Ideal Video Length for Social Media: A Guide

What’s the ideal video length for social media?

Let’s begin with the essential info first.

In today’s complex digital landscape, it’s impossible to open up your favourite social platform and not see a video or animated post. Video now owns the medium. From promotional videos, to product trailers, reels, stories, TikTok shorts and more, the era of video marketing is well and truly in its prime.

You might be surprised to learn that between the years of 2013 and 2018, the consumption of video online increased at an average rate of over 30% every year. And now? More than 60% of marketers see video as an integral part of their marketing strategy. If anything, the industry isn’t responding fast enough to video’s popularity.  

But making sure your videos get the engagement they deserve is a whole other ball game. So, let’s talk about duration.

What’s the ideal length of a social media video?

Firstly, consider the platform.

What’s the ideal length of an Instagram video?

In general, your videos (including reels, posts and stories) should be no more than 60 seconds in length. Data compiled recently by HubSpot even suggests that something around 30 seconds might be the ideal timeframe – Instagram videos that receive the most comments and engagement are generally around 26 seconds in duration. 

What’s the ideal length of a TikTok video?

TikTok, once considered the hangout of teens with dancing ambitions, is now one of the leading social media platforms in the world. With entirely organic reach and content (and not a sponsored post in site), it’s also reportedly much better for businesses than Facebook and Instagram’s algorithms. TikTok expanded their maximum video length from 60 seconds to 3 minutes. Still, data shows us that videos with a duration of 9-15 seconds are still performing best. 

What’s the ideal length of a Facebook video?

In general, Facebook videos shouldn’t be more than 2 minutes in length. While the jury’s still out on this one (no one ever seems able to agree), there’s a huge number of studies that have shown most engagement with Facebook videos falls sharply at the 2min mark. It’s also much better to upload your videos directly to Facebook rather than insert a YouTube link. All in all Facebook very much prefers native content. They’re keeping it in the family, that’s for sure. 

What’s the ideal length of a YouTube video?

For optimal engagement with YouTube content, it’s best to make sure your videos – like Facebook – stick around the 2-minute mark. As the most important digital video platform the world has ever witnessed (and still, after years in the market), most video content on YouTube edges towards ‘how-tos’, instructional content, product demos and more. Anything over 5 minutes tends to be considered too much of a cost, while anything under that is doable – especially when it comes to demo videos. 

What’s the ideal length of a Twitter video?

This one’s a little easier. For Twitter, there’s a 30-second limit firmly in place for all video content. The shorter duration of Twitter videos make them an ideal content form to use for ‘teasing’ full length content which can pull traffic through to your website our YouTube channel. As the perfect form for short comments, replies and likes that can easily be shared, content that’s short, sharp and quirky is likely to get the most hits. 

What’s the ideal length of a LinkedIn video?

And finally, the one that everyone’s talking about: LinkedIn videos! Used by a majority of the world’s business and entrepreneurial population, LinkedIn is still the place to be when it comes to making professional connections. Because people on LinkedIn are there to do business, most will have slightly more time to ‘spend’ on the platform. It’s for that reason that we recommend a LinkedIn video duration of anywhere between 30 seconds to 5 minutes, depending on the content and how much time it requires (within reason) to get through.

And if you need help producing any of this? 

Our digital content strategy specialists at Pickle Pictures know exactly how to get you there. Drop us a line today.