and chunked following our framework, and paste it slide by slide into Synthesia.
You can add text into Synthesia STUDIO in just a few clicks. Type or paste it into the text box, and choose the language, accent, and tone you want to use.
Oh, we forgot to mention one tiiiiny detail - the text you pasted will be turned into a voiceover by our text-to-speech engine. No need to record or add voice overs for your video.
It's that easy.
Step #4: Edit and customize your video
Now it's time to get creative and edit your video.
You can add anything from background music, photos, animations, video clips, shapes, and other elements. You can also edit every visual element by changing its color, position, and size.
Explore our 'Intro to Visuals' course to get started.
Step #5: Generate your AI video
Once you're done with video editing and are happy with the results, all you have to do is generate and download the video!
Doing that in STUDIO is super easy.
Simply click on 'Generate video' on the top right-hand side, fill out the title and description of the video and then click on 'Save and process video'.
The video will be generated in Full HD 1080 MP4 format.
Before generating the video, you can preview it by clicking the 'Play' button to check for audio and video quality.
Ready to start creating professional videos?
To convert text to video online you need to put in a little more effort than most text-to-video tools want you to believe.
The 'add text and download video instantly' claim simply doesn't give you the best results. 🤷🏻♀️
Armed with our 5-step text to video framework, we hope you'll be able to easily create videos that captivate and engage your viewers.
Curious to convert text to video using Synthesia STUDIO? Make a free demo video online to try it out.
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