One thing I wish I had learned earlier with Instagram is how to control the thumbnail of the videos I upload to Instagram.

Free Video Included In This Post

Why do you need to control the thumbnail?

Here is an example of an Instagram video I uploaded when I was engaged in my early experiments.

I realised from early videos that I needed to control the thumbnail, and the way I did that was by creating a few frames at the start of the video which Instagram would use. And then the video would start.

Often these were frames from the final part of the video where my video would punch out.

This:

• took quite a lot of time to edit
• wasn’t worth the time
• didn’t look good

But it is important, here is an example of a video I created that doesn’t have this.

The worst possible example of a video thumbnail on Instagram - a black square.

I didn’t want to edit the video, and didn’t realise this would be the end result.

Use the Cover

Instagram provides a feature to do this as you upload the video.

On the screen where Instagram shows the filters, scroll to the right and you’ll see one called “Cover”.

Click this and you can them scroll through the video and choose a frame to use as the Thumbnail.

It is important to do this as you upload because Instagram does not give you the option to edit this later.

Watch The Video