3 tips to get your vertical videos to stand out from the rest

So here are 3 quick tips to help you get started on creating your content from Day One.

1. Captions are branding (and follow the safezones too) 

Captioning your vertical videos ensures that users are engaged with your video without turning up the volume.. While you can use Capcut’s array of caption templates for a quick start, taking the time to find a crisp, colorful font will give your videos that extra shine (and help track other accounts who rip off your content)

Safezones are also incredibly important. The Safezone is the screen real estate that’s not taken up by the platform's user interface (EX: the number of comments, likes that the video has). Instagram, TikTok, SnapChat and YouTube Shorts have different safezones, so you need to make sure your captions fit within all those platforms. To make it easier you can also download our safezone template here (FOR FREE).

2. Stack or not to stack (that’s the 16x9 question)

Many social media accounts pull from sources that are natively 16x9. Making them fit into the 9x16 space will depend on the composition of the clip. The worst thing you can do to a great clip is subject it to sloppy keyframing. So you need to be mindful of what type of content you can conform completely into 9x16 or to stack it. 

Stacking is the method of shrinking a 16x9 video within the safezone. This method will capture the essence of the clip seamlessly but there will be a lot of negative space. One method to spruce up the clip is to duplicate the video layer twice and place the new layers above and below your clip. You should also add a gaussian blur to the layers so your eyes can be focused on the main layer of your video. Stacked videos are great for captioning too!

There’s also another branding opportunity to create a container around the 16x9 video that shows your channel's logo as well as any CTA copy. You can create one yourself or you can have us create it for you!

3. Music libraries.

You’ll notice that the same pieces of music get used over and over and over again. While it’s fun using copyrighted music on these platforms, it’s always a better idea to use fully licensed music that will fit the feeling of your original video better than using AJR’s The Good Part. 

There are many music libraries available at different price points such as Storyblocks, Artlist and YouTube Music Library - we recommend EpidemicSound. You can get started at 10 dollars a month and they have an entire wealth of tracks that can fit every type of content. 

Want more tips on taking your content to the next level? Follow us here. Want to make this easy and have this done for you? Give us a shout and see how we can work together!