Lumen5 - Auto Converts Your Blog Posts To Engaging Videos?

Are you looking for a way to convert your blog posts into engaging videos?

There is a simple way to convert articles into videos by using online software, Lumen5.

Today, we will learn how to convert our blog posts into videos by using Lumen5.

Creating videos may not be that easy task. When you create them, you make sure they are of high quality. You need all the setup of videography to make that happen.

A high-quality HD camera, a good quality microphone, video editing software, and much more, can cost you many bucks. Even if you manage this inventory, you may not get presentable enough to make it engaging and informative. (I always struggle to do so)

For those people (like myself), who are camera shy, this becomes far more difficult.

The other option you have to create videos is to hire professionals but that can get very expensive when you are just starting your blog.

I am the kind of person who is not comfortable in front of the camera. I am also reluctant to spend huge amounts on getting professionals to create videos for me. But, as I know, a video can add so much value, I want to have them for my blog posts.

As a blogger and content writer and considering the importance of videos, I was on the lookout for my answers:

How do I create video content when I don’t want to be in front of the camera? Where do I get new video ideas from?

I was doing my research on this and tried many methods but none of them gave me satisfaction.

Recently, I came across an online software, Lumen5, that solved my problem. I tried that and got surprised to find how easy it made the entire process for me. I can now convert my posts into videos with a little effort and in just a few minutes.

We know how crazy videos are going across all the marketing platforms. For those who are still wondering why videos, let’s look at the reasons that make videos important in today’s marketing strategy.

Why Video?

Here are my reasons to do so:

1- Larger Audience Reach

Videos increase the audience to reach. Embedding the video on your blog, sharing on social media, publishing on YouTube are the various ways to increase your reach. Videos make sharing easier than text content. The more platforms your video gets the more audience it attracts.

2- More Concise Message

Creating a video version of your post can be a great way to concise your message and present it in a more clear form. Imagine your reader spending 15 minutes reading a 3000-word blog post than spending 5 minutes watching the video version.

3- Higher Conversion Rates

Studies reveal that 78% of marketers believe in higher video conversion rates. Videos outperform any other forms of content marketing. Our sole purpose of blogging is higher conversion rates so why not use the power of videos to make our job easier?

4- Higher Engagement

We know visual content is the key to a great engagement on Social Media. Videos get about 10 times more engagement than blog posts. Videos shared on Social Media generate 1200% more shares than text and images combined.

5- Stronger Readers Attention

Video attracts more consumer attention than any other medium. Studies have revealed a decrease in attention times of readers. Videos bind the readers to the page and this way they spend more time on it. Blog posts incorporating video attract four times more back-links than with no video.

6- Better SEO

Using video content in your blog posts will no doubt improve your SEO. According to studies, adding a video doubles your chances of ranking.

7- Greater Optimization

If you know social media advertising, you would understand why advertisers prefer video content. Video campaigns allow them better optimization for their campaigns. Unlike other forms of content, the consumption of a video can get measured. There are tools to measure how much video content the viewer consumes before he bounces off. CTR, drop-off points, or the number of times the video is watched become the analyzing factors.

8- Growing Video-Preferred Technology

Video technology is on a high. By 2020, internet video traffic will consume 85% of all consumer Internet traffic. Think about how YouTube has become the second largest search engine. Facebook and Instagram favor video content. Facebook has even gone into the Facebook Live feature to promote video content.

9- Higher Retention Times

75% of viewers watch over 50% of a video, which is more than any other form of content. Viewers keep 95% of a message when they watch it in a video compared to 10% when reading it in the text. If you have a message in the form of a text post, represent the same through a video for higher retention.

10- Stronger Emotional Impulse

A lot of customers end up buying not out of intent but by impulse. You would have seen how AS SEEN ON TV catches on the emotional aspects of buyers. Amazon does it amazingly well with “related products”, “people also bought” or “frequently bought together” categories.

On similar lines, videos are a powerful way to evoke emotions. It is hard to raise emotions by any other form of content than videos. You can also use your videos as promotional material for any affiliate programs that you would promote.

OK, so if you’re convinced of the benefits of creating video content, let’s see how we can convert an existing blog post into a video.

In one of my earlier articles, I explained how to convert your blog post into Infographics.

Convert An Existing Article Into A Video By Lumen5

There are many ways to convert your article into a video. Recently I have tried many options but the one I’m sharing here is the fastest and the most elegant way.

I have been using Lumen5 and by far I rate it the highest. This is because of the simplicity and ease of use. It is an Online Software that semi-automates the process and converts the blog posts into engaging and shareable social media videos.

Lumen5 is great in the sense you only need to provide the URL of your blog post. Its artificial intelligence and bots pull over what they consider is the most important text and turn it into a video storyboard. If you do not like the storyboard text, you can make changes.

It even brings images from your blog post if they are in the right dimension. If your blog does not have images, it suggests the same from its library. It has a huge collection of royalty-free images in its image bank. Besides this, you can upload your images.

You get the option to create horizontal, square, and vertical videos and even change the theme and style of colors and placement of the text.

You have the option to add music. Like the images, you can add your music or you can select from royalty-free music on the site.

You can also add your branding elements like your logo and watermarks and have control over the duration for each image to slide. You have various options for fade in and fade out transitions.

Once you’re happy with the preview of the video, you are free to download or share it on Social Media.

Lumen5 has a free plan and paid plans. There are many extra features and benefits with the paid version. But I recommend having a go with their free version first. The free version provides you everything you need to start and create quality videos out of your blog posts.

