How to Caption Videos for Instagram, Facebook and Other Social Platforms

Allan CaegLeave a comment
watching video together

Whether you’re a social media influencer or marketer, your aim is to see your channels grow and videos go viral.

You’re probably noticing how recently, plenty of Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube videos include captions. With more people viewing videos on their mobile devices, most of them prefer to watch social media without sound. In fact, studies show that 85 percent of social videos are watched with the sound off.

There are also around 466 million people around the world who are deaf or hard-of-hearing. Adding captions to your videos on social platforms is one way to connect more meaningfully with your audience. Besides accessibility, your captioned videos rank higher your on search engines and can be repurposed to promote and boost your channel.

Captions are perfect for news, vlogs, memes, tutorials, music videos, brand commercials, and almost any other kind of social video.

For those with little time to manually transcribe videos, you may be surprised at how low-cost, fast, and easy it is to caption your videos. No matter where you intend to post them, you can directly add and upload captions to social media videos, with the help of closed captioning services.

So, we’ve created this all-in-one, beginner-friendly guide for how to add captions for videos on Instagram, Facebook, Youtube, or any other social network.

First, Create a Text File with Your Captions

Whenever you add captions to any platform, you have the option to upload captions via a text file in an SRT or VTT file format. This is the easiest way to go if you quickly want to add captions in bulk.

We recommend that you have an SRT or VTT file ready for any time you plan to add subtitles to your videos. The text file will include a transcript of your video with timestamps, such as the one below from ITS.

Source: ITS

Creating a text file before adding captions to your video greatly simplifies the entire process.

You won’t have to manually type in each caption or correct any errors on the platform itself, which is time-consuming and cumbersome. Plus, you’ll own a text copy of your video, which can be handy.

You can order a transcript from closed captioning services, like Scribie, and receive copies in different file formats, including SRT and VTT files for uploading captions.

How to order your captions from Scribie:

It’s fast and easy to get supported formats containing your captions from Scribie. Here’s how in 3 steps:

  1. Import your video file or link.
  2. Pay as little as $0.10 per audio minute.
  3. Download your captions in different file formats.

Once you have your text file, you can upload it to a wide range of social and video editing platforms to automatically add captions to videos.

Order your captions from Scribie today! Get text copies of your video in various file formats.

How to Add Video Captions for Facebook

To add captions to Facebook videos, you’ll first need to enable captions to show up in your video settings. Check your settings by going to the “Video Settings” section. From there, you can customize your Captions Display, including text size, background color, etc.

You can then add captions through your SRT file created outside of Facebook, which can also be used across a variety of mediums. (Creating SRT files can be done in a jiffy. See previous section for an easy how-to guide.)

When you upload your video, you will see different options for optimizing your post. Select the “Captions” tab, and you can upload your SRT file there as you’ll see in the image below.

Source: Idea Rocket

You can also add captions to a Facebook video that’s already posted. The process for this is very similar to when you upload the video.

On your already published post, there is a bar for the “edit video” setting. Once you access this setting, go to the “captions” section to “upload SRT file”. Then, select your .srt file, and hit upload.

How to Caption Videos for Instagram

Adding captions to Instagram is a bit more complicated.

Unlike Facebook or YouTube which have built-in editors, you won’t be able to upload captions directly from Instagram’s platform. You’ll need to use another software to “burn” your captions into the video first, aka a technique called “open captioning”.

So here’s what you do.

  1. First, create your text copy using Scribie to easily upload captions.
  2. Copy/paste or upload your text file captions into a video editing tool.
  3. Download and publish to Instagram.

You can easily upload your file to add subtitles through a free online video editing tool like Kapwing. You can also edit videos online through Rocketium, or Reevio. You may use multi-purpose desktop apps, such as Adobe Premiere Pro, Windows Movie Make, iMovie, or Final Cut Pro X.

Related: Why Captions are Critical for YouTube [Statistics]

The Simplest Way to Add Captions to YouTube

There is a way you can effortlessly create accurate, high-quality captions and add them to Youtube–all from one platform.

Scribie has a feature that integrates YouTube with the platform.

Here’s how you can import your YouTube videos and directly upload your .srt files to your YouTube video from Scribie.com.

First, you can enter the YouTube link or import a video file.

Afterward, you can hit “order transcript” to receive captions which are downloadable in various file formats, including .doc, PDF, SRT and VTT files. (Scribie’s rates for transcription are among the lowest at $0.10 per audio minute.)

Once the transcribed files are ready for download, click on the “Save to YouTube” button next to the .srt file. A pop up will ask you to enter the YouTube URL of the video.

Hit “Upload”…and Voila! Your captions have now been directly added to your video.

