Table of contents
The first of September 2020 marks a significant day for us. We released ContentFries to the public. Thousands of content chefs use it today as their go-to [content repurposing app.](https://www.contentfries.com/)
Engaging subtitles, bite-sized pieces of content, beautiful quote cards, and much more... People use ContentFries to feed their content calendar faster than ever before.
If there's one thing I'm obsessed with as a co-founder, it's that I'm always hungry for more... More features, faster and easier content workflows, simpler scheduling, and more.
ContentFries 1.0 is now stable and battle-tested (or kitchen-tested) content repurposing software.
After years of new experience with dev, we found technologies and tools that are a better fit for us. As it grew in complexity, some decisions we made in the past were not optimal. My goal is to create something that is 10x better than the current form.
We have two options to achieve this goal. Keep rewriting the core code of ContentFries... Or start from scratch with years of extra experience. We decided to redo ContentFries from the ground up.
This way you can keep using the current version without breaking changes. The little con is that we will not add more advanced and complex features to the current version. Improving something that will soon become obsolete is a waste of time and resources.
We will make it modular, so it's extensible by nature. It will have all the content repurposing and scheduling features under one roof. You can expect better editing features, integrations with social media, and much more.
Let's have a look at what we plan to add to this beast, shall we?
Context Editor Differences
If the content multiplier is a brain, context editor is the heart of ContentFries.
Context editor allows you to generate bite-sized content pieces for social fast. All that while keeping the right context in mind.
Want to burn in engaging subtitles to your TikTok, YT shorts, or IG Reels video? Or, perhaps, include an eye-catching progress bar with a scroll-stopping headline?
Context editor allows you to do this without hassle. You can generate corresponding versions for different social media.
You can also turn your video into a WordPress blog post. Create powerful set-it and forget-it templates. Add text, logo, images, and more. Export your videos in bulk on the cloud. And we're still merely scratching the surface of what's possible.
As many trends come and go, it is obvious there is a need for tools that can make a life of content creators easier.
Our goal is to allow you to achieve in minutes what usually takes hours. Or even cost you thousands of dollars a month if outsourced to agencies or video editors.
Engaging subtitles for social media
Subtitle presets are a powerful feature. With it, you can generate engaging subtitles with a few clicks of a button. But it can be better.
That's why we plan to include these—currently missing—options:
Word-after-word animations;
Powerful letter animations;
Transitions between subtitles;
Option to change the font size of subtitle parts and more.
More video editing options
Context editor nor ContentFries is not a video editor, and never will be. But having all the basic video editing features would be very helpful.
On top of the current features, the Context editor in the 2.0 version will include the following:
Support for video and gif overlays;
Subtitle options mentioned above;
Transitions and overlays;
Improved UI;
Possibly also video merging and jump cutting.
On top of that, the intro and outro would be visible in the preview also with your background music.
Template variables
The context system in ContentFries is powerful and integrated with templates. One of the hurdles is if you need a different template for some of your contexts.
In that case, you need to copy and paste your headlines between contexts. We will solve this with template variables, automatically populating your texts as expected.
Element Libraries
Think of reusable components. Wouldn't it be awesome to search and pick something you need without building it from scratch?
Or build your own library of elements or grouped elements and use it in your future projects.
Headlines generator
Catchy headline plays a huge part in catching the attention in our fast-paced world.
With an ever-decreasing attention span, you have to master this skill.
With the upcoming headlines generator feature, it will be easier than ever before.
Content Multiplier (Trimmer) Differences
Multiplying video content as a text document feels great. No more hustling with the video editor timeline. No more time-consuming exporting one video after another.
With the ContentFries Trimmer, you can multiply your content with a simple drag and drop. Then select templates that should apply to your generated pieces of content. And optionally, also stitch intros and outros to all your pieces of content.
ContentFries content multiplier is without a doubt a huge time saver. Yet in the 2.0 version, it will become even more powerful.
Predefined defaults
If you use the same template, intro, and outro for your content pieces, this will save you even more time. We might put this one to the current version as well.
Non-linear content pieces
The next version of the content multiplier will support non-linear content pieces.
This means you will be able to pick a part of your transcription from the beginning, a second part from the middle, and a third from the end.
All of that without forcing you to cut out unwanted parts of your transcription.
Also, if for some reason you need to change the order of your parts, you will be able to with drag and drop.
Super fast transcriptions
Imagine you can get a transcription of your 2 hours long video in under 1-2 minutes.
