Tips for using Video Testimonials on Instagram
Are you ready to share your video testimonials on Instagram? Here are a few tips on how to optimize your Vocal Videos for this important social channel.
Note: Posting a Vocal Video onto Instagram requires a paid subscription.
Overview:
- By default, Instagram automatically grabs the first second of your video as a thumbnail.
- Videos posted on Instagram cannot be more than one minute.
- Vocal Video works great for both Instagram Reels and Stories.
- Music can get your video flagged, but you can appeal this decision.
1. By default, Instagram automatically grabs the first second of your video as a thumbnail.
You can edit thumbnails when you make a post on Instagram. However, if you forget this step, it will automatically select the first second of your video for a thumbnail. You can go back to edit the thumbnail by selecting a different video still or uploading a custom image.
Take a look at how Canto Cutie uses the first two seconds of every video as the image they want on the Instagram grid.
2. Videos for Instagram cannot be longer than one minute.
This might mean you need to trim some scenes or make transition scenes like text and logo scenes shorter. This is a good time to use the duplicate button on Vocal Video to create different versions of your video for different channels!
Instagram is optimized for shorter posts, so using the same response in multiple ways might be a good social media marketing strategy.
You can have multiple versions of the same video.
3. Vocal Video works great for both Reels and Stories!
Reels are videos you add to your feed and look great in all formats. They will expand to 9:16 (portrait) when needed, but can also work in landscape when people are exploring your feed. If curating a beautiful Instagram grid is important to you, you can publish square format videos.
What your Instagram feed will look like
On the other hand, Stories are not part of your Instagram feed. They can only be added from the Instagram app. Stories only last for twenty four hours, unless you save the Story as a Highlight.
If you want your video to be more interactive, such as embedding clickable links, asking questions, running polls, mentioning other users, or posting a geo-tag, use Stories. Stories always look best in Portrait format.
Note: Many social media schedulers do not allow you to post Instagram Stories. Stories can be posted from the app on your phone, not via Instagram on your computer.
4. Meta often flags music incorrectly.
Meta, which owns Instagram and Facebook, uses AI to sweep thousands of videos that get posted everyday. As a result, their algorithm can make an error and mistakenly flag your video as a copyright violation.
When their algorithm flags your video, audio will be turned off entirely. You will lose both your music and audio.
All music choices that the Vocal Video editor comes with are licensed and legal to use. If you upload your own music, make sure it’s also legal to use. You can typically appeal a decision Meta has made.
It is completely legal to use Vocal Video’s tracks and a copyright flag is an error on behalf of Meta.
Little known secret: Our favorite songs on Vocal Video are “Cloud Break” and “On the Trail”!
Those are just a few tips to help you get the most of using Vocal video on Instagram. If you end up using any of these tips tag us on Instagram at @vocalvideoinc. We love reposting customer content as Stories!