We live in an age where, digitally, the world can truly be your nightmare, and even the most simple tasks, like creating a slideshow, might cause difficulties. All those free and premium services centered around e-commerce don’t change the situation. Though if you struggle to create an engaging slideshow or promo clip, it is essential for software to be easy to manipulate compelling content without having to be a high-level digital design specialist. At a time when digital savviness can make or break your brand, it’s crucial to know where to apply light touches for a significant impact.

Slideshows, in particular, are a great way to pack in information while also putting images, photos, GIFs, or products on display. Unfortunately, a simple slideshow may not be enough to hold someone’s interest online.

A remedy for that is adding music to complement your project. After all, who doesn’t love music? So, a musical slideshow is even better. If you’re not sure how to add tunes to your slideshow, it’s no problem. Just boot up Wave.video and keep reading this easy-to-follow guide on how to make a slideshow with music!

Why Make a Slideshow with Music Anyway?

If you’re scrolling through your feed on Facebook or Instagram and encounter a well-made slideshow from one of your favorite brands, but it’s completely silent, are you likely to finish watching it through to completion? The odds are probably not.

As a business, one of your main goals is to keep users engaged with your content. If brand loyalists aren’t interested in entirely watching your silent slideshow, you’ll be hard-pressed to convince non-loyalists to even tune in.

As a business, one of your main goals is to keep users engaged with your content

Adding a musical backdrop instantly changes things. Not only does it add depth, but a catchy riff keeps users absorbed too. Music plays to the viewer’s emotions as well.

Want your audience to get excited about your special news or product? Include an upbeat, happy jingle to keep their mood high throughout the slideshow. If you intend to tug at people’s heartstrings, a sad song can achieve that. Creating a slideshow with music is a great way to keep users, both old and new, captivated by new material.

How to Make a Slideshow with Music in Wave.video

Step 1: Create a Project

First, enter your Wave.video account. If you still don’t have it, feel free to create one (it would take less than a minute). Go to My Projects and click on the blue +Create button. If you want to make your slideshow from scratch, choose Blank video.

To start, you’ll need to determine the formats for your slideshow.

• Horizontal (16:9) is good for YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter feed
• Square (1:1) is for Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest
• Story (9:16) is used for Instagram (stories and reels), Facebook stories, TikTok, and Snapchat
• Vertical (4:5) is for Facebook, Instagram, and Linkedin feed

Here’s a pro tip: square formats are perfect when making slideshows with music, especially for audiences that mostly use mobile devices  to interact with you or your brand’s social media (Facebook, Instagram, etc.)

Regardless of the social channels you ultimately plan to share, there are more than enough formats to ensure a comfortable viewing experience for your audience, regardless of whether they are tuning in from their phone or computer. Just pick the ones that suit your fancy, and you’re good to go. That’s it. Don’t you love when things are easy?  

Step 2: Choose the Content for Your Slideshow

Can you imagine an engaging slideshow without content? We cannot, so the next step is choosing the proper mix of images and videos to serve as your building blocks. If you’d rather have a slideshow comprised entirely of pictures or entirely of video clips, that’s perfectly fine too. After all, it’s your project. With Wave.video stock library, the choice of images and videos is varied; the sky’s the limit.  

The thing to be aware of here is to choose content appropriate for the slideshow’s intended purpose. If you can construct a project entirely from our library, awesome!

But stock content doesn’t always hit the personal notes folks are looking for. If this is the case with your particular vision, choose to upload your own images and video footage. 

Integrating your own content is easy. If you are just starting your project, click on Upload Media, or on the left menu, go to the Stocks & Uploads section and click on the blue Upload button. The tutorial below shows the whole process of uploading content to the Wave.video editor. 

Once added, your uploaded content will remain under the Uploads tab from there on in. To include them in your slideshow, hover over the image or video you’d like to include and click the +Add button. Blending your own material with our library can help ensure your project has a mighty influence on your audience.

You simply click the + button on the timeline to add a new slide. 

If you’re interested in watermarking your slideshow with your brand logo, you can upload it and place it wherever you see fit. On the left menu, click on Watermarks, then on the right side, go to the Logo section and click on the blue Upload Logo button. Add it to the slideshow and customize it with your brand requirements. 

Step 3: Add Text & Branding

While you can certainly let your photos and videos speak for themselves, it’s typically best to go the extra mile and give your audience something short to read as images glide across the screen. A good rule of thumb is to keep things concise.

Ultimately, you don’t want to overload the slides with text. Having a slogan, a brand’s motto, or a few key phrases appear on screen is the ideal scenario. If you’re going to include full sentences on any of the slides, limit it to one or two illustrative sentences.  

You don’t want a wall of text getting in the way of your beautiful slideshow.

Don’t be afraid to play around with different fonts and colors. Each slide shouldn’t have a different font style, though, as that can detract from making your slideshow look like a cohesive piece. Depending on the length of your project, stick to one to three font variations. This will give you a chance to change things while not overwhelming your audience at the same time.

On the left, click Text, and it opens Wave.video library of fonts and templates for text. Choose the one you like and customize it to meet your ideal image: size, color, animation, background, shadow, etc.

Remember, slide transitions are essential too! This is an area where you can also have a bit more fun. Unlike fonts, it’s hard to overwhelm viewers with transitions.

Besides, having every slide make its entrance in the same style is boring. Keep things exciting by experimenting with the animations available in Wave.video editor. Keep the creativity doors open and succeed on your way to success.    

Step 4: Choose Music for your Slideshow

You may be surprised to find many stock audio of varying lengths and styles available in one click. Go to the Wave.video music stock library and find the sound that suits your slideshow perfectly. From music selected with business use in mind to inspiring melodies, there is a bevy of options to choose from. If you create a slideshow with music, having a library bursting with choices is where it’s at.

The beautiful thing here is that you can mix and match stock audio with your own music uploads, which helps make your musical slideshow even more unique.

It’s important to note that the length of your slideshow and the music you select should complement each other. If your slideshow is relatively short, for instance, 10 to 15 seconds, just stick with one song because trying to jam in two can make such a short video seem disjointed.

On the flip side, if your video is 30 seconds or more, don’t shy away from experimenting with two or three different music clips. Changing up the audio in longer videos gives your musical slideshow more personality and helps keep your audience engaged.

After selecting some music, you’ll be brought back to the editing screen, where you can customize the audio track to fit the slideshow. If you decide to add some more music, you can simply click on the +Audio button. 

Step 5: Share with the World

Once you’ve finished editing the slideshow, it’s time for the final step. Hit the Publish button and review the options. We recommend sticking with video formats for the slideshow download, so click on Video. 

Here you should choose slideshow details:

• Resolution (360p, 480p, 720p, or 1080p)
• Quality (optimized or maximum)
• Video format (*.mp4, *.mov, or .*webm)

Next, click on Render. Once rendering is over, you can download the slideshow to your computer or publish it directly to one of your social media profiles (YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, etc.)

So here we are; in this guide, we have covered all the essential steps for creating a snazzy slideshow with music. You see, there is no need to be a specialist to create compelling slideshows for your business or personal use. If you ever run into trouble, this guide will always be here to help. Now, release this baby into the wild and let your creation be seen and heard!

And if you’re wondering how to add music to a video for free – check out Wave. Video!