Videos on your social media feed take up a large amount of the posts that you scroll through, so its important to focus on grabbing attention, then retaining that attention. Customising video lengths for different platforms can be very effective and necessary to make sure you are getting the most out of your posts.
Let’s take a look at what HubSpot consider to be ideal;
Instagram - 30 Seconds
Why? “HubSpot discovered that videos with the most comments averaged a viewing time of 26 seconds.”
It’s fair to assume that when scrolling through Instagram your brain is processing the imagery much faster than when you read a Facebook post. If that’s how people use the app then the content needs to reflect this.
Facebook - 1 Minute
Why? “HubSpot’s Facebook audience engages most with 1 minute videos.”
Still pretty short but the attention span is a little longer as people spend more time per post on Facebook than Instagram presuming there is some accompanying text.
Twitter - 45 Seconds
Why? “Hubspot calculated that Twitter’s #videooftheday averaged 43 seconds.”
With super short text at 140 characters users spend a very small amount of time on each post, videos need to match this.
YouTube - 2 minutes
Why? “Hubspot sees the most engagement on videos that are 2 minutes”.
On this platform users are visiting to watch longer forms of content, this could be a segment from a TV show, a YouTuber’s video, Tutorial videos, or even full length films.
We have applied these rules when recently working with a client here in Hong Kong - YCIS. We are making a brand video that will last for 2 minutes or more for their YouTube Channel and Website but also shorter cut-downs of either 1 minute or 30 seconds that highlight different areas of the school. The full length video is still in production but you can take a look at the videos we have completed to date here.
Tonic Media is a production company based in Hong Kong with over 15 years of production experience. We make videos for Kickstarter and Indiegogo, brands and branding, products, interviews, training, events and many more.
Got a project to discuss? Get in touch for a free quote david@tonic.hk.
