Introducing Soapbox by Wistia

Off-the-cuff video creation is cropping up everywhere. Daily user counts for apps like Snapchat and Instagram are continuing to climb, and early adopters of this casual video trend have already begun to integrate low-budget, low-stakes video into all areas of their businesses.

At Wistia, we’ve always been excited about the more-video, more-human future of online business. That’s why we’re bubbling with excitement to present Soapbox.

Even if you’ve never held a camera or worked with editing software before, you’ll be able to cook up an impressive video and share it instantly.

So if you’ve got something to say, get on your Soapbox! This free Chrome extension is just one click away.

Why we built Soapbox

When we set out to build Soapbox, our goal was to remove the barriers that prevent businesses from using video. At Wistia, we’ve always believed that video will become as ubiquitous as text for communication, so we aimed to build something that was as quick and frictionless to use as any email or messaging platform.

“Our goal was to remove the barriers that prevent businesses from using video.”

We also believe that video is the most powerful medium for communicating creatively and forging meaningful connections with your audience.

Creating a Soapbox video is faster than writing a long email or running an in-person presentation, and it’s an easy way to make a memorable, human connection.

Built for every role in your business

We built Soapbox with a broad lens — it’s flexible and easy to use by anyone, no matter what team you’re on.

Making a video voicemail for a sales lead? Explaining a concept to a customer? Presenting a new idea to your team? Now you can stand out from the average webcam video, and make something snazzy. No budget? No problem.

Need to see some examples? We’ve got you covered: 8 examples of effective Soapbox videos coming right up!

Don’t make a screencast, make a connection

To make a great presentation, compelling visual material is key, but to make a memorable connection, you need you! And that’s why Soapbox was built to make both you and your content look amazing.

While many screencasting tools are useful, we’ve always felt that they’re missing out on an amazing opportunity. Someone is on the other end of that screencast for crying out loud!

Since the dawn of screencasting tools, webcam feeds have taken a backseat to screen feeds. Most tools have adopted a “picture-in-picture” mode, where a small box with your face is overlaid in the corner. Yes, there’s no denying that the screencast is often the most useful element. But with Soapbox, you can add moments of delight, clarity, and personality.

Now you’ll have the flexibility to decide when you want to show just your face, just your screen, or a split-screen style, where the webcam feed is side-by-side with the screencast.

Add a friendly introduction, summarize a point, make smoother transitions, and above all else, make a real connection.

Edit your video lickety-split

Editing is one of the key ingredients for creating a professional-looking video. But venturing down the path of editing software for the first time? That’s scary stuff.

With Soapbox, we wanted to make video editing accessible and fun! Trim your clips, zoom in on features of your screen, and easily switch between the webcam and screen feed.

“With Soapbox, we wanted to make video editing accessible and fun!”

Trimming, transitioning, zooming, panning… get ready to add these skills to your resume. You’ll be a video pro in no time.

Bolster your playback with Wistia’s back-end

One of the main benefits of Soapbox is that it all operates on Wistia’s back-end. It benefits from our years of experience in ensuring smooth video delivery across all devices and operating systems.

As soon as you’ve recorded a Soapbox video, it ships straight to our servers, where it will be hosted in the cloud forever, and then delivered by global CDNs, at the ideal resolution and bitrate to suit the connection of your viewer.

In other words, you never have to worry about your viewer’s experience, because Wistia’s got your back (end).

Get on your Soapbox

Why wait to save time, make connections, and impress your coworkers? Learn how to look your best in a webcam video, watch some real examples of Wistians using Soapbox, and install it for free.