People don’t share ads. But they do share stories — especially on platforms like Facebook and Instagram. The best stories are visual, and nothing captures a story quite like video. While shooting and producing video can be cost-prohibitive for small businesses, there’s an easy way to make social media videos to engage and delight your followers. It’s called Animoto.

How Animoto works

using Animoto storyboards to create social media videos

Animoto is an online video editor that easily creates shareable videos. No video editing experience is required; the software offers pre-built storyboard templates that you can customize with your brand colors, fonts, and logo. Or you can start from scratch and build your own storyboard.

Each scene (Animoto calls them blocks) can include video, still images, text, and/or voiceover. The software includes pre-built video transitions between blocks, as well as a library of stock photos from Getty and licensed music that you can use in your project at no added cost. The drag-and-drop editor easily resizes your text, changes the timing of each scene, and adjusts colors to match your brand.

Once you’ve finished editing your video, you can share it on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and other channels directly from your Animoto dashboard. You can also embed your video on your website, or download a full HD version to show anywhere, such as a TV display in your office.

Make social media videos with social-friendly storyboards

Animoto’s templates were designed to match the style of big brands and publishers you’ve undoubtedly seen on social media. Templates are available in both widescreen and square layouts. Recently, Animoto released three new storyboards specifically created for the real estate, travel, and wellness industries. There are also storyboards for product intros, recipes, event RSVPs, motivational quotes, step-based tutorials, and more.

I used a template called “Product Story” to create a series of explainer videos around marketing terms. Here’s the first one I made:

The software was crazy easy to use. I would even say it’s fun. The part that takes the longest to make social media videos like this one is finding the right photo and video assets. I used a combination of Animoto’s available stock photos, photos I sourced from Burst and other free stock photo sites, and free stock video from Pexels.

How much does Animoto cost?

Animoto offers a fully functional 30-day trial, so for me, it cost nothing. Once the trial is over, Animoto moves to a monthly subscription model. You can save substantially if you sign up for a year.

The lowest tier Animoto plan is called Personal, which is $16/month or $96/year. However, this plan includes Animoto branding at the end of each video, limited colors and fonts, and you can only download 720p video.

For most businesses, the Professional plan is a better option. It’s billed at $42/month or $264/year. The Professional plan enables you to download 1080p video without Animoto branding, and grants you access to more music tracks, storyboards, and unlimited colors. You also have the option to add your logo as a watermark to each video. If you need a multi-user account, the Business tier is $64/month or $408/year.

For comparison, similar software Lumen5 charges $99/month or $948/year to download 1080p video without its branding.

Duplicate videos in a snap

Once my first video was complete, I simply duplicated it to create the second and third explainer videos. I changed up the colors, assets, and text and was on my way in minutes. I also duplicated each video so I had widescreen and square versions of each. Square versions work best in feeds like Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn, while widescreen versions are best for YouTube, Vimeo, and your own website.

Make social media videos from scratch

After I created these first three videos from a template, I wanted to test how easy Animoto is when starting from scratch. Not surprisingly, it was super simple to make social media videos this way, too. In a little over an hour, I created the following video:

It wouldn’t have taken so long except I had some trouble getting my photo collage of the various channel logos to look the way I wanted it. Not to mention I’m infinitely picky, so I kept changing things.

There are limitations to the platform. When you make social media videos with Animoto, you don’t have a lot of control over the text; for instance, you can’t bold or italicize words. If you add a color filter, you have to add it to the entire video, not just one block (I would have liked to do this for certain blocks to increase the readability of the text). In addition, your uploaded assets are appended to a single project rather than to a centralized account library. That means that if you use your logo in every video or re-use photos or video clips, you’ll need to upload the files every time.

Still, I can’t argue with the quality of the end product. Especially at this price point. I wouldn’t make social media videos any other way.

The verdict

]I believe in the power of video. I wrote about why video is a crucial component of online marketing success. But video can be prohibitively expensive for many small business owners. With DIY software like Animoto, video becomes a much more attainable part of a marketing mix.

Templated solutions do have their limitations. But Animoto is a powerful tool that I recommend without hesitation.

Kim Kohatsu
Latest posts by Kim Kohatsu (see all)