Adding captions to your reels is a game-changer. It turns your content into a more engaging and inclusive experience for your audience. What if viewers want to watch your reels on the commute and forget their earphones?
Or how do you target audiences with hearing impairments? You must learn how to add captions to reels. In this guide, we cover why captions matter and how to add captions to reels manually or automatically. We also discuss how tools like Transkriptor simplify the process, saving time and effort.
Why Captions are Essential for Instagram Reels
Captions are no longer a nice-to-have element in your Instagram campaigns but an essential component. The reasons why captions are essential for Instagram reels are listed below.
- Cater to Silent Viewers: Captions cater to silent viewers by helping them understand the context and increasing the chances of them watching the content to the end.
- Enhance Accessibility: Captions enhance accessibility by making content easier to understand for people with hearing impairments and those struggling with accents.
- Improve Engagement Metrics: It improves engagement metrics by increasing view time, reducing drop-off rates, and driving more likes, shares, etc.
- Reinforce Your Message: It reinforces your message by combining visual texts with audio, catering to different learning styles, and highlighting key aspects of the content.
Cater to Silent Viewers
Many people watch reels on mute to avoid disturbing others in their surroundings. A study by Verizon Media and Publicis Media revealed that 69% of people view videos with sound off. Captioning offers an alternative to silent viewers. It lets them understand the context and appreciate the full value of your content.
Enhance Accessibility
Captions are essential for people with hearing impairments to enjoy the social media experience. They help them follow the storyline and fully engage with your content. Adding captions to reels also simplifies it for people who speak different languages or struggle to understand certain accents.
Improve Engagement Metrics
Captions provide clear context to the viewers, prompting them to watch your reels longer. Facebook’s internal research noted that captioned video ads see an average 12% increase in view time. Captions reduce drop-off rates, drive more likes and shares, and improve overall content metrics, thereby improving engagement with captions.
Reinforce Your Message
Reel captions help people with hearing disabilities and language barriers. They also make your content message clearer for those who can hear. Combining visual texts with audio, captions cater to different learning styles and viewing preferences, ensuring your message lands perfectly.
How to Manually Add Captions on Instagram
Now that you know its importance, here are the steps on how to add captions to reels:
Step 1: Log in to your Instagram account. Then, start creating a reel by following the usual process. Once you are satisfied with the result, click “Next.” Save the draft to avoid losing it.
Step 2: From the bottom of the screen, click the text tool showing “Aa.” Then type out the caption.
Step 3: You must drag the text boxes to align with your video’s dialogue flow and context. Make sure you place them at the key moments in your reel.
Step 4: At the bottom of the screen, you can choose the font and colors for your captions. Customize the captions according to the content’s theme, your brand voice, and readability. Click on “Done” and then the blue “Next” button.
Step 5: Preview the result and finetune caption placements to ensure they are accurate and visibly appealing. Once you are satisfied with the result, add post captions and hashtags. Then click on the blue “Share” button to publish the reel.
Best Tools for Automating Captions on Reels
While Instagram lets you add captions manually, it is time-consuming and error-prone. The best tools for automating captions on reels are listed below:
- Transkriptor: Transkriptor automatically transcribes audio and video files in over 100 languages with a 99% accuracy rate.
- Instagram Auto Caption: The auto-captioning feature of Instagram transcribes reels during editing. It gives the option to make manual adjustments for accuracy.
- Kapwing: Kapwing allows automatic transcription with extensive language support. It offers AI voiceovers and advanced video editing for social media captions.
- Rev: Rev provides automated transcriptions with timestamping and customization options. It is ideal for scalable content generation, supporting over 17 languages.
Transkriptor
First on our list is Transkriptor, the best caption transcriptor for your Instagram reels. To use it as the best captioning tool for reels, you need only upload an audio or video file from your local device. The tool will take care of the rest. Transkriptor automatically transcribes the uploaded content. The tool also lets you control the audio of the uploaded file through an easy-to-use panel. Transkriptor can transcribe more than 100 languages.
Key Features
- AI-powered transcriptions: Transkriptor generates automatic audio and video transcriptions in seconds. Your dashboard perfectly syncs them.
- Collaboration and export options: You can collaborate on files with all stakeholders directly on your dashboard. Transkriptor also lets you export transcriptions as plain texts or subtitle files.
Why it’s great: The best thing about Transkriptor is its accuracy rate (almost 99%, depending on the file’s quality).
Instagram Auto Caption
Instagram's automatic caption generation feature is next up on the list. It analyzes the audio in the reel and transcribes it into synced captions. Instagram will analyze the video and place captions on the reel. However, you may have to make manual corrections to automated captions for reels since the caption placements are not always accurate.
Key Features
- Built-in captioning: You can add captions by clicking the CC button while editing the reel.
Why it’s great: The auto caption feature is directly accessible on Instagram while reel editing.
Kapwing
Kapwing is a content creation tool with a dubbing feature that can transcribe your reels and create captions automatically. However, Kapwing does not have pitch correction or noise reduction features that you will find in other advanced tools.
Key Features
- Extensive language support: Adds subtitles to videos in seconds and can translate them into 30+ languages with accuracy.
Why it’s great: Kapwing is an impressive tool because of its extensive customization options.
Rev
Rev offers human-like automated transcriptions with timestamps so you can easily navigate your reel captioning. Plus, the tool supports more than 17 languages, making your captions more inclusive. However, depending on the file quality, you may experience some errors in captioning.
Key Features
- Customizations: Rev lets you correct typos, change speaker names, and adjust times.
Why it’s great: Rev is ideal for scaled content generation with maximum captioning accuracy.
