So you’ve curated and planned all this amazing content for your Instagram feed and now it’s time to post!

But wait. Have you remembered to crop your visual content so it’s optimised for the best viewing experience possible?

In this small guide, we have gathered some practical tips on the correct image and video formats for your hotel’s visual content on Instagram.

We have focused on the three features that we believe are the most valuable for hotels on Instagram: Posts, reels and stories.

 

Posts

 

The correct format for square posts

 

Square posts – 1:1

In the early Instagram days, square posts were the one and only format to post in. Since then, vertical and horizontal posts have been introduced, but square posts remain a popular choice among content creators. The best thing about square posts is that they aren’t cropped when posted on the grid.

We recommend using square posts when creating written and graphic content for announcements or if vertical posts aren’t applicable to the content. Remember to make your posts 1080px x 1080px to ensure the best quality when compressed by Instagram

 

The correct format for vertical posts

 

 

Vertical Posts – 4:5

Our absolute favourite aspect ratio to post in. Vertical posts allow much more space to post than square and horizontal posts. They are especially ideal for hotels to showcase their unique selling points as much as possible and in a beautiful way.

When posting consistently, square and vertical posts are more pleasing to the eyes and look more professional when scrolling through a feed. We recommend making vertical posts at least 1080px x 1350px to ensure high quality posts

 

Horizontal Posts – 4:5

You can also post horizontal posts up to 16:9 in dimension, but we do not recommend using this aspect ratio. Posting horizontal posts leaves much lesser space for valuable content. If you do however opt to post in this ratio, make sure that the height of your post is at least 1080px in order to ensure high quality content.

 

The correct format for reels and stories

 

 

Reels

Introduced in August 2020, reels have become Instagram’s most preferred feature. Reels have been said to be favoured by Instagram algorithms, so if your Instagram account needs an engagement boost, we highly recommend making use of reels.

Great reels take advantage of the full screen, which means an aspect ratio of 9:16 (the same as stories). Reels are meant to be watched vertically, so try to stick to the 9:16 dimensions as much as possible.

Instagram does, however, compress reels to a high degree, so make sure that the file you are working with is of the highest quality before posting on Instagram. It would be a shame to post a grainy reel.

Pro tip: For extra engagement, remember to add music to your reel that reflects the vibe of your content.

Pro pro tip: Keep all in-graphic text on the top part of the reel. Reel captions take up a good amount of space in the bottom part of the screen.

 

Stories

The most versatile feature on Instagram is Instagram Stories. With this feature, you can post almost anything you want and attach anything you want to it. It’s the perfect tool to redirect your audience to the landing page of your choice with the use of link stickers.

Like reels, stories are preferred to be viewed vertically and with content that fill the whole screen, unless used with templates that include borders. Otherwise, we do not recommend any borders on stories. The ideal aspect ratio when creating stories is 9:16 with a size of at least 1080 px x 1920px.

 

Image by Kevin Yudhistira Alloni via Unsplash