how to make research video

10 Tips for Making a Great Research Video

Scientists! If you are gearing up to make a short video on your research for the JoVE Film Your Research Contest, then here are some tips from the JoVE Team which can help you plan and produce the video.

JoVE is organizing our first ever   Film Your Research  contest for early career researchers worldwide. We’re inviting scientists to make a two-minute video of their research: showcasing specific experimental methods that they use in their labs or field. The video should also address a big picture application of the specific research in the real world. Four lucky winners will be awarded up to $3,000 in cash awards!

This is an opportunity for scientists to showcase to a global audience “real science” from “real labs and field stations” around the world. Here are some valuable tips for creating an impactful research video.

1. Know your audience

Be sure to avoid acronyms and keep your explanations short.  Your video will be widely shared with a wide variety of audiences, including people outside your field. Many of them may not even be from a scientific field.

2. Get permission from professors and department

It is very important to get your Principal Investigator/advisor’s permission before you start making this video. Clarify with them that your video is not a representation of your detailed findings. Rather, the video should highlight your research question, the research method/process, and its significance or potential impact.

3. Watch other videos: do the homework

We highly recommend watching some of the following videos from JoVE that highlight research methods, but also convey a big picture relevance and applications. 

February 2017: This Month in JoVE   A short compilation of videos from the fields of Biology, Chemistry, Psychology, and Neuroscience.

March 2017: This Month in JoVE   A short compilation of videos from the fields of Developmental Biology, Bioengineering, Psychology, and Medicine.

June 2016: This Month in JoVE   A short compilation of videos from the fields of Chemistry, Engineering, Developmental Biology, and Environment.

4. Storyboard/Write a script

Writing a brief script (laying out your plans) before you start filming will give you much more clarity and help you make a better video. Use your storyboard or script as the step-by-step plan for delivering your message and getting the best shots of your experiment and research.

5. Choose an audio style

This will be key to delivering your message. Choosing an audio style will lead you towards choosing a storytelling style. Here are some options:

a)    Voiceover (first person narration)

b)     Interview style communication facing the camera

c)    Journalistic/reporter style delivery (following the experiment-in-progress and talking “live” into the camera)

You can also choose to use just text and background music to convey your message instead of one of the above approaches.

6. Video making tools

Choose a video filming tool based on your budget, what’s available, and what’s accessible. Your options may include DSLR camera, GoPro, Flip Ultra HD Video camera, or a modern smartphone. Most smartphones nowadays have a pretty good built-in camera, microphone, and are compatible with video-editing apps. However, consider using a tripod if you need to film an experiment (without shaky hands) from a certain distance or height.

7. Ask your library and media relations office for help with tools

Most academic institutions have a media relations office and an academic library support office. These offices may be able to help you with resources e.g. cameras or editing tools.

8. Post production tools

There are also several free tools available for the editing phase of the film. Four of the most common video editing platforms are Windows Movie Maker, iMovie, YouTube Editor, and Adobe Premier. Dr. Karen McKee, popularly known as “ The Scientist Videographer ,” offers great tutorials for some of these platforms.

9. Give credit to your core production team

If you use technical support from your lab members, colleagues, or other resources at your institution, it’s important to credit everyone who has assisted you in creating the video.

10. Ready to get started??? 

Your video should not exceed  two minutes  and your written description should have a maximum of  200 words . Your full application  must be submitted  by  June 15, 2017 . Not following these mandatory requirements can lead to disqualification from the contest. Feel free to contact us at  [email protected]  with any further questions!

Other resources:

How to make your science video popular on YouTube  – by Sage Publishing

Create Video Abstract  – by We Share Science

Shooting Videos for Science  – by the American Geophysical Union

How to Turn Your Research Findings into a Video that People Actually Want to Watch  – by Project Maya

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• Starting the research process

A Beginner's Guide to Starting the Research Process

When you have to write a thesis or dissertation , it can be hard to know where to begin, but there are some clear steps you can follow.

The research process often begins with a very broad idea for a topic you’d like to know more about. You do some preliminary research to identify a  problem . After refining your research questions , you can lay out the foundations of your research design , leading to a proposal that outlines your ideas and plans.

This article takes you through the first steps of the research process, helping you narrow down your ideas and build up a strong foundation for your research project.

Table of contents

Step 1: choose your topic, step 2: identify a problem, step 3: formulate research questions, step 4: create a research design, step 5: write a research proposal, other interesting articles.

First you have to come up with some ideas. Your thesis or dissertation topic can start out very broad. Think about the general area or field you’re interested in—maybe you already have specific research interests based on classes you’ve taken, or maybe you had to consider your topic when applying to graduate school and writing a statement of purpose .

Even if you already have a good sense of your topic, you’ll need to read widely to build background knowledge and begin narrowing down your ideas. Conduct an initial literature review to begin gathering relevant sources. As you read, take notes and try to identify problems, questions, debates, contradictions and gaps. Your aim is to narrow down from a broad area of interest to a specific niche.

Make sure to consider the practicalities: the requirements of your programme, the amount of time you have to complete the research, and how difficult it will be to access sources and data on the topic. Before moving onto the next stage, it’s a good idea to discuss the topic with your thesis supervisor.

>>Read more about narrowing down a research topic

Receive feedback on language, structure, and formatting

Professional editors proofread and edit your paper by focusing on:

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So you’ve settled on a topic and found a niche—but what exactly will your research investigate, and why does it matter? To give your project focus and purpose, you have to define a research problem .

The problem might be a practical issue—for example, a process or practice that isn’t working well, an area of concern in an organization’s performance, or a difficulty faced by a specific group of people in society.

Alternatively, you might choose to investigate a theoretical problem—for example, an underexplored phenomenon or relationship, a contradiction between different models or theories, or an unresolved debate among scholars.

To put the problem in context and set your objectives, you can write a problem statement . This describes who the problem affects, why research is needed, and how your research project will contribute to solving it.

>>Read more about defining a research problem

Next, based on the problem statement, you need to write one or more research questions . These target exactly what you want to find out. They might focus on describing, comparing, evaluating, or explaining the research problem.

A strong research question should be specific enough that you can answer it thoroughly using appropriate qualitative or quantitative research methods. It should also be complex enough to require in-depth investigation, analysis, and argument. Questions that can be answered with “yes/no” or with easily available facts are not complex enough for a thesis or dissertation.

In some types of research, at this stage you might also have to develop a conceptual framework and testable hypotheses .

>>See research question examples

The research design is a practical framework for answering your research questions. It involves making decisions about the type of data you need, the methods you’ll use to collect and analyze it, and the location and timescale of your research.

There are often many possible paths you can take to answering your questions. The decisions you make will partly be based on your priorities. For example, do you want to determine causes and effects, draw generalizable conclusions, or understand the details of a specific context?

You need to decide whether you will use primary or secondary data and qualitative or quantitative methods . You also need to determine the specific tools, procedures, and materials you’ll use to collect and analyze your data, as well as your criteria for selecting participants or sources.

>>Read more about creating a research design

Prevent plagiarism. Run a free check.

Finally, after completing these steps, you are ready to complete a research proposal . The proposal outlines the context, relevance, purpose, and plan of your research.

As well as outlining the background, problem statement, and research questions, the proposal should also include a literature review that shows how your project will fit into existing work on the topic. The research design section describes your approach and explains exactly what you will do.

You might have to get the proposal approved by your supervisor before you get started, and it will guide the process of writing your thesis or dissertation.

>>Read more about writing a research proposal

If you want to know more about the research process , methodology , research bias , or statistics , make sure to check out some of our other articles with explanations and examples.

Methodology

• Sampling methods
• Simple random sampling
• Stratified sampling
• Cluster sampling
• Likert scales
• Reproducibility

 Statistics

• Null hypothesis
• Statistical power
• Probability distribution
• Effect size
• Poisson distribution

Research bias

• Optimism bias
• Cognitive bias
• Implicit bias
• Hawthorne effect
• Anchoring bias
• Explicit bias

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• Writing Strong Research Questions | Criteria & Examples

What Is a Research Design | Types, Guide & Examples

• How to Write a Research Proposal | Examples & Templates

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• 10 Research Question Examples to Guide Your Research Project
• How to Choose a Dissertation Topic | 8 Steps to Follow
• How to Define a Research Problem | Ideas & Examples
• How to Write a Problem Statement | Guide & Examples
• Relevance of Your Dissertation Topic | Criteria & Tips
• Research Objectives | Definition & Examples
• What Is a Fishbone Diagram? | Templates & Examples
• What Is Root Cause Analysis? | Definition & Examples

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• CAREER COLUMN
• 07 January 2022

Broaden your scientific audience with video animation

• Alvina Lai 0

Alvina Lai is an associate professor at University College London. Her research involves genetics, statistics, modelling and informatics.