Over to You

Captions help promote your social video, repurpose content, and increase SEO ranking and accessibility to a wider community.

You don’t have to DIY the transcription of your video and painstakingly manually edit to add captions. Focus on other tasks that boost your channel, instead. Delegate this task by ordering transcripts from closed captioning services that simplify the process.

Get your video captions and upload them to socials from Scribie. Order a transcript today!

3 Ways to Add Captions to Your YouTube Videos

Allan Caeg1 Comment
3 Ways to Add Captions to Your YouTube Videos

As a content creator on YouTube, you want to see your channel grow.

Your success on YouTube can be greatly affected by adding captions to your videos.

It can act as a secret weapon to promoting your videos on different channels, repurposing content, ranking higher on search engines, and making your videos accessible to a wider community.

In fact, PLYMedia found that subtitled videos increase view time by more than 12% and are watched an average 91% to completion. On the other hand, videos without subtitles are only watched 66% to completion. When subtitles are included, 80% more people watch videos to completion.

See more interesting stats for why captions matter for YouTube.

You may think that adding captions to your YouTube videos is a huge investment in effort and cost, however, it can be quite easy and reasonably-priced!

Find out how to add captions to YouTube and your videos, whether you like being hands on doing-it-yourself or prefer outsourcing to specialists. Here are 3 different efficient and cost-effective ways for captioning, including numerous methods and tools for each.

Learn more about DIY options, automatic transcription software, and closed caption services for generating your video captions.

Let Scribie do the work. Order transcripts of your YouTube videos or upload subtitles to your videos.

Do-It-Yourself

One way of adding captions is to manually enter them into systems. You can write captions yourself into video editing software, such as YouTube’s video editor, Final Cut Pro X or Compressor.

In Final Cut Pro X, you can create captions for your video right in the timeline, or you can import them into your project through a text file. If you’re adding captions in your video editor, you can adjust, arrange, and edit them in the timeline. You can then share the video with embedded captions and publish on YouTube.

However, the manual method of typing and editing to perfection can be slow-moving and inconvenient. There is also a potential for more errors in your captions.

Another way to DIY captions is to create an SRT or VTT file. You can create these files in a number of different ways, such as in a text editor or through YouTube.

If you’re looking to add captions to your YouTube video, or other platform, they usually require specific file formats, like an SRT or VTT format. These are plain-text files that contain timestamps next to your text to ensure that your subtitles are displayed at the right time in your video.

Besides YouTube, SRT and VTT files will also work with most platforms and social media sites. All you’ll need is a single SRT or VTT file and you can upload it to your video on multiple platforms.

To create a text file, open your text editor (for Mac) or Notepad (for Windows), start a new document, type out the words, and make a note of timings. See the format here.

You can add SRT file subtitles to your videos with video editing software like Camtasia. This will mean that the subtitles will be hardcoded into your video file. A downside to this is that you won’t enjoy the SEO benefits and engagement that your shared video can otherwise enjoy with other captioning methods.

Automatic Transcriptions

Speech-to-text (STT) apps can automatically transcribe your video audio to text.

Some video editors include STT features for your video’s narration or dialogue.

Youtube also offers automatic transcription services. You can upload your video to YouTube and download the transcript.

However, the chance of automatic transcriptions coming out perfectly accurate is slim. The level of accuracy will vary based on factors like accents, background noise, and distortion. If you do decide to transcribe your video automatically for captions, you’ll have to carefully review and verify accuracy afterwards.

Closely evaluate the costs of errors and additional work required. Also, note that YouTube’s auto transcripts are reportedly not indexed by Google search. So, you won’t be able to take advantage of the SEO benefits of captioning.

If you’re getting captions for your promo video or personal vlog, you might as well add captions that have SEO value.

Manual Transcription Services

You can also completely hand off the task.

Without having to deal with erroneous automated captions or creating and adding captions yourself, you can hire professional transcribers, instead.

Order manual transcription online from Scribie or other similar services. (Scribie has the lowest flat rates, charged per audio minute, with the most feature-packed plans.) On Scribie, you can even download a file copy containing your captions and directly upload your captions to YouTube.

However, other transcription companies, like Rev or GoTranscript, require complicated processes and leave the caption uploading task to you.

Here’s a quick rundown of how you can add captions to YouTube with Scribie:

  1. Easily import your YouTube link or video file.
  2. Order a transcript.
  3. Once transcribed files are ready, hit on the “Save to YouTube” button.

Voilà!

Your captions have now been added to your video.

Ordering captions from transcription services ensure that your caption’s accuracy is 98% and above.

Over to You

Considering the deaf and hard-of-hearing, playing a video with sound isn’t always a possibility, as well. That’s why up to 85 percent of social videos are watched without sound.