Why Use Transkriptor for Reels Caption
While the other three tools have impressive features and convenience, they don't match what Transkriptor offers. Here are some reasons why Transkriptor should be your first choice for generating automated captions for Instagram reels.
- Save Time: Transkriptor saves time by automatically transcribing videos.
- Achieve Accuracy: Transkriptor uses AI-powered transcription to minimize errors and ensure maximum precision with minimal manual correction.
- Increase Accessibility: With support for over 100 languages, Transkriptor generates multilingual captions.
- Flexible Outputs: Transkriptor has various export options like PDF, TXT, SRT, Word, and Plain text for efficient sharing and collaboration.
- Streamline Your Workflow: You can free up your time to focus on creativity and content ideas rather than manual captioning tasks.
Save Time
With Transkriptor, generating captions is a breeze. There is no need to add manual captions and spend hours correcting and syncing them with the video. Log into your account, upload the file, and the tool will transcribe your video automatically.
Achieve Accuracy
If you have to edit generated captions extensively, it defeats the purpose of using a tool in the first place. Your goal is the convenience with maximum precision — and Transkriptor provides that. The tool is AI-powered, ensuring that all your captions have minimum errors.
Increase Accessibility
Transkriptor supports over 100 languages, letting you generate captions that surpass language barriers. It can transcribe captions in French and Spanish to region-based Arabic dialects, Afrikaans, and Asian languages.
Flexible Outputs
You can choose to embed captions in your videos directly from the dashboard. You can export and share your captions with other stakeholders in PDF, TXT, SRT, Word, or Plain text. Such convenience makes both reel publishing and team collaboration easy.
Streamline Your Workflow
Let the Transkriptor handle the technical details of transcriptions. Then, you can focus on brainstorming new reel ideas and upgrading your campaign’s creativity. No need to spend hours typing out captions, correcting inaccurate subtitles, or syncing text boxes with videos.
How to Add Captions to Reels Using Transkriptor
Transkriptor offers everything you need to add accurate reels captions, from text customization to collaboration. Adding captions to Instagram reels on Transkriptor is as easy as it gets.
- Step 1: Log in to Transkriptor, and upload your reel video by dragging and dropping or selecting a file from your device.
- Step 2: Click "Transcribe" to generate automatic captions in about 10 seconds, and view the transcription list on your dashboard.
- Step 3: Edit captions, add speakers, adjust audio settings, and translate captions into your desired language using the tool panel.
- Step 4: Export the customized captions in formats like PDF, TXT, SRT, or Word by clicking "Download."
- Step 5: Upload your edited reel with refined captions to Instagram for a polished and professional look.
Step 1: Upload Your Reel Video
Log in to Transkriptor. On the dashboard, you will find options for uploading files. Click on the “Upload Audio or Video File.” You can drag and drop a file or upload one from your device.
Step 2: Generate Automated Captions
Then Click on the “Transcribe” button. Depending on your file size, it takes approximately 10 seconds to transcribe the video. You will see a list of transcriptions in your dashboard.
Step 3: Edit and Customize Captions
Click on each generated caption to add speakers or edit the text for customizing captions for Instagram reels. In the tool panel on the right side of your dashboard, choose the Language tab. Select your desired language from the pop-up; the tool will translate your captions.
Step 4: Export Captions
Once you have completed the customizations, click on the “Download” button at the bottom right of the screen. You can export the generated subtitles in formats such as PDF, TXT, SRT, Word, or Plain text.
Step 5: Upload to Instagram Reels
Now, you can add edited, refined, and perfectly accurate captions to your reel for a polished and professional result.
Tips for Creating Captions That Stand Out
There are millions of reels optimized with captions. Follow these Instagram reel accessibility tips for making your content stand out:
- Make Them Concise: Keep captions short, clear, and impactful with snappy phrases and engaging emojis to enhance readability.
- Use High-Contrast Colors: You can choose contrasting font colors for better visibility.
- Align Text Strategically: Position captions in a way that avoids obstructing key elements in the reel.
- Match Your Brand Voice: Align captions with the personality of your brand by choosing appropriate fonts and colors that reflect your tone.
- Test Before Posting: Always preview reels and double-check captions to avoid errors to ensure a smooth publishing process.
Make Them Concise
Instead of overwhelming viewers with many texts, ensure the captions are short and clear. Instagram reels are vertical. So, break longer captions into short and snappy phrases, highlighting the most important keywords to enhance readability.
Use High- Contrast Colors
Choose contrasting font colors according to your video’s background. Use dark texts against lighter backgrounds and light texts for darker backgrounds. Bolden captions to ensure visibility against dark backdrops.
Align Text Strategically
Your captions must not hamper the viewing experience by obstructing the important elements in the reel. While shooting the reel, keep a neutral space where you can add captions. The texts should not overlap with hashtags, post captions, or username’s visibility.
Match Your Brand Voice
Accurate captions are not for impactful reels. They must also align with your brand voice. Choose fonts that convey your brand’s personality. Use vibrant colors if your brand image is fun and casual. If it is more fact-driven and assertive, use neutral colors and simple fonts.
Test Before Posting
Keeping a wrongly captioned reel reduces your campaign's impact while taking it down will lose the engagement it drove so far. So, it is best to practice caution to avoid potential errors. Always preview your reels before publishing to ensure accurate caption syncing.
Conclusion
One crucial element in a social media campaign's journey is learning how to add captions to reels. Transkriptor is the best tool for making captioning simple, accurate, and streamlined. From automating transcriptions to multiple customization and exporting options, it offers everything you need to generate perfectly-synced captions. Start your free trial on Transkriptor today and connect to a broader audience.