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Scientists often struggle to explain their research in lay terms — whether to funding agencies and tenure and promotion committees, or to friends and family.

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How to Create an Award-Winning Video to Showcase Your Research Story Using Wave.video

Hi, my name is Dr Arosha Weerakoon. I am a Dentist doing a PhD at the University of Queensland located in Brisbane Australia.

My research is directly related to clinical practice. I am trying to customize the selection of our white fillings to suit individual patients. What most people don’t realise is that we have many different types of fillings materials, and the moment, most Dentists will use the same filling material on all patients.

While doing a PhD is mostly about conducting research , it is also very important to be able to communicate your science. Recognising the importance of Science Communication, Universities Australia, the peak National body that oversees all Australian Universities hosts an annual competition called ‘ Pitch It Clever’ .

The competition challenges early career researchers such as myself to communicate the importance of my science and why it matters to the general population.

Part of the challenge is to create a video for up to 2 minutes that is engaging and interesting. Being the person that I am, I decided I would take on the challenge and won the top prize!

How I approached creating my video

I created my two minute video over the Christmas-New Year break. I was really spurred-on by the fact that I had just received two grant rejection letters on Christmas eve. Yep, Merry Christmas to me. Rather than dwelling on total devastation, I decided to divert my energy towards something creative.

My biggest hurdle was being a total noob with video editing software.

My biggest hurdle was being a total noob with video editing software. At first, I thought I might play around with animation, as I had a subscription to Animatron Studio . But after having a play around with Wave.video, I knew I had found my product! The rest as they say, is history.

So what are three good reasons you should create a video to unpacks your research ?

• It’s a lot of fun – The Wave.video platform provides a very simple and fun way to create your own video .
• It beats any introduction you could use when doing an oral presentation at a scientific meeting.
• It could win you an award !

Storyboarding a short (up to 2 minute) video that clearly unpacks your research work is not much different from the process of creating a marketing video .

The biggest challenge

It would be lovely if all of the research we conducted involved puppies and babies. But what if your work involves cells and molecules that only a few have seen under a microscope?

In my case, I am studying teeth, and they are not so cute! So I personally found it helpful to find similes and metaphors connected to my research when explaining research to non-experts.

Creating your video : 14 easy steps

To begin with, try starting with a question that is relatable to most, and find video content that creates an element of surprise.

Step 1. Begin with a big picture question (or two) and insert an element of surprise.

Follow your big picture question with a knowledge test. “Did you know…?”

“Did you know that most white fillings are replaced every five years?”

Step 2. Numbers are important, but keep them relatable.

Statistics and numbers are great. Research is full of them!

But how can you make your numbers relatable? The answer is simple – visuals !

To make your numbers relatable, turn them into visuals.

Visuals, either in the form of an image or video are a great way to help people understand statistics.

So how did I communicate the impact of having a filling replaced every 5 years?

I found a great stock video of an elderly man with a young child who could be his grandchild. So assuming this child was around 10 years old, she would need this filling replaced 14 times before she reaches her grandfather’s age.

Pro tip : If you are trying to convey shear amounts of fluid, it helps to relate the volume to everyday relatable situations such as how this amount may translate to a number of football fields or swimming pools.

If you’re trying to use a percentage – for instance 50%, you might say ‘every second person you meet on the street…’ along with an appropriate visual.

Create award-winning videos with Wave.video

Step 3. Now tell the viewer what they are about to hear.

You can either provide the viewer with an overview. I prefer to ask more questions because they act as prompts. Prompts can prepare the viewer for what’s to come.

So, ask the question: Why is this happening? What are we doing to solve this issue?

Step 4.  Start with the problem

This is where most researcher’s come unstuck. How can you explain your research in a way that everyone can understand?

Use loads of similes and metaphors. Try and find day-to-day objects or activities that could be used to explain a process.

So what do oranges and cakes have to do with my work?

In my case, the technical description would be, “White adhesive restorative materials are debonding from dentine”.

I can easily translate my research problem to something people are familiar with.

However, not many people would understand what this means. I can easily translate my research problem to something people are familiar with, where filling materials are peeling or pulling away from our teeth – like peeling an orange.

But why are the filling’s peeling away from our teeth?

Because of the failure of the bond between the tooth structure and the filling material which is a bit like – you got it – icing that holds the cake together.

Everyone eats cake right? Now that I have identified the problem, I should provide the potential solution. But first – discuss a commonly held belief.

Step 5. Explain the controversy, current ideology or dominant paradigm behind your research .

But wait, there’s usually some sort of conflict or controversy. Every research story has some sort of controversy. It’s good to discuss this controversy and then explain how your work creates a point of difference.

In my case, most experts advocate the use of one filling material over another, like it’s some sort of competition. I wanted to use a fun way of explaining this and found some great footage of children in a tug-of-war.

Step 6. Ask yourself: how does your idea differ from the status quo?

Now it’s your turn to state what you believe. What is your overarching idea? Once again, find a way of explaining your position in a relatable way.

Find a way of explaining your position in a relatable way.

In Dentistry, there are a lot of white filling products in the market, just like other products we might use in our daily life such as toothpaste, shampoo, conditioner and so on. Would you say using the same filling material for everybody is a bit like using the same shampoo products? But we all have different types of hair, right?

This is where you could appeal to a person’s logical reasoning , and to explain this, I found a wonderful video of a group of friends with completely different hair types and styles taking a selfie.

Even better, I timed my statement, “Like we should all use the same shampoo” at the same time when the fourth girl from the left wags her finger in disagreement.

Step 7. Decide what your personal stance is

So what is your personal stance? What do you believe or what does your research show?

Logically following the hair analogy – we can’t use the same shampoo because our hair is different. Similarly, we can’t apply the same filling materials to everyone because … our teeth are different. I believe that there is a mismatch between the filling material and the tooth structure we apply it to.

To explain this I needed to find an image or video showing this exact issue. How many times have we used a screw driver or a wrench that doesn’t fit?!

Step 8. Introduce the detail

Explain all jargon with analogies – use lots of analogies, but start with big picture .

I start my explanation from the outside and move to the inside of the tooth until I reach microscopic level.

In my video , I explain liken the general differences in tooth structure to the structure of an egg. This helps people understand the location of the tooth structure I am focusing on, namely, Dentine.

I use a great time lapse video of ripening tomatoes to explain the changes to dentine as we age.

I then move on to explain that the collagen in dentine looks like under a microscope – a carpet! Guess what sort of footage I used to explain young dentine versus old dentine?

Young dentine is like new fluffy carpet…

while mature dentine is like an old matted rug.

Step 9. Present your argument.

Now that you have stated the facts behind your findings – you can present your argument.

In my case – Dentine changes with age and depth – and in keeping with the flooring theme, I chose a lovely image of different types of wooden flooring the make the point.

To add to this, our filling materials are different as well. Some will partially or completely remove the mineral to bond to the collagen, while others will bond to the collagen in teeth.

This reminded me of a vacuum cleaner or a carpet shampooer that is used to clean the dust and debris, or in my instance, the mineral from the collagen in teeth.

Step 10. Tie everything up with your title – and theme

What is the crux of your argument? I played around with the words and images until I was happy to convey my theme in a fun way.

“It’s all about bonding with fillings” – note there are still no images of fillings or teeth, keep your videos and images relatable.

Step 11. Briefly describe your overarching research goal

How will society benefit from your research ?

Mine is to help your dentist select the correct white filling material for you.

Step 12. Work-out what’s in it for the individual viewer?

While it’s great that your research will help benefit society at large, what’s in it for the individual?

Well, longer lasting fillings means a lot less time at the dentist…

And a lot more time doing the things you love with the people you care for…and there’s nothing more scary to some than the approach of the dental drill.

Step 13. Time to introduce yourself.

Now that people are familiar with your work, it’s time they meet the person behind the video .

While searching through stock videos, I came across wonderful footage of a woman climbing a mountain. The footage combined with a brief intro worked really well as a platform to introduce myself.

Of course, you might insert a short video of yourself into this space.

Step 14. Add a call to action

I cannot stress the importance of a call to action . In my case, I wanted to direct people to my different social media accounts so that they could continue following my research journey.

More helpful tips on adding sound

Wave.video provides you with the ability to embed sound and music into your video . In my case, I needed to add my voice.

While you can directly add your voice to the video , I recommend recording your script using a voice recorder. In my case, I used a H4N recorder and edited using Garageband.  This allowed me to remove all of my heavy breathing sounds and clicks to create a seamless professional sound.

Once I completed the editing, I uploaded the sound file in a .m4a format. It is much easier to edit your sound file before uploading it to Wave.video.

Other reasons why you should use Wave.video to create your videos:

• It’s very easy to format the videos to suit different social media platforms.
• The watermark feature allows you to embed your institution logo throughout the video .
• Because the editing process was so seamless, you will actually enjoy the journey.
• You can add your own images, videos or sound files or choose from thousands of stock and fee for use high quality music, videos and images are easily and intuitively searchable.
• You can work on it anywhere in the world, as long as you have a computer and internet access.
• Did I mention that it’s a lot of fun!

