Do you know that around 50% of people use Instagram to discover a new brand? Considering that Instagram is the 7th most visited website in the entire world, you never know your new customer may be just around the corner on this site. As the e-commerce industry is skyrocketing, businesses leverage this social media platform to increase brand awareness and sales. Most of them even use the help from a reputable Instagram growth service to gain lots of followers organically in a matter of months.
In addition to this, brands also incorporate Instagram marketing strategies to elevate quality website traffic. On Instagram, you can use both photo and video content to advertise your products or services.
However, in this article, we’ll focus on how Instagram videos can help your marketing strategy and what kind of video content and format will work best for you. Read on to explore!
Why Should You Market Your Brand with Instagram Videos Instead of Photos?
While most businesses use photos to interact with their customers and consumers, the significance of video content is sometimes ignored.
Videos are a great way to visualize your brand and the products or services you offer. Videos give a better and more realistic perception of the products i.e., size, texture, and look, therefore, they help potential customers drastically in making a final purchasing decision.
What Is Instagram Video Marketing?
Just like any kind of marketing, when you use your Instagram page to advertise your products or services with the help of video content, it’s called Instagram video marketing.
Instagram Video Formats
There are four main video formats on Instagram, which we will discuss in detail one-by-one.
1. Instagram Stories
The videos on Instagram stories are up to 15-seconds long, and they can be viewed by users for up to 24 hours only.
After 24 hours, they will disappear and if you want to save them “forever”, you can save them as a “highlight” which will be displayed right under your Instagram bio.
Although there’s a duration limit to your videos on Instagram stories, you can still add a long video, and they will be divided into multiple stories as there’s no restriction on the number of slides your story can have.
However, it’s ideal to keep the videos short on stories, as they can keep your audience engaged.
Instagram stories can be used to build a strong connection with your followers, share important updates, ask questions from your followers, and feature new products.
Make sure you add stickers, links to your website or a specific product, polls to know your customers’ preferences better, and a countdown timer for a launch of a new product to make your stories as interactive as possible.
Pro Tip: Most Instagram users watch stories from their phones, so create video stories of high quality, and make sure they fit the entire mobile screen.
2. Instagram Video
Instagram integrated both IGTV and feed videos and came up with the “Instagram Video” feature.
Instagram Videos are basically long-form videos, as they allow you to upload a video up to 60 minutes long on your profile.
Now the question is,
“Should you create videos *this* long?”
The answer? No, it’s not necessary to utilize the entire 1-hour video length, as there’s already a plethora of video content on Instagram and most people want to watch short and engaging videos.
You can add a caption, location, and tags to your Instagram Videos. Adding subtitles will be ideal here to ensure people who want to watch your videos on mute can still understand what the video is about.
The kind of content you can create with Instagram Videos is limitless. It can be about your office tour or how your products are manufactured and packaged.
Basically, whatever makes your audience feel like a part of the community and understand your brand better.
The more likes, comments, and shares on videos, the higher will be the engagement rate, and therefore, reach.
Pro Tip: If the users have autoplay disabled on their Instagram, you should create an enticing thumbnail with basic text that briefly explains what this video is about to encourage clicks.
3. Instagram Reels
Inspired by TikTok, Instagram introduced Instagram Reels in 2020. The video length of Instagram Reels is 15 to 30 seconds, and you can also add a caption, relevant hashtags, tags, location, and GIFs to them.
You need to make Instagram Reels super engaging and entertaining. Use these few seconds to come up with a creative idea for your business that will facilitate brand recognition and awareness.
Mostly you would want to create informational videos related to your products such as tutorials, tips, or how-to videos.
For instance, if you own a skincare brand, create and post a quick reel explaining how to use your eye cream, how your eye cream will help with your targeted audience issues, etc. You might be interested in checking Instagram reels hacks.
4. Instagram Live
As the name indicates, you can have a live broadcast with up to three people to interact with your viewers. As soon as you go live, your followers will be notified.
Your viewers can also post comments and emojis to engage with you, and you can answer their questions in real-time to build a strong connection with them.
Your live broadcast total views will also be mentioned on Instagram Live.
You should use Instagram Live to collaborate with other influencers in your niche and expand your customer base. Moreover, you can ask knowledgeable people to join you live and educate your viewers.
After you’re done with the live session, you can save it to your phone and even upload the video to your feed.
