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Implementing videos on social media as a part of a marketing strategy is one of the best decisions of every marketer. However, it can go completely wrong if you don’t really pay attention to some vital aspects, such as video types and length.
Of course, you don’t want to reach your prospective customers using five-minute-long presentation videos. Not only is it too long, but the type of the video isn’t suitable to attract audiences. Therefore, you need to reformulate your strategy.
Explainer videos, product videos, how-to videos, and testimonial videos are some of the best video types for marketing purposes. On the other hand, the right video length varies among social media platforms.
Get your notes ready and check out the video length best practices for major social media platforms that every marketer should know below.
1. Facebook
Facebook provides two ways to upload videos, which are Facebook story and video post. In a nutshell, a Facebook story has a shorter time limit compared to a general video post.
As a social media platform with the most active users, Facebook allows its user to upload videos within a 240 minutes time frame. But, would it be optimal for promotional videos? Absolutely not.
For promotional purposes, Facebook recommends uploading videos that are less than a minute long. While for Facebook stories, it’s best to upload videos that are less than 20 seconds long.
2. YouTube
As of now, YouTube has become the most popular video-based social media platform globally. YouTube also provides two ways to upload videos, which are YouTube shorts and general video posts.
YouTube allows verified accounts to upload 12 hours-long videos (or longer as long as it is below 128 GB in size). But, it’s definitely too long for promotional videos.
While a 10-minute long video comes as the most favored, you can always come up with shorter videos to match people’s short attention span. In order to attract viewers, you can create promotional videos around 12 seconds to three minutes long.
3. Instagram
Instagram also allows its users to upload videos through Instagram story, reel, and IG TV. The maximum length for an Instagram story is 15 seconds. Moreover, creating 1 – 7 slides for each promotional post is more than enough.
If you want to upload a longer video post you can use reels or IG TV. Reel videos can be as long as 60 seconds, while IG TV can be 10 minutes long.
However, Instagram suggests creating 2 – 5 minute long videos to maximize completion rates. Moreover, Instagram is all about appealing visuals, so be sure to make your videos aesthetically pleasing. Lastly, don’t forget to add hashtags and captions in every video to increase the visibility of your posts.
4. Twitter
Twitter allows its users to post 140-seconds videos. But, you don’t need all that time frame to attract as many audiences as possible. The optimal video length for a Twitter post is around 43 – 45 seconds.
A study even shows that videos with optimal length have more potential to be featured on Twitter. In addition, they have higher engagement compared to videos that have a longer time frame.
However, the downside of a Twitter post is that it only allows users to create no longer than 280 characters for each tweet. So, it’s important to keep your caption short, simple, and sweet.
5. TikTok
TikTok as one of the youngest social media platforms has shown its existence by surpassing Twitter in terms of active users. TikTok has 500 million more active users compared to Twitter. That’s why more businesses broaden their market to the platform.
TikTok once allowed users to post no longer than 60-second-long videos. The regulation then changed in 2021, when TikTok allowed its users to upload videos with a time frame of around 5 seconds – to 3 minutes. However, the best time frame for videos to perform maximally on TikTok is between 9 – 15 seconds long.
Takeaway
Every modern marketer should know that a long video can be over-packed with information and hardly digested by viewers. Therefore, making your promotional video short and straightforward is one of the best strategies.
Include only the main features and information of your product or services. Also, add a direct call-to-action to turn viewers into customers. Lastly, every social media platform has an analytic page that you can use to track your video’s performance.
