A Guide to Effective Video Marketing on Instagram

Instagram videos have become a key part of the platform, drawing engagement for everything from education to brand promotion. 

To make the most of your video content, it’s essential to align it with the platform’s needs and your audience’s expectations. 

With various video formats—Feed, Stories, live broadcasts—each with different time limits, knowing how long your videos should be can make a huge difference. 

This guide will help you understand video length and offer tips on how to maximize your content’s impact.

Instagram Feed Videos

How long can Instagram videos in the feed be?: Three seconds to a minute.

Instagram Feed videos are short and impactful, capped at 60 seconds to grab attention quickly. You can upload them as regular posts, using features like location, tags, and various formats (portrait, landscape, square). 

If your video is longer, you can easily trim it to fit the 1-minute limit and still share the most important part.

Pro Tip: When you set out to post Instagram videos, remember that they’ll permanently be featured on your profile page. So be sure to design visually compelling thumbnails that match the esthetics of your feed.

Also, if you want to include text in your thumbnails, make sure that it takes up no more than a quarter of the image. Instagram is a photo-based platform, so its algorithms favour content that fits this feature.

Instagram Story Videos

How long can Instagram Stories be?: 15-seconds per Story card.

Instagram Stories have proved to be a smart move on the company’s part. This feature is perfect for sharing fresh and fun content to keep your audience engaged and to interact with them daily.

Instagram allows you to upload stories of up to 15 seconds each. So, if you want to post longer content, you’ll have to split it into several clips.

But the most significant advantage of the Stories is that you have a lot of great tools to customize them. Whether you want to add special filters, use the GIPHY gallery, or the ‘Swipe Up’ feature, you’ll always find something to bring life to your Story cards.

Pro Tip: Instagram GIFs are particularly useful for adding colour to your Stories and guiding your audience. Do you want your followers to sign up for something? Want them to see your latest post? Or do you want them to keep watching what you have to say in the rest of your Stories? There’s a GIF for all that and more! 

Instagram Livestream Videos

How long can Instagram livestream videos be?: up to an hour.

Big announcements deserve big events. And there’s no better way to generate excitement around your content than through live broadcasts.

The maximum duration of Instagram live videos is an hour, during which you can not only show yourself to your audience in real-time but also interact directly with them through the chat and answer their questions.

That said, what is the ideal time that a live broadcast should take you? Well, it depends a lot on how you interact with your audience. 

It doesn’t matter if you take just 10 minutes or the entire hour—any time you provide value to your followers and encourage them to participate and ask questions, you can take as long as you want.

Pro Tip: Announce your live events in advance to generate awareness. Crucially, try to increase your audience’s expectations: not just tell them you’re going live in an hour. Instead, raise an interesting question or promise great news to motivate them not to miss it out.

Instagram Reels

How long can Instagram Reels be?: Up to 15 seconds.

Recently, Instagram launched a new feature where you can show your fun side on video. Reels have a dedicated place on the explore page and their section on your profile. However, you also have the option to share them on your Stories and Feed.

Reels are perfect for pouring out all your creativity, as they offer many editing tools to fully customize your clips in under 15 seconds. 

Some include options for creating clean transitions, audio, and text special effects, as well as colourful stickers and backgrounds.

Pro Tip: Reels are not just made for social media influencers. Even in their early stages, Reels have shown to be a great ally for Instagram marketing. Brands like Walmart and Louis Vuitton use Reels to grow their community and promote their products with videos that go viral.

Instagram Video Ads 

How long can Instagram Feed Ads be?: up to 120 seconds.

How long can Instagram Story Ads be?: 15 seconds per Story.

Finally, on Instagram, you have the option to sponsor your ads as both Feed videos and in the Stories. But the time specifications are a bit different than with regular posts.

With sponsored Feed ads, you have the chance to upload 2-minute-long videos. However, as with all advertisement venues, completion rates decrease as videos take longer, so it’s sometimes convenient to keep them shorter so that your audience gets your message.

When it comes to Stories ads, things get a little more complicated. The platform allows you to display a maximum of three sponsored Story cards at a time. After that, users have to tap to get more of your content.

Pro Tip: If there’s one thing you need to keep in mind when it comes to Instagram video ads, is that you need a great hook. Many users tend to see ads with a fishy eye, so you should quickly capture their attention in the first few seconds you have.

Leave dramatic build-ups for another time: if you have any shocking facts or questions, or an awesome shot to add, be sure to make use of it as a lead.

Creating Instagram Videos

Are you considering promoting your branded content on Instagram? Announcing your new product releases? Or simply interacting more with your audience? Now you know there’s more than one option for you with Instagram videos.

