Uploaded August 2023 | Updated September 2026, 2 days ago
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We tripled the impact of our videos by changing one simple setting. Videos that had similar content, the same quality and the same budget were gathering three times the organic views compared to earlier videos.
That’s the power of following best practices. As a church or a Catholic group, I know you have a limited budget. You don’t have money or time to waste on experimenting with the specs, so here are the best practices that you can follow when you post a video to social media.
We’re going to focus on the nuts and bolts here – less on what is in your video, and more on how your video is formatted.
First and foremost, on social media, your video must be vertical. As in, portrait, or 9x16. I know, I know, this is not how it used to be, and as a video professional, it actually pains me to hold the camera sideways. But the truth is, people on social media are watching your video on their phone, and a vertical video just looks better. In our experience, our views tripled when we started posting vertical videos compared to horizontal videos. Make sure it’s high quality, ideally 1080 by 1920 pixels.
When it comes to video length, typically videos on Facebook and Instagram should be less than 90 seconds. This gets you the best placement on the platforms and increases organic reach – so that means you’ll be getting new viewers and driving engagement. However, there are exceptions. Your goal may be to connect with viewers who already know and follow you, for example, to educate them or to tell a complex story. In cases like this, you can - and should! - upload a video longer than 90 seconds, usually up to 5 minutes. Make sure you really front-load it though. Instagram and Facebook will record these as “video posts” - and for Instagram, that means your viewers actually have to tap the video after the first 60 seconds. If you don’t have them at the beginning, they won’t watch the rest.
Next - absolutely, positively please include on-screen text and captions in your video. 69% of videos are watched without sound, so if your spoken text isn’t readable, you will miss out on those views. Social platforms do have auto-transcribing tools that detect what is said and create the captions for you using AI, just make sure to review and edit them manually. Otherwise, you may end up with “dope” instead of “pope” or “ask italians” instead of “episcopalians.”
Next, take the time to choose or upload a thumbnail image. That’s the still photo that will represent your video on your profile, so in many cases, that image is your one chance to prompt someone to watch your video. On all platforms, you can actually create a thumbnail independent of the video itself in another program, like Photoshop. The rule of thumb is to use the same dimensions of your video, just put the most important content in the center so that your thumbnail still looks good if it is cropped into a square.
Make sure both your video and the description include a call to action. What do you want your viewers to do after they’re done watching? Head to your website? Then include a link on-screen and, for Facebook, in the text or for Instagram, in your link-in-bio. If you want viewers to donate, make sure to tell them how to do that.
Include 3-5 hashtags in your video’s description, that tends to be the happy medium that taps into the power of hashtags while not abusing it.
And finally, make sure that you are posting regularly. You need to nurture your followers and build a relationship with them over time. For churches and organizations, I know, you have very limited time, but create a rhythm that works for you so your audience knows what to expect. It is important to focus on quality over quantity, well-thought-out content that your audience relates to will always perform better than unrelated fluff.
___
For more mission-driven marketing tips like this one, subscribe to our newsletter at hundredfoldvideo.com. And let us help you to grow your outreach with video.
#video #videoproduction #catholic #catholicbusiness #catholicchurch #reels
For more mission-driven marketing tips, subscribe to our newsletter: https://rb.gy/5absf
____
We tripled the impact of our videos by changing one simple setting. Videos that had similar content, the same quality and the same budget were gathering three times the organic views compared to earlier videos.
That’s the power of following best practices. As a church or a Catholic group, I know you have a limited budget. You don’t have money or time to waste on experimenting with the specs, so here are the best practices that you can follow when you post a video to social media.
We’re going to focus on the nuts and bolts here – less on what is in your video, and more on how your video is formatted.
First and foremost, on social media, your video must be vertical. As in, portrait, or 9x16. I know, I know, this is not how it used to be, and as a video professional, it actually pains me to hold the camera sideways. But the truth is, people on social media are watching your video on their phone, and a vertical video just looks better. In our experience, our views tripled when we started posting vertical videos compared to horizontal videos. Make sure it’s high quality, ideally 1080 by 1920 pixels.
When it comes to video length, typically videos on Facebook and Instagram should be less than 90 seconds. This gets you the best placement on the platforms and increases organic reach – so that means you’ll be getting new viewers and driving engagement. However, there are exceptions. Your goal may be to connect with viewers who already know and follow you, for example, to educate them or to tell a complex story. In cases like this, you can - and should! - upload a video longer than 90 seconds, usually up to 5 minutes. Make sure you really front-load it though. Instagram and Facebook will record these as “video posts” - and for Instagram, that means your viewers actually have to tap the video after the first 60 seconds. If you don’t have them at the beginning, they won’t watch the rest.
Next - absolutely, positively please include on-screen text and captions in your video. 69% of videos are watched without sound, so if your spoken text isn’t readable, you will miss out on those views. Social platforms do have auto-transcribing tools that detect what is said and create the captions for you using AI, just make sure to review and edit them manually. Otherwise, you may end up with “dope” instead of “pope” or “ask italians” instead of “episcopalians.”
Next, take the time to choose or upload a thumbnail image. That’s the still photo that will represent your video on your profile, so in many cases, that image is your one chance to prompt someone to watch your video. On all platforms, you can actually create a thumbnail independent of the video itself in another program, like Photoshop. The rule of thumb is to use the same dimensions of your video, just put the most important content in the center so that your thumbnail still looks good if it is cropped into a square.
Make sure both your video and the description include a call to action. What do you want your viewers to do after they’re done watching? Head to your website? Then include a link on-screen and, for Facebook, in the text or for Instagram, in your link-in-bio. If you want viewers to donate, make sure to tell them how to do that.
Include 3-5 hashtags in your video’s description, that tends to be the happy medium that taps into the power of hashtags while not abusing it.
And finally, make sure that you are posting regularly. You need to nurture your followers and build a relationship with them over time. For churches and organizations, I know, you have very limited time, but create a rhythm that works for you so your audience knows what to expect. It is important to focus on quality over quantity, well-thought-out content that your audience relates to will always perform better than unrelated fluff.
___
For more mission-driven marketing tips like this one, subscribe to our newsletter at hundredfoldvideo.com. And let us help you to grow your outreach with video.
#video #videoproduction #catholic #catholicbusiness #catholicchurch #reels
