5 Tips for Editing Social Media Video

With ever-changing trends and updates, keeping track of the latest best practices and tips for editing social media video isn’t always easy. From Instagram Reels to TikTok, your editing practices should differ – even if it’s just slightly – for each style of video in order to align with each platform’s format.

  1. Know your dimensions. Videos should be sized and formatted correctly for each platform to ensure optimal viewing quality for the consumer. For example, you should set your editing frame to 1080 x 1920 for an Instagram Reel, so avoid editing a 1080 x 832 square frame that could be used for an Instagram post.
  1. Understand safe areas. The term “safe areas” refers to “title-safe” and “graphic-safe” spaces on the screen. These safe areas are far enough from the edges of the screen so your text and graphics will appear without being partially cut off. For TikTok, refrain from including any text in the bottom right corner of the video where the like, share and comment buttons are located. Guidelines are available online.
  2. Follow copyright guidelines for music. If you include music in a video that you don’t own the license to, there’s a big chance Instagram or TikTok will take down your video. Try subscribing to a royalty-free music library to avoid copyright issues altogether. You should also be mindful of using copyrighted images.
  3. Stay on top of trends. As mentioned above, this isn’t always easy because social media platforms – especially TikTok and Instagram change their guidelines daily. TikTok recently added the three-minute video feature, but Instagram Reels can only be 60 seconds long, so if you’re creating a video package, you may want to consider editing two separate videos on the same topic for both TikTok and Instagram. You should also read up on what style of video is performing well with the latest algorithm, and edit according to that information.
  1. Use proper export settings. Exporting at the highest quality prevents your video from looking “stepped on” or compressed when it’s posted to various platforms or devices.

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