Most importantly, your finished product will look extremely professional.

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• © 2023

The Craft of Scientific Films

How to Make Videos of Your Laboratory, Research, or Technical Projects

• Lauren Murphy 0 ,
• Michael Alley 1

Brooklyn, USA

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College of Engineering, Hammond Building, Penn State University, University Park, USA

Teaches scientists and engineers how to communicate their research through movies

Remains engaging and conversational while guiding the reader through the planning, shooting, and editing stages

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Table of contents (11 chapters)

Front matter, introduction.

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Creating Your Story

Structuring your story, gathering your equipment, shooting the main content, shooting and collecting the b-roll, editing techniques, editing video, editing audio, editing the final draft, back matter.

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Lauren Murphy

Michael Alley

Michael Alley, an associate professor of Engineering Communication at Pennsylvania State University, holds Master of Science in electrical engineering and Masters in Fine Arts in writing degrees. He is the author of three popular textbooks: The Craft of Scientific Presentations (2013), The Craft of Editing (2000), and The Craft of Scientific Writing (2018). He has taught scientific writing and presentations to engineers and scientists on four continents, in sixteen countries, and for more than 150 companies, universities, organizations, and agencies.

Book Title : The Craft of Scientific Films

Book Subtitle : How to Make Videos of Your Laboratory, Research, or Technical Projects

Authors : Lauren Murphy, Michael Alley

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-25645-5

Publisher : Springer Cham

eBook Packages : Physics and Astronomy , Physics and Astronomy (R0)

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eBook ISBN : 978-3-031-25645-5 Published: 31 August 2023

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Number of Pages : XIV, 211

Number of Illustrations : 10 b/w illustrations, 96 illustrations in colour

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How to Turn Your Research into an Engaging Explainer Video

So, you’ve spent years collating and analysing compelling research, so how do you make sure it’s seen and heard through video, of course.

Here are our 5 top tips for turning your research into a successful explainer video:

1. create a synopsis.

When creating your video, keep it short and sweet. The longer a video is, the higher the drop off rate is. Let’s face it, you have to be really interested in a topic to watch a 20 minute video about it.

Pick out main points to keep your audience engaged.

This could be:

• The reason for the research
• How it was conducted
• Discoveries & benefits

The synopsis of your research can be perfectly built into your animated explainer video script. The script is the main body of any video and is what the voiceover artist speaks throughout. We’ll talk more about script writing a little later on. 

2. Use Metaphors

If the topic is complex, it may help to conceptualise your research. Use a metaphor like an animal or cartoon character to help explain a subject people aren’t familiar with. This could be a mathematical rule, representation of a gas or even to portray an emotion.

Personification has been used in education for years. The act of giving an animal or object a human personality not only helps viewers to understand a concept, but evokes empathy in the viewer, which could in-turn increase the retention rate of the video due to a high emotional engagement.

This opens the door for a wider audience to understan d why and how your research topic is important. 

3. Use a Friendly Tone

When we’re taught to read and write, it was always in a formal tone, but in the real world, society prefers to address one-another in a more formal and friendly manner. If you’re in the education sector, you may have fallen into the trap of maintaining a high formality when producing and writing content, however, it’s been found that videos in a more conversational and friendly tone have a higher engagement rate.

It also helps to use a personal and conversational style when explaining a complex subject. When creating your video think about your target audience. Would you address them formally or would you completely skip the jargon? Make sure the video script is written to appeal to the viewer. 

4. Have a strategy to get video views

So, you’ve created your video, but how are you going to make sure its seen? Whether you promote your video via email, YouTube, Social Media, on blogs, at conferences or during presentations you need a strategy to ensure the video is seen, or its not worthwhile. 

• If its for a conference can the video still be understood without sound?
• If it’s for social media, does it capture attention in the first 5 minutes?
• If its going on YouTube does it have the correct keyword focused title and description so people can find it?

It’s a good idea to decide where the video is going to be placed before you create it, so you can ensure its built for purpose. 

5. Write a compelling video script

When you approach any animated explainer video company, no doubt they will have one or more professional copywriters who are highly experienced in creating video scripts. Ideally, if you’re a business, you’ll want to make sure you make the most of the copy writer, so your video stands out, conveys all key points well and convinces the viewer to take an action, all in a condensed word count.

However, if you’re creating a video to present your research findings, it’s probably a good idea to produce the script yourself. Many research findings videos include an in-depth, specialised topic, which the copywriter won’t understand as well as you.

For specialised subjects, we recommend a first, rough draft is sent to us for our copywriter to proofread. They can ensure the script is built for video, is understandable and can provide a great structure to keep readers engaged. 

Research Findings Video Example:

Created by the team at Squideo!

If you'd like to speak to a member of the Squideo team about turning your research findings into an animated explainer video, get in touch today!

Not sure where to start?

Let us take care of it! 

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Make a Video Abstract for your Research

← go back to the impact challenge table of contents.

Professional Video Camera , CC BY 4.0

Video abstracts are a great way to explain your work to the public and researchers outside of your field. To  paraphrase , they’re like value propositions on steroids.     These 3-5 minute videos allow you to sum up what you’ve accomplished and documented in a journal article and, crucially, why it’s important to the world . You can use video abstracts to illustrate concepts explained in your article, to “introduce viewers to the equipment and tools you have used in your research and engage with your audience in a more informal manner,” explains IOP Press .     An increasing number of publishers are adopting video abstracts as a great way to market research articles, and in less than an hour you can create one of your own.     In this week's challenge we’ll walk you through the basics of creating a video abstract for a journal article: how to write a script, record the video using common equipment, and share your video to get maximum visibility for your research.

Step 1. Learn what makes a good video abstract

Here are some award-winning and highly ranked video abstracts:      

• GBV 5-Minute Science Fair [Public Health & the Pandemic of Violence Against Women] : a straightforward video of a researcher describing her study of domestic violence among Latino immigrant communities in Washington DC. It has good production value – well lit, easy to hear, plus some custom titles and credits added to the beginning and ending – but is simple enough in concept that anyone could pull it off.
• Dangling-bond charge qubit on a silicon surface : in just under five minutes, this video abstract sets a stage for what qubits are and why this particular study advances our knowledge of qubits. The researchers reuse computer-generated graphics and figures from their paper to illustrate the concepts they explain in the video, to great effect.
• The Bacterial Effector VopL Organizes Actin into Filament-like Structures : this video features three researchers describing their paper with the aid of paper and pen, protein models, and some sweet action shots in the lab. It’s a highly technical explanation that can be a bit dry at points, but it still manages to explain the study in a manner that non-specialists can understand. It’s successful, because the authors explain things well and go out of their way to illustrate concepts for the viewer.

Viewers need to know how your research is relevant to their lives, their universe, or the advancement of knowledge in your field. But you can’t just say anything in your video abstract. Aim to keep your video simple and short, refrain from using jargon, and – if possible – tell a story that will hook your viewers within the first 30 seconds and keep them watching until the end.     With these principles in mind, let’s get started!

Step 2. Gather your equipment

The basic equipment you’ll need is readily available.      

• A computer, webcam, and microphone:  Most newer model laptops come with webcams and microphones built-in. If you don’t have one, you can borrow one from the Circulation Desk at Bizzell . You can also use a desktop computer with a standalone webcam and microphone, if need be. And if you plan to do a simple video abstract (like the GBV point-and-shoot video featured above), a smartphone that can record video will do in a pinch.
• Video recording software:  If you’ve got a late model MacBook, the pre-installed QuickTime Player software can be used to  create a simple screencast , and if you’ve upgraded to Mojave you can use Shift-Command-5 . Then iMovie can be used to edit any videos you create. Otherwise, check out  this list of best screencasting tools for both Windows and Mac options.
• A passionate explanation of your research:  Video abstracts are only as good as the stories they tell. No amount of production value can make up for a dispassionate explanation or lack of relatability to the viewer’s own life. In the next step, we’ll share some research-backed tips on how to communicate your results, but at the very least, you’ll need the kernels of the story from which we’ll make this video abstract bloom.

Once you’ve got all that together, it’s time to choose a format and write your script.

Step 3. Choose your format

Do you want to do a point-and-shoot video that’s simply 2 minutes of you describing your paper and why it rocks?     Would you prefer to structure your video abstract like a lightning-talk screencast, with you explaining slides and videos that illustrate your points from off-camera?     The format of the video you’ll create will likely be dependent upon what equipment and technical expertise you have on hand. And your script will be dependent upon your video’s format.     So, catalogue what you’ve got available and decide upon a format. Because we’re getting to the good stuff next: your video’s script.

