Posting Videos

Sharing a video on social media used to be as easy as adding a YouTube link to your post. Today, social media sites work hard hold onto their audiences and prioritize posts that have videos uploaded into the posts. Posts with uploaded videos are shown to more people by the social networks - and they have extra features, such as viral sharing and autoplay. Posts with YouTube links are often displayed awkwardly and shown to less people.

Social Video Checklist:

  • Start Strong: Viewers decide in the first three seconds whether they will stay and watch, or scroll past your video.
  • Audio Optional: Make sure your video performs and engages without sound. 85% of social viewers watch videos on mute.
  • Dimensions: Square works better, Landscape works worse).
  • Length: GIF-length (<6 seconds) and Social-length (<30 seconds) work best. For longer concepts, consider breaking into multiple videos for social.
    Longer videos work well in webpages and on YouTube.
  • Closed Captions: By provincial requirement - and by our own institutional values, all Western videos must include closed captions.

Now, Let's Post Some Videos.

YouTube

Western runs a single university-wide YouTube channel. Contact youtube@uwo.ca to arrange training and access for your Western videos.

How to Post on YouTube:

  • Upload your video.
  • Populate the title, description & tags - and review all settings.
    Remember to add "Uploaded by:" followed by your department name, so that we can contact you regarding comments, questions and copyright claims.
  • On the Video Edit Screen, switch from Basic to Advanced (top left).
  • Scroll down to the Subtitles settings.
  • Time for Subtitles:
    • Option A: Edit and polish the automatically generated subtitles.
      To do this, click the three dots beside "English by Youtube (Automatic)", and then select "Edit on Classic Studio".
    • Option B: Upload your own subtitles using an .srt file.
      To do this, click "Upload Subtitles/CC".
      Make sure to unpublish the automatically generated subtitles by YouTube.
  • Save your changes.

Facebook

Western uses Facebook Business Manager for all official Facebook Pages and their video content. If you do not currently have access to your Western Facebook Page via business.facebook.com, please contact social@uwo.ca.

Uploading videos to Facebook (including adding subtitles) has to be done using Google Chrome.

Closed Caption files (.srt) must end with ".en_US.srt". Example: my-great-video.en_US.srt

  • In Google Chrome, open Facebook Creator Studio.
  • Click the "Upload Video" button.
  • Browse for and then select your video file (.mp4).
  • Select the Facebook Page that will publish the video.
  • Give your video a title (this will be in bold on every screen where your video is shown).
  • Fill in the description (this will do double duty as the caption of your post when the video is shown on your Facebook Page).
  • Optional: Click on the Thumbnail (to the right) to customize the freeze frame image used when the video is not being played.
  • Required: Click on "Subtitles & Captions (CC)" to the right.
    • Set the language.
    • Option A: Upload your own subtitles using an .srt file.
      To do this, click "Upload" and browse for your .en_US.srt file.
      If your video is already closed captioned on YouTube, you can download a .srt file from YouTube and upload it to Facebook.
    • Option B: Have Facebook automatically generate your subtitles, and then edit them.
      To do this, click "Auto-Generate".
  • Click "Next" to continue to your publishing and scheduling options for the video.

Twitter

For this process, you will need a Twitter Ads account that has had credit card information added under Billing Settings. You will not incur any charges, and you do not need to have active or past Twitter Ad campaigns.

You will need a closed caption file to upload to Twitter. If your video is already closed captioned on YouTube, you can download a .srt file from YouTube and upload it to Twitter with your video file.

  • Go to Twitter Ads.
  • Go to the Top Menu and select "Creatives" and then "Media".
  • Click the "Upload Media" button (top right).
  • Browse and select your video file (mp4).
  • Your card should now be the first item listed in the Media Library. (It will need some time to process).
  • Click on your Video to edit the settings and upload your closed captions.
    • Give your video a title (this will be in bold on every screen where your video is shown).
    • Fill in the description (this will display below the title).
    • If there is a related webpage or story, add the URL in the "Call to Action" field.
    • Switch from Settings to Subtitles (located above the "Title" field.
    • Set the language of your video.
    • Upload your closed caption file (.srt).
  • Close the settings and subtitles window.
  • Click the "new tweet" icon for the video to publish or schedule a tweet with the video.

Instagram

For this process, an .mp4 video that has the closed captions edited into the video itself. Instagram does not support separate closed-captioning (.srt files).

Your video must be no longer than 0:59 seconds. If your video must be longer than this, consider sharing your content across multiple shorter videos - or try a multi-video post that allows the user to swipe across at the end of each 0:59 video segment.

Beyond these considerations, you can publish or schedule a video to Instagram the same way that you would do for a photo.

LinkedIn

For LinkedIn, you will use the YouTube link for your video. Fill in your post caption and then paste the YouTube link. Carefully review the automatically created thumbnail image, title and description. Remove the YouTube URL from the caption. Publish or schedule as you normally would. 



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