Introduction
This article covers how to add a video to a post by uploading the file, or importing it from YouTube. By adding a video to a post, an embedded, playable video will appear in the article card (which is visible on the newsfeed) as well as the article detail view.
A video can be added to a post either at the time of creation (via the create a post flow) or added to a post (via the edit post flow). In either case, the procedure to add a video is the same.
It is possible to have a post with an embedded video from a 3rd party provider in it. To set that up, see this article. The difference between adding a video to a post versus having a post with an embedded 3rd party video in it is that in the former, a video file is uploaded and hosted by the Dynamic Signal platform, whereas in the latter the file is hosted by the 3rd party provider.
To decide which way of "doing" video is right for you, consider the following factors:
- If you have the actual video file, then you can upload it directly to the platform using the instructions described below. After going through this flow, you can then make it shareable to 3rd party social platforms by following the instructions in this article.
- If you have the actual video file available online, then use the "Advanced" option described below.
- If the file you want on the post is already on social media, like a Facebook Page Story, Twitter Tweet, or YouTube, then you can embed it using the instructions here.
Setting Up
- If the post is already created, and you just want to upload a video to the post, then in the manager app, click "Add a video" in the edit post view.
- If the post is being created in the create post flow, first save the post then click "Add a video" (because the platform requires there to be a post before adding a video (or anything else) to it). If the 'Save your post" button is not active, this is due to no title being added.
Add Video
When "Add a video" is clicked, a dialog box will appear with three options:
- "Upload a Video" - choose this option if you have the video file and would like to upload it.
-
"Import from YouTube" - choose this option if have a video that's on YouTube that you would like the platform to host. Make sure the video url is in the format of: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=20b_VspXjPQ and not https://youtu.be/20b_VspXjPQ?si=q0hCAzCiEVtQ90if
Choosing the former link will cause the following error message to be displayed: 'Sorry, we could not detect a video at that url.' - "Advanced" - choose this option if you have a video file that you are hosting on your own platform.
After uploading the video, it may take a couple minutes for the video to become available to members, because the video file needs to be processed for the embedded video player. The best practice is to add a video to a post that is pending, and then publish the post once the video has finished processing (or set a publish date in the future).
Note about "Advanced"
If the video file is hosted on a server, then you can add it to a post via the advanced option. By choosing this option, the platform never uploads the video, but rather, the platform provides a video player that, on runtime, downloads / streams the video from the 3rd party server onto the member's device.
To set up a post with an advanced video, you need at least one URL for where the video is hosted, but can provide up to three:
- MP4/MOV: This is the fallback option, and will be able to play on any device. It is highly recommended that this option is filled out for any video.
- HLS Playlist: This option provides a better experience on iOS devices.
- WebM/VP8: This option provides a better experience on Android, Chrome, and Firefox devices.
Ability to add SRT Subtitles playback on Native Video
SRT Subtitles can be added to Native video files in the Manager App, 10 srt language files can be added per video. The number of total supported languages are 52, these can be seen in the drop-down menu below.
Failed Upload
Our Third Party Vendor video service doesn't support certain transcoding components and will then show the video as 'Failed upload'. Users can try any of the following to resolve the issue and rule out any minor issues before raising to Support.
- Check the video is the recommended size within the platform. [500mb would be the maximum the platform uses]. If you believe within the platform video sizing is set to below 500mb, please reach out to your CSM as they can make the adjustment.
- File type - We'd recommended to use a MOV or MP4 file as it plays on all devices without issues.
- One of the quickest ways to convert a video is to simply rename the file name of the video. This will work for both Mac and Windows. Navigate to finder icon [Mac] or explorer [windows] - find where the video is saved and right click on the file type and click rename. Then change the extension, for example movie.MOV to movie.MP4 - the same rule applies in reverse.
- Alternatively you can use any reliable/safe converters found on the internet. Example link you can use https://cloudconvert.com/mov-to-mp4.
- You can also use VLC to convert your video. Once downloaded from this link https://www.videolan.org. the below steps can be followed:
- Open VLC Player from the Start Menu
- In the menu bar click Media > Convert / Save
- Click the Add button and browse to the file you want to convert
- Click the Convert / Save button
- Under Destination - click the Browse button and choose a location to save the file, and name the file.
- Under Profile choose Video -H.264 + MP3 (MP4)
- Click the Start button
- VLC should now convert the file
- Once converted try playing the file to ensure video and audio display correctly