Looking at the marketing trends that are updated every year, vertical content is rarely given the recognition it deserves.
You might think that, given the popularity and use of mobile devices, marketers would be aware of how to leverage vertical content in their overall marketing strategy. But unfortunately, that’s not the case. This type of content continues to go unnoticed by most brands.
Luckily for you, in this article we’ll tell you everything you need to know about , its importance, and how you can it in your next social media campaign .
What is vertical content?
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Vertical content is a multimedia format that is viewed vertically on a screen. It is distinct from horizontal content viewed on desktop computers and television.
This type of content is a natural progression derived from the widespread popularity of mobile devices. As more and more people use smartphones, online content is now browsed using portrait orientation by default .
As a result, it’s advisable to design apps and websites with mobile devices in mind. This helps users have a smoother experience, and it makes sense to invest in this, given that there are more smartphone users than ever before.
Snapchat was one of the first platforms to take advantage of vertical content with Stories. It lets you take a vertical photo or video from your phone and upload it to your feed.
Since then, other social platforms have embraced vertical content . Currently, Tikor and Instagram are two of the most popular social media platforms that primarily feature vertical content in their feeds.
Why is vertical content important?
This paradigm shift, from traditional horizontal to vertical content , is crucial for brands and businesses. They must rethink and align their strategy with current consumer trends. This means giving their visual content, such as images and videos, a format that supports vertical viewing to achieve their business objectives, whether they want to improve their online presence or increase sales through multi-channel ecommerce .
It may seem unimportant to some, but vertical content can make or break a brand’s content strategy if done wrong .
For example, we might think that users can simply turn their phones sideways to reorient content to its correct position. But that’s not the case: an overwhelming majority prefer to continue holding their phones vertically, regardless of the content’s orientation.
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Therefore, if a brand has horizontal content, it should find a way to convert it to vertical . This could compromise the quality of the content by changing the image or video resolution.
But instead of recreating horizontal content in its vertical version, it’s in brands’ best interest to create new vertical content from scratch .
Furthermore, this must be in line with consumer preferences: they want content in vertical and short formats. In fact, videos with an average length of 26 seconds receive the most comments on Instagram.
How to Correctly?
Uploading your vertical content to your profiles on different social media platforms is only half the battle. The other half depends on the type of social media workflow and strategy you develop and what you want to achieve with your campaigns.
Below you’ll find tips and suggestions to keep in mind to ensure the success of your vertical content plan.
Use the correct vertical dimensions
Not all vertical content is created equal. Each social network has a specific dimension that you must follow to ensure your content displays correctly.
Below are the current required dimensions for videos and images uploaded to the following platforms:
- Facebook and Instagram feeds – 4:5 or 1:1 aspect ratio
- Facebook and Instagram Stories – full screen video 9:16 or 4:5
- Carousel videos – 1:1 aspect ratio
- Tikor videos – 1080×1920px
Therefore, you can’t upload a 1:1 video to Tikor or Instagram Stories and expect it to display correctly.
Also, while the 4:5 and 9:16 aspect ratios are similar, keep in mind that they’re still not exactly the same. So, if you upload a 4:5 video to Instagram Stories, the video will still appear, but there will be a blank area at the top and bottom of the screen.
Again, small details like this are important if you want to position your brand to compete alongside the best in the market.
Make a good impression
It’s a well-known fact that users take two seconds to decide what they want to do with your content. If they don’t like what they see, they’ll skip it and move on. But if they see something they like, they’ll engage with it by sharing or commenting on it .
Generate the highest ROI from the content you create and publish. The more engagement your posts receive, the greater the likelihood that the social media algorithm will allow people to see them in their feeds even if they haven’t followed you yet.
Just as the average social media user’s attention span is fast , your content needs to keep up too. Even if you’re creating explainer videos, make sure they’re exciting and dynamic from the start. Make sure there aren’t any boring moments in your vertical content that could cause people to abandon and move on to the next piece of content.
Add subtitles to your videos
You need to be as inclusive as possible in the content you post. For your social media videos, it’s best to add subtitles to each one. This allows people with disabilities to enjoy the content properly.
Additionally, subtitles provide a much better user experience. For example, people whose phones are muted won’t see your vertical content if it doesn’t have subtitles. And they probably won’t be able to unmute themselves for whatever reason.
Create platform-specific content
It’s common for brands to post the same type of content on different social channels. Applying this approach through marketing automation helps save time while generating greater results in the process. This may work to a certain extent, but it won’t give you the results you hope for from your campaign.
To successfully launch a social media campaign using vertical content, you must post images and videos that resonate with your audience on that specific platform.
For example, Tikor is known for its short, snappy videos. Posting long-form content lasting minutes may get a lot of views on Facebook or YouTube, but not on Tikor, where audiences’ attention spans are much shorter.
Control the entire process
There’s always room for improvement in your content marketing campaign. Even if you rely heavily on the vertical content you’ve produced on social platforms, a look at your statistics will help you spot issues you could quickly rectify in your next campaign.
Doing this every time your campaign ends allows you to improve the results of your vertical content and find ways to improve the negative aspects.
For example, if many people haven’t even watched 5 seconds of your video, you should look for ways to get them engaged from the start. Or, if you’re cross-promoting your YouTube channel from different social channels and not many people are subscribed to it, you should investigate to see what you’re doing wrong based on the results and make the necessary adjustments.
Aside from consulting your analytics tools, you can also check user opinions directly on your own website . Conduct short surveys to determine exactly what users think and feel about your brand or your content on social media. This way, you’ll have feedback to work with to improve the performance of your campaigns.
Conclusion
If you’re a brand that uses social media to generate leads and sales, building your campaigns around the use of vertical content is essential.
Whether you like it or not, vertical content is here to stay, and you need to learn how to make this type of content work for you. We hope the ideas in this article inspire you to develop your vertical content strategy.
Author’s biography
Christopher Jan Benítez is a freelance writer specializing in digital marketing. His work has been published in specific SEO and affiliate marketing niches such as Monitor Backlinks, Niche Pursuits, Niche Hacks, Web Hosting Secret Revealed, and others.