Reels

They run vertically, nine by sixteen, and under thirty seconds is the safest length for company content. The first second decides whether anyone stays, so you open on an image or a sentence, not a logo. On screen text is mandatory, because a large share of people watch without sound. One reel takes about an hour to make if you already have footage, which is why it pays to shoot vertically in the first place.

Why companies try it: it is the only place on Instagram where people who do not follow you will see you. A small manufacturer who showed one process close up got more views from a single video than in the whole previous year. That does not necessarily mean orders, but it does mean attention is available without an advertising budget.

What actually works: process, not results. People watch things being made, repaired, seen from the inside. A talking head in a company meeting room does not. If you are filming for other purposes, agree in advance that some shots will also be captured vertically, otherwise cropping from widescreen looks poor and half the frame is missing.

Where it goes wrong: uploading finished commercials and horizontal videos with white bars top and bottom. Both the algorithm and people spot it instantly. The other problem is expecting one viral video to bring customers. In B2B with ten clients in Slovakia, fifty thousand views are mostly from people who will never buy anything, and LinkedIn is the better use of effort.

When filming we always keep vertical versions of the key shots, even when the client never asked. It costs five extra minutes and has more than once turned into months of content. Try it today: look at your last corporate video and work out how many shots could be cropped vertically without losing their meaning.