Back in 2010, when Instagram was first debuted, everyone thought this social media channel would be all about pictures. But much has changed since then, and the near-accurate description of the platform as of now is that it’s a visual social media channel.
Pictures still remain as the platform’s staple, but you can’t deny the fact that the channel has also made tremendous strides in promoting videos as well.
What the platform does is that it allows you to share visual stories in your news feed, with an option to create highly converting ad campaigns in a bid to boost up your sales and drive business.
So as a marketer, looking to amplify the marketing impact of your Instagram videos, you might want to read the rest of these posts for best strategies, best practices, and the type of content you might want to adopt for a chance to generate the best marketing results both on and off the Instagram platform.
Types of Instagram Videos and the Results they generate
Not all Instagram videos are the same. So before you even think of integrating Instagram videos into your marketing strategies, you might want to ask yourself, what do you want to achieve with it by the end of it all.
This is an important first step as it actually enables you to figure out where to start and the right approach to take for the best possible video marketing results.
Keep in mind that you’re NOT limited as to what you can achieve through video marketing. You’re also allowed to exercise your creativity to whatever length you see fit. But to generate results, here are some marketing videos that have actually been found to do reliably well on Instagram.
Branding Videos
Branding videos as the name suggests are mostly concerned about raising awareness around your brand. They’re the videos you create to make your brand known by exposing it to as many people as possible.
The videos also tell the story about your brand, and are mostly targeted towards cold audiences.
More often than NOT, the videos will feature a unique selling proposition (USP), which demands that you focus on the main selling points of your products and services together with all the things that make your brand both valuable and unique.
So essentially, branding videos are all about introducing your brand to the rest of the world and are NOT in any way pitchy or hard-selling.
Another approach to take in designing a branding video is to focus on behind-the-scenes content around your brand.
Product Videos
Products videos occur in different forms. But over and over again, they’ll be primarily focusing on one or two of your key products, shedding some light on why you think your targeted consumers should actually be using them.
Tutorial or How-to Videos
Working hand in hand with product videos are the tutorial videos, which essentially try to walk your followers on how to use your products or get something done. They don’t just list the product features. They instead offer a detailed guide on the best possible way to use them.
For instance, you may use a tutorial video to show your followers how to maintain a product you’re selling, or prepare a certain meal using one of the recipes under your product pipeline.
Educational Videos
There are times when it’s more convenient to use outbound marketing to maximize the results you get through inbound marketing.
What educational videos do is that they focus on teaching your Instagram followers more about the industry you operate in. It may NOT mention your product at all, but it establishes you as an expert in the field, which goes a long way to establish trust.
Educational videos also focus on building relationships and establishing some sort of credibility within the industry you operate in.
Live Broadcasts
Live broadcasts or videos are good for transparency and passing a very important message.
People have also been found to respond well to live videos. As a marketer, live videos allow you to engage your followers in some sort of Question and Answer engagement, respond to their questions, and at the same time, teach them how to get something done.
UGC Videos
UGC Videos includes all the videos your customers created and tagged you or shared it in their newsfeed on your behalf. It also includes the videos you created by slicing in the snippets or videos made by your customers.
It could also come in the form of compiling some of the pictures your consumers take into a video review.
In-Feed Video Posts for Instagram
These videos have a maximum running stretch of 60 seconds. Naturally, they’re automatically auto-played without sound and can be used in multiple image pages in the aspect ratio of 1:1 or 1.9:1.
Using the Videos
In-feed posts tend to generally work well, videos included.
However, while working on an infeed video, it’s important to remember that while you’re still allowed to post promotional videos, your primary focus should be on establishing a strong relationship with your Instagram followers through the video.
Come to think of it, you’ve already been supplying quality images of the various aspects of your business. By now people already know a great deal about your business and what it is that you do.
So with in-feed videos, what you’ll be basically doing is giving an inside view of your business operations. You want your followers to get a gist of what transpires behind the curtains before the final products hits the market.
By doing this, you’ll be working towards building your rapport and creating a trusted community of loyal customers and followers. There’s also a fair chance that those who hadn’t made the decision to go through with a purchase might also be enticed enough to have a change of heart and speed up the decision.
In-feed videos are good for increasing your conversion rate. The more transparent you come off, the more your followers are likely to trust you.
What to Observe While creating and Posting an In-Feed Video:
- Try to respond to as many comments as possible. By doing this, you’ll be increasing your overall engagement rate, thus increasing your chances of being ranked favorably in Instagram newsfeeds.
- Let your audience be your primary focus while creating the videos. You’re allowed to have other goals. But what’s important is for you keep them aligned with what your target audience actually wants.
- Don’t prolong the videos with fluff or irrelevant content. So long as the video manages to touch on the crucial message and vital points, then there’s NO need to lengthen it or overstretch the message for whatever reason.
