How one markets, one’s brand is directly proportional to the leads and sales one generates on the World Wide Web. When trying to build one’s credibility and network online, keeping up with the latest social media trends is an essential prerequisite. Instagram (or IG) started as a simple photo-sharing app in 2010, but it is one of the most popular social media networks. With over a billion monthly active users, this is an excellent place for any business to build a digital brand presence. No matter how big or small your business is, as a professional account, you can end up having millions of followers on your Instagram handle if you have the proper marketing and content strategy in place.
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What is more, you can acquire most of these followers organically, build strong engagement rates and generate strong conversions. However, many active IG users also put small businesses and new account holders at sea when it comes to establishing an initial foothold. Growing one’s audience reach from scratch can be challenging as the massive number of users implies that some competitors are already aiming to gain the attention of the same target audience and grow lead conversions for the same business as you. How do you then get your content an increase in organic engagement rate and follower count?
As a business account user of Instagram, you will stand at a definite advantage over your competitors if you make videos a consistent part of your digital marketing approach. Incorporation of video content marketing can be just the secret tip you need. You can employ professional services like SocialBoss to direct audience engagement to your video content. However, before you do that, you must first learn how and why you should consider video content seriously as part of your Instagram marketing strategy.
What Is Instagram Video Content Marketing?
Video Content Marketing is a social marketing strategy designed to attract audience engagement to videos. On a platform like Instagram, creating video content expressly to a broad distribution reach that brings social interactions to your account and its posts is crucial to developing a brand voice. Whether you are a B2B company or B2C brand, you will find video content marketing a powerful tool for growing your business online.
Why Should you Use Video Marketing Consistently on Instagram for your Small Business?
Videos are a popular form of communication.With a bit of planning and research on your audience demographics and social media behaviors, consider incorporating video marketing as a consistent part of your Instagram marketing strategy for the following benefits:
- Familiarizing your brand and services with your clients: Build visual branding and product familiarity using skillfully made videos. You do not always need to create videos that sell products. You can create videos to enable more communication and to build brand trust. Most viewers tend to watch rather than read content. Videos capitalize on this tendency of the average Instagram user.
- Videos deliver better ROI: When calculating return on your investments, videos tend to bring in better returns in the long run. Depending on your budget and expenses, consider videos as a wise return investment.
- Videos rank higher in Searches: Although Instagram is notorious for not being discoverable on search engines, it tends to rank videos over regular posts in its internal search system. Your content has greater chances of visibility and audience reach when you post videos consistently.
Video Formats You Can Use on Instagram Currently
Instagram currently lets you experiment with five different formats of creating videos. Try each one out to understand which design suits your business and your budget the most. The best video marketing strategy would be to employ a mix of all of these formats:
- Instagram feed video
This is the original space for uploading videos on Instagram. You can post video content the same way you upload images from your Photo Library or record them on the spot using your in-built camera.
Your video must be at least three seconds in length to be uploaded on your regular feed. They can be a maximum of 60 seconds duration. You can add all post features filters, stickers, location, caption, and product tags to such video uploads. Your viewers can like, comment, save and share these videos depending on your profile settings, just like they can with any photo content your post.
- Instagram Stories
Instagram Stories allow you to put up video clips with a maximum of 15-second duration. You can upload multiple video clips or segments to your Story if you want to publish longer video content. Content uploaded on Stories disappears after 24 hours unless you mark your Story as a Highlight. Like regular posts, you can record a Story segment simply by swiping right from the home screen, or you can upload pre-recorded content from your Photo Library.
You can further customize your Story videos using emojis, stickers, polls, and several other in-built embellishments to maximize audience engagement and call-to-action possibilities. You can also add a clickable link in your Story, and this can help you create significant leads and sales directly from your home page or a landing page of your choice outside Instagram.
