Video · 5 min read
If you're taking a single 90-second listing video and uploading it to both Instagram and Property24, you're doing it wrong on both. The platforms have nothing in common — and the same video that converts on one will sink on the other.
By Kyle de Villiers · Published · Updated
Reels: 9:16 vertical. Full-screen on mobile. Horizontal video on Instagram shows up letterboxed at 30% of screen height — scroll-past territory.
Property24: 16:9 horizontal. Played inside the listing gallery at fixed size. Vertical video gets weird cropping and loses the hero composition.
Solution: shoot framed for vertical AND horizontal. We compose with "safe areas" for both. Two separate edits from one shoot.
Reels: fast. You have 1.5 seconds to hook. A cinematic slow opener dies in the algorithm. Reels edits need a punchy first frame — a hero aerial, the pool, a "wait, this is in South Africa?" moment.
Property24: slow is fine. Viewers on the listing page have already clicked through and committed. They want time to appreciate spaces. Long clean cuts, architectural pacing, considered timing.
Solution: Reels edit at 24–30 BPM cut rhythm. Property24 edit at 8–12 BPM. Same footage. Totally different feel.
Reels: trending music, no voiceover. Viewers scroll with sound on. Trending audio boosts reach. A property video with a voiceover feels "salesy" on Reels.
Property24: licensed music + optional voiceover. Viewers are there to buy; a voiceover summarising features is useful, not salesy.
Reels: burned-in captions are non-negotiable. 85% of Reels are watched on mute. No captions = no engagement.
Property24: captions optional. Most listing pages auto-play with sound.
Reels: the thumbnail is the first frame of the video. Make it a killer shot — hero aerial, pool at twilight, view through a window.
Property24: the thumbnail is the listing hero image, not a video frame. Less critical. Focus on narrative.
Reels: one clear CTA, on-screen text at the end. "DM to book a viewing" works. "Link in bio" is friction — Reels viewers are impatient.
Property24: the listing page IS the CTA. The video's job is to hold attention, not route the viewer.
Our default Full package includes both edits: a 60-second Property24 horizontal AND a 60-second 9:16 Reels cut. We composition for both during the shoot — no "cropping" in post, which never works.
One shoot day. Two native edits. No platform compromise.
Uploading a Property24-style cinematic edit to Instagram. It gets ignored by the algorithm and no-one watches past 2 seconds. The listing gets zero social lift, and the agent assumes "video doesn't work for my area". Video works. The edit didn't.
Get a quote with dual-edit deliverables in 24 hours.
Book a Video Shoot