A short, tall video of your shop can show new stock, an offer or a festival sale to everyone who follows you, and to people nearby who do not follow you yet. You do not need a video editor or a laptop: a phone, a few clips and five minutes are enough. This guide covers the size and length each app takes, where to put your logo and your offer so the app does not cover them, which music is safe for a shop, and how to make the reel free on your phone with the SafeResize reel maker.

The short answer

  • Shape and size: tall 9:16, 1080 × 1920 pixels, as an MP4 file. That is a phone held upright, and it fills the screen in every app below.
  • Length: up to 3 minutes for Instagram and YouTube Shorts, and up to 90 seconds for WhatsApp Status. Facebook takes reels of any length. For a shop, 15 to 30 seconds is usually enough to show a few products.
  • Logo and offer: keep them out of the top 14%, the bottom 35% and 6% at each side of the picture, where the apps put their own buttons, names and captions.
  • Music: use music you have the right to use. Instagram says some business accounts cannot use its music library, and Meta can mute or block a video with music it has no licence for. Meta's free Sound Collection is safe to use on Instagram and Facebook.

How long each app lets a reel be

AppLongest videoGood to know
Instagram Reels20 minutesReels over 3 minutes are not recommended to new audiences, so people who do not follow you will not see them in Reels or Explore.
Facebook ReelsAny lengthFacebook shows fewer people reels that are blurry, have another app's watermark, have a border, or are filmed sideways.
WhatsApp Status90 secondsA status keeps up to 90 seconds of a video, as an MP4 or 3GP file, and disappears after 24 hours.
YouTube Shorts3 minutesSquare or tall videos up to 3 minutes count as Shorts. A Short longer than 1 minute with a copyright claim is blocked everywhere.

One reel of 15 to 60 seconds works in all four, so you can make it once and post it everywhere.

Plan it in five clips

You do not need a script. Five short clips of 2 to 5 seconds each make a reel of about 20 seconds:

  1. The best thing first. People scroll past quickly, so start with your newest or brightest product, not the shop's door.
  2. Close-ups. Show the fabric, the colour, the detail, the price tag. Hold the phone still for two seconds on each.
  3. Something moving. A hand turning a dupatta, a customer trying on a shoe, a shelf filled with new stock.
  4. The offer. One line, such as "Diwali Sale: 50% off" or "New arrivals this week", is easier to read than a paragraph.
  5. How to find you. Your shop's name, phone or WhatsApp number and area, on the last clip or on the whole reel.

Film with the phone upright, in daylight or near the shop front where the light is best, and wipe the camera lens first. A sideways clip can still be used: it shows whole in the middle with a blurred copy above and below, or it can be cut to fill the screen.

Where your logo and offer should go

The apps draw their own things over a reel: the account name and caption at the bottom, buttons on the right, and the app's name or a progress bar at the top. Meta's advice for Reels ads is to keep text and logos out of:

  • the top 14% of the picture (about 270 pixels of 1920),
  • the bottom 35% (about 670 pixels), and
  • 6% at each side (about 65 pixels of 1080).

That leaves a safe box in the middle, from about 270 to 1250 pixels down. The same advice keeps a logo readable in an ordinary reel, on WhatsApp and on YouTube too. A frame you design yourself should keep its words inside that box as well; plain colours or patterns at the edges are fine.

Music: what is safe for a shop

Music makes a reel feel finished, but the rules for a shop are stricter than for a person:

  • Meta's licensed music library is for personal, non-commercial use. Instagram says some business accounts and some kinds of posts cannot use it at all.
  • Other people's music can get your reel muted, blocked or removed if Meta has no licence for it, and a reel used as an ad must not contain licensed music at all.
  • Meta's Sound Collection has more than 14,000 songs and sounds that are royalty free and safe in Reels and Stories, including for ads. You can find it in the Instagram Reels camera under Audio.
  • On YouTube, a Short longer than 1 minute with a copyright claim is blocked everywhere.

The safest choices are your own voice and the shop's own sound, music you have bought the right to use for a business, or a song from the Sound Collection added inside Instagram or Facebook. If you plan to add a song inside the app, make your reel without music first.

Make the reel free on your phone

The SafeResize reel maker does all of the above on your own phone or computer. Nothing is uploaded, and there is no watermark.

  1. Add your clips. Press Record a video to film with your phone's camera, or Choose videos to pick clips you already have, up to 20.
  2. Trim and arrange. Drag the two handles under the preview to keep the best part of each clip, pick a speed (half speed for slow motion, up to twice as fast), and move clips earlier or later.
  3. Add your brand once. Your logo, your shop's name and your phone number go in a card at the top or the bottom of the safe box, in a colour from your logo. You can add your own frame too. They are kept on your phone for next time.
  4. Add the offer and the music. Type one offer line. Add a song if you have the right to use it, and set its volume and the volume of your clips' own sound.
  5. Make it. Press Make my reel and watch it. Then download it, or share it straight to WhatsApp or Instagram. On an iPhone, press Save to Photos or share, then Save Video, so Instagram finds it in your Photos.

Common problems

  • The reel looks blurry after posting. The apps make their own smaller copy of every video. Start sharp: film in good light, keep the phone still, and do not zoom in too far.
  • My logo is hidden under the app's buttons. Move it into the safe box above: the reel maker keeps its card and offer line there by itself.
  • WhatsApp cut my video. A status takes up to 90 seconds. Make a shorter version for WhatsApp, or post the longer one on Instagram, Facebook or YouTube.
  • My music was muted. The song was probably one the app has no licence for. Use your own sound or the Sound Collection, and post again.

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