If you want to create and directly add captions to your published YouTube videos, Scribie saves you time, money, and effort. Get video captions when you need it, and pay as you go.

Request a transcript and Scribie gives you an SRT or VTT text file version of your video content within a few hours or less. With YouTube integration, you can directly upload files to videos from Scribie.

Ready to try Scribie? Order a transcript or add captions to your YouTube videos today!

Why Captions are Critical for YouTube [Statistics]

Allan CaegLeave a comment
Why Captions Matter to YouTube Creators [Statistics]

You continuously invest in your YouTube channel. You produce great content, invest in distribution, work on SEO, and more. How else might you optimize your channel?

Through statistics, we’ll explore what your YouTube reach looks like. Get a general sense of key YouTube data points, creator statistics, impact of accessibility, and more. We’ll expound on the results that you’d expect if you religiously add captions to your YouTube videos.

Adding captions to a YouTube video provides SEO advantages and increases watch time, as well as boosts engagement and accessibility to a bigger audience. So, the question remains. Why don’t more YouTube creators caption their content?

YouTube Key Data Points Creators Should Know

Although Google has never disclosed the total number of videos hosted on the global network, we know that it’s changed the way we find, consume, and share information.

Youtube attracts a major chunk of internet users. (Up to ⅓ of internet users go on YouTube.) After all, YouTube is the 2nd largest search engine.

With over 50% of YouTube views come from mobile devices, you’ve probably also noticed that half of your YouTube views come from a mobile device. Have you optimized your video content for this mobile audience?

What YouTubers Are Doing

Currently, there are 50 million creators and over 5 billion videos shared on Youtube.

With the astounding number of YouTube creators uploading content, it’s amazing how many of their videos are now being captioned.

Every minute, 400 hours of video are uploaded, and a whopping 1 billion videos now include captions.

Adding captions is a move towards accessibility, as well as a smart business move. Captions help attract a wider community, increase watch time and shares, and boosts your ranking. See how repurposing content can also boost your channel.

Why Accessibility Matters

It’s time to set a universal standard for accessibility. How many people have visited your channel and left without complaining because of its inaccessibility?

Invest in video captions to reach that sizeable audience. Captions are essential to ensuring that your videos are accessible to the wider public.

Source: uscreen

Although more YouTube creators are placing effort into creating more accessible content, many are still turning a blind eye, too.

How People Are Watching YouTube Videos

YouTube captions benefit more than those who need them for accessibility.

Of the 7.5 million people in the UK who use closed captions, only 1.5 million were deaf or hard of hearing. This means that viewers use closed captions for reasons other than difficulty hearing.

Turning the sound on isn’t always a possibility. Others, prefer to watch without sound. Captions can help capture this audience segment who watch without sound. In fact, 85 percent of social videos are watched with the sound off.

Over 1 billion hours of YouTube videos are being watched per day, more than Netflix and Facebook video combined. With 500 million of those YouTube views on mobile devices, more YouTube videos can be enjoyed in various settings.

Conveniently generate text to promote and enhance your videos (with Scribie’s native YouTube integration). Get captions for your YouTube video now!

Your viewers may be consuming your content while taking a quick break in the office, out commuting in an environment with heavy background noise, or simply at home beside their sleeping baby.

People are also watching videos longer. The average viewing Session is 40 minutes, which is up 50% year-over-year. However, 20% of YouTube users will leave a video within the first 10 seconds if it hasn’t hooked them in.

The Impact of Captions on Your YouTube Channel

How do the statistics of videos with captions compare to video content without subtitles?

When it comes to watch time, subtitled videos increase view time by more than 12% and are watched an average 91% to completion. In comparison, videos without subtitles are only watched 66% to completion. When subtitles are included, 80% more people watch videos to completion.

Source: uscreen

In terms of engagement, subtitles also increase social reach and elicit better responses. They boost video shares by 15%. There are also 17% better reactions and 26% more call-to-action click-throughs.

Captions increase engagement and engagement ratio is a key ranking factor for YouTube videos.

In terms of rankings, subtitles also boost your SEO and position in search results or as a suggested video.

YouTuber Leron Amin shares that:

Adding captions to my YouTube video added an additional 1,046 words and 393 indexable search terms. Best of all, my target keyword density increased by 68 terms (Green), and my keyword diversity increased by 12 terms (orange).

Captions also improve comprehension. Subtitles were regarded as “generally very effective in making programmes understood”. Up to 7 in 10 YouTube viewers use the platform for help with their work, studies, or hobbies. This helps viewers absorb your video content’s message better.