The next version of the trimmer will also provide you with an option to do this. At the cost of slightly less accurate transcription. A great option if you're in a hurry!
Checkboxes
Chances are you don't have the time to proofread the transcription in one shot. Every text block will have a checkbox near it, so you can see what was proofread and what remains to be.
Notes
You can now mark down some notes to the transcription itself. But it might not be optimal.
That's why you will be able to store custom notes separately from the transcription. And they will also appear in the timeline.
AI summarizer
Our AI summarizer will pick the most important parts of your videos. We tested it on some long-form webinars, and it kept the context and the message intact. Another great time-saver!
Quotes generator improvements
Many content chefs love the way how the quotes generator works. It is super easy to produce dozens of beautiful quotes with it without hassle quickly. Or turn golden nuggets you found in your video into quote cards your audience will love.
The quotes generator in ContentFries 2.0 will do much more than that. Possibilities will include:
Option to create non-square quote cards;
Many different layouts and templates. Create quote cards that look like tweets or notes screenshots and more;
Animated video quote cards with word-after-word animations and effects;
Quote snapshots. This feature will take a part of the video where you stored a quote to your quotes library. Once done, it will use it as dynamic background. Very powerful for keynote speeches or speakers;
Last but not least, a carousel generator, which is great for Instagram or LinkedIn.
Integrations and content planning
If you're like me and love to have as many things under one roof as possible, you will LOVE this!
One of the HUUGE differences will be integrations with social media and webhooks.
This will open up a lot of possibilities. Schedule or post your content directly from ContentFries.
Set auto-schedulers - this one will blow your mind. Put your content automatically into the queue after you finish working on it.
Distribute your content to Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, LinkedIn, Twitter, and more.
Analyze statistics to see what's performing well and what is underperforming, and more.
Our context system will be much more powerful once this happens.
The ability to set webhooks will also help you to create powerful automatizations.
This will open up possibilities like:
Send a notification to your team members after the transcription is proofread;
Use Zapier or Make to do whatever you want after you finish exporting your piece of content and so on.
Better organization of your content
What I don't like is the interface gathering your fries and potatoes. It can quickly get messy, especially if you produce lots of content.
That's why I'm super excited about the new layout. It's cleaner, utilizes the available space better, and counts with many great improvements.
Workspaces
This is a game-changer for teams. Create separate workspaces for different clients or different projects.
The workspace will work as a new, clean ContentFries account. As a team owner, you will be able to change who in your team has access to which workspace. You will also have the ability to attribute them the role or permissions you want.
Nested folders
Feature to organize stuff further. The use case is up to you. Great for fast filtering and better organization of content.
Tags
We're also considering tags, which might be great for:
Better automatizations;
More filtering options.
And what's the difference between tags and folders? It's simple. Fry can belong only to 1 folder, but can have as many tags as you want.
What I don't like is the interface gathering your fries and potatoes. It can quickly get messy, especially if you produce lots of content.
That's why I'm super excited about the new layout. It's cleaner, utilizes the available space better, and counts with many great improvements.
Bulk uploads
Currently, you can bulk-export all your pieces of content and then download them in a single zip file. But you can't upload more than one piece of content at once.
With the new uploader, you will be able to upload many pieces of content. No need to repeat the uploading process over and over again!
More team features
We already covered that you will be able to set custom roles for custom workspaces. But it doesn't end there. Limit how many transcription minutes can individual team members use.
Set custom permissions for them or integrate approval workflow with your clients. Our goal is to add powerful options like these while keeping the platform as easy to use as possible.
Recipes and workflows
If my assumptions are correct, then this will be a killer feature. Create recipes or use the ever-growing library of recipes for cooking your content.
Let's look at what we plan to include in this part.
Text-to-video recipe
Turn your articles into videos. Paste the text of your blog post and let ContentFries generate a video out of it.
This recipe includes six steps:
Paste the script of your article;
Select a template;
Set scenes and transitions;
Pick an automated voice, or upload your voiceover. ContentFries will automatically sync text with the audio;
Preview;
Export and download.
Turning text into video with ContentFries 2.0 will be like a dream come true. On top of that, you will be able to use many other super-powerful features. I'm so excited about this!
Merger recipe
Simple to use interface that will allow you to cut, trim and combine videos and images. Pick fries, images, videos, or potatoes you want to combine into a single output.
