Posting Video Testimonials to Instagram Reels and Stories

Video testimonials work beautifully on Instagram, as Reels that reach new people and as Stories your followers tap through. Both are vertical and often watched with the sound off, so the best videos are short, upright, and captioned. Vocal Video's vertical templates handle all three, and place captions where Instagram's own buttons and text won't cover them.

💡 Note: Posting to Instagram means downloading your video, which is included on Essential, Pro, Scale and Enterprise plans.

In this article:

Reels or Stories?

  • Reels stay on your profile and can be shown to people who don't follow you yet, so they're the place for testimonials you want lots of people to see.
  • Stories appear at the top of your followers' feeds for 24 hours, unless you save them to a Highlight on your profile. Add a link, poll or mention to send viewers somewhere or start a conversation. Stories are posted from the Instagram app on your phone.

Both are vertical, so one 9:16 video works for either. Many teams post a testimonial as a Reel, then share it to their Story with a link to a case study or sign-up page.

Start from a vertical template

The Template Library has ready-made vertical templates built for Reels and Stories. Each one cuts a short, energetic video of about 30 to 45 seconds, opens on the strongest line, and places captions clear of Instagram's buttons and text:

  • Rapid Fire: flat and high-contrast, with captions that punch in one word at a time.
  • Marquee: a framed, cinematic look with big captions that swell into place.
  • Newswire: warm card styling, with captions that run across the frame like a ticker.
  • Tilt: flat and graphic, with slanted captions that cut across the frame.

To find them, click Video Templates in the left menu and click the Instagram filter.

The Template Library filtered to Instagram, showing the vertical Rapid Fire and Marquee templates with their Instagram, TikTok and YouTube Shorts tags

Make it yours. The ready-made templates are a starting point, and they're easy to customize. Click a template, then Customize to change its design (colors, fonts, caption style, music and logo), its length, and its editing style, which you describe in plain words in its Instructions. Turn on Use my colors to start from your brand colors. See Video Templates: the Complete Guide.

Rapid Fire's page in the Template Library, with a vertical preview, its description For TikTok, Reels, Shorts, and LinkedIn, and an arrow pointing to the Customize button beside Use Template

💡 Note: Rapid Fire, Marquee and Newswire use Pro design elements. On Pro, Scale and Enterprise plans you can publish them as they are; on other plans, swap the Pro font or theme before publishing. Tilt works on every plan.

Keep captions clear of Instagram's text

Instagram lays its own text and buttons over your video, in different places for Reels and Stories:

  • Reels: your caption, username and audio along the bottom, and the like, comment and share buttons down the right side.
  • Stories: the progress bar and your profile name across the top, and the reply box along the bottom.

Vocal Video's vertical templates raise captions to about 40% of the way up the frame, clear of both. Keep logos and on-screen text out of the very top and bottom of the frame, too.

The same vertical testimonial shown as a Reel and as a Story, with the areas Instagram covers shaded (the bottom band and right-side buttons on a Reel, the top bar and reply box on a Story) and Vocal Video's caption outlined in the clear space between

Turning an existing video vertical? Choose 9:16 – Vertical from the format menu above the video, then raise the captions in Captions > Customize > Size & Position. Posting Video Testimonials to TikTok walks through it step by step, and it works the same way for Instagram.

Download and post

  1. Publish your video, then click Download.
  2. Click Download Video File, plus Thumbnail if you'd like to use it as your cover.
  3. For a Reel, upload the video in the Instagram app or on instagram.com. For a Story, post it from the Instagram app on your phone.

The Download window for a published video, with a Download Video File button and options to download the thumbnail, transcript or captions

Posting from your phone? Download the video on your computer and send it to your phone, or sign in to Vocal Video in your phone's browser and download it there.

Keep it short. Instagram allows long Reels, but short ones tend to hold attention best, and the vertical templates aim for 30 to 45 seconds.

Covers and your profile grid

Unless you choose a cover, Instagram uses a frame from the start of your video. When you post a Reel, choose a cover: pick a different frame, or upload the thumbnail you downloaded. Your profile grid shows a cropped version of the cover, so keep faces and words near the middle.

If Instagram flags your music

Meta, which owns Instagram, scans uploaded videos for copyrighted music, and sometimes flags a track by mistake. When that happens, Instagram may mute your video's audio, including your customer's voice.

The soundtracks included with Vocal Video are licensed for you to use, so a flag on one of them is an error, and you can appeal it from the notice Instagram shows you. If you'd rather avoid the question entirely, remove the music before you publish (Music in the right sidebar, then Remove) and add a song from Instagram's own library when you post.

When you post a Vocal Video testimonial, tag @vocalvideoinc on Instagram. We love resharing customer videos to our Stories!

For more information see:

Still need help? Contact Support at support@vocalvideo.com