Step 4. Write the script

You’ll use your script to narrate the story of your video. It doesn’t have to be written out, word-for-word; if you’re comfortable ad libbing, a simple outline will do. More than anything it is important that you practice two or three times before you start filming. You’ll be amazed at the difference a few low pressure practice sessions make.

Create an outline

Your outline should follow a basic structure.

• A problem statement
• A quick explanation of how your research solves that problem
• An in-depth explanation of your study and results
• Reiterate what the problem is, how you solved it, and why the world’s a better place now
• Invite the viewer to become a reader

Once you’ve got a solid outline, you’ll need to decide if writing a full script will be useful for the video. If you’ve decided to do a  point-and-shoot video , an outline of your talk is probably your best bet. It will keep you on your main talking points, while avoiding sounding stiff or over-rehearsed.     Doing a  lightning-talk screencast  instead? Use your outline to create a slide deck, and then write out what you’re going to say, word for word, so you can read it while doing the screencast.     If you decide to write a full script, keep in mind that 120-150 words roughly translate into a minute of video. You’ll want to keep your video to 3-5 minutes, so plan to write a script that’s 750 words or less.     Need some inspiration? A great  example script can be found on TheScientistVideographer.com .

Step 5. Record your video abstract!

Image ©  Dave Dugdale Licensed CC BY-SA 2.0

If you’re recording your video abstract for sharing on a publisher’s website, you’ll need to record your video according to their guidelines. Be sure to double check their limits on the video’s length, quality, and how and where it’s shared.     Pay close attention to the quality of sound and lights. Videos that are difficult to watch won’t get many viewers. The  University Affairs blog  recommends using “a lapel microphone, ideally, or else a very quiet room. Ensure that lights are facing the speaker and avoid backlighting, which happens when you situate the interview subject against a window.”     And if you’re creating a lightning-talk screencast video, consider paying a professional voiceover artist to narrate it. They often have the experience and audio equipment that will make your video sound professionally produced, and you can hire one easily on Fiverr .     If you’d rather do the voiceover yourself, keep  Videobrewery’s advice  in mind:      

Once your video has been recorded, you can choose to edit it with your video editing software. This is a good opportunity to remove your tangents and flubbed lines, but it might require you to learn a new skill. Sometimes it’s just easier to record a second take instead.     One final option that’ll make your video stand out: add intro and outro music that’s licensed for reuse, which you can find on dig.CCmixter , the Internet Archive (make sure the usage rights include a Creative Commons license), or simply run a search from Creative Commons  on both ccMixter and Soundcloud . If you’re unable to find music among all the openly licensed options, you can also purchase music cheaply from AudioJungle .

Step 6. Set up captions/subtitles

Captions or subtitles are a necessary addition to your video abstract. They will make your abstract accessible both to the deaf and hearing impaired community, as well as to individuals who have an easier time reading than listening to the language you choose for your video. If you have the technical acumen to add these yourself, you probably already understand how to do it. If you do not trust your abilities, do not fear. As always, we have a solution for you.     If you will be uploading your video to YouTube (highly recommended), you can automatically add closed captions to your video. YouTube has restrictions based on the time length of the video, but if you are within the video length we recommended above, you should be fine. For an in depth guide on the ins and outs of adding captions, automatically or by hand, take a look at this video by Alan Spicer.     If you are choosing to forego the YouTube option, or just do not have time to deal with adding the closed captions yourself, there are several businesses ready to help. For example, Rev.com will accurately add closed captions to your video files for one dollar per minute, and they will often deliver the final product to you within twenty four hours. Rev is a great way to add subtitles to your video quickly and easily.     Now let’s get your video to the public!

Step 7. Upload the video

Where to share it

Two popular platforms for video sharing are YouTube and Vimeo. Both can be used to track views and likes for your video, and they both allow you to copy and paste simple codes to embed your video in other websites. Neither offers long-term preservation, so we recommend that you back-up your video abstract by uploading it to SHAREOK where you can link out to the content on YouTube or Vimeo. For more information about uploading your work to SHAREOK, see last week’s OU Impact Challenge activity, Upload Your Work to SHAREOK .

• YouTube: YouTube is free and easy to use, but it has its drawbacks: they reserve the right to place ads on and alongside your videos.
• Vimeo: Vimeo is also fairly easy to use and offers a well-designed, ad-free viewing interface. Its main drawback is that you have to  pay for video uploads greater than 500 MB in size . You can disable comments and allow viewers to download your video, if you wish.What to include

What to include      When you upload your video, be sure to include a descriptive title (one that matches your article is ideal), a 2-3 sentence description of your video abstract’s content, and a full citation to your paper (including a link to the freely-accessible copy that you uploaded to SHAREOK , if it’s been published in a toll-access journal).

Step 8. Promote your awesome new video abstract

Now that your video is online, let’s get it some viewers!     Some good places to share your video on the Web include:      

• On the article homepage:  if the journal allows it, ask them to embed your video next to the written abstract for your paper. That way, potential readers get a more engaging glimpse of what your paper is about – beyond what appears in the written abstract.
• Your website:  embed your video on your website’s homepage, or on the Publications or Research pages.
• Your LinkedIn: Add a link to your abstract on your LinkedIn page to show anyone who comes across your profile what kind of work you are doing.
• Your blog:  share the video along with a link to your publication and a transcript of your video, adapted into a blog post.
• Twitter  and  Facebook :  these social media platforms were practically made for sharing video with the public. Share a link with your next update and both platforms will automatically embed it for your followers and friends. It may even be worth it to make a tweet with your video abstract your “pinned” tweet. That way, everyone who comes to look at your account will see it front and center.
• We Share Science:  If you’re in a STEM discipline, this video aggregator allows you to share your science video abstract with other scientists and students. You can also follow other authors and video creators on the site to stay on top of the best video abstracts – useful for discovering what works well so you can borrow it to use in your own videos!

Limitations

The biggest limitation for this week’s activity has to be the time required. You’ll have to put in a lot of work to create a short  five minute video. However, it will be worth it . A video abstract highlights your research like nothing else. If you are still uncertain about using editing software, try searching for tutorials for your specific software on Youtube, or ask for help at the Consultations @ OU Libraries in Bizzell.

Choose an article you’ve written and make a plan to create a video abstract for it. Budget out time to start building it, and pick out an editing software you are familiar with or seems intuitive if it is all new to you. Once you have your groundwork laid, you can get started with writing your script and shooting it. And once you’ve created it, share it on at least one of the platforms or websites we mention above.

Content for the OU Impact Challenge has been derived from “ The 30-Day Impact Challenge ” by  Stacy Konkiel  ©  ImpactStory  and used here under a CC BY 4.0 International License.     The OU Impact Challenge is licensed  CC BY 4.0 , unless otherwise noted.

• Aug 3, 2020

How to Make Cool Animated Science Videos in PowerPoint

By now, you’ve probably heard of video abstracts. Like a movie trailer for your research, video abstracts are short videos that quickly summarise your findings and draw more attention to your important work.

A professional science animation is a powerful method of telling the story of your research in a clear and compelling way. But, we may not always have the funds available to outsource this kind of work to the experts.

And that’s ok because there are many ways to do-it-yourself. You need not invest time learning professional animation software, such as Adobe After Effects: using trusty PowerPoint, you can make clear and engaging animated videos with zero budget. 

Whether it’s a video abstract, an explainer video for your lab’s work or an entry into the Visualise Your Thesis competition, we’ve got you covered with two distinct and stylish methods.

If you’d like to flex your drawing muscles, have a go at a whiteboard style animation. If drawing really isn’t your thing, the cut-out style is a great way to make use of pertinent images that you may already have on file. 

Let’s get animating!

How to make a whiteboard animation in PowerPoint

Whiteboard animations are an excellent way to get started with animation, especially if you don’t consider yourself to be ‘arty’. Your illustrating skills don’t need to be amazing at all: a rough look is totally cool. After all, no one would ever do anything more than a rough sketch when explaining a concept using a real whiteboard. So your whiteboard animation will appear more authentic if it has that hand-drawn, rushed look.

Step 1 - Enter ‘Draw’ mode

Enter the ‘Draw’ tab, then toggle the ‘Draw’ button on the far left (you’ll need to hit this button again when you want to exit draw mode).

Step 2 - Draw your outlines

Select the Pen tool and choose your line thickness and colour. To best ‘sell’ the whiteboard effect, we recommend a simple drawing with a thick line.

Draw your outlines. This is the hardest part of the whole process, so take your time. A handy shortcut to undo your latest mistake is control + z (command + z, on a Mac). It’s totally normal to do this 1000 times, so don’t worry. Slow drawing will give you a thick line, while a fast stroke will produce a thinner line, so for consistent thickness, keep your speed steady.

If you need to erase anything, make use of the different options in the eraser tool, next to the ‘draw’ tool. You can set it to erase the whole line or just a section.

