Did you know that you can edit Instagram videos just like you edit your photos?
Whether you want to make a video brighter, add text, or crop it to fit Instagram Stories, it’s important that your Instagram videos match your branding too!
Video is everywhere on Instagram in 2019 – whether you’re watching videos on stories, tuning in to an Instagram Live, or scrolling through videos on your feed (including IGTV now, too).
The good news is that video on Instagram is no longer just for the big brands with big budgets – it’s now super easy to create and edit Instagram videos right from your phone, for free!
But it’s important that your Instagram video content fits in with the rest of your content, too.
In this blog post, we’ll show you how to edit Instagram videos to match your aesthetic using different apps, including how to add filters to videos and create on-brand cover images:
How to Edit Instagram Videos to Match Your Brand Aesthetic
When we talk about “Instagram aesthetic”, typically the first thing that comes to mind is photos, filters and presets. But with video content flooding the platform, it’s time to start focusing on the look and feel of moving media too!
There’s really no limit to what you can do with Instagram video posts — that’s why it’s so common to find them on your feed!
Everything including Boomerangs, graphic GIFs, and stories are registered as video content on Instagram.
This means no matter what type of multi-frame content you post, you’ll want to make sure to have the right set of tools to create high-quality videos for your business!
In this section, we’ll walk you through a few apps that can help edit Instagram videos to match your brand aesthetic:
Add Filters to your Videos with the Instagram App
Whether you’re posting to your feed or stories, Instagram has in-app filters you can apply before posting.
However, much like editing photos, if you really want your videos to stand out and wow your audience, you’ll want to look outside the app for some extra help.
Luckily, you don’t have to be a video editing pro to create content that will match your brand aesthetic. There’s a ton of different video apps that let you apply filters, edit color settings and more — and now even some of your favorite photo editing apps allow you to use their tools to edit your videos, too!
Edit Instagram Videos with VSCO App
VSCO has been deemed a fan-favorite photo editing app for quite some time now thanks to their great collection of presets and filters, but did you know you can also edit Instagram video content in the app as well?
The lesser-known feature lets you add any of your favorite VSCO filters to your video content to help you maintain a cohesive aesthetic — no matter what you’re posting.
VSCO has lots of free filters to choose from, and even curated preset packs of complementary filters making it easy to edit your videos while maintaining a cohesive brand aesthetic.
You can also make different adjustments such as contrast, brightness, temperature, and more in the video editor, just like you would while editing your photos.
By making these adjustments to your video, you can easily maintain a consistent aesthetic no matter what you’re posting by applying the same edits to your videos as you would your photos.
Video editing in VSCO is an exclusive tool included in the VSCO paid membership ($19.99/year), and there’s a free 7 day trial too.
Edit Instagram Videos with A Color Story App
Did you know you can also edit your videos in A Color Story?
Another Instagram favorite, developed by the creators of A Beautiful Mess, A Color Story is packed with different sets of filters and editing tools to help you achieve a perfectly cohesive aesthetic.
To edit your video in A Color Story, select Albums then choose your video clip. Once your clip is selected, you can choose different filters, effects, and tools to change the overall look of your video content:
Once you’re finished, hit Preview to check out the final result and then click Save to add it to your camera roll.
Just like with your photo content, choosing the same filter, set of filters, or editing rules can help you maintain a cohesive aesthetic no matter what type of content you’re posting.
A Color Story is free on the App Store or Google Play, with the option to purchase additional filter packs.
Note: If you have an Android device, there are tons of other free video editing apps out there, including PerfectVideo, VideoShow, and ActionDirector.
Edit Instagram Stories and Videos with InShot App
If you’re looking to repurpose your video footage to use across your Instagram Stories and posts, and add some filters to match your Instagram aesthetic, look no further! The InShot Video Editor is a photo and video editing app specially designed to make your content fit in with both your feed, and your Instagram Stories posts (or any other video platform!).
Before getting started on your project, just make sure to select “Canvas” to adjust the size for Instagram Stories:
The InShot Video Editor takes your existing video and allows you to change it into various aspect ratios, and you can easily resize and crop it to fit Instagram Stories – which is a serious challenge sometimes!
From here, you can also add a filter and place your video on a background — you can choose a plain colored background that matches your brand colors or upload an image from your device.
It means great footage will never go to waste and you can easily share it with your followers on Instagram Stories!
Edit Instagram Videos with iMovie
If you prefer editing on desktop, iMovie is packed with different filters, features, and editing tools to enhance the overall quality of your video project and give it a more professional look.
