With as many as 30% of marketers saying that video is more important than their website, we can’t deny that video marketing is one of the most popular and effective ways to engage customers. So, it comes as no surprise that 86% of businesses are already using video for marketing.
But despite its popularity, creating video content isn’t easy. Shooting footage can be costly, time-consuming, and requires a versatile skill set that not every small business can bring to the table.
This is where Boosted by Lightricks comes in.
The video creator app is available as an Android, iOS, and web app. But, in this review, we’re focusing on the Android version of the program. Below, we’re putting under the microscope what Boosted offers and how easy they make it is to create enticing ads for your paid social media campaigns.
Let’s dive in!
Getting Started with Boosted
If you have 60 MB worth of space on your Android device, it’s easy to download Boosted from the Play Store. Once you load up the app, you’re prompted to choose from a list of industries that might apply to your business. This allows Boosted to tailor its template suggestions to your specific needs.
This list encompasses 12 industries, including fashion, food, beauty, business, etc. Don’t worry if you can’t find a good fit right now or don’t want to lock yourself in. You can change your industry preferences anytime by accessing your account.
Video Templates
Once you have completed these first few steps, you can start browsing Boosted’s video ad templates.
There are hundreds of templates, categorized by:
- Boosted’s favorites
- Seasonal
- Your chosen industries
- Free
- Covid-19 related
- Tips and tutorials
- Polls and Questions
- Quotes
- Hashtags
- Customer reviews
- Contests and giveaways
- Sales
- Brand promos
- Announcements
- Events
If you’re working on a tight budget, never fear; there are 49 free templates to choose from.
All templates come with a recommended choice of font, graphic design elements, and high-quality footage. These templates genuinely provide everything you need to create professional-looking marketing videos.
Choose Your Format
Once you’ve chosen a template to edit, you can preview it and select your video format.
Here are your options:
1:1: This is excellent for Instagram posts as it complements their preferred squared layout.
16:9: This is likely your go-to choice for any desktop application, whether it’s YouTube, your website, or browser-based social media.
9:16: This portrait format is best suited to Facebook and Instagram stories.
I was particularly impressed with Boosted’s formatting feature. Optimizing videos for different channels is often a hassle in other video apps. Here you can switch formats at any time once you’ve started editing. This makes it easy to push the same video out to all the online channels you’re present on.
Trim and Fit Videos
If you don’t love your template’s default layout, you can change its composition with the trim and fit function. Here, you can zoom in or out of the frame or pan the shot. This nifty feature comes in handy for finding the ideal space for your text.
Add or Delete Scenes
Every template comes with several “scenes,” which are like the keyframes. These represent different segments of the content, such as announcing a “Sunday Sale!” followed up by “40% off!” in the next scene. You can add scenes to your video, edit your own text, and/or remove scenes if they are superfluous.
Upload Your Own Footage
When you click on your template’s video footage, you’re prompted with the option to upload your own media. You can upload images or video files to use with the text and color elements that come with your chosen template.
Add and Edit Text
You can add and edit text easily with the text tool, and with over 40 fonts to choose from, you can be sure each text element will reflect your brand. You can also edit the font size, alignment, positioning, and shadow as well.
Graphic Design
As we’ve already hinted at, each template comes with pre-designed graphics like banners and lines. Unfortunately, you can’t edit these. So, where graphic design elements are concerned, your only option is to choose a template that best represents your vision.
Choose Your Colors
On Boosted’s free plan, you can choose from various predetermined color schemes for each video. There’s a generous selection of colors with each one. When a palette has more than one accent color, you can choose to put another color into the foreground.
On the paid plan, you can take this a step further by finetuning your color palette to your heart’s content.
Apply Filters
When you click on your video footage, you can choose from 18 filters to switch up your video’s vibe. This is great for keeping your social media presence consistently branded.
Change the Music
You can use the music that comes with your chosen template or upload your own audio to accompany your ad.
Publish
You can preview your video at any time with a simple click. Once you’re happy with the final product, just hit share to post your video onto your favorite platforms, like Facebook and Instagram. You can also save it to your phone to upload elsewhere.
Premium Plans: What Do You Get if You Upgrade?
Upgrading to a paid plan unlocks more customization options and makes video creation even more straightforward. You can purchase a lifetime license with a single fee of £114.99 or subscribe for just a month for £9.99.
The premium plans come with:
- More templates
- The ability to add your own videos
- Premium filters
- A music library
- Over 30+ more fonts
- You can use up to 15 assets (video or image) in your video, whereas free users can only use up to five.
Are You Ready to Give Boosted a Try?
Boosted makes it easy for anyone to get started with video marketing. It comes with a generous free plan with plenty of templates boasting high production value. While Boosted’s templates are understandably generic and commercial, it’s easy to switch in your own music and footage and utilize Boosted’s customization tools. You have everything you need to fully brand your content.
We recommend giving this free and fun app a go. After all, you have nothing to lose and everything to gain by giving it a try. It’s simple enough to use, which is important for today’s time-strapped marketing generalists.