Try to draw the lines in the order in which you would like them to be animated. By default, PowerPoint will ‘draw’ them in this order, but you can change the order later if necessary.

Next, make any size adjustments you would like. To adjust the size of multiple lines, you’ll first need to group them. To do this, highlight your lines, right-click >‘group’. Make your adjustments and then do the same thing in reverse to ungroup them.

Step 3 - Animate your outlines

Highlight all of your lines, then select the ‘Replay’ animation in the ‘Animations’ tab. This will add an animation that ‘draws’ each of the lines you drew. 

Within the‘animation pane’(the animation window on the right), highlight all of the animations and change their timing to start‘on click’. We’ll change this later, but for now, this numbers each of the animations, making it easier to check/change their order.

Press ‘play selected’ in the animation pane, to preview your outlines. Change the order of any lines which look out of place.

Step 4 - Fill-in your drawing

Grab the pen tool again and increase the thickness to the maximum setting. With your preferred colour selected, slowly colour-in your drawing. You can draw on top of the outlines, but try to stay within the outside of the outlines. 

Select your fills and send them behind the outlines(right-click > send to back).

Repeat Step 3 with your colour fills to apply the drawing effect. When you’re done, highlight all of the animations in the animation pane and change their start to‘after previous’: this will make everything animate without you having to click anything.

And voila! You’ve made a whiteboard animation in PowerPoint 😎

You can ‘draw’ each element in your slide as separate drawings (e.g. draw & colour the blue coffee mug, then draw and colour the lightning bolt). You’ll just need to change the order of the animations in the animation pane.

To help ‘sell’ the whiteboard style look, you can use the ‘push’ transition (in the ‘transitions’ tab) to transition between scenes. It will make it look like a camera moving across a whiteboard.

Drawing tablets

As I said, I think a rough drawing is totally fine for the whiteboard style animation. But, let’s face it, a mouse or the trackpad on your laptop are not the best tools with which to draw your next masterpiece.

For a far more natural drawing experience, it’s best to use some kind of tablet, such as a graphic tablet or an iPad, for example. 

For a budget option, you can buy a Wacom graphic tablet for as little as $80 USD. It takes a moment to get used to the idea of drawing on the tablet while looking elsewhere at your screen, but it certainly gets the job done.

If you already own a tablet and a stylus, such as an iPad + Apple Pencil, then you already have everything you need. You can either open the PowerPoint App on the iPad and draw within it, or you can utilise the Sidecar feature and use the iPad as an extended display from your Mac computer - super easy.

How to make a cutout animation in PowerPoint

Our inspiration for this tutorial comes from Livia Garcez de Oliveira Padilha, who put together a brilliant video abstract for her research as part of the Visualise Your Thesis competition.

Livia’s use of colour is excellent and her choice of images combine wonderfully to tell the story of her research. So well, in fact, that Livia picked-up the People’s Choice award for her efforts 🏆

Cutting-out an image

Let’s get started. My research background was focussed on the respiratory health of professional firefighters in South Australia. So for my cut-out animation demo, that’ll be the theme.

To start off, you need to find an image you want to use in your cut-out animation. This is the hardest part of the whole process. What you need is an image with a transparent background. This means it needs to be a .png file. You can find images like this by including ‘.png’ or ‘transparent’ in your Google Images search terms.

What’s that? Your perfect image does not have a transparent background? No problem, mine doesn’t either, here’s how you can isolate your image without even leaving the comfort of your own PowerPoint software. 

My image has a white background. This is helpful because PowerPoint can more easily identify the background from the image I want to keep. With your image selected, click on the ‘Picture Format’ tab, then the ‘Remove Background’ tool.

Powerpoint will try to detect the background itself, highlighting it pink. Sometimes it does this well, but sometimes you need to manually adjust it using the ‘Mark Areas to Keep’ and ‘Mark Areas to Remove’ tools.

For my image, PowerPoint decided that my firefighter does not need feet, so I used the ‘Mark Areas to Keep’ to prevent a painful amputation.

*Note: PowerPoint often does a very poor job of removing your image’s background, especially if the background is not a solid colour. Stay tuned for a better tool in the upcoming steps.

Now it’s time to draw the ‘paper’. Select the Scribble option, inside the Shapes Tool, within the ‘Insert’ tab. Then, draw around the outside of your image. Do this slowly and make sure it’s not too neat: a rough, shaky look is perfect for our cutout effect.

When you’re done, you’ll have a blue shape like below. For my cutout effect, I want the ‘paper’ to be white, so I need to change the shape fill from blue to white, and change the‘outline’ setting to ‘No Outline’.

Now, send your paper behind your image by right-clicking it and selecting‘Send to Back’ or‘Send Backwards’.

Select both objects and group them together. This just keeps your document tidy and makes it easier to work with.

To finish the cutout process, select the grouped images and apply a shadow effect. In the ‘Picture format’ tab, select ‘Picture Effect’, ‘Shadow’ and choose the ‘Offset: Centre’ option.

Now, repeat the process for your other images.

Now here is the tip I promised. Because PowerPoint did a poor job of cutting out the sky from my image of the fire station (particularly around the tree), I needed a better tool for the job. Enter ‘removebg’. It’s a free online tool that works wonders.

Simply upload your image, and the software will detect the background and remove it. You can add or remove sections to get it just right, before downloading the background-free image.

With all of your images cut-out, it’s time to think about style and colour. 

We’re going to follow Livia’s example and go for a nice colourful style. But before we do that, I want to introduce you to the ‘Artistic Effects’ tool - inside the ‘Picture Format’ tab. The results are not always amazing, but it’s definitely worth having a look. You can further tweak the effects by opening the ‘Format Pane’ on the right, inside the ‘Picture Format’ tab.

For example, here are my images using the ‘cut-out’ effect. The success of these various ‘Artistic Effects’ usually depends on the images you’re using. So they can be hit-or-miss. 

Let’s get back on track. With your image selected, click the ‘Colour’ tool inside the ‘Picture Format’ tab. For once, the default colour options are actually pretty decent(good job, Microsoft!). But you can go freestyle by selecting‘More variations’ >‘More colours’. You can also tweak the colour and brightness settings in the ‘Picture Colour Options…’ menu.

In the end, I decided I liked the look of having all of my images in blue and using a yellow accent colour. 

Animate Your Video

The simplest way to complete your video using animation is to make use of the ‘Appear’ effect inside the ‘Animations’ tab. I recommend modifying the timings so that each element appears ‘After Previous’ after a slight delay, such as 0.5-seconds. This gives it that stop-motion animation look.

Add your voiceover & music

You can add a voiceover recording to your animation in two ways.

Firstly, if you have recorded a voiceover in another program, you can import it into your ‘presentation’.

Add your voiceover file by dragging it into your first slide. Select the sound icon that will appear in your slide, and under the 'playback' tab, tick the 'play across slides' and 'hide during show' boxes. Set it to start 'automatically' and adjust the sound level. 

Using this technique, you can also add some background music to your animation. I recommend adjusting the music track’s volume so that it is low enough that the voiceover is very clear above the music.

The second way to add a voiceover is to record it inside PowerPoint. 

To do this, click 'record slide show' under the 'slide show' tab. Each time that you do this, PowerPoint will add an audio recording to your slides (visible in the animations pane). The recordings will be broken into pieces with each part placed on the relevant slide. So, this means if you don't like your take on a particular slide, you can go back and redo it. If you want to re-record over one scene only, make sure you hit 'escape' when you've finished that slide. If you proceed to the next slide, it will override your next slide's recording.

Export the finished video

When you’ve finished your animation and you’re ready to export it as a video file, go to ‘File’ > ‘Export’ and change the file format to ‘mp4’. This is a lightweight video format, perfect for online use. You can even export it as an animated GIF: perfect for short, audio-less animations on social media.

And there you have it: two super easy, yet highly effective, ways to make an animated science video in PowerPoint.

Did you find this blog helpful? Reach out to us on Twitter @Animate_Science to show us what you come up with, ask questions, or just to geek about science animations in general.

Related Posts

The 8 Science Video Types Every Researcher Should Master

How to create a science animation: Behind the scenes at Animate Your Science

How do science animations enhance eLearning?

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How to do Research for YouTube Videos

To succeed in any new business, you need to do either of these two things — build something that people want but no one has made it before. Or if it already exists then make the better version of it.

Now, this also holds true for YouTube. If you are just starting a new channel, either make videos that no one is making (and that people want to see it) or make your videos better than the existing players.

Now let’s be honest, if you are just starting a YouTube channel, you can not compete with the settled players. You don’t have the resources or the experience to do that.

So the next best thing you can do, to get notice in the crowded world of internet is —

Make something with high demand and low supply.

Now obviously, it is much easier said than done. Ninty percent of this high demand low supply stuff is spam or unreliable. Like how to lose 20 pounds in a week, only secret that will make you a millionaire etc etc.

