I whistled a tuneful ditty when Adam Mosseri, Instagram's CEO, broadcast on his personal Instagram account that they were shifting Instagram from being a photo-focused platform into a video-focused platform. I love video! THEN when they announced the move from SQUARE (oh so tiny!) to PORTRAIT (oh so much bigger!) that made my tuneful whistling ditty into a full blown song! (yes, I'm a whistler, and when you hear me whistling, you know I'm happy!)
Watch the video below to learn more!
Because of that shift of focus (from image-sharing to video-sharing), there were a lot of changes and new updates that came with it, too! Some of those changes were:
- Instagram is now a video-sharing platform - REELS!
- Instagram now has three feed views: Main feed, Followers feed, and Favourites feed. This is awesome, can I just say?!! A great way, if you're time poor, to only see those you love to keep an eye on. Handy!
- All Instagram video posts are now shown as REELS!
- You can now reach more people (even those who don't follow you) by using trending audio in you REELS! Some of our clients have had amazing success with this ... but make sure you look for up upwards diagonal arrow, otherwise, it's not trending audio, it's just audio!
- You can now pin posts on your Instagram grid! Pin your favourite 3 posts that really tell your audience exactly who you are, what you do, and who/how you help!
- You can now record/add Instagram Stories up to 60 seconds without any cuts! Sorry to all those apps that I was using (and paying for) to help cut up the Stories ... I'm sure you knew this change was coming though, and pivoted?!! 😝
New post, video, and reel sizes!
We've compiled a list of the new post, video, and reel sizes for Instagram. Check them out below, and you can also bookmark this blog so you can always come back here later for new Instagram size updates! If you want updated sizes for other platforms, click here.
1. Instagram static graphic posts
For all static graphic posts, we've gone from a 1:1 (SQUARE) to 4:5 aspect ratio, or 1080 x 1350 pixels (PORTRAIT). This is awesome because your graphic / image is taking up more space on someone's phone! Less opportunity for them to be distracted by the noise above and below their scroll!
Important to note: If you're adding text overlay on your photo or graphic, make sure it's placed as close to the centre of the graphic, not at the very top or bottom.
2. Video posts
As of 30th June 2022, Instagram started rolling out to some accounts that instead of seeing a full square video, it was turned into a REEL! Not sure how I feel about that, but I do love making reels and watching reels so you need to jump on that band wagon asap!
Important to note: If you don't want to change the size of your video into a reel size, you'll see a black space on top of and below your video, taking up the extra space that you didn't fill in because you're still using the old video size instead of the reel size. Let me show you!
It's important that you always turn all your future video posts into a reel and change the size into a reel size. Which brings me to my next topic.
3. Instagram Reels
Instagram Reels are the future of video storytelling on Instagram. I call them snackable content. They're bite-size, engaging, fun and completely addictive!
According to Meta, Reels are responsible for 20% of the overall time spent on the platform. That's quite a chunk when you think there are many other places a scroller can be spending their time ... and it's growing day by day!
So if you're not creating Reels yet, make sure that you jump on the Reels bandwagon to reach more people, raise awareness of your brand, and drive more traffic to your bio (which in turn aims to drive more traffic to your website!).
Important to note: If you're adding text overlay to your Reels, make sure that you place them as close to the centre as possible, definitely not at the very bottom or within the circle in the photo below (so, avoid the bottom 1/3 of the screen) PLUS not too close to the edges. You don't want your important words/message getting lost or covered by captions, audio info etc!
Instagram has a feature called Automated Captions that anyone on the platform can turn on (I do!) So, whenever I watch a reel (with Automated Captions turned on), I see the caption floating over the video, so if there is text there, chances are, I won't be able to read your message properly!
4. Instagram Reel cover
For your Instagram Reel cover, it should still be the reel size which is 1080 x 1920 but the important information should be inside the Instagram square grid.
5. Instagram Stories
The updated size for Instagram Stories is 9:16 ratio, or 1080 x 1920 pixels. This means that you can share your Reels into your Stories anytime.
Important to note: Don't add important information or stickers too close to the edges because they won't work.
Wanna know SOMETHING NEW?? SOME PEOPLE are getting the new size to try out ... I can't wait until that rolls out to everyone's accounts! From a square grid, to a portrait grid. YESSS - that excites me!