With Feed and promotional ads, Instagram is a fantastic place to share your professional content and bring it to wider audiences. 

But if you’re looking to spark an emotional response and engagement with your followers, Stories, live broadcasts, and Reels allow you to create content that’s quick and easy to consume and that you can tailor to your preference.

How To Make Instagram Videos That People Will Share

We’re all aware that videos have become an Instagram trend is on the rise. Between Stories, Live, and Feed, Instagram videos are everywhere you look when you open your account – And there are good reasons for it! 

Video is the marketing content that performs the best on Instagram. Whether we’re talking live-action pieces or animated content – like cartoon ads or whiteboard videos – brands are already aware that, when they use video on the platform, they’re going to see more engagement from users. 

However, video content isn’t magic. If you want to reap the benefits, you need to make effective choices to create pieces that leverage the platform to engage your audience, which is what we’re going to go over in this article.

The Right Length for the Right Piece

Instagram says that a video uploaded on their platform’s feed can be anywhere from three seconds to one minute long. But that doesn’t mean that a 3-second-long video (or a 60-second one, for that matter) is always the best way to go.

You should aim for a length that lets you communicate your message freely, but without taking up the full 60 seconds. 

To strike the right balance, utilizing a video maker tool can help you create engaging content on Instagram by seamlessly editing and refining your videos to an ideal length that captivates your audience while delivering your message effectively within the given time frame.

On your feed, people tend to watch anywhere from 3 to 15 seconds, and depending on how hooked they are to the content, some of them may stick around longer.

Instagram Stories are a bit different in this regard. With stories, you can either focus on using the usual 15 seconds or upload multiple stories in sequence to create segmented pieces that users can consume in chunks. 

Still, when it comes to marketing pieces, the golden rule is to keep it short and watchable! It’s best to have shorter, bite-sized content that your audience can watch in one sitting than a single 60-minute long video that no one will watch all the way through.

Choose the Right Type of Video

On Instagram, audiences are used to consuming immediate content. Selfies, photos of someone’s latte, instant pics of friends using their favourite filter…etc.

For brands, content should be as equally fresh, but with a touch of professionalism. Also, it should be content that can be produced frequently – consistency is key!

So, what are the types of video posts that are both fresh and professionally made? 

Simple video animations – like the one below – are engaging and easy to make. Combining simple graphics with animated text and still images, you can illustrate your message without breaking the bank! 

Also, you can repurpose longer-form content to better fit the platform. Skilled video companies advise extracting some snack videos from things like explainer videos, to make short snippets that show sections and get more bang for your buck. 

If your vibe is more live-action, you can use short clips to make engaging content like tutorials, testimonials, or short vlogs that tell stories by themselves.

Optimize for Better Reach and Engagement

The video has the highest engagement rate for Instagram posts, but don’t be lazy about it — it’s not enough to create just any video and call it a day! 

Every video you upload to your Instagram should be optimized. One common mistake to avoid is, for example, to keep the first frame of a video blank, instead of putting important, eye-catching frames on it. 

We can’t stress this enough: optimizing the first frame of a video is vital! A lot of times that’s the only thing that the average viewer will see before deciding whether to watch more or keep scrolling down to the next post.

Add important information and appealing visuals in the first frame (especially useful if your video freezes because of a poor internet connection, for example), and fill the first few seconds of the video with the most important parts of your message. That way, the average audience member won’t miss anything!

You also need to make sure your video is surrounded by the data that makes it shine. This means working on a compelling script that helps set the message from the start. 

Also, adding the appropriate geotags, hashtags and mentions can make a huge difference as far as reach goes. Make sure you use a good online video editor to assemble the different clips in the right order and to get the important elements to stand out

For Better Performance: Measure, Improve, Repeat

To make your video strategy work, know what your Instagram audience expects from you. For this, you can use the Instagram analytics tool of your choice, and find out things like the perfect time of day to upload your videos!

You can also study where your audiences are located, to make content specifically targeted to their demographics when relevant, and get your brand closer to these larger portions of your audience. 

Lastly, reaching out to influencers in your niche can also expose your content to a bigger audience in a short amount of time.

Identify influencers your audience engages with and reach out for potential sponsorships to promote your content. Track results closely to measure the impact. Video content can boost engagement, but success depends on constant strategy improvement.

Time to Make Some Effective Instagram Videos

Ready to start? If you’ve read this far, you’re now better equipped to start making Instagram videos that help your branding efforts on the platform. 

Whether you’re creating content on your own, or partnering with a company to help you make awesome content, the important thing is to get out there and start creating right away. 

The more you do it, the better you’ll get at it, and the bigger your audience will be. Have fun!