One powerful marketing medium. Online audiences’ favorite. Great driver for engagement and sales.
Wondering what is that?
The answer is – videos aka reels. It’s no surprise that reels and in feed videos are tremendously popular these days.
Statistics also show a favoring video trend – 68% of consumers prefer to learn about products through videos than other content forms. People watch sixteen hours of online videos per week on average (52% more than last two years).
Interesting, isn’t it? Predictably, the marketing world is heavily tilting towards video marketing.
Instagram is one platform that can significantly drive your sales using video marketing. With 1+ billion active users, this visual social network is highly influencing the consumers’ choice.
This is a marketing channel you can’t ignore. But how to ensure that you use Instagram effectively?
Well, Instagram users spend an average of 53 minutes per day scrolling through Instagram videos, feed, Live, reels, and stories. To grab your user’s attention, you must create awesome video content.
It’s easy to shoot videos on your smartphone and quickly upload them on Instagram, provided you know the preferred Instagram video size, format, shape, and other specs. Well, not many know of these specifications right from the start.
However, creating the best video content on Instagram comes with its challenges. Not knowing the perfect video size or specifications can leave you frustrated.
To save you from the trouble, this blog explains all the key components of Instagram videos, like format, specifications, size, and other aspects that enable you to use Instagram to its true potential and get excellent results.
Where can you post videos on Instagram?
The most common form of video on Instagram is Instagram Feed videos. Apart from your Instagram feed, you can post videos on many other places on Instagram.
Instagram Stories
Instagram stories provide users an easy, quick, and fun way to connect with their friends and family. Within the user story feeds, brands can feature their ads. Brands must ensure to create ads that gel with the flow of the story video. Else, users can simply swipe and move out.
Live videos
Instagram lets you go live and broadcast live videos for your followers. It’s an excellent way to connect and communicate with your audience. For brands, it’s a great way to communicate with a large audience in real-time. However, one challenge is – you can’t edit or redo your video. There are no replays, and the video vanishes once the broadcast ends.
Instagram Reels
Instagram reels are short-form videos that can pour in a whole lot of views for any interesting content you create. Reels have now taken over IGTV videos can be upto 15 minutes long if you are uploading a preshot video as reels.
With that being said, reels provide a valuable option to engage your followers through videos. Instagram reels let you post short videos similar to those you see on TikTok. The videos are easy to create and share, with the format being quite similar to other Instagram video formats. Plus, you have the ease to play around with sound and other effects through in-app editing.
What are the recommended Instagram Video Sizes?
Let’s talk about the best Instagram video dimensions, or size, for an Instagram video. Dimensions are generally given in pixels. But there’s something called aspect ratio, which is related to a video’s dimensions.
Aspect ratios are the ratio of width and height. A 11 or 22 denotes a square aspect ratio. On the other hand, a rectangular aspect ratio can be something like 169. In the case of Instagram, a rectangular one is 9 16.
When it comes to file size, the maximum file size for videos that are 10 minutes or less is 650MB.
If you don’t use the right aspect ratio, your video may cut from the edges and look odd. This is because Instagram crops the video from the edges to optimize the space.
Different dimensions and aspect ratios are apt for different categories of videos. Take a look at the recommended sizes/dimensions for every type.
Instagram Stories, and Live videos
So, your video has to be 1080px in width and 1920 px in height to be a good fit for Instagram. This dimension is most suitable if you are making a video to be posted on Instagram stories, or Live.
Considering the aspect ratio, the most suitable is 916.
Instagram feed videos
In feed posts, you can post videos of varied dimensions. However, the ideal dimension for feed videos is 1080 x 1080 pixels for landscape videos and 1080 x 1350 pixels for portrait videos. When it comes to file size, Instagram allows a maximum file size of 4 GB for feed videos.
Here, you must keep the aspect ratio in the range of 1.911 ( for landscape option ) and 45 (for portrait option).
You may post a square or a vertical video keeping the aspect ratio in mind. However, the Instagram screen doesn’t rotate, and mobile users mostly keep the phone vertical, making the square videos look small.
On the whole, it’s always safe to create vertical videos for Instagram posts. That way, you are sure to engage your audience better.
Instagram Carousel Video Ads
These videos are known to generate high engagement amid followers. The carousel ads let the user swipe to the left to see more content. The dimensions for these types of ads are recommended as 1080px X 1080px. It’s a square form with an aspect ratio of 11.
What’s The Maximum File Size For Instagram Videos?
