How to Create Social Media Videos Using PowerPoint
Do you want to create dynamic video content for your presentation but don’t have a subscription to a video editor? Did you know you can create a video using Microsoft PowerPoint?
Microsoft PowerPoint allows you to save PowerPoint as video! You do not need to know extensive video editing or animation to create a video with PowerPoint! You also do not need to invest in expensive programs to create videos for your brand or presentation.
The ability to turn your PowerPoint presentation into a video allows you to show your presentation to a wider audience by sharing the video on YouTube, email and other video platforms where you can upload or send your video file. This can be useful for someone who does not have PowerPoint as video is a universal file.
You can also burn your video file onto a DVD or another physical video format too. Your videos becomes easy to access without having requiring your client to know how to navigate PowerPoint.
The biggest bonus is being able to create social media video content without a video editor program, which can be expensive and costly. And the trying to edit a video file can take time. Using PowerPoint to create a video file is an advantage.
Social media marketing is one of the biggest ways to get your brand top of mind and knowing how to distribute your content online is critical to business success.
Social media content allows for faster, easier communication of ideas, products and your brand personality. It also can lead to partnerships when you can show off a strong brand that is current and has kept up with trends, as video is pretty much the standard on social media the last couple years.
The video content and content you produce does not always have to be “branded” or corporate – you can create organic content to highlight your lifestyle, your personality and your influence. You can increase engagement with organic user-generated content.
All this content leads to increased website traffic, influence, customer connection or whatever your intended use for social media is!
Overall, you will impress potential customers or industry members. You can easily brand what service, idea or personality you are putting out onto social media through the use of videos.
The analytics you get back from these video campaigns can put you one step ahead of the competition seeing what works, what engages and what does not!
The Steps to Creating Social Media Videos on PowerPoint
How you get the most out of social media depends on you, your brand or business. Every entity has a different way to measure success online. You can make your channel shine by adding video to your online content. Are you ready to learn how to create video content via PowerPoint and utilize each platform to its fullest?
Step 1: Slide Size
The first thing you’ll have to do is adjust your slide size to the correct social media format for video. Square or 1:1 video format is usually 1080×1080 and up, and most other video formats are in 16:9. Make sure you know which platform you are exporting to before you start creating slides in your presentation.
First step is to create a new PowerPoint file. In the file menu, go to Design > Page Setup > Custom. In this dialogue box, make sure the dimensions are the size of your desired video.
We recommend 1080×1080 or up because most social platforms do take square format, but you can search online for the current sizes. Facebook is 16:9 – so 1080×1920 usually works, Twitter is 1200×628 usually and Instagram is 1080×1080, unless it is a story in which case it is 1920×1080.
Step 2: Create and make engaging content!
This is the step where you truly start using PowerPoint to create a video presentation. Design as you normally would make a presentation and let out your inner design flair to make an engaging, succinct and eye-catching presentation that will turn into dynamic video.
Use your creative mind or you can also use PowerPoint’s Designer tool. You will want to storyboard or draw your information out and see how it may translate into videos before you start.
Step 3: Video Animation
Add animation to make your videos exciting! If you want to emphasize or catch someone’s eye with a single word, paragraph or photo, even a simple fade in can direct the eye!
However, you should be aware of time limits which we cover in the next step. We recommend .25 seconds for each animation on your slides. We also recommend using animations sparingly and only to really highlight or punctuate points. If too many things are animated, it can become chaotic!
Step 4: Social Media Time Limits
One thing to note is be cognizant of the time limits per medium when you use videos. Instagram is thirty seconds for video posts and fifteen seconds for a video story. Twitter is thirty seconds for video, while Facebook does not have a time limit for video format.
The platforms do allow for some rudimentary video editing (Twitter allows you to trim, for example), but it will be much easier to trim in PowerPoint – take our word for it. It is hard to do trims in body content, as trim is only really good for cutting tail ends or beginnings.
You will want to know what medium you are sending your videos to in advance before you start creating in PowerPoint.
Step 5: Transitions
Another animation to consider is the transitions between your PowerPoint slides and the time it will add to your video. This is in its separate pane under TRANSITIONS at the top navigation bar. These transitions are a nice flair to your video and you will want to use them in your slides and animation if you can.
Push and cover are nice clean transitions for a fairly modern looking video. Reveal or morph are interesting ways to have some dynamic movement that utilizes common shapes between the panes. Heck, you can use something as cheesy as barn doors if you’re trying to make your audience laugh.
If you want more engagement, that bit of movement between slides can add flair and make your videos look more dynamic. Transitions add a great touch!
Step 6: Edit
Edit, edit, edit, preview and watch your PowerPoint presentation slides. Use this time to see if you can add or subtract any slides to make your content more engaging or succinct. You can always add more animation too to fill in time if you need to.
The exciting part about this step is you do teach yourself technically how to edit a video. You can learn a lot about timing and the right kind of timing through trial and error as you preview your PowerPoint presentation.
Remember that the rule of thumb is less is more. If you can get an idea across with a few words or a fantastic image, a little can go along way.
You must remember since most videos are 15-30, slides loaded with text will probably not be read unless the user pauses. Usually your audience will want to read rhythmically or be able to keep up as the text transitions.
Step 7: Timing
Remember that the attention span on social media is fairly short. Even if certain platforms do not have the short time constraints, consider always making your video anywhere from 15-30 seconds. Ask yourself if the slide is really necessary or if you can use a clever call-to-action to have them click or engage with your content.
When you create video content in powerpoint, think of what videos stick out to you on social media and what your audience is. For retail content for example, the user base on social media will definitely have a shorter attention span (thus we recommend a shorter video).
For this demographic, we recommend lifestyle photos or videos incorporated in your video. If you work in an educational or research field, you may be able to captivate someone with a longer infographic-like PowerPoint. Make use of what you understand of your field, audience, their level of engagement and use of social media when you create videos in PowerPoint.
Step 8: Export and Upload Your PowerPoint Videos
Save your PowerPoint file first to make sure you have a copy. Then export to the format you need like MPEG-4 or WMV, etc to generate your media video. Viola! You are ready to show the world your video or videos.
You might be wondering – how do I get it onto our platforms? With Facebook, Youtube and Twitter, using their websites, you can simply upload where you want to post your content.
With Instagram, if you use iOS, you can AirDrop it to yourself and with other devices, you can send through a file drive or email. However, if you sign up for a social media manager like HootSuite, you can post directly if you link your Instagram account. (Please note that you can only schedule a file up to 5mb using this method.)