Earnings also increase. Adding captions could lead to a 7.32% increase in views. This translates into an increase in earnings of $890.93, from $12.171.29 to $13,062.22.

Over to You

There are plenty of ways you can add captions to your YouTube videos, whether manually or through YouTube’s automatic captions.

Take note: YouTube’s automatic (CC) captions do not get indexed, which is another reason why it is critical to add your own.

According to former YouTube product manager Bob Ellis, “We don’t [index] the automatic captions today. I hope that we will down the road, but it’s a trade-off with the quality. If you upload captions yourself to any YouTube video, we do index that. That is searched.”

Unfortunately, YouTube’s automatic captions are also often filled with numerous errors.

For fast, easy, and accurate captions, Scribie offers transcription services with integrated features that directly upload your captions to YouTube.

Boost your YouTube channel through captions and transcripts. Import your YouTube video now to add captions.

How to Get More Youtube Views by Maximizing Your Existing Videos

Allan CaegLeave a comment
How to Get More Youtube Views by Maximizing Your Existing Videos

As a YouTube creator, you want more subscribers, watch time, views, and clicks to your website.

Ultimately, your success on YouTube either helps you generate ad revenue or promote your brand (whether you’re selling bags, cosmetics, or business tools). Given your goals, how do you grow your YT channel in 2019 and beyond?

I’ll discuss actionable steps and YouTube insider tricks that can help instantly boost your view count.

Discover how you can promote your videos on different channels, repurpose content, and why getting transcripts of your videos are a Youtuber’s secret weapon.

The Value of Text

You trust written content. After all, despite Google’s speech recognition powers, SEO still relies on the written word.

As a result, you strive to write and remix your video content into metadata (title, description, tags, etc)… or you just completely miss out on these optimization and distribution opportunities.

Because you’ve invested so much in producing your videos, you want to make sure that they’re found! If they fall on deaf ears, that ultimately hurts your mission and bottom line.

At the moment, you could be working on YouTube on your own or occasionally getting help. In this article, I’ll expound on the kind of help that you can get from professionals who specialize in areas that you would rather (and should) delegate.

Let Scribie’s professionals do the work. Order transcripts of your YouTube videos or upload subtitles to your videos.

What YouTube Looks like in 2019

We know we’re preaching to the choir. You’ve been publishing regularly (perhaps for more than a year now). In any case, let’s revisit the value of YouTube and what the landscape looks like. These facts, trends, and statistics enable us to review your opportunities.

You might know that YouTube is the 2nd(!) most popular search engine. Coincidentally, did you also know that YouTube is the 2nd most popular website on earth (at the time of writing)?

Given its influence, the leading video platform happens to be a lucrative income source (directly or indirectly). How much can YouTubers make? Typically composed of small teams or solo creators, top YouTubers are worth between $10M to $20M. Looking at the other side of the spectrum, businesses like Adobe and Cisco depend on YouTube as a marketing channel.

In other words, YouTube isn’t going down. You’re investing in the right place so you better double down.

How Transcription Services Can Change Your YouTube Game

As mentioned before, you can’t ignore the value of text. As Youtubers, you’ll still need to input text, whether as video captions, in your description and tags, or even when sharing videos on your social accounts.

A transcript of your YouTube video allows you to repurpose content. Why is repurposing content so magical?

First of all, you save time. You get to promote more even when creating less.

According to Buffer, you can repurpose the content in your video to get an SEO boost, reach more audiences, gain authority, and reinforce your message.

All The Ways You Can Repurpose Your YT Video

Through a transcription service that will turn your recordings into text, like Scribie, you can repurpose your video content in a multitude of ways. Awesome, yes?

Adding the (tiresome but essential) metadata like tags and descriptions to your YouTube video becomes easier.

This also lets you distribute your content to a multitude of channels. Use the text version of your video recording to create:

  • new blog posts and articles,
  • a presentation,
  • social media posts,
  • Quora answers,
  • emails,
  • an ebook, and more!

You can also use the text to add subtitles/captions to your videos and become more accessible to a wider audience, as well as boost watch time and your viewer’s experience.

Beef Up YouTube Video Descriptions

Optimizing the metadata or descriptions in your YouTube videos increase the chances of you being found online. Add the right keywords, including LSI keywords, and tags to help your SEO and to rank higher on search results. (LSI keywords are keywords related to your main keyword.)

Here’s how: Plug your transcript into a word cloud (like this) to discover keywords and tags you can use for YouTube SEO.

Check out this interview by Video Influencers which nicely sums up what I’ve been talking about.

Youtuber Daniel suggests these three YouTube hacks to skyrocket your views.