Excited? Okay, so, without further delay, let me show you how to do this?

Step-By-Step Guide

Lumen5 is a perfect tool for bloggers, marketers, and other business owners. It helps them turn blog posts into videos they can share on social media and also use on their websites. A lot of freelancing professionals use Lumen5 to create their video content.

After a quick sign-up, you’ll be able to access Lumen5 for free. It also has premium paid versions but you can start with their free plan.

Let’s move on step by step into the process of creating a video.

In this article, we will focus on creating the video from an existing blog post.

Auto-Convert Your Blog Posts to Engaging Videos

1- Create An Account With Lumen5

After you click on the sign-up button you will reach their Sign-Up Page.

You must enter your name, valid email address, and choose the password to log in.

2- Choose Your Method

Lumen5 provides you with five options to create your video.

1. From the URL of an existing post.
2. From the text, you have in some documents.

3. From a post of your blog connected with Lumen5. (We will learn how we connect the blog with Lumen5 later in this article)

4. From the existing templates on Lumen5.

5. From scratch.

Lumen5 - Auto-Convert Your Blog Posts to Engaging Videos

In this article, we are focusing on the first option to create the video from the URL of the existing post.

3- Choose Your Article

This is the most efficient and easy to create a video. Add the URL and let Lumen5 artificial intelligence (AI) bots pull the text and images from there. In the text box shown below, enter your blog post URL and click Go.

4- Choose A Video Format

On the next screen, you’ll have the option to choose the dimensions of your video.

You have the options of:

1. Horizontal

2. Square

3. Vertical

This is helpful as Social Media platforms have different specifications for the video dimensions. E.g. YouTube prefers horizontal, Instagram prefers square and Facebook prefers vertical videos. You can choose the format here so it lines up with the respective media.

With the free plan, only the horizontal option is available. The square and vertical formats come with premium paid versions.

You can change the video format later if you wish.

5- Choose The Theme

Once you select your preferred format, the next page gives you the choice of theme.

Themes offer different styles, fonts, colors, etc for the text. You can choose the one you like the most and that goes well with your article.

The transitions between images and fade-in/fade-out effects are also different for various themes.

You can hover on any of the themes to have a preview. You can also change your theme later.

6- Add Elements To Your Video

After you choose the theme the next page leads to the core of video creation. Here you have your Story (text), Media (Images), Music (audio), and Style (theme).

Here you will create your actual video.

Please synchronize the numbers on the above image and in the below points to understand the process better.

Story – This section has the text that your article has. AI of the Lumen5 pulls the text from your article it considers most relevant. It gets placed on the right panel over the image (7, 8).
Media – If your article has images that fit with the video format, the AI will pull those images. You can upload your images or select them from the image library of Lumen5. Drag the images from the left-to-right panel (9).
Music – You can choose the audio from the Lumen5 audio library or upload yours.
Style – From here you can change the theme of your video. You can also add watermarks and brand presets like the logo.
The text selected by Lumen5 AI gets highlighted in blue (7).
You can select the text on the left panel and that will appear on the right panel over the images (8).

The below snapshots will help

7- Change The Video Speed

The right panel that captures the images has a top panel where you can choose your video speed.

1. You can change the format (dimensions) of the video here.

2. You can pick a speed for your video.

3. You can also customize the speed of your video by providing your time values.

8- Control Individual Slides

When you hover on an image, a menu will appear at the right of the image.

1. The preview gives you the look of the slide when it plays.

2. The Text gives you the option to display text as Text, Quote, No Text, and Title.

3. The text position allows you to align text on the image.

4. The highlight section will add color to the portion of the text you select.

5. Advanced gives you options of Dimmer, Timing, and Animation for the text.

6. The plus button at the bottom will add a new slide.

Once you are done with your video, it’s time to capture it.

9- Finish Your Video

Once you complete your video and feel satisfied, you can:

Save your changes.
Preview your full video.
Finish your video to share or download.

10- Share Or Download

Once you feel happy with your video preview, you can click the Finish button, and will land you in sharing and downloading options.

Preview the video.
Share on Facebook.
Share on Instagram.
Download it on our PC.
Edit it if you need further changes.
Upgrade to paid plans.
Create a new video.

When you download your video it may take 5-10 minutes to render and start downloading.

11- Dashboard

After you create your first video, it gets saved on your dashboard. All of your previously created videos will appear here.

12- Instant Videos

This section allows you to connect your blog with Lumen5. Whenever you create a new article, it will appear here and will suggest you convert it into a video. You can connect your blog by clicking the Manage Feeds button.

When you click Manage Feeds, it will allow you to add your Blog’s URL. Click the Add Feed button to save it. You can add many blogs to the same account and all will be listed here for future reference.

13- Brand Presets

Here you can save your presets. You can also have your branding like logo and watermark to get saved here for future reference.

The process ends here. There are many tutorials on the Lumen5 website to help you learn more and explore the software.

Here is a sample video that I created during writing this article.

Conclusion

Lumen5 is an easy and elegant way to create animated informative videos to share on your social media.

To create engaging and professional videos, all you need to do is connect your blog and let the Lumen5 AI bots do the rest.

So, what are you waiting for?

Create an account with Lumen5 and convert your blog posts into videos, for free. You have nothing loose here.

That’s it from me. Now, it’s your turn to try Lumen5 and share your feedback comments.

If you have a question, ask them in the comments below!