Insider Tips from Instagram Influencers: Secrets to Standout Video Editing
- What kinds of videos can you post on Instagram?
- Stories
- How do you edit Instagram Videos?
- How to Edit Videos for Instagram Reels
- How to Edit Videos for Instagram
- Stories Editing
- Editing Videos for Instagram
- IG Reels Editing
- What is and isn't effective for editing Instagram content?
- Best app for editing Instagram videos
Launched on October 6, 2010, Instagram quickly gained popularity for its photo-sharing features. Nowadays its growth laid the foundation for new horizons such as video content of all kinds eventually catering towards it while keeping the photo content just a background of the platform. However, like any video hosting platform here lies a competition for the viewers’ attention. With our Instagram video editing tips, you will grab it, resonate with your audience, and reach more users.
What kinds of videos can you post on Instagram?
While long-term content is still a classic way to tell the story, it turns out that short-form content is way more beneficial and engaging for the audience. In this regard, Instagram keeps the origins and implements Reels with Stories for short and introductory formats.
Here is a short breakdown of video formats for Instagram in case you are new to the subject.
Stories
An introductory video of 15 seconds in length and lifespan of 24h in which users may do all kinds of things, starting from announcements of upcoming events to sharing their daily life moments to highlight. This format is great for establishing a connection with your audience and to experiment. Recent reports showcase statistics of a 50% click-through ratio by IG stories for the products and services advertised.
How do you edit Instagram Videos?
The main difference between IG Videos and IG Stories is the video length and lifespan. You can post videos to remain forever until you manually delete them and also allows you to record up to 60 minutes of footage which is great for comprehensive communication with your audience. This format is commonly used for educational content, in-depth breakdowns, unboxing videos, and so on. The format of a video here could be both horizontal and vertical.
How to Edit Videos for Instagram Reels
Reels are a cornerstone of Instagram. With TikTok’s popularity growth, IG launched Reels in 2020 to compete for the shot-form content audience on their own social media platform. And once again, the length here is crucial allowing users to make Reels of 60-90 seconds. Reels have their dedicated tab making them easier to discover on the platform, and algorithms prioritise this content type over the others as it generates over 65% more engagement. Vertical format here is a must as the Reels cater to smartphone users.
How to Edit Videos for Instagram
Let us now see the common editing routine for each of the content types on Instagram: Reels, Strorys, Videos.
Stories Editing
First and foremost you need to make sure your Story is of a 15-seconds in length max, because otherwise it is going to get split into separate stories which makes it an unpleasant watching experience for your audience forcing people to get through the seams to maintain the storyline. Besides, as mentioned earlier, the vertical format is a must here as you should follow the phone format.
Instagram offers some tools for editing your Stories once you have done your record:
- By swiping left or right you will find filters to apply to your story.
- Following the 15-seconds you can trim your Story with the tools at the bottom of your screen, however, this feature is only available on iOS.
- Then you are also able to add music with the related music icon. This feature allows you to add lyrics on top of the video if it recognizes the song, and you can also customize lyrics with fonts and designs. When choosing the soundtrack make sure to have some trending ones to please the algorithm providing you with more views.
- Then, as you finish with the video and sound, you want to present your Story in a good way designing an appealing thumbnail to give your audience a hint about the content inside.
- Stickers, drawing tools, and texts are also available for editing IG stories.
Editing Videos for Instagram
Most users pre-record their videos to download them on Instagram after editing. Hence, if you want your long-term content to shine, you want to outsource your editing routine to some comprehensive software such as Premiere Pro and After Effects from Adobe. Besides there are plenty of more simple apps and software to edit long-form content from your smartphone. The editing depends on your capabilities, but we will give some advice on what is better to choose even though you have no experience in editing in the last paragraph of this article. However, here are simple tips to follow for the Videos:
Video resolution and dimensions of 1080 x 1080 enable landscape mode. For a portrait mode use 1080 x 1350. Other formats Instagram may interpret as inappropriate and cut the footage off as a result.
As we mentioned, video length could be up to 60 minutes, however, only 60 seconds of it will be shown in the user’s feed with an option to click to see more. Once you have done the recording, choose the app to add filters and design your video further.
IG Reels Editing
Reels are all about hooking up your audience and finding the right balance between simplicity and creativity. In this regard, make sure to get the most interesting moments of your video to fit the 60-second length.
Moreover, short-form content is all about trending transitions, video effects, and trending soundtracks. The most important part of your reel is the beginning, the opening hook that grabs the attention keeping the viewer watching until the end. Hence, the editing routine with all the transitions, filters, and effects should revolve around this concept.
On top of that, you don’t have to make a Reel of 60 seconds. While using the full potential of the length sounds logical, the reality is that videos of 15 seconds usually provide more views because they are cycled into the loop. It is less likely that users will scroll through in such short period of time which will turn into multiple views by one viewer got in the loop.
What is and isn't effective for editing Instagram content?
It has been proven with time that Reels are out of competition beating other video types with no chance. So, it is better to follow this trend if you want to get famous and get a higher reach for the audience. Videos of less than 50 seconds are considered the most digestible and enable this “stop the scroll” natural feature.
However, improving your content with editing is still a case here that makes your Reels stand out. As such, you can add moving text being spelled out on top of your video. Make snappy transitions when you have perspective changed to emphasize the storyline or add some hype highlighting crucial parts of your Reel with effects.
Influencers who succeed on Instagram also mention that posting time matters. The prime time starts around 11 AM and 5-6 PM. Besides, you can increase your audience reach with hashtags, but make sure to not overdo it and keep your content relevant with this feature.
The common mistakes to avoid:
- VFX and Transitions overload
- Bad sound quality
- Music not in sync with your video
- Out-of-sync visuals and designs
Reels are all about dynamics, and the dynamics mean everything should be consistent and in sync, from sound to visuals.
Best app for editing Instagram videos
As we promised to give you good advice on the app choice to create compelling IG videos, you should give VJump a try. The app is a library of templates for effects and transitions that showcase the outcome. These templates include instructions on how to record your clips. Then, VJump editors will manually apply the chosen effect or transition to your video making it a consistent Reel that you can upload to your account without any doubt. VJump editor is compatible with Android and iPhone and is your answer on how to edit reels on Instagram effortlessly.
Author
IT entrepreneur and co-founder of VJump. His passion is travel photography, within which, he has already visited 75 countries. Photos taken during his travels are actively posted on his social networks. For example, his Instagram account has more than 1 million followers.
In addition, his documentary short film Terra del Fuego was awarded more than 30 international awards and certificates at film festivals worldwide.