1. LSI Keywords

Besides using your main keywords in your title and such, use LSI keywords in your description. LSI keywords are additional bits of information that relate to your actual content or keyword topic.

For example, if your main keyword is “transcription services”, LSI keywords can include “transcription software”, “human transcription services”, “best transcription services”, etc.

2. Share Function on YouTube

Source: Video Influencers

Don’t stick to one platform.

YouTube is competitive. You’ll need to promote, be social, and push your content out on as many channels and platforms to get the most eyeballs.

Create accounts based on the various platforms available on YouTube’s Share function, and share your video on all of these as it goes live. Use your transcript to create captions or blog posts for sharing. Cherry pick sentences from the transcript to turn into social posts. Turn the transcript into draft points for your blog post.

YouTube loves the backlinking, helping with your views and ranking. Plus, your building communities and exposing more to your content.

3. Suggested Videos

You may want to rank on the first page, but it’s also all about the suggested videos sidebar right now. To get on that sidebar, find the top results for your main keyword on YouTube, get their channel names, and use them as the last two tags of your video. This signals YouTube that your content is similar to theirs.

Cool hacks, right?

How to Upload Your Captions Directly to YouTube

Adding subtitles or captions to your YouTube videos help more viewers enjoy your content. This ultimately boosts watch time and engagement.

With captions, your audience can watch your videos on the bus, in a busy cafe, or wherever they are that may not be as conducive to YouTube watching. It also opens up your content to a more global audience.

Through Scribie, you can directly upload captions to your YouTube video in a few steps:

  1. Add your YouTube URL to import your video on Scribie.
  2. Verify and hit Order Transcript.
  3. Once the transcribed files are ready, click on the “Save to YouTube” button next to the other save options.
  4. Enter the YouTube URL of the video in the pop-up.
  5. Authorize Scribie to upload the captions to your channel.

That’s it! Your captions will then be added to the video on Youtube.

See more detailed instructions and screenshots of the step-by-step process of adding subtitles using Scribie.

Over to You

Start turning your YouTube videos intro transcripts and make it a habit.

You don’t have to do it yourself. Scribie can be your transcription partner for text versions of your video content and for adding captions to your YouTube videos.

After investing in creating a transcript, fuel the discipline of repurposing, promoting your content, and implementing SEO.

Ready to try Scribie? Order a transcript or add captions to your YouTube videos today!

Scribie | The Lowest Transcription Rates: Fast, Accurate & Simple Pricing [New]

Allan Caeg1 Comment
Scribie | The Lowest Transcription Rates: Fast, Accurate & Simple Pricing [New]

You may be searching Google for affordable transcription services, and you’ve found it.

We’ve researched and compared the prices of leading transcription service providers (so you won’t have to), and…we’re thrilled to share that our new prices are the best offer!

Whether it’s a professional manual transcript or a quick automatic transcript, Scribie offers more for less with the simplest and lowest rates for transcription services.

Another awesome bonus when you order: You’ll only need to pick between two price packages: Automated or Manual.

As you shop around for the best-priced transcription, you’ve probably encountered confusing and frustrating pricing, lacking features, or slow turnaround times.

Many services aren’t upfront about pricing or accuracy level. You’ll need to take the extra step of submitting your transcript for a “free quote”. Disappointingly, some will provide rock-bottom prices without any of the important, standard features.

Figuring out the value for money becomes an ordeal in itself!

So much time could have been used more productively, instead of spent on calculating the cost or waiting forever for your finished transcript. You’ll want to ensure that you save both time and money.

Keep scrolling for a list of more reasons why Scribie is your best choice for any type of transcription service.

Scribie’s New and Improved Pricing!

At the Scribie headquarters, we’ve listened to your concerns.

We want to offer the simplest and most affordable transcription prices. So, we’ve recently updated our pricing structure to make the order process as simple and straightforward as possible. See our recent announcement.

What’s new?

Whenever you order a transcript, you’ll only have to choose between two types: Automated and Manual.

What’s more, Scribie’s rates stay the same for any type of file format or industry. Your recording can contain highly technical data and specialized terms without extra charge.

See the updated transcription prices offering more for less below:

The Lowest Transcription Rates, Charged Per Minute of Audio

We’ve merged our previous Budget/Regular/Rush transcription packages into a single type called Manual for $0.80/minute.

Take note: Turn-around time is faster than 36 hours (depending on file length). Expect your order within 12 hours. Short files are often delivered within the hour.

Automated transcripts, on the other hand, go for only $0.10/min.

You also can choose to customize Scribie’s Manual package with add-ons for only $0.50/minute, including strict verbatim, accented speakers, noisy audio, subtitles, or if your audio quality is poor.

Plus, You can order a re-review, if you are not happy with the transcript, for FREE.