The first step is to download iMovie onto your Mac (it’s free!). Next, create a new project in iMovie and upload your video:
Now you can make your edits, whether that’s adding titles, backgrounds, transitions, or anything else!
Once you’ve opened your project, tap a video clip in the timeline to reveal the inspector above your clip in the top right-hand corner of your screen. Hit the filter icon, then tap a filter to preview it in the viewer:
When you’ve selected your filter, just tap outside the menu to close it.
Once you’re done editing your clip, click the export button in the top-right corner of the screen, and save as a file.
Sometimes, fine-tuning your Instagram videos needs a bigger screen — so if you’re looking to edit on desktop with tons of editing options, iMovie is a great option. If you’re wanting to edit vertical video with iMovie, check out our hacks on how to do that here.
Note: If you’re using a Windows computer and can’t use iMovie, some other options include OpenShot, VideoPad, and Movie Maker.
Edit Videos For Instagram Using LUTs in Adobe Premiere Pro
Video editing in Adobe Premiere can be intimidating when you first start out, especially when it comes to color correction. Luckily, there’s an easy way to apply filters to your Instagram videos!
Video filters in Premiere are known as an “LUT”, or a Lookup Table, and are “coded math equations that you plug into your NLE to alter the color of your footage”.
In simple terms, LUTs are a quick way to apply a certain tone or filter to your video clips! Think of them as the video version of Lightroom presets.
Many popular Instagrammers are even coming out with their own LUTs collections, making it easy for you to achieve the same look and feel as your favorite influencers!
For example, popular travel blogger Christian Maté Grab offers his cinematic LUTs packs to help his followers achieve his cool, filmy aesthetic:
Ready to get started? Here’s how to use LUTs on Adobe Premiere Pro to edit your videos for Instagram:
Click on the video clip you’d like to edit. In the Lumetri panel, open the Basic Correction tab:
Next, under Basic Correction, select the Input LUT dropdown menu, and click on Browse.
Finally, select your purchased LUTs from your desktop to apply the filter to your clip.
If you’d like to make some tweaks to your LUT, you can then adjust the video settings in the toolbar on the right side of your screen. For example, by selecting “Light” you can adjust the exposure, contrast and highlights, shadows and other common photo settings to make any final tweaks to your video.
While mastering Adobe Premiere Pro on desktop takes some time and practice, using LUTs is a quick and easy way to take your Instagram videos to the next level!
Ready to jump in and start creating engaging Instagram video content for your brand and business? We teamed up with HubSpot to create a free video guide to help you use video to market your business on Instagram. Check it out!
How to Create On-Brand Cover Images for Your Instagram Videos
Another quick way to make the video content in your feed cohesive with your Instagram aesthetic is to add a cover image!
Businesses can use apps like Canva, Over, Adobe Spark Post, or any other design software to create a still image to attach to the beginning or end of a video clip. This cover image will be what shows on your Instagram feed or IGTV preview.
Creating a branded video cover has become even more important now that IGTV videos can be shared on your Instagram feed:
This means your IGTV video will now impact your Instagram aesthetic, since it’s not only appearing in the feed, but also on your profile in your grid for all your followers to see.
Create Instagram Video Covers with Over
The good news is that you don’t need any prior design knowledge to get started. Even complete graphic design newbies can create beautiful video cover images right from their device.
Whether you decide to pick a template or start from scratch; the options are seemingly endless. Over has a “gazillion” photos, fonts, graphics, templates and tools to choose from to help you create high-quality, on-brand content.
Choosing fonts that look great together, or even better, using your own brand fonts, is an easy way to scale up your custom template design. It’s super easy to change the colors of your font, background, and other elements in your template.
Simply tap on the element you’d like to change – like the background or text box, and select a color from the options at the bottom of your screen.
To learn more about creating custom cover images for your videos with Over, check out our post and free video workshop here.
Once you’ve created your perfectly on-brand cover image, it’s time to add it to your video clip! If you’re editing your video on your desktop, you can simply drag the photo onto the beginning or end of your video.
Or, follow the steps below to add a cover image to your video from your phone.
How to Add a Cover Image to Your Instagram Video with InShot
If you want to add a cover image to an Instagram video that will live on your feed, you’ll want to attach it to the beginning of your video ahead of time using apps like InShot or Splice.
Luckily, InShot Video Editor makes it super easy to do!
First, select your video from your camera roll. Next, select the plus sign in the bottom left corner of your screen. From here, you can select the cover image you created from your camera roll:
If you’ve selected a still as your cover image, you can also choose the duration it will play before your video begins.
