The spec requirements for social media video are different by platform, and getting them wrong costs you performance. Here's the format guide that should inform every social video brief.
What You'll Learn
- The correct video specs for each major social platform
- Why social video requires different production approaches than broadcast
- How to capture for multiple platforms in a single shoot day
- What content performs at each stage of the funnel on social
Social media video is not broadcast video distributed through a social media channel. It's a different format with different production requirements, different viewer expectations, and different performance drivers. Treating it as the latter is one of the most common and expensive mistakes in content production.
Platform specs: what you actually need
Instagram Reels and Stories: 9:16 vertical, 1080×1920 pixels. Maximum 60 seconds for Reels ads, up to 90 seconds organic. Captions strongly recommended — significant portion of mobile video watched without sound.
TikTok: 9:16 vertical, 1080×1920. Ad creative: 15–60 seconds optimal. Organic content: 15 seconds to 3 minutes. Safe zones at top and bottom for platform UI overlay — don't put critical text or faces in the bottom 20% or top 10% of frame.
LinkedIn video: 16:9 or 1:1 square (both work). 30–90 seconds for sponsored content. LinkedIn audiences are slower to engage and more likely to watch with sound on — platform behavior is different from Instagram.
YouTube: 16:9 horizontal standard. Pre-roll ads: 15–30 seconds (6-second non-skippable available). Organic content: 2–15 minutes for educational/brand content, longer for documentary formats. YouTube Shorts: 9:16, under 60 seconds.
Facebook: 16:9 or 1:1. 15–30 seconds for paid, up to 4 hours for live. Similar to Instagram in ad format requirements but different audience behavior.
The opening frame problem
Social media autoplay is silent, and the scroll decision happens in the first 1–3 seconds. The opening frame of a social video is not an introduction — it's a stop-scroll hook. A talking head who takes three seconds to say their name and title has already lost the viewer.
In production terms: the script needs to open with the most visually compelling or immediately relevant content. This often means writing the hook first, then building backward. In post: the editor should treat the first 3 seconds as the most important creative decision in the cut.
Social video formats that perform by funnel stage
Awareness (top of funnel): Brand film-length content (60–90 seconds) telling a story. Visual quality signals brand credibility. Optimized for completions, not clicks. Works on YouTube pre-roll and Instagram Reels.
Consideration (mid-funnel): Product or service explainer (30–60 seconds). Answers a specific question or handles a specific objection. Works on YouTube, LinkedIn, paid social retargeting.
Conversion (bottom of funnel): Short testimonial or product demonstration (15–30 seconds). Strong CTA. Works on paid social, landing page embeds, retargeting.
How to produce for multiple platforms in one shoot day
The asset list should be defined before the shoot, not after. If you know you're delivering a 16:9 YouTube hero and a 9:16 Reels cut and a 1:1 Facebook square, you can capture for all three in the same shoot day with smart DP framing — capture in 4K with enough headroom to reframe, plan b-roll in vertical native, brief the talent or presenter on where to look for each format.
Adding formats after the shoot is significantly more expensive and produces worse results than planning for them from the start. A social video brief that doesn't specify all required formats is an incomplete brief.
Frequently Asked Questions
About the Author
James Johnson
CMO, LOOK Studios