Ready to order an Automated or Manual transcript? Use the Scribie cost calculator to calculate your total cost with the lowest rates.

Why Scribie’s Pricing is Better

If you compare Scribie to other transcription companies, you’ll see why we’re your best choice.

Some transcription rates may be similar, but our packages offer more for the price.

Whether your recording contains difficult, technical terms or specialized content, you’ll still be charged the same rate.

Besides simple pricing packages with the lowest transcription rates around, our transcripts are among the most accurate and thorough using our signature Four-Step Process.

Our manual package also includes features like speaker tracking, while other similarly-priced packages by competitors don’t. With the fastest turnaround rates, our manual transcribers can deliver your transcripts as soon as within 1 hour.

Pros

  • Same rates for any industry (legal, academic, technical, etc.) or file format
  • More features for the price (time coding, speaker tracking)
  • Fast turn-around
  • Four-Step Process for quality assurance

Consistent, Predictable, and Accurate

We’ve designed the pricing packages for both regular and one-time transcription customers.

Order transcripts when you need it. Our new pricing structure helps make ordering transcripts when you need it–as soon as you need it–super easy.

For example, if you’re a video production company or podcaster who frequently needs text copies of your work, you can grow your business with our predictable and affordable transcription pricing.

Assured Quality: Our Four-Step Process

Your transcript’s quality will be vetted multiple times by different Scribie specialists.

When different transcribers work on a single file, your transcript’s turn-around time is faster.

This also means that no single transcriber will view the complete contents of your file for confidentiality.

Here’s how the four-step process works:

Step 1. Files are split into smaller parts. Each part is transcribed by a different transcriber, which is simultaneously reviewed by certified specialists.

Step 2. The different file parts are collated, proofread, and checked by in-house proofreaders.

Step 3. Our in-house quality experts analyze the proofread file for accuracy. The delivery is done only if it meets our standards of 98%+ accuracy. If not, the file is sent back again for proofreading.

Step 4. Certified freelancers and the in-house QA team research on topics, names, and acronyms, while fixing any contextual errors at every step.

We’re Here for You

Got any questions? Our customer support is always available.

We know how essential customer support is for questions or custom specifications, such as requesting a certain format.

We’re also surprised at how many leading transcription companies offer awful customer support. They’ll usually respond with scripted templates or don’t respond at all.

Scribie actually works with you as your transcription partner every step of the way.

We can address any of your concerns through live chat or email. We’re available on Live Chat during weekdays and provide email support on weekends.

Manual or Automated Transcription?

If you’re unsure whether to purchase a Manual or Automated package, keep reading to help you find out.

Through more advanced speech recognition software, you can order close-to-perfect automatic transcripts on Scribie.

With an automated transcript, you’ll have a fast first draft of your recording, in no time, at a lower rate ($0.10/min).

Scribie’s free transcription editor lets you quickly edit your transcripts online.

For error-free transcripts, on the other hand, you may order the Manual transcription package ($0.80/min). Brands, enterprises, academics, or legal cases might prefer Manual transcripts for quality assurance.

Our new updated and simplified pricing structure means that ordering a transcript is easier than ever.

Do you need an Automated or Manual transcript? Use our simple cost calculator for a custom quote.

Simplified Pricing

Rajiv PoddarLeave a comment

We have simplified our pricing and merged the Budget/Regular/Rush transcripts into a single type called Manual. The transcription rate for Manual transcript type is $0.80/minute with a 36 hours turnaround. In effect, we no longer support the $0.60/minute rate with the 5 day turnaround or the Rush option with 12 hour turnaround.

This pricing structure leaves us with just two types of transcripts; Automated and Manual. These names are self-explanatory. Automated transcripts are never touched by our human transcribers and you have to edit the transcript yourself to the desired accuracy level. The manual transcripts are done by our transcribers and we ensure that the accuracy is 99% or more.

This change is effective from 1st Jan 2019. Please visit the update pricing page for more.

https://scribie.com/transcription/pricing

 

4 Effective Research Tips for Academic Transcription

Allan CaegLeave a comment
4 Effective Research Tips for Academic Transcription

Not all audio or video files are a breeze to transcribe.

Occasionally, you’ll encounter recordings that are chock full of highly technical and specialized language. If the recording is filled with acronyms, scientific terms, or university names, you’re probably transcribing content related to academic research.

Researchers and academics need transcriptions because it’s an integral process in the analysis of their research data. Transcription simplifies the overall process for interpreting data. It allows them to read and analyze interviews, field notes, and others through text that is accurate, concise and easier to digest. This means that they need their transcript to be highly accurate. When it comes to publishing research results, there is no room for error.