If you don’t want the still to appear when the video starts to play, just select .1s as your duration. By cutting your cover image playtime short, you can make sure you’re maintaining a cohesive aesthetic, while letting your viewers get straight to viewing your video.
To choose your duration, just click the cover, select Duration, and hover slide the bar to choose your play time:
Finally, to select the cover image on your Instagram video before posting, just choose the video from the camera roll and click Next.
Once you hit Next, you’ll see a list of options; Filters, Trim, and Cover. To select the cover for your video, just hit Cover and drag the selector over the part of the video you’d like showcased on your feed.
If you’ve attached a cover image to your video already, make sure it’s positioned over the beginning of your clip.
Finally, add your caption, tags, location and hit Share to post!
How to Select a Cover for Your IGTV Video
Previously, IGTV videos lived only in your IGTV channel, which made it a bit difficult to garner engagement and views. In an effort to fix this problem (and save IGTV), Instagram has introduced the option to share a 1-minute preview of your IGTV video to your Instagram feed!
Again, this means choosing the right cover for your IGTV video is more important than ever since it will now affect your profile aesthetic.
To add a cover to your video, just follow all the usual steps to upload an IGTV video to Instagram, and then at the final stages you’ll find this screen:
Not only do you need to think about what your image will be, and how it will look amongst the rest of your grid images, you also need to think about getting the dimensions and composition right!
You need to move the slider button to green to opt-in to IGTV Preview. Once you’ve selected that option, a preview of your IGTV video will appear in your follower’s feed, and the cover image will appear in your profile’s grid.
Note: Videos must be longer than 1 minute to enable IGTV Preview.
However, once you share IGTV videos to the feed, your cover image will appear in different locations — like your followers’ feeds and your profile’s grid.
When it appears in the Instagram feed, it will be cropped to 4:5 (Instagram portrait size), and when it appears on your profile grid, it will be 1:1 (square).
So that means that your IGTV cover photo has to work both on IGTV, in the feed, and on your profile!
The best way to ensure that your cover image works in all these positions is to make sure the focus of your cover image is positioned within the center of the frame. That way, when your cover image is cropped across the different previews, it will still look good!
As you can see, you now will need to think about your overall Instagram aesthetic and how an IGTV cover image will impact the look and feel of your profile – it’s important you plan ahead and make sure it fits in with the rest of your feed.
By editing your videos ahead of time (outside of the Instagram app) you can make sure everything looks great and fits together before hitting ‘post’!
Schedule Your Instagram Video Posts with Later
Just like the images you use in your Instagram feed, planning and scheduling your video content is important if you want to grow your account and reach new audiences.
With a bit of forward planning, you can easily see what your video content will look like lined up against the rest of your feed, and you can guarantee your grid is always on brand and every element matches your overall aesthetic.
How to Schedule Videos with Later:
Now, you can schedule Instagram videos that will automatically publish, just like regular Instagram posts, using Later on the web. Just upload your video, select a date and time, and your video will be published to Instagram at the scheduled time!
And to help you keep your Instagram aesthetic on point, you can also choose a thumbnail for your scheduled video ahead of time too.
Later is part of the Instagram Partner Program and uses the Instagram Graph API, so scheduling Instagram posts with Later is 100% safe.
In order to auto publish videos to Instagram, your video must fit the requirements of a native Instagram video post:
Videos must be at least 3 seconds long, and no more than 60 seconds
Aspect ratio is the same as photos, must be 1.91:1 to 4:5
Video file size cannot be larger than 512MB
Only available for Instagram business profiles (here’s how to switch)
Only available using Later on the web, mobile scheduling coming soon!
If you need more help with scheduling videos using Later, check out our help guide here.
If you need to trim the length of your video or crop your video to fit the right size, we recommend using an app like InShot, which makes it super easy to crop videos for Instagram!
Here’s how to schedule videos on Instagram:
Drag and drop your video from your media library into your calendar.
Add your caption and adjust the time/date of your video. You can also select your thumbnail image by clicking the Thumbnail Cover button below your video.
Finally, make sure Auto Publish is selected from the drop-down menu, click Save, and that’s it!
If you’re looking to create a cohesive Instagram aesthetic and feed, spending time editing your videos in advance is a worthwhile investment! By keeping a consistent look in your Instagram videos, you can create cohesive, on-brand content that aligns with your business as a whole.
Instagram video scheduling is available now on all of Later’s paid plans, starting at $9/ month. Upgrade now to get access!