Set transitions that should apply between individual parts. With this, it will be a breeze to turn dozens of images into a video slideshow.
Use it with your best-performing quote cards, chunks of bite-sized content... or even family pictures if you want to brighten up the day for your significant other. :)
Ever-growing list of recipes
With recipes, it will be easier than ever before to follow best practices.
Some recipes might include video-related workflow.
Such workflow would be specific to bite-sized content for TikTok or IG Reels.
A recipe like this would include steps like:
Upload the video;
Pick or confirm the template;
Generate the transcription;
Proofread the transcription;
Finalize timings of subtitles;
Pick a subtitle preset;
Send for approval;
Export, schedule or publish.
Now imagine that you can upload as many videos in the first step as you want. Then set the same template for all of these and let the system generate the transcriptions.
Afterwards, your team member responsible for subtitle proofreading will receive a notification. He can finish up step number four and five. The same person or your graphic designer can configure and set the subtitle preset. Or let the system do it without manual labor.
You or your client might then receive a notification to approve it. Once this is done, let the system auto-schedule depending on the context. If it is a "YouTube shorts" video and you want to publish one per day, the auto-scheduler can do that.
Can you see how powerful this can become?
Recipe maker
To release the full potential of this feature, some recipe builder is a must.
It's like in the kitchen. You need to pick or follow a good recipe to cook something delicious. We look at the content from the same perspective.
If your ingredients are valuable, you will be able to get the most out of them with ContentFries recipes. Leverage them to their fullest potential.
We're also considering...
Even though there are more than enough things planned for the future, it doesn't stop there.
We are not building the next cloud video editor. We are not developing the next tiny tool that solves just one particular problem.
Our goal is to build a powerful and robust content repurposing platform. While it is not possible to include everything you can think of, we have a lot of ideas for the long term as well.
Video hosting
ContentFries uses bunny.net as a super powerful global content delivery platform. Since ContentFries stores your videos anyway, this might be the next logical step to take.
This opens up possibilities like building a content library. Set what is public and what's behind a paywall!
Automatizations
The possibilities are limitless. Set what should happen after you mark some of your content with a specific tag.
Mobile app
A simple mobile app that allows you to upload, or even edit videos on your mobile would be great. All of that without forcing you to use the desktop app.
Infographics maker
Great for Pinterest. Pick a predefined template or build an infographic without any designing skills.
When will ContentFries 2.0 be released?
The short answer is we plan to release the first beta version for current users by the end of November.
We build ContentFries 2.0 from the ground up. After 2 years, we gathered enough experience to rebuild ContentFries.
The 2.0 version uses different technologies that are better for a platform like this. And we will do our best to make it extensible and so damn good.
Development takes time and can bring unexpected challenges. Also, we need to take care of the current version, so you can use that while we develop the 2.0 version.
That's why all release dates are rough estimates and can change. We want to make everything right, and if that means some release dates need an additional week or two, we will do that.
To learn more about all the different release phases, watch Content Friday episode #12 or read the following article.
Our vision is big. Will you be a part of it?
Development takes time and costs money. But awesome things are happening when you pursue your vision with consistency.
I'm aware of people that built teams and businesses around ContentFries. People that leveraged ContentFries in their darkest moments to fund their livelihood.
These powerful stories are motivating us to keep raising the bar higher.
We could be satisfied with the current version… Improve on it one step at a time. Provide it to people who understand the benefits of content repurposing.
But my vision would kick me in the butt every night in that case.
I'm a dreamer and a visionary. I love SaaS development and technologies. I love helping people through what we're building.
We have no shortage of ideas, and I'm excited that ContentFries is getting more and more traction.
I refused several investors and also an offer to be listed AppSumo. The reason is simple. I don't want to give up on control, and I don't want to overwhelm our team.
The goal is to release ContentFries 2.0 at least in early access by the end of this year.
This is the reason why we launched the lifetime deal. There will be no public lifetime offer once we launch the 2.0.
One user mentioned that ContentFries is adding value to his business in perpetuity. That's exactly what we're striving for.
If you produce long-form content like podcasts, interviews, or other content, get a free trial.
Join our Facebook group if you want to know what people think about us. Or get your lifetime membership right away.
There are six different plans, so I'm sure everyone can pick the right membership for him. Up to 1,997 USD for the unlimited plan.
I hope I will see you on the other side. :)
Thanks for reading this far!
Lukas, co-founder at ContentFries