However, if you are constantly looking for that high demand topic and making videos on it, you will eventually get notice. One of that video will go viral and bring good traffic. Now if all the other videos are equally good. Your channel will grow, very fast.

Note: When I say, you should cover hot topics, I don’t mean you should cover anything that’s popular. But only go for the topics that you find interesting and are also popular. Something that comes under your area of expertise.

So how do you find high demand and low supply topic?

Well, you can’t predict the success of any YouTube video. There is no single recipe to make a viral video (or else everyone would be doing that)

However, there are few metrics that can help us identify high demand and low supply topic on YouTube. Or at least, it will give you a better idea about your target audience.

I do this for most of my videos. It helps me to find how much is the demand, what is age and demographic of my target audience, and what they want in a video.

So here is how to do it ( video tutorial at the end of the video)

Step 1: Make a list of topics on which you would like to make videos. And then run one by one in YouTube search.

For instance – say one of the topic is how to meditate . So search this keyword on YouTube. You will see several results. We have to analyse them.

Step 2: Now if you see too many top rank videos that are old videos with high views count . This means it’s the right topic. You see old video means low supply and h igh views count means high demand. Basic economics.

But, we need to analyse them further. So go through each video one by one. Start by clicking the first video and look for following details.

>If the uploader has low subscriber base — it means good search traffic

> If the number of unlikes is more than 10 percent of likes — it means viewers are not satisfied with the content or presentation. This is a window of opportunity for you. Diagnose the problem and make sure it doesn’t happen in your video.

> Scroll down to the bottom of the video and click on the more option. There you will see video stats click on that and change the filter to daily — if the number is high, people are still looking for this topic.

See the steps in action in this video tutorial

Mrinal Saha

Mrinal is a tech geek who spends half of his day reading and writing about tech. While the nights are spent on shooting or editing YouTube videos. Feel free to geek out with him on-

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The 10 Best Video Search Engines

There are plenty of video search engine options out there to help you find the perfect video – but which one is best for you?

For digital marketers wanting to include video in their content, or get inspiration, video search engines give you a simple way to sort through the millions of videos available online.

Video content is one of the most popular forms of digital media today, and many brands are already experimenting with either YouTube , Instagram , or TikTok .

Anyone not using video should consider integrating video into their strategy moving forward.

According to HubSpot research , short-form video is the No. 1 format – offering the highest return on investment (ROI) – and will see the most growth in 2024.

Bloggers have also increased the use of videos within their content, having doubled their usage in the last 10 years to help improve engagement.

To help you find the perfect video for your content – or inspiration and ideas to create your own videos – we looked at some of the best video search engines you can use.

10 Video Search Engines You Should Use To Find Video Content

• Headquarters: Mountain View, California, United States.
• Launched: 1998.
• Founders: Larry Page & Sergey Brin.

The most popular search engine out there, Google possesses 91% of the search traffic worldwide, putting it significantly ahead of any competitor.

Google processes over 40,000 search queries every second on average, adding up to around 3.5 billion searches per day, which is why it has such a dominance in SEO.

As the Google Search index is well over 100 million  gigabytes and billions of pages, Google has a huge span of sources from across the internet, including YouTube, Facebook, Vimeo, and more.

That breadth of index makes it unrivaled for video searches and compiling research on video topics. Google is an easy first choice to search for videos with options to match content to keywords.

First, type in your keyword and search; on the results page for certain queries, you can see a video carousel.

Being able to gain a position in this carousel can deliver considerable visibility for a brand. Specifically targeting keywords that have video carousels is mostly why so many brands have started embedding video in their content pages.

• Headquarters: San Bruno, California, United States.
• Launched: 2005.
• Founders: Steve Chen, Chad Hurley & Jawed Karim.

YouTube is the second most-visited site in the world, ranking right behind Google in terms of popularity, which makes Alphabet Inc. dominant in search as the parent company of both brands.

A significant 81% of U.S. adults use the video-sharing platform, making the site a powerful draw for marketers and brands.

More than 500 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute, and YouTube viewers watch over 1 billion hours of video each day.

Over the years, YouTube has redesigned how its search function works to promote different types of videos. Most recently, YouTube has added a push for short-form content to compete with other social media platforms such as TikTok and Instagram’s Reels.

Shorts are only highlighted as a carousel on some keywords, and as you can see below, “cute cats” is an example. As a note, “content marketing” did not have a Shorts carousel.

You can clearly see how many plays are linked to all videos shown, giving you a glimpse into all-time performance – with the longer-form videos also highlighting how long they’ve been active.

This can be great if you’re looking to find ideas for a new content series or to see how longer videos can be turned into bite-size social cutdowns for Shorts.

Because YouTube is its own platform, you’re likely to find unique videos compared to other video-sharing sites, which you can use as a springboard for your own content.

However, many channels are present across multiple platforms and will upload the same video across multiple sites, so it’s worth being wary of duplicate content.

• Headquarters: Redmond, Washington, United States (Microsoft).
• Launched: 2009.
• Founders: Bill Gates & Paul Allen.

While Bing may be less popular than Google, that doesn’t mean it’s not a useful video search engine to use – it simply works a little differently.

When it comes to Bing’s video platform, there are plenty of differences between Bing and Google that you might not know about which could make it the best choice for your video search.

• Bing offers a grid-based results page for a more visual search experience.
• Videos play directly from Bing, so navigating between videos is easier.
• You can easily see related keywords for expanded searches under the search bar.
• Bing Video Search may suggest key moments within videos related to your search.

Finding inspiring videos on Bing is super easy. All you need to do is type your keyword into the search engine and select Videos .

This can help you identify current events and general trends that people find interesting, which can, in turn, help inform your content strategy if you wish to capitalize on recent events.

4. Dailymotion

• Headquarters: Paris, France.
• Founders: Benjamin Bejbaum & Olivier Poitrey.

Dailymotion is another popular video-sharing platform with millions of videos and a dedicated audience in Europe, especially French-speaking countries – with the platform reporting 400 million monthly active users .

It was one of the first platforms to feature HD resolution (720p) videos, and – while it isn’t as big as YouTube – it’s still visited more than some major streaming platforms such as HBO Max and Paramount Plus.

A key attribute of Dailymotion to note is that its video library is completely unique, meaning it doesn’t bring in results from external websites.

Users can upload their own videos, similar to YouTube, so performing a video search on Dailymotion will return entirely different results.

On Dailymotion’s homepage, you’ll be shown trending channels on the left side to get an idea of which outlets are popular – but this is limited to partner-certified channels (usually from bigger brands) shown by the checkmark next to a channel’s name.

You can also scroll through trending videos covering the latest news, entertainment, music, and sports.

If you log in, you can follow specific channels to see their branded content first and find some inspiration for your own.

If you’re looking for videos on a specific topic, simply search using your preferred keyword at the top and scroll through the various results, or sort your search using different filters.

Because of Dailymotion’s unique library of videos, it can be useful for finding additional content that you might not find on YouTube or from other video search engines that don’t show results from Dailymotion.

• Headquarters: New York City, United States.
• Launched: 2004.
• Founders: Zach Klein & Jack Lodwick.

If you’re looking for editorial-style videos or a more curated collection, then Vimeo is a great video search engine choice.

While it started out as a side project to then parent company’s Connected Venture’s comedy website, CollegeHumor, it has grown into its own standalone public company with a significant library of videos.

Vimeo offers both a video-sharing platform and a suite of video creation tools through a software-as-a-service (SaaS) model for enterprises and individuals.

With 350,000 videos uploaded to Vimeo on average per day and around 1.7 million paid subscribers, it also clearly has its own audience that makes full use of the site.

As it has its own vast online video library, you can use Vimeo’s video search engine to discover all sorts of new content exclusive to this platform.

One of its main features is that the team over at Vimeo selects a number of videos to highlight, showcasing high-quality video content across a range of categories, such as documentaries, animation, and comedy.

You’ll frequently see new uploads of short films submitted for a range of international film festivals, such as South by Southwest (SXSW) and Sundance, which can give you a snapshot of praise-worthy video content to take ideas from and feel inspired by.

You can also find video marketing content from a range of brands to help you find inspiration for your own video content, while also serving as an archive for old video marketing campaigns.

6. DuckDuckGo

• Headquarters: Paoli, Pennsylvania, United States.
• Launched: 2008.
• Founder: Gabriel Weinberg.

If privacy is important to you and you don’t like the idea of everything you do online being recorded, then DuckDuckGo could be the video search engine for you.

As a privacy-focused search engine, DuckDuckGo focuses on doing three specific things for its users:

• Blocking trackers.
• Enabling you to search privately.
• Serving results that aren’t based on your previous search history.

DuckDuckGo keeps things simple with its easy-to-use interface. If you’re looking for videos, simply type in your keyword into the search field and click Videos .

