Properly repurposing YouTube content for short-form platforms is super important for optimizing organic reach on all platforms. Presenting your horizontal content to appear vertical is also extremely beneficial for many paid ad strategies, especially when these strategies include the Instagram Feed, Instagram Stories, and TikTok. Here are 3 easy steps to achieving this essential boost to your content performance.

Download InShot

There are definitely more complex editing softwares out there, but InShot is the most user-friendly. It’s a free app that provides just about everything you’ll need to piece together a high quality post. We all love a little convenience when it comes to content creation. With InShot you’ll be able to easily execute the next 3 steps using just your phone.

Split & Crop your Content

Please, please, please DO NOT just post your 16:9 video on these 9:16 platforms (TikTok, Reels, Shorts, etc). You have to make sure to crop your video to fill the entire 9:16 frame! The big issue with such a drastic crop, however, is that images in left and right of the original 16:9 video can be partially or completely cut out. Because of this, you’ll have to decide which images are most important to appear in the 9:16 frame. Once you’ve decided, you must make sure that all of those important images appear in centre frame.

And that’s where splitting comes in. InShot allows you to split your video into as many sections as you want, without sacrificing the seamless flow of the video. Now all you have to do is slide the 9:16 crop to the left or right in each section, and voila! You now have a perfectly edited 9:16 video that is easy and enjoyable to watch!

Add Captions to your Content

Captions that correlate with what is being said in the video is most important for Instagram since the audio on videos is automatically turned off. You can either type out your captions manually on InShot, or you can use TikTok’s very user-friendly caption features. In addition to their manual caption options, they also provide automatic captions which are easy to edit. At Creator.co, we have found TikTok’s caption options to be much more convenient and effective.

One last thing: once you’ve posted your video onto TikTok, be sure to download it back onto your device(s) using SnapTik. This way you’ll be able to post your fully edited video onto Instagram and to other short-form platforms without that annoying TikTok watermark flashing in the corners!

And there you have it! Have fun with all the new viewership and you’re about to get 😉.