Instagram is an image and video-sharing mobile app that engages over 500 million users worldwide!  What started as a platform for sharing images (with captions) only, has grown to allow for the upload of micro video content.

Micro video content, which typically refers to very short videos ranging from 15-30 seconds long, has become a useful tool in the marketer’s arsenal because it is highly successful in being seen and shared by more viewers, thanks to its quick delivery.

However, as mobile usage grows leaps and bounds every year (with more people viewing on mobile than desktop and television!), the length of video content that viewers are digesting via mobile is expanding. So, it’s no surprise that somewhat recently Instagram extended the length of video upload from 15 seconds to 60 seconds.

This just goes to show you that there is a wide range in types of micro content that brands and viewers find engaging, and a great value in utilizing the flexibility of Instagram in your marketing arsenal. The best way to generate some micro content for Instagram is to take shorter excerpts from your online video productions and share them on the app.

Read on about how to prep and upload your video, using the following steps as a guide.

Uploading Your Online Video Production to Instagram

You’re probably thinking that it can’t be that difficult to upload your video content to Instagram. After all, it doesn’t take but a few seconds to upload a video clip onto Facebook or to YouTube. But, uploading to Instagram is a little different.

First, upload to Instagram must be done on a mobile device, which means that your video file needs to be on your phone. Most likely, your original video file (the one on your computer), will need to be edited down to a shorter version and/or saved to a compressed file size so that you can send it and save it on your phone.

1. Transferring Your Video To Your Phone

One of the simplest ways to send your compressed or short video to your phone is as an email attachment. Once you open your email on your phone, you can choose to save the video file on your phone.

If you use a transfer site like DropBox, or Google Photos, or any other  cloud-based storage service, you can also place the files there and access from your phone in order to download the files to your phone.

If you’re a mac user and are transferring to an iPhone, you can use AirDrop, and drag your compressed video file to your iPhone, where you can then find it under Photos.

Lastly, if you use a professional online video production hosting platform (such as Wistia or even Vimeo), you can typically download any of your videos from there in a range of file sizes and formats, essentially using the site as a file size converter as well!

2. Upload the Video to Instagram

Now that the file is on your phone, you can upload it to Instagram. Open the Instagram app and turn on the Camera icon. Then select your video file from your phone. Instagram will automatically crop your video to 1:1, but you can tap the arrow icon in the lower left-hand corner and the video will adjust to it’s original aspect ratio.

3. Add the Final Touches

On the next screen, you can add filters, trim the video length and even select a still image for the video to start on. This can be especially helpful, as you want your starting image to be what captures viewers attention as they are scrolling through their Instagram feed.

Continue on and you can type in your captions, hashtags, locations or you can send the video as a direct message.  Using appropriate hashtags can help gain your video additional views.

Finally, give your viewers more. If they liked your video, point them in the direction of where to find more video content, or more product information, or a related article or blog post. Typically you can do this by including the words “Link in Bio” in the post, and make sure you put a relevant hyperlink in the Bio section of your account profile.

Uploading an online video production to Instagram can be a little tricky, but once you’ve familiarized yourself with the options it’s quite easy.

A professional video production company can help plan out your online video production so that they can also easily extract key micro video content snippets for use on Instagram. They will assist you throughout the production process so that the videos you post on Instagram will also be as engaging and effective as possible.