About Lumen5
You don’t have to take Lumen’s word for it that videos are 12 times more effective in engaging users than text. We all know the power of video. As just one example, YouTube will make $5.5 billion in the US alone solely on ad revenue.
Video is powerful. But it not only too difficult to produce but also expensive. That’s where Lumen5 comes in. Lumen5 is a video creation platform that enables you to turn blog posts and text into videos in just minutes.
Does Lumen5 do a good job? And is video the right choice for your next digital marketing campaign? Find out in our review below.
Lumen5 is fantastic overall. It does a tremendous job of quickly converting text into engaging videos. The only area that doesn’t do as great a job is how much you can edit the video. But this software isn’t for film professionals.
It’s for marketers, bloggers, and amateurs trying who want a simple, great-looking, and informative video; and that is what Lumen5 does perfectly.
What Is Lumen5?
If you’ve ever had an experience in video editing, then you know this process all too well. You have a mountain of clips that you have to organize and polish to then present to your audience. If you’re shooting a live video, you may have hours of footage boiled down into just a few minutes.
Lumen5 gets rid of that concept entirely, opening up the use of video for everyone. It’s easy enough for just about anybody who wants to make videos to use. However, you should understand that it’s a different type of video. Don’t expect it to be the same thing as a live-action video shot on film cameras.
While it is possible to use Lumen5 for this type of use, it’s mainly geared for slideshow explainer videos. These types of videos are all over Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and across the web. Big names like Starbucks, PWC, and 400,000 other businesses have used their software.
In short, they’re not going to be Avatar or Star Wars, but they are an effective way of capturing attention and driving engagement with your company.
Getting Started With Lumen 5
The core of Lumen 5 is super simple. You upload the text or copy a link of a blog post or news article— you most often see Lumen videos with listicles like “The Top 5 Ways to Use Lumen5.”
Lumen’s AI will automatically convert the text into a video. From here, it will create a storyboard for you based on the text. It’s AI chooses what it thinks would be the best text chunks to have in the video—though, of course, you’re not bound by these suggestions.
You can then choose different images or videos from Lumen’s library of 100 million media files that will play while highlighting key parts of the text. Once you click a portion of the text, Lumen5 will automatically retrieve relevant media to go with the words.
It may not always be exactly what you’re looking for, but you’ll be surprised how accurate it is. You can also insert your own videos and photos if you have them. Lumen5 will also pull any media already within the post to use in the video too.
From here, you can play with settings to customize the animation like pan-out, zoom, etc. After this, you’ll have a few video editing options, select music, and effects, and your video will be good to go.
Lumen5 Pricing
Did we mention that you can start using Lumen5 for free right now? It’s pretty hard to beat that! For business use, you will want to upgrade to a full-featured paid plan.
Here’s what you get with each level:
Community | Starter | Premium | Business |
5 videos per month | Everything in Free, plus | Everything in Standard, plus: | Everything in premium, plus: |
Contains Lumen5 watermark | 10 videos per month | 15 videos per month | 20 videos per month |
720p video resolution | No Lumen5 branding | 15M stock photos & videos | 200M stock photos & videos |
24/7 live chat support | Custom colors & styles | Upload watermark & font | |
1080p video resolution | Multiple brand profiles | ||
$0 | $19 | $49 | $149 |
All of Lumen’s plans come with a free trial. Lumen also has Enterprise tools for large companies that include unlimited videos, onboarding, and access to both Getty & Shutterstock. You can request a demo from them to see their service in action.
Lumen5 Key Features
The most prominent feature of Lumen is the video creation function. It’s hard to overemphasize just how easy it is to use. If you don’t go about the finer details and don’t need something absolutely perfect, the software is good enough to have a portable video in no time at all.
Other key features include:
1. Automated Video
Lumen 5s AI is its most impressive feature. You can create a video from any link, and it will build a video with chosen clips and focused texts explaining the article for you. Even with abstract topics, it generally knows the best chunks to highlight.
2. Massive Video And Image Archive
Lumen5 has over 100 million clips and images to choose from. Even after testing for a vast diversity of topics, it’s hard not to find the right clip for your needs.
3. Video Templates
Lumen5 has hundreds of great looking templates to choose from. You literally need no experience at all. You can have a professional-looking video in minutes (similar to Squarespace and other website builders in this respect).
4. Storyboard
The storyboard is where you transform your text into a video. It’s visual and very easy to use. Even if you want to highlight different parts of the text, swap out media, or do anything else, it’s super simple.