However, what should you do if you come across a complicated term you don’t recognize? Many transcribers will consult Google or their online dictionary. We’ve compiled a few research hacks to help make academic transcription more effective for you.

If you plan on transcribing academic research, here are a few things you should know. Keep reading to discover skills you’ll need, why research matters, and 4 tips for effective research in finding the correct term and spelling.

Skills You’ll Need

Wondering which skills are essential in academic research transcription?

Whether you’re doing academic, legal transcription, or even just general transcription on a difficult topic, you’ll need two relevant skills. First, you should know your way around online research. Also, transcribers who are fast learners can quickly interpret difficult terms.

Transcription and research go hand in hand. When transcribers can’t identify a word, they’ll often hop on Google to check spelling and any results that might fit the context of the recording.

However, the transcription of research papers, thesis or dissertations for various academic fields adds an extra level of challenge. You should expect tons of researching (and be more or less masterful at it).

Being a fast learner is also a useful skill for understanding the content of your recording. Many transcribers will try to grasp the topic of the research first to identify the context by which a word is used, before finalizing a transcript.

The more you know what they’re talking about, the better you can interpret what they’re saying into text.

Why Research Skills Matter

The most common pitfalls for researchers during data collection are equipment failure, environmental hazards, and transcription errors. Research papers need to be accurate and its results hinge on error-free and accurate transcripts.

A big issue is figuring out the acronyms or names of an organization or project. Academic papers include a multitude of facts and terminologies that go in-depth into a topic.

Naturally, this means that you’ll encounter many obscure or technical references and terms. Oftentimes, the definition will even change according to ideology.

This is why research is a key skill for academic transcription. Knowledge of the subject matter may help, but the topics are often very specialized so it’s unlikely that you’ll always be familiar with the subject matter.

4 Tips for Effective Research You Should Know

It’s all about the context.

Researching the right keywords help you transcribe within the appropriate context.

For example, a single word, like “slit lamp” may seem like gibberish. However, when you hear the speaker say “slit lamp” and “eye” within a recording, you can search those keywords to clarify your understanding of the bigger picture. Then, you’ll find that a “slit lamp” is an instrument used for eye exams. Voila!

These context clues can be found in the surrounding content.

Check out these four tips to zero in on the right keywords for research.

1. Know the industry type.

You don’t always know the content of a recording. If you encounter words you are unfamiliar with or that are unclear in the speech, try and pinpoint the particular industry. You may have to listen further to do this. Once you’ve identified the industry, you might get a better understanding of industry jargon.

2. Consider the research topic.

This is similar to knowing the industry type. If you hone in on the topic, the chances are you’ll figure out the term in question.

3. Consider the geographic area.

A particular word may be difficult to transcribe because of a speaker’s accent. Knowing the geographic area can help identify words that are heavily accented. You may also be able to identify any slang words that are used.

4. Check the organization’s homepage.

Acronyms, organizations, names and their spelling can be problematic. If you can determine the organization involved, check out their website. Most universities will have webpages for faculty and staff. They may also mention the term you’re struggling with.

To find the correct word used in the recording, type its phonetic spelling (or spell out how it sounds) and other keywords you find in the search bar. Further refine keywords based on the search results to zero in on the meaning.

If you still can’t identify the term, you can leave a blank in the meantime. We’ll inform the client to simply use Scribie’s online editor and fill out any blanks. Check out our other tips for how to write a transcript fast.

Over to You

Taking your research seriously when doing academic transcription is important. First of all, it helps produce accurate and quality transcripts that will make clients happy. You assist in their research process and in publishing their findings sooner.

Besides ensuring that your transcript is top-notch and error-free, you’ll experience personal benefits, too. Regular research is a great opportunity to increase your knowledge, which results in quicker work, increased productivity, and…yes, more money!

Scribie has online transcription jobs for both beginners and experienced transcribers. Learn more about how you can join Scribie as a freelancer.

A Step-by-Step Guide: How to Write a Transcript Fast

Allan CaegLeave a comment
A Step-by-Step Guide: How to Write a Transcript Fast

So, you’re supposed to transcribe an audio or video file.

Your work may need you to do a steady stream of transcriptions, or you’ve never transcribed a word in your life.

Best practices and guidelines ensure that transcripts adhere to industry standards. How do you keep your transcripts high quality with minimal effort? It helps to establish a process for things to stay organized and smooth.

If you happen to be a seasoned transcriber, there may be transcription tips and tricks that you haven’t considered before. Can you improve your current transcription process?

We’ve created this checklist covering all the essential bases to optimize the transcription process, from start to finish. Check out the necessary steps to get you on your way to completing that transcription task efficiently.