For most of the video formats on Instagram, the maximum file size is 4GB. For Instagram reels, it is 650MB for videos of less than 10 minutes. However, you can record reels with a length of up to 15 minutes It is necessary to be aware of the Instagram video limits to ensure you do not make inordinately long videos and end up reworking on your content.
What Should Be Your Preferred Instagram Video Format?
The most preferred video format is inarguably MP4 format.
MP4 format files use the H.264 codec video compression standard. So, if you hear that the best Instagram video format is H.264, not MP4, then don’t worry. Both refer to the same format.
You can create video footage in the required format and upload it on Instagram.
But there’s an easy and effective way. Use video editing software.
Edit, beautify, make the video crisp, convert it into the Instagram format, and then upload.
Two free tools that come in most handy for converting your video footage are – Kapwing and Online-Convert. Use these tools to play around with your video footage and convert it to the perfect Instagram format.
Super easy! Right?
Which is the Best Audio File Format for Videos?
The best format for the audio file in Instagram videos is – AAC.
AAC is much better than MP3 in terms of audio quality. So, next time if you are recording the video and audio separately for combining both through editing software, make sure that the audio file is AAC.
Video Lengths
Here is the category-wise list of Instagram video lengths
Instagram Stories
For Instagram stories, your video can be of a maximum of 15 seconds. In case your video length goes beyond 15 seconds, Instagram splits your videos and shows it in clips of 15 seconds.
Live videos
Instagram Live videos, too, have a limit. You can go live for only up to four hours at once. This is a recent update and the earlier limit was 60 minutes.
Instagram Feed
If you are posting a video on your main profile or Instagram feed, its length must be within three seconds to one minute. In case the video is more than one minute, Instagram splits and displays it into 1-minute clips.
Instagram Reels
Any video posts shot for a duration of less than 15 minutes can be shared as reels. However, if you have a public account, only the reels with a duration of up to 90 seconds can make it to the discover section.
What’s the Recommended Instagram Video Resolution?
The recommended frame rate is a minimum of 30 FPS (frames per second). The minimum resolution should be 720 pixels.
Extra tips for videos
Now that you know everything about Instagram video specs, here are a few tips that will help you create great videos that will leave your audience asking for more.
Keep the videos short and crisp
As the attention span of our mind is very short, it’s better that you keep your videos short. Try to catch the viewers’ attention from the start itself with great visuals and appealing language.
Enhance your video with titles, captions, and subtitles
Adding titles, subtitles and captions always help to enhance viewer understanding. In the absence of these, the viewers may miss out on some content and lose interest.
Keep the language concise and simple
You should use language which is simple and to the point. Complicated language and difficult words may leave the user confused.
Use Instagram Stories to the fullest
Instagram stories are the most-watched format. Not only are they interactive, but you can also add a lot to make them attractive with many special features available like links, stickers, and hashtags. Brands can create striking content for their products and services by using these features.
Go live and market your products
Use Instagram live to market your products and answer your viewers’ queries in real-time. But before you go live, don’t leave any opportunity to create buzz about your live broadcast. You can use Instagram stories to build hype about your live session.
Create curiosity with thumbnails
Use attractive images and infographics as thumbnails to grab viewers’ attention even before they watch the video. You can use captions in the thumbnail to stir curiosity and tell what the video contains.
Keep track of how your videos perform
Use Instagram insights to assess the performance of your video. See what type of videos work well for your audience and which formats do not work well in grabbing your viewers’ attention. Keep on improving your videos.
Interesting Read: 7 Exclusive Reasons Why Instagram Is Necessary for Your Marketing Plan
Wrapping Up!
With more than a billion accounts, Instagram is an essential tool for marketing your brand. Most Instagram users follow at least a business account, providing businesses ample opportunity to showcase their brands.
Besides, with a variety of options available, such as Feed, Live, Instagram stories, Reels, and Video ads, Instagram has made video marketing super easy for every business as well as marketer. So, creating great video content should be the top priority of every brand. Knowing all the details about Instagram videos is the need of the hour.
On Instagram, different formats require different video specs. Once you know your preferred video format, it is easier for you to follow the specs requirement.
Knowing about the detailed specs may look daunting at first, but it’s worth investing your time and effort. Sticking to the specs will help your video look professional and appealing, and would encourage your viewers to expect and demand more content from your account. On the other hand, wrong video specs may make your video unattractive and lead to your viewers losing interest in your content.
So, use the right specs and start creating awesome videos for marketing your brand on Instagram!
It is imperative that you thoroughly brainstorm ideas for content regarding your video marketing strategy by considering your marketing objectives and target audience. You can also curate content by using tools, such as SocialPilot, for searching keywords and strategizing content based on the trending ideas and concepts.