5. Editing
This is the one feature that feels a little weaker and more limited than everything else. Lumen5 doesn’t give you too many choices. If your text doesn’t fit in one scene, it automatically creates a new scene or subscene for you. Each sub-scene has the same background as the parent.
If you want a different background, you’ll have to find a way to edit the content into one slide or create a new scene.
The same also goes with highlighting. With that said, however, this isn’t that big of a deal. For most users looking for simple, eye-catching videos, these minor editing issues won’t bother you much.
6. Music & Video Effects
You can source music from Lumen5’s library that includes thousands of royalty-free songs. You can search by mood like happy or educational as well as by tag. You can also upload your own music to use too.
There are also style features you can add, like changing the background color, font, text, adding watermarks, animations, and transitions.
7. Instant Video
If this sounds like too much work for you, you can use Lumen5’s Instant Video tab that will source music and effects based on your previous URLs. It will create a list of possible videos for you to use. Choose one, and it will take care of the whole music and effect curating process for you, including.
From here, you can use this as the video or add your own touch to each scene.
8. Automated Branding
Easily add your brand to your video with a mixture of colors and styles. Great for marketing agencies looking to boost their reputation or build their client’s reputation.
Who Is Lumen5 Best For?
Lumen5 is ideal for anybody wanting to make online videos either for their website or social media. Their basic plan is free and great for casual users looking to dip their toe in the waters of video editing.
Their Premium and Business Plans are great options for small to medium businesses and digital agencies looking to capitalize on the popularity of video marketing.
Video is expensive. Even a 1-2-minute video can cost several hundred dollars. And you can only use it a few times on social or your blog before people get tired of it. Lumen5 lets you create a gorgeous and informative video for less than the cost of 1 blog post per month.
Best of all, you can use the same blog post to make the video and use the video to promote the blog and vice versa. Overall, there are very few businesses of any kind that couldn’t benefit from using this type of software for both brand awareness and consumer education.
Lumen5 Alternatives
Lumen5 does have a few competitors that offer similar features. Two of the most popular alternatives are Content Samurai and Animoto.
Content Samurai
Similar to Lumen5, Content Samurai keeps videos from text script. However, it does have one key advantage—it allows for voice track to be played over your videos. So, if you want to narrate your creation, this is super helpful. However, its monthly plans are pricier, especially for what they offer compared to Lumen 5s options.
Animoto
Animoto is another explainer video maker. It doesn’t have as many features, but it is affordably priced, making it a good option for those on a tight budget.
Lumen5 | Content Samurai | Animoto |
Video creation from text | Video creation from text | Video creation from text |
Cloud-based | Cloud-based | Cloud-based & Mobile app |
Free Plan | X | X |
200 million+ image library | 125 million+ image library | Access to Getty images |
Add branding | Add branding | Add branding |
From $19/month | From $47/month | From $8/month but doesn’t remove Animoto watermark. |
Is Lumen5 Worth It?
Considering Lumen5 has a community plan where you can try it for free, how can it not be worth it? In addition, all of its paid plans have free trials so you can get a taste of the more advanced features without spending a dime.
Lumen5 offers these free trials because they know just how good their product is. That’s why there is the preferred video making software of huge names like Time Magazine, The Economist, Mitsubishi, and 400,000 other businesses from around the globe.
Pros
- Easily create videos
- Huge image library
- Instant Video for no-effort videos
- Has a free plan available
- Paid plans are very affordable
- Large number of templates
- Intuitive AI to make great videos
- Automatically add videos to RSS feed
- Add branding, watermarks, and other customizations
- Huge music library
Cons
- Lacks some pro editing features
- Price plans limit the number of videos you create each month, but still more affordable than a video team
- No voice-over feature
- No image or sound editing
Lumen5: The Bottom Line
If you’ve wanted to make the leap into video, but neither have the technical skills nor the budget for hiring a crew, then Lumen5 is perfect for you. You can easily transform your brilliant text into an equally amazing and captivating video.
Lumen5 is super affordable, easy to use, and comes with a vast number of innovative features. Best of all, it has not only a free trial but also a free community plan that allows you to use its software for up to 5 videos per month. With that kind of deal out there, the only question remaining is why haven’t you tried it out for yourself already!
Lumen5 Review
-
Video Creation
-
Image & Video Library
-
Video Editing
-
Ease Of Use
-
Affordability
Summary
If you’re into social media marketing, you know the impact a good media video can have. Lumen5 is a social media marketing video maker that aims to make the process simple and easy. Does Lumen5 have what you need? Read our thorough review of Lumen5 before you buy.