Stock Video Clip And Audio Track Resources For Content Creators

A collection of the best free and premium stock media resources to download videos, music, animations, audio tracks, sound effects, and more.

If you’re not already using video content to gain visibility for your brand, attract new clients, and grow your business, you’re already behind.

On YouTube alone, people watch more than a billion hours of video every day. The average person spends seven hours and 55 minutes per week watching online video content on their platform of choice and consumption is increasing across all age groups, especially with people over 46 years old.

Video captures attention, engages audiences, and provides extertainment. It brings stories to life, evokes emotions, explains complex concepts, simplifies processes, teaches you new things, makes you laugh, and inspires you to take action without making you do any work.

It’s no wonder that Cisco states online video will account for more than 82% of all consumer internet traffic by 2022.

But it’s not just about getting audiences to take notice and slow their scroll…

Video Drives Engagement And Sales

Video is a great way to encourage your audience to connect with your brand, to inspire them to leave a comment, a like, or a heart, and even to motivate them to share your content with their networks. Using video to communicate with your clients, customers, subscribers, and broader audience helps if the next best thing to speaking with them in person. It helps them get to know, like, and trust you.

Check out these statistics:

• People watch 2 million videos on Twitter every day and tweets with video earn 10x more engagements than Tweets without video.
• Emails with the word ‘video’ in the subject are opened 7% more than emails without.
• LinkedIn video posts are shared 20x more than other content formats and those designed for silent viewing are 70% more likely to be watched to the end.
• 59% of executives agree that if both text and video are available on the same topic, they are more likely to choose video. In fact, 92% of mobile video consumers share videos with others. Social videos get 12 times more shares than text and images combined.
• In 2020, 15% of all Facebook content was video and accounts with more than 100,000 followers post 71% of all video content on the platform — that means there’s opportunity!

Even Instagram is going all-in on video as it looks to the future…

As reported by The Verge, “Instagram is no longer a photo sharing app, according to Adam Mosseri, the head of Instagram. In a video posted to his Instagram and Twitter accounts, Mosseri said the company is looking to lean into entertainment and video after seeing the success of competitors like TikTok and YouTube.”

Still not convinced that video needs to be incorporated into your long-term growth strategy and marketing plan?

Check out these facts and statistics linking video, sales, and revenue:

• According to Animoto, 58% of consumers visit a brand’s social media pages before visiting their website. 60% of consumers who purchased from a brand found out about the brand through social media and video ads were the number one way they discovered the brand, which means videos need to be a part of your social media strategy.
• YouTube has more than 2 billion monthly users and 70%+ say YouTube makes them aware of new brands. Google shares that globally, 40% of shoppers said that they purchased products they discovered on YouTube. This means establishing and growing a YouTube channel for your brand will help more people discover you, learn about your services, products, and programs, and eventually make a purchase.
• Oberlo shares that video marketers get 66% more qualified leads per year and WordStream reports that marketers who use video increase revenue 49% faster than non-video users.
• 81% of people use Instagram to help research products and services and 130 million Instagram users tap on shopping posts every month.
• In general, 84% of people say that they’ve been convinced to buy a product or service by watching a brand’s video. And, with studies showing that 54% of consumers want to see more video content from brands and business they support, it’s clear that your business needs to embrace video in all formats.

The thing is…

Creating Effective Marketing Videos Is Tough

If you haven’t yet fully embraced video marketing, you may be feeling a bit frustrated. Most freelancers and business owners who aren’t yet using video marketing say it’s because they don’t have time, they don’t have the right tools, it’s too expensive, and they don’t know where to start. So you’re definitely not alone.

Luckily, apps like PicPlayPost, StorySwag, and iMovie make creating and editing videos easier, and video editing software like Screenflow and Camtastia provide more advanced features.

With that said, you can get started with nothing more than Zoom or your smartphone camera.

Yes, you can use Zoom to record a video of yourself without inviting anyone else to join you! And yes, you can simply hit record on your smartphone to create a short video. You don’t even have to worry about your video not being uber-polished and professional because many people report that their more casual videos actually perform better. Why? Because off-the-cuff or from-the-heart feel more real and authentic and less rehearsed.

Stock Video And Audio Makes Things Easier

Then, when you’re ready to step up your game and level up your video production, check out the collections of free and paid stock video and audio sites listed below.

Some things you can do with stock video footage and stock audio tracks include:

• Use as backgrounds for your “talking head” videos
• Choose a stock audio track for your podcast ident
• Combine photos with stock audio tracks to create slideshows
• Supplement your own videos with stock video clips
• Use in videos that promote blog posts, podcast episodes, interviews and more
• Place text over a stock video background to create a “silent” social media video post
• Create attention-getting social media ads
• Use stock video to create your video bumpers or add intrigue to your marketing videos
• Download stock videos to use in your stories
• Use stock audio tracks in the background of your marketing videos.

Free Stock Video Resources

As with stock photography, stock video and audio resources can make creating effective video marketing content easier and faster. It’s also way cheaper than hiring a professional video production crew to shoot custom videos if that’s not in your budget!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Paid Stock Video Resources

Unfortunately, several of the websites that offer royalty-free stock footage, video clips, audio tracks, music, animations, and sound effects for free, are also peppered with obnoxious ads for the big stock media sites. And in many cases, it can be hard to distinguish the photos displayed in ads from those available to download for free.

I get it, but ick!

While a few of the following stock media sites invite you to sign up for offers like “10 free downloads,” or have a single page with a small number of free stock videos you can download (which I’m guessing is more for organic SEO than anything), all focus on premium, paid stock video footage and audio tracks. Many of these brands pride themselves on strong partnerships with videographers and compensating them fairly for their work.

On these sites, the media assets (video and audio files) are available through individual purchases, packs of credits that earn you a small discount, or monthly/annual subscriptions.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One Last Piece Of Advice

Before downloading and using any stock media, whether it’s stock photos, videos, audios, illustrations, graphics, or templates, always double-check the licensing information so you know exactly what you can and can’t do with the stock media you’re downloading, how many times you can use it, and what type of attribution (if any) is required.

Royalty-Free Vs. Rights Managed

• Royalty-free video clips can be used as many times as you want with few restrictions and no royalties owed to the original creator. Royalty-free media is less expensive and used by more people, so it’s often available at a lower cost or even free.
• Rights-managed stock video clips have far more stringent guidelines and restrictions on things like how the media can be used, how many times it can be used, and where it can be used. Rights-managed media is more exclusive, used by fewer people, and often more expensive.

Many stock media sites distribute their products under a Creative Commons license, which is a license that allows a piece of content to be distributed freely. The thing is, there are different types of Creative Commons licenses, each one outlining different rules regarding how the media may be used and what attribution is required.

Again, before using any stock media, do due diligence.

Read the licenses and terms and conditions and make sure you have clarity about how you can use the media and what is expected in terms of attribution. And speaking of attribution… while many free stock video and stock photography sites don’t require any type of attribution, it’s highly encouraged to give the creator recognition when you can.

Oh, And While You’re Here…

Check out my other recommended tool collections for designers and developers:

• CSS Tools And Code Generators To Speed Up The Web Development Process
• 40+ Background Pattern Generators And Design Pattern Resources
• Graphic Design And Website Design Tools For Professional And DIY Designers
• Icon Libraries And Illustrations For Your Next Design Or Development Project
• Stock Photography And Diverse Image Collections For Visual Design
• Tools For Working With Color, Building Gradients, And Ensuring Accessibility

And of course, stay tuned for more posts like these!