Social Ad Specs: What Size Should Your Videos Be?
Video content is quickly becoming the go-to for brands who want to optimize their marketing strategy and strive for higher conversions, and it’s all for good reason.
Studies have shown that video is truly the key to boosting engagement across all media platforms including Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Stats don’t lie when it comes to how much attention video content gets on these platforms; even 75% of professionals on the business platform, LinkedIn, say they engage with video content every day.
While social media might seem like a gold mine of unlimited potential, it takes some work to understand the dynamics of each platform. What works for your brand on Facebook might not be as effective on Twitter. Also, social media trends are forever changing; the platforms integrate new features to optimize user experience, and the ad specs change as well.
It gets confusing knowing which social ad specs are for which platform, but we will break it down for you in the video. Read to find out the video ad specs for social media platforms Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn, and Instagram.
Facebook Ad Specs
Facebook is one of the oldest and largest social networks today. When we talk about reach and engagement, Facebook has the numbers with over 22.80 billion users from around the world. So, of course, you must get your advertising down pat if you don’t want to miss the opportunity of a lifetime.
One of Facebook’s most popular ad formats is in-feed video ads. Facebook can turn an already existing video on your feed into an ad. All you need to do is select a video with a high engagement and allow Facebook to boost it to a larger audience.
Video ads
- Aspect ratio: 9:16 – 16:9
- Resolution: Highest possible resolution
- Max image size: 4GB
- Max video length: 240 minutes
- File type: MP4 or MOV
- Headline: 25 characters max
- Descriptions: 30 characters max
Carousel ads
These ads appear as a video carousel in your feed and contain more than one video.
- Video resolution: 1080 x 1080px
- Video aspect ratio: 1:1
- Video max file size: 4GB
- Videos per ad: 2 – 10
- Video length: 240 minutes max
- Video file type: MP4 or MOV
- Characters for video text: 125 characters max
- Video headline: 40 characters max
Stories video ads
These video ads pop up between stories as users swipe through.
- Video resolution: highest possible resolution
- Video aspect ratio: 1:91 – 9:16
- Video length: 15 second max
- Video size: 4GB max
- Video file type: MOV or MP4 file
Twitter Ad Specs
Twitter is the trendy social platform for everyone from teenage fandoms to political figures. Everyone gives their opinion on Twitter and that’s a lot of opinions for a site that has 206 million active users.
Horizontal video specs
- Resolution: 1280 x 1024px
- File type: MP4 or MOV
- Video length: 140 seconds max
- Aspect ratio: 1:2.39 – 2.39:1
- File size: 512MB
Vertical video specs
- Resolution: 1200 x 1900px
- Minimum resolution: 32 x 32px
- File type: MOV or MP4
- Video length: 140 seconds max
- File size: 512MB
Instagram Video Specs
Instagram is famous as a picture and video sharing app that many brands use to advertise their products and services. Instagram allows square, horizontal, and vertical videos, but they can be tricky to produce sometimes. You can privately view and edit your profile through picuki. If you’re not the best editor, stick with posting square videos since they are appropriate for mobile and desktop users, and do not require much work.
Instagram video ads
- Resolution: 1080 x 1080 px
- Aspect ratio: 4:5
- Video file size: 30GB max
- File type: MOV or MP4
- Max length: 2 minutes
- Caption length: 125 characters
Instagram carousel video ads
- Recommended size: 1080 x 1080px
- Minimum recommended size: 600 x 600px
- Aspect ratio: 4:5
- File type: MP4 or MOV
- File size: 30GB max
- Video length: 2 minutes max
- Caption length: 15 characters
Story video ads
- Resolution: 1080 x 1080px
- Aspect ratio: 9:16
- File size: 30GB max
- Video length: 2 minutes max
- File type: MP4 or MOV
LinkedIn Video Ads
LinkedIn is popular among professionals looking to connect with like-minded people. Perhaps the most mature of all social media platforms, LinkedIn is packed with over 650 million professionals looking for quality content.
Video ads
- Aspect ratio: 1:1
- File size: 75KB – 200MB
- Video length: 30 minutes max
- File type: MP4
- Frames per second: less than 30
- Headline: 70 characters max
Know Each Social Platform’s Ad Specs
For an efficient ad campaign, your ads should match the overall tone of each platform you are sending them to.
Facebook advertising is more upbeat and brightly colored. Funny videos or videos with cats and babies are more likely to reach more people.
Twitter opts for simplicity. Twitter users prefer to have an image they associate with a particular business, so you might consider sticking to one template.
LinkedIn is a mature ground for professionals, so content on this platform is more serious and relevant to a particular topic.
Instagram is all about aesthetics and perspective. Your ads or business page on Instagram should be coordinated, artistic, and follow a theme.
Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn are all excellent advertising platforms in their own right. It’s up to you to decide which one best suits your brand image and will deliver your message to your target audience.
Deeply examine the social media platform you plan on using for your campaign before you launch your ads, and you can bet you will make the most of your advertising. By studying and knowing the different ad specs for each social media platform, you’re already on the right path to conquering social media advertising.
