Write2Ignite

Create Free and Easy Videos for Social Media Using Lumen5 videos

(Note: This is an update of a previous Write2Ignite post.)

Ever feel like Sisyphus? In Greek mythology, the gods punished Sisyphus for his greed and deceit by assigning an impossible task. They required him to roll a huge boulder up a hill, only to have it roll back down when it reached near the top. And he had to do it for eternity.

Gaining traction for social media author pages often feels like a Sisyphean ordeal. Just when we think we’ve reached our goal—whether deciphering Facebook algorithms or reaching a new level of followers—the standards change. The proverbial boulder rolls back down the hill and we have to start again.

First we needed engaging posts. Then we were told the posts needed images. Now the experts tell us static images are not enough. Videos are the way to engage our followers.

Social videos can do more than entertain. They can educate, tell a story, promote an event, highlight a testimonial, or provide a summary of your publications.

Still, many of us lack the time, money, or technical know-how to create engaging videos week after week, myself included. But I recently discovered Lumen5 videos, a free app (there’s also a paid version with additional features) that enables me to create video stories with ease from my blog posts.

The first week I tried Lumen5, my Facebook engagement statistics achieved a significant increase. Weekly reach jumped 288%. People engaged increased 164%, then tripled from there. Even my Page “likes” increased. People I did not know shared the post and then became followers. All in the first 3 weeks! And that trend continued with subsequent video posts.

Creating Lumen5 videos are easier than you might think, even for a non-techy like me. Start by going to www.Lumen5.com

1. First, click on “New Video.”

 

 

2. Choose your type of video. (For the purposes of this post I chose Marketing video.

 

3. Choose how you want to source your narrative content.
(You can type the link to your blog post or you can copy and paste your content from Word).

 

 

 

4. Select a format by clicking on one of the three options.

I chose Facebook 16:9. The program offers options for Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

 

 

5. …And click on a theme. For this post, I chose “Fresh.”

 

 

 

6. The program uploaded my narrative content and matched some of the sentences to photos in the Lumen5 library.

As you can see, they paired my title slide with a political photo, so I will swap that out. And you can also click on the slide and type in other content.

 

7. Click on Media in the left side menu, then choose a different suggested image or type key words in the search feature for more suggestions.

Or upload your own photo. I went back and swapped out some of the photos for ones that were a better match.

 

 

 

8. You can edit the text on individual slides. Click on Story in the left side menu, then click on the slide you want to edit.

 

9. You can reposition the text on the image by changing the layout. Click on Layout to the RIGHT OF THE SLIDE for the various layout options to appear in the left side of the page.

 

10. You can also change text size, position, or highlights by clicking on a word in the slide to bring up these icons above the slide.

 

 

 

11. Other ways to edit the slide are found in the icons on the LEFT SIDE OF THE SLIDE:

• up & down arrows to change the slide order
• copy icon to make a copy of the slide (to keep the background, but then edit the message)
• wastebasket to delete the slide
• gray + to create a sub-slide in case your narrative is too long for one slide

 

 

 

 

12. If you want to insert an additional slide, click on the green + between the slides you want to position.

 

 

13. The program chooses music to accompany your video. To hear the music selected, click on Preview to the right of a slide. You have the option of changing the music selection. To do that, click on MUSIC in the left side menu.

 

14. Finally, PREVIEW your video.

 

 

15. You can always go back to edit it further before you select Publish. You can increase or decrease the # of seconds each slide shows in the video by clicking on the + or – to the RIGHT OF THE SLIDE.

 

 

16. When you’re satisfied with the result, click Publish in the upper right corner.

 

 

 

Here’s a shortened result:

There are lots of other options, even in the free version, so give it a try and play with it!