Step 1. Prepare Your Tools and Equipment

Make sure you’ve prepared all the necessary tools and equipment before you begin to transcribe.

A comfortable or ergonomic chair creates a huge difference in keeping your body relaxed during hours of transcription work. It supports your lower back, promotes good posture, and ensures proper blood circulation. Adjust the seat to your preferred position.

Use good quality, noise-canceling headphones. Over-ear headsets are the most comfortable as they encase your entire ear and isolate distracting noise. Human voice frequencies lie between 250 Hz and 2000 Hz, the midrange of sound. We recommend headphones that have a pronounced yet smooth midrange.

Keep your essential every day carry items close. Eyeglasses, a bottle of water, a cup of coffee, or mobile phone should have already been placed on your desk to reduce distractions while doing transcription work.

An online reference such as soft copies of a dictionary or Google helps you quickly search for unfamiliar terms and the context to its meaning.

A foot pedal lets you control dictation playback with your toes. You can play, rewind, and fast forward by tapping sections of the pedal with your foot. You can setup your foot pedal to work with Scribie’s transcription software.

Step 2. Find a Good Transcription Software

There are web-based transcription tools that let you upload and transcribe your entire recordings online. These are your best friends in getting transcripts done–fast.

Scribie’s all-in-one transcription software has built-in tools and shortcuts to make everything easier from start to finish. You can even automatically transcribe your file to cut down time spent on transcription.

Basically, you can transcribe on Scribie in three simple steps:

  1. Upload your file.
  2. Scribie transcribes automatically.
  3. Check and edit the transcript.

Step 3. Amplify Volume and Increase the Audio Quality

Not all recordings are made equal. If you have a difficult file with plenty of background noise, there are ways you can increase its audio quality.

Scribie has a built-in dynamic range compressor that automatically increases the audio quality of your file for transcription. It reduces the volume of unnecessary loud sounds and amplifies sections that are difficult to hear. As we’ve been mastering transcription for about a decade, we continuously optimize tools like these.

Step 4. Familiarize Yourself with the Tools

Make the most out of your transcription software. Buckle up for your transcription journey by getting to know your tools.

Scribie has a timestamped audio player and fully-featured integrated text editor–everything you need for transcription. There are built-in tools, keyboard shortcuts, and a control panel that you can customize to fit your work process.

Scribie’s tools and shortcuts:

The word expander saves time by predicting and expanding the word you’re typing. Frequently used words allow an overview of what words to expect in your recording. This saves you from guessing a vague term.

Spellcheck provides you with suggestions to autocorrect any potential spelling mistakes.

Slow down or speed up audio to catch every word.

Use keyboard shortcuts to pause, skip, forward, or rewind to a certain time in the recording.

Identify mistakes with a blue underline through Scribie’s AI tool.

For recordings with heavy accents, you can dictate and transcribe the file using our voice recognition software.

If you happen to have little idea of your recording’s content, you have the option to automatically transcribe your file. This gives you a nice overview of what to expect and speeds up transcription.

Step 5. During Transcription

Here’s a pro tip: Many transcribers put speech to text by matching the transcript and audio word-for-word. We actually recommend against that. Instead, listen to the entire conversation and use context to interpret and identify the correct words.

During transcription, you may come across unfamiliar content such as technical or medical terms. Do a Google search for context or install soft copies of an online dictionary for a quick definition.

Don’t get hung up on a difficult word, though. There may be certain terms or words that are difficult to catch where you end up pausing and rewinding multiple times. Skip them. Leave a blank in the meantime and get back to those words you missed later to avoid breaking your flow.

Avoid context switching and juggling different tasks at the same time. Alternating between transcribing and editing becomes tiresome. Instead, do one thing at a time.

Begin the task by putting on your transcription hat and focusing on the transcription task ahead. The first draft doesn’t have to be perfect. Once you’ve completely transcribed the entire recording, whether manually or automatically, you can pivot your attention to editing and refining the transcript.

Step 6. Edit the Transcript

Re-play the audio, go over your draft, and zoom in on the ff:

  • Areas left blank or missed
  • Misheard words, terms, or expressions
  • Misspelled words
  • Punctuation
  • Formatting

Use Scribie’s spellcheck and AI tool to identify any misspellings or mistakes that may have slipped through.

Over to You

Transcription work can be rewarding for those with an eye for detail and quality content.

Breaking the transcription process down into step-by-step increments makes long hours seem easy and do-able. While a great transcription software saves time and effort.

We’re always on the lookout for opportunities to make transcription as easy as possible for our transcribers.

Scribie offers online transcription jobs for beginners and seasoned professionals. Learn more about how you can join Scribie as a freelancer.