This can be great for doing video marketing research, as you can run completely fresh searches outside your potential ‘filter bubble’ that could skew what appears on your search engine results pages (SERPs).

It also makes it easy to run a search based on results for different countries, allowing users to see how the results change and find different content. All you have to do is use the country selector in the top left and select which country you want to base your search on.

If you feel that you could also benefit from having a browser that focuses on privacy to browse the web without a data profile being built, then the DuckDuckGo browser could help you get research done without being tracked.

• Headquarters: Los Angeles, United States & Singapore.
• Launched: 2016.
• Founder: Zhang Yiming, ByteDance Ltd., Toutiao.

While TikTok might be primarily considered a social media platform, it is rapidly being used by more and more users as a video search engine – with 40% of Gen Z consumers now using TikTok to search for things they want to know more about.

Its popularity is surging year-on-year, too – and not just with younger audiences, as 7% of working-age users now see it as the social media app of choice.

While TikTok’s specific revenue is unknown, parent company ByteDance Ltd. posted revenue numbers of more than $110 billion for 2023 – with ad revenue from TikTok likely accounting for a significant portion of that.

Given the wide variety of user-generated video content available on the platform, it can be incredibly useful for spotting trends for social media marketing and learning about new topics.

The Explore function is incredibly useful for showing new videos that you might not have thought to search for, too.

Around 10 million videos are uploaded to TikTok every day on average, meaning there is always fresh video content to find and new takes on trending video formats.

Each video is clearly labeled with its upload date, so you can see how recently it was released and how many plays it has received.

• Headquarters: Moscow, Russia.
• Launched: 1997.
• Founders: Elena Kolmanovskaya, Arkady Volozh & Ilya Segalovich.

Yandex is a Russian technology company with the biggest search engine market share in Russia and has been around longer than both Google and Bing’s predecessor, MSN Search.

Having launched back in 1997 as an exclusively Russian domain, Yandex Search has emerged as a global version of its services.

Yandex offers a massive search engine , along with features such as mail, maps, a browser, translation, images, and more, making it a significant competitor to Google in Russia.

As you may expect, Yandex also has a video search engine that can be used to find different results compared to other video search engines.

While it still pulls results from similar sources as other video search engines, Yandex has its own search algorithm for crawling and serving results as all search engines do.

• Headquarters: Berlin, Germany.
• Founders: Christian Kroll.

Based in Berlin, Ecosia is a little different in terms of the video search engines out there.

While privacy is still a priority, Ecosia considers itself a social business and is committed to being CO₂-negative.

100% of Ecosia’s profits from ad revenue – generated by every search users make – go towards climate action. The majority of these are focused on tree-planting projects to help make the world a greener place.

While you can log in to keep track of the number of trees you’ve helped to plant, Ecosia also doesn’t create a data profile on you. That means, you also get the benefit of running video searches that aren’t potentially skewed by your previous queries for other projects you might have been working on.

If you’re looking for video ideas but want to expand your searches, you can also use Ecosia’s AI Chat, which is powered by OpenAI and ChatGPT, in order to generate new video ideas or keywords you can search with.

10. Swisscows

• Headquarters: Egnach, Switzerland.
• Launched: 2014.
• Founders: Andreas Wiebe.

The proposition of Swisscows is somewhat unique among video search engine options.

While other engines have the option to engage filters to sift out explicit results, Swisscows deems itself a “family-friendly” search option with all explicit results entirely omitted.

Aside from music, images, and web content, Swisscows also has a video search feature that pulls in videos from across the web while filtering out any results that could be considered explicit.

This can be useful if you need to research a potentially risqué topic and want to be careful about what videos show up in your results.

This is due to how Swisscows filters SERPs to omit results that don’t meet the criteria for being appropriate for all audiences. This goes for other popular video search engines, too, such as YouTube.

It’s worth noting that Swisscows also plays videos directly within the search engine, similar to Bing. This allows you to easily browse through videos and dip in and out without leaving the SERPs.

How To Find the Right Video For Your Content

When creating your own content online, adding a video can help to gain more visibility and improve engagement. The key factor is to ensure any videos you use are relevant to the rest of your content and don’t detract from what you want your user to do.

By using the video search engines listed above, you have the tools to find a variety of videos that can be both informative and interesting to your audience.

How Do I Reverse Video Search?

If you’ve found a video, but don’t know where it came from, you can do a reverse video search to find the source. That way, you can track down where it appears online and discover more about it – like finding the full version of a video from a short clip.

A reverse video search is very similar to a reverse image search. The search engine will look at the color and pixels in a video, and then find as close a match as possible from other videos on the web.

Google also has a handy “Search by image” function built into the Google Images section of the site where you can upload a screenshot from a video to help track down where else it appears online.

Read how to use a reverse video search to know more about this useful function.

Why Video Has Become Important For Content And SEO

It’s not just consumers who are favoring video content.

91% of businesses are using video marketing as a tool to help increase brand awareness and engage with their audience – with 70% of those who aren’t currently using video planning to start in 2024.

Around 90% of those marketers who have used video content have said it gives good ROI by expanding their audience and improving sales lead generation.

From testimonials to explainer videos and videographics, there are many cases for creating impactful video content to engage your audience in a more personable or exciting way.

By integrating video content into your digital marketing strategy in the right way, combined with relevant content creation and SEO strategies, you can help increase traffic and engagement online.

Ultimately, creating quality video content can help you achieve your key business goals , such as building a community around your business or improving customer retention, and work as part of your wider business strategy.

More resources: 

• 7 Reasons Why Content Needs Amazing Images, Videos & Visuals
• Video Marketing: An In-Depth Guide For Every Business Owner Today
• Content Marketing: The Ultimate Beginner’s Guide to What Works

Featured Image: ART PAL/Shutterstock 

Shelley Walsh is the SEO Content Strategist at SEJ & produces the Pioneers, a series about the history of SEO ...

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How to Use AI For a More Effective Social Media Strategy, According to Ross Simmonds

Published: April 18, 2024

Welcome to Creator Columns , where we bring expert HubSpot Creator voices to the Blogs that inspire and help you grow better.

It’s the age of AI, and our job as marketers is to keep up.

My team at Foundation Marketing recently conducted an AI Marketing study surveying hundreds of marketers, and more than 84% of all leaders, managers, SEO experts, and specialists confirmed that they used AI in the workplace.

If you can overlook the fear-inducing headlines, this technology is making social media marketers more efficient and effective than ever. Translation: AI is good news for social media marketers.

In fact, I predict that the marketers not using AI in their workplace will be using it before the end of this year, and that number will move closer and closer to 100%.

Social media and AI are two of the most revolutionizing technologies of the last few decades. Social media has changed the way we live, and AI is changing the way we work.

So, I’m going to condense and share the data, research, tools, and strategies that the Foundation Marketing Team and I have been working on over the last year to help you better wield the collective power of AI and social media.

Let's jump into it.

What’s the role of AI in social marketing strategy?

In a recent episode of my podcast, Create Like The Greats, we dove into some fascinating findings about the impact of AI on marketers and social media professionals. Take a listen here:

Let's dive a bit deeper into the benefits of this technology:

Benefits of AI in Social Media Strategy

AI is to social media what a conductor is to an orchestra — it brings everything together with precision and purpose. The applications of AI in a social media strategy are vast, but the virtuosos are few who can wield its potential to its fullest.

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The State of Social Media in 2024

Explore the top trends in social media for brands to know and optimize your social strategy.

• AI Content Creation
• Community Building
• Social Media Shopping
• Social Vs. Search Engine

You're all set!

Click this link to access this resource at any time.

AI to Conduct Customer Research

Imagine you're a modern-day Indiana Jones, not dodging boulders or battling snakes, but rather navigating the vast, wild terrain of consumer preferences, trends, and feedback.

This is where AI thrives.

Using social media data, from posts on X to comments and shares, AI can take this information and turn it into insights surrounding your business and industry. Let's say for example you're a business that has 2,000 customer reviews on Google, Yelp, or a software review site like Capterra.

Leveraging AI you can now have all 2,000 of these customer reviews analyzed and summarized into an insightful report in a matter of minutes. You simply need to download all of them into a doc and then upload them to your favorite Generative Pre-trained Transformer (GPT) to get the insights and data you need.

But that's not all.

You can become a Prompt Engineer and write ChatGPT asking it to help you better understand your audience. For example, if you're trying to come up with a persona for people who enjoy marathons but also love kombucha you could write a prompt like this to ChatGPT:

The response that ChatGPT provided back is quite good:

Below this it went even deeper by including a lot of valuable customer research data:

• Demographics
• Psychographics
• Consumer behaviors
• Needs and preferences

And best of all...

It also included marketing recommendations.

The power of AI is unbelievable.