Stories Videos for Instagram
Stories videos include both organic and promoted Instagram video stories.
Running for a maximum stretch of 15 seconds, stories videos are basically the full-screen, mobile-oriented video content you post on Instagram. To make your content stick out, you’re advised to use emojis, stickers and any other attention grabbing feature included.
Using Stories Videos
Insta stories are at the moment NOT affected by the Instagram ranking algorithm. This makes them a perfect complement for your organic reach.
They’re also one of the most popular features on the channel, with 4 out of 5 Instagram users engaging with it on a daily basis.
Insta stories are widely favored in the world of marketing because they’re super-engaging. They don’t necessarily need to attract comments or establish some sort of social proof. So long as your followers get to view them, then that’s enough engaging to get you going. The feature is designed to help you whip up quick videos instead of spending your entire time super-editing your videos. Just a short snippet of what happens behind the scenes within your line of business qualifies as a good idea for an Instagram video story.
Basically, Instagram stories are aimed at raising awareness around your brand, You want your followers to find out more about your brand and what it is that you do behind the scenes so they can learn to trust you and even consider checking out your brick-and-mortar shop or online portal.
If by any chance your account is being followed by more than 10, 000 people, you’ll be allowed to attach a link in the story you create, thus increasing your chances of directing more and more people to your website or blog.
Tips for Making the Most Out of Insta Stories
- Use Stickers Where Appropriate
Stickers and GIFs add a fun flair to the stories you create. They simply get your followers more interested in turning the sound on so they can understand the message you’re trying to convey.
- Tell a Story, Like Seriously
Instagram doesn’t limit you to posting a single video story. If anything, there’s NO limit as to the number of video stories you can post.
So instead of trying to run everything into a single video, try to break them into a series of digestible chunks. But what’s more important is for you to make sure there’s a cohesive flow in the story you’re trying to tell through the videos.
- Make Good Use of Engagement Stickers
To drive more engagement or traffic, then learn to put engagement stickers such as mention stickers, poll stickers, and hashtag stickers into good use. By doing this, you’ll be increasing the effect the stories have on the people you’re trying to engage, which inches you closer to your target goal and objectives.
- Use Highlights to Make the Stories Impactful
With Instagram videos Highlights, you can resurrect past stories and give them life. The feature also allows you to sort out your stories into categories. In doing so, you’ll be extending the life of your past stories, which stretches out their impact.
Instagram Video Ads
This section of the post focuses entirely on In-feed video ads, NOT stories ads or any other form of ad.
Keep in mind that Instagram ads can be created via Facebook’s self-serve Ad creating tool.
In the quick highlight, this form of videos tend to run for a maximum of 60 seconds and are automatically auto-played with no sound. You’re also allowed to use the videos in multiple image posts, in the aspect ratio of 1:1 or 1.9:1.
Important Pointers on how to Make Good Use of Instagram Video Ads
There’s a whole lot you can achieve with this type of video ads. But to make good use of the feature, here are a number of reliable tactics and strategies you’re allowed to employ:
- Target a cold audience or an audience from the lookalike audiences you created. You can simply start by introducing your brand, then somewhere along the line, veer off to a super-sales approach, asking the audience to make a purchase or to take any other form of action. This can be followed by a link directing them to a landing or product page directing them to a course of action to take.
- For existing customers, try showing them videos of the new products or services you’ve introduced in your pipeline. Focus on what’s new and unique about them and why they should actually consider trying them out.
- You can use engagement focused posts to promote the videos, especially those with strong social proof. By doing so, you’ll be showcasing your ad to an entirely new group of audience, thus increasing the chances of gaining even more converts.
- Use the videos to direct a good chunk of the people it attracts to your site or blog. In whatever you hope to achieve, it’s good to always remember that there’s a whole lot you could do to your inbound marketing strategy by cashing in on some of the outbound marketing techniques you employ.
Other Pointers worth Noting Down
- Instagram Ads are a bit on the costly side compared to Facebook Ads. So if your budget is a bit narrowed down, you might want to skip them in favor of Facebook Ads, unless otherwise.
- The ads will always demand regular adjustments. To be sure of creating an impact, you have to revisit the ads from time to time and edit them through where necessary to improve on results.
Copywriting skills may still be needed. Starting with the captions you make, more so those explaining why users should actually be considering to watch the video. This is important as the videos are automatically played with no sound, and may as such need a convincing caption to get a prospect interested in clicking through them to unmute.
It’s a Wrap
Instagram is one of the most important marketing platforms that no serious marketer would want to overlook. Speaking of which, there’s a lot you can achieve through the platform provided you know how to work your way around it.
This post focuses entirely on the video aspect of it, but for more help regarding running a serious Marketing campaign on Instagram, then you’re hereby reminded that you can contact MediaOne today for a free Instagram Marketing consultation.
