Andrew McCarthy posted this informative article, 5 Reasons Why Your Business Needs to Start Making Vertical Video for Social Media, and my immediate reaction was: “Why, not.”
He of course is correct in his assertions, but the converse argument can certainly apply — as you will quickly find if you try to post vertically-taken videos on horizontal desktop media.
You’ll get, well, a lot of black space.
See this video I took from the vertical perspective:
Now look at it from the horizontal perspective:
This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t make vertically formatted videos — but the best approach, I think, is to design your image if possible so it can work in either format.
A quick note here as well about video technology and ease of application. I use a Google Pixel phone, so it of course is well aligned with other Google products/services such as YouTube. It took me just a few seconds to post both versions of these test videos online and then embed them on this site.
The ease of application suggests how easy it is to produce testimonial videos. (With permission you can capture your clients comments with your phone in a few seconds.) You can also easily generate video demonstration shots, and other marketing pieces. They won’t be slick, but the authenticity will still carry much weight.