Social Media Content Using AI

AI's helping hand can be unburdening for the creative spirit.

Instead of marketers having to come up with new copy every single month for posts, AI Social Caption generators are making it easier than ever to craft catchy status updates in the matter of seconds.

Tools like HubSpot make it as easy as clicking a button and telling the AI tool what you're looking to create a post about:

The best part of these AI tools is that they're not limited to one channel.

Your AI social media content assistant can help you with LinkedIn content, X content, Facebook content, and even the captions that support your post on Instagram.

It can also help you navigate hashtags:

With AI social media tools that generate content ideas or even write posts, it's not about robots replacing humans. It's about making sure that the human creators on your team are focused on what really matters — adding that irreplaceable human touch.

Enhanced Personalization

You know that feeling when a brand gets you, like, really gets you?

AI makes that possible through targeted content that's tailored with a level of personalization you'd think was fortune-telling if the data didn't paint a starker, more rational picture.

What do I mean?

Brands can engage more quickly with AI than ever before. In the early 2000s, a lot of brands spent millions of dollars to create social media listening rooms where they would hire social media managers to find and engage with any conversation happening online.

Thanks to AI, brands now have the ability to do this at scale with much fewer people all while still delivering quality engagement with the recipient.

Analytics and Insights

Tapping into AI to dissect the data gives you a CSI-like precision to figure out what works, what doesn't, and what makes your audience tick. It’s the difference between guessing and knowing.

The best part about AI is that it can give you almost any expert at your fingertips.

If you run a report surrounding the results of your social media content strategy directly from a site like LinkedIn, AI can review the top posts you've shared and give you clear feedback on what type of content is performing, why you should create more of it, and what days of the week your content is performing best.

This type of insight that would typically take hours to understand.

Thanks to the power of AI you can upload a spreadsheet filled with rows and columns of data just to be met with a handful of valuable insights a few minutes later.

Improved Customer Service

Want 24/7 support for your customers?

It's now possible without human touch.

Chatbots powered by AI are taking the lead on direct messaging experiences for brands on Facebook and other Meta properties to offer round-the-clock assistance.

The fact that AI can be trained on past customer queries and data to inform future queries and problems is a powerful development for social media managers.

Advertising on Social Media with AI

The majority of ad networks have used some variation of AI to manage their bidding system for years. Now, thanks to AI and its ability to be incorporated in more tools, brands are now able to use AI to create better and more interesting ad campaigns than ever before.

Brands can use AI to create images using tools like Midjourney and DALL-E in seconds.

Brands can use AI to create better copy for their social media ads.

Brands can use AI tools to support their bidding strategies.

The power of AI and social media is continuing to evolve daily and it's not exclusively found in the organic side of the coin. Paid media on social media is being shaken up due to AI just the same.

How to Implement AI into Your Social Media Strategy

Ready to hit "Go" on your AI-powered social media revolution?

Don't just start the engine and hope for the best. Remember the importance of building a strategy first. In this video, you can learn some of the most important factors ranging from (but not limited to) SMART goals and leveraging influencers in your day-to-day work:

The following seven steps are crucial to building a social media strategy:

• Identify Your AI and Social Media Goals
• Validate Your AI-Related Assumptions
• Conduct Persona and Audience Research
• Select the Right Social Channels
• Identify Key Metrics and KPIs
• Choose the Right AI Tools
• Evaluate and Refine Your Social Media and AI Strategy

Keep reading, roll up your sleeves, and follow this roadmap:

1. Identify Your AI and Social Media Goals

If you're just dipping your toes into the AI sea, start by defining clear objectives.

Is it to boost engagement? Streamline your content creation? Or simply understand your audience better? It's important that you spend time understanding what you want to achieve.

For example, say you’re a content marketing agency like Foundation and you’re trying to increase your presence on LinkedIn. The specificity of this goal will help you understand the initiatives you want to achieve and determine which AI tools could help you make that happen.

Are there AI tools that will help you create content more efficiently? Are there AI tools that will help you optimize LinkedIn Ads? Are there AI tools that can help with content repurposing ? All of these things are possible and having a goal clearly identified will help maximize the impact. Learn more in this Foundation Marketing piece on incorporating AI into your content workflow.

Once you have identified your goals, it's time to get your team on board and assess what tools are available in the market.

Recommended Resources:

• How to Write a SMART Goal

2. Validate Your AI-Related Assumptions

Assumptions are dangerous — especially when it comes to implementing new tech.

Don't assume AI is going to fix all your problems.

Instead, start with small experiments and track their progress carefully.

3. Conduct Persona and Audience Research

Social media isn't something that you can just jump into.

You need to understand your audience and ideal customers. AI can help with this, but you’ll need to be familiar with best practices. If you need a primer, this will help:

Once you understand the basics, consider ways in which AI can augment your approach.

4. Select the Right Social Channels

Not every social media channel is the same.

It's important that you understand what channel is right for you and embrace it.

The way you use AI for X is going to be different from the way you use AI for LinkedIn. On X, you might use AI to help you develop a long-form thread that is filled with facts and figures. On LinkedIn however, you might use AI to repurpose a blog post and turn it into a carousel PDF. The content that works on X and that AI can facilitate creating is different from the content that you can create and use on LinkedIn.

The audiences are different.

The content formats are different.

So operate and create a plan accordingly.

Recommended Tools and Resources:

• 18 YouTube Templates for Business
• How to Use Twitter for Business (+ Follower Tracking Template)

5. Identify Key Metrics and KPIs

What metrics are you trying to influence the most?

Spend time understanding the social media metrics that matter to your business and make sure that they're prioritized as you think about the ways in which you use AI.

These are a few that matter most:

• Reach : Post reach signifies the count of unique users who viewed your post. How much of your content truly makes its way to users’ feeds?
• Clicks : This refers to the number of clicks on your content or account. Monitoring clicks per campaign is crucial for grasping what sparks curiosity or motivates people to make a purchase.
• Engagement : The total social interactions divided by the number of impressions. This metric reveals how effectively your audience perceives you and their readiness to engage.

Of course, it's going to depend greatly on your business.

But with this information, you can ensure that your AI social media strategy is rooted in goals.

6. Choose the Right AI Tools

The AI landscape is filled with trash and treasure.

Pick AI tools that are most likely to align with your needs and your level of tech-savviness.

For example, if you're a blogger creating content about pizza recipes, you can use HubSpot's AI social caption generator to write the message on your behalf:

The benefit of an AI tool like HubSpot and the caption generator is that what at one point took 30-40 minutes to come up with — you can now have it at your fingertips in seconds. The HubSpot AI caption generator is trained on tons of data around social media content and makes it easy for you to get inspiration or final drafts on what can be used to create great content.

Consider your budget, the learning curve, and what kind of support the tool offers.

7. Evaluate and Refine Your Social Media and AI Strategy

AI isn't a magic wand; it's a set of complex tools and technology.

You need to be willing to pivot as things come to fruition.

If you notice that a certain activity is falling flat, consider how AI can support that process.

Did you notice that your engagement isn’t where you want it to be? Consider using an AI tool to assist with crafting more engaging social media posts.

Make AI Work for You — Now and in the Future

AI has the power to revolutionize your social media strategy in ways you may have never thought possible. With its ability to conduct customer research, create personalized content, and so much more, thinking about the future of social media is fascinating.

We're going through one of the most interesting times in history.

Stay equipped to ride the way of AI and ensure that you're embracing the best practices outlined in this piece to get the most out of the technology.

Don't forget to share this post!

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6 Common Leadership Styles — and How to Decide Which to Use When

• Rebecca Knight

Being a great leader means recognizing that different circumstances call for different approaches.

Research suggests that the most effective leaders adapt their style to different circumstances — be it a change in setting, a shift in organizational dynamics, or a turn in the business cycle. But what if you feel like you’re not equipped to take on a new and different leadership style — let alone more than one? In this article, the author outlines the six leadership styles Daniel Goleman first introduced in his 2000 HBR article, “Leadership That Gets Results,” and explains when to use each one. The good news is that personality is not destiny. Even if you’re naturally introverted or you tend to be driven by data and analysis rather than emotion, you can still learn how to adapt different leadership styles to organize, motivate, and direct your team.

Much has been written about common leadership styles and how to identify the right style for you, whether it’s transactional or transformational, bureaucratic or laissez-faire. But according to Daniel Goleman, a psychologist best known for his work on emotional intelligence, “Being a great leader means recognizing that different circumstances may call for different approaches.”

• RK Rebecca Knight is a journalist who writes about all things related to the changing nature of careers and the workplace. Her essays and reported stories have been featured in The Boston Globe, Business Insider, The New York Times, BBC, and The Christian Science Monitor. She was shortlisted as a Reuters Institute Fellow at Oxford University in 2023. Earlier in her career, she spent a decade as an editor and reporter at the Financial Times in New York, London, and Boston.

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