The length of a video always depends on its intention. Where is it going? What is it supposed to do for you? If it’s long – is it able to retain the attention of the viewer until the end?
These are all questions to ask yourself when you’re deciding upon the length of a video.
We’re starting to play around with this notion for one of our construction clients, and I’m sure the feedback will dictate our new direction moving forward.
For the construction world, it can be difficult to navigate the realm of Instagram reels. Historically, we’ve kept their reels full length, and kept them as wide as we can – using a blur effect on the top and bottom of the main video.
Recently, we started a YouTube channel for them – so it’s given us the ability to be flexible in the length and orientation of our video distribution.
You see, Instagram wants you to share extremely short and fully vertical videos. This is what it’s built for, and it’s what performs best on the platform – so it’s our responsibility as creators to do this – for the enjoyment of its users.
Because we’ve started a YouTube channel, we now have a place for our traditional wide longform content to live – it’s taken a weight off of our shoulders, because now we can use each and every platform how its intended to be used.
So, how long should Instagram reels be? I say, experiment and use the data.
If you don’t know where to start in your experimentation, feel free to use the method we just started, and go from there.
We recently finished editing a full walkthrough video for the construction client I had mentioned. The whole thing is a bout 8 and a half minutes in length.
So, what we’ve done for the first time with them is we’ve split this video up into 9 separate vertical reels. We took the full length, and made cuts where it made the most sense. What we ended up with was an intro, and then a brief overview of each room in the reno project, and then an outro.
What I’m seeing is that it’s a multi-day tour of the renovation that they completed. Each video has been cropped so that it takes up the entire vertical screen, and they’re each anywhere from 30 seconds to a minute and a half long.
Because we uploaded the long version to their YouTube, we make mention of that in the description of a few of the Reels. Anyone can click the link in the bio and head over to YouTube to see the full wide version.
Now, we’ve just started posting these, and I’m sure I’ll write about how it’s going in the near future – but here’s what I expect will happen.
I’m hypothesizing that we’ll get more traction on these short, digestible clips – the YouTube video will get some traction as well, and we’ll get more shares on these videos. They’re all different enough that they’re still interesting, and conceptually I like the idea of spreading a project tour out over several days.
Is it going to go this way? Is it not? I’m not quite sure yet – but that’s the whole point of this thing. Experiment. Collect the data. Adjust. Repeat.
Steal this idea and try it for yourself. As time goes on, the requirements for each individual platform shifts. You wouldn’t play a 1 minute vertical video on the big screen in a movie theatre. That’s ridiculous.
So why are we trying to share wide, long form content on Instagram? It is not the time, nor is it the place. Longform and wide lives on YouTube, short and vertical lives on Instagram. Try it out.
And as always, if you need a hand with any of this, reach out and let’s chat.
To Your Success,
Jay Ashcroft
four32 MEDIA
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