- Instagram Live
As the name suggests, Instagram Live allows you to create live video streams using your device’s built-in camera. Live broadcasts are a popular means of building social proof and credibility as the unedited nature of the stream helps create a sense of authenticity for your brand and its products. Businesses have profitably used this feature to drive up sales as well as to host remote workshops, interviews, and demonstrations with both their peer and their clients.
Image by Anastasia Gepp from Pixabay
To start a live broadcast, all you needed to do is swipe right from your Insta homepage and choose the Live option. You can collaborate to host joint live sessions with fellow Instagrammers, and you can also create Live rooms for more detailed and sustained platform engagement. You can continuously stream live for up to four hours, giving you several utility possibilities for this Instagram feature.
When your business account starts a live broadcast, your followers receive a notification, and your Story gets boosted up on their Story feed. Like any Story feature, Live broadcasts are only temporarily viewable after the session has ended. However, you can save the recording as a video on your IGTV channel or download it to your phone.
Businesses find IG Live videos an excellent source for building traction. When you go live, you can get real-time tracking of your viewer count. Your viewers can also add comments or DM you to interact with you during the session. As the host of the broadcast, you can make these comments viewable to all or pin some of them to sustain your discussions. You can also disable or moderate comments by using Instagram’s inbuilt features.
Depending on the region you operate from, you may use Live Shopping Tags to let your viewers directly purchase from your catalog during the broadcast. If you are using this feature for building social awareness or raising funds, check Instagram’s policies to see if you qualify for adding the donate call to action button on your live feed. Currently, Instagram allows most nonprofits to enable a donation button on their live feed.
- Instagram Reels
Reels is Instagram’s micro-video format option. You can upload or instantly create 15-30-second-long clips as Reels. You can further edit your reels using texts, speed controls, and AR filters. The green screen mode and timed-text effects are beneficial if you publish fun and informative content in your Reels.
Reels have a separate dedicated space on your Home Feed and the Search and Explore options. You can increase audience reach by adding captions, hashtags, and even product tags to your reels. Your audience can like, save, share or comment on your reels, depending on your profile settings.
- IGTV (Instagram TV)
IGTV is Instagram’s long-format video channel. You can record hour-long videos and post them on your Instagram TV channel to give your followers and viewers a digital video channel experience on Instagram. IGTV content must be pre-recorded and uploaded from your device’s camera roll, unlike the previously discussed formats. Instagram has a separate app for exclusive IGTV video content though viewers do not need to download this to watch your uploads necessarily. You can customize and edit your videos to give them the appearance of a series or post them as stand-alone content. You can also add cover photos to your videos. IGTV videos to air in 15-second previews on a regular Instagram home feed if you choose to publish it on your regular feed as well. To watch the full video, your viewers have to click on the video. The Search and Explore feature of Instagram has a specific section dedicated to IGTV content. Instagram has recently added new ways of monetizing IGTV content. Although most of this is still being tested, you may be able to experience the benefits of these enhanced updates depending on where your business is demographically located.
Types of Videos You Can Employ in Your Instagram Marketing Strategy
Depending on your micro-goals, you can create various videos to grow and scale your small business on Instagram. Some of the most effective types of videos in this regard are:
- Promotional Videos and Ads: Create videos that are aimed at specific audience groups to increase business traffic and sales. Using Facebook and Instagram Ads for promoting these types of videos can push your content visibility up on the feeds of your target audience. Use these promotional features when you create videos that involve:
- Limited-time deals;
- Discounts and offers.
- Behind the Scenes Videos: Add value to your product and services by telling the behind the scene story in video formats. When you use unedited live forms or creatively tailored ones depends on the image you are trying to build for your brand. Behind-the-scenes videos are a great cost-effective way to humanize your company as well. Plan and shoot videos that let your existing and potential customers know:
- Who are you?
- What inspired your business or product?
- What business ethos and practices do you follow?
Image by masbebet christianto from Pixabay
- Product base Videos: This type of video work best when you are trying to familiarize your target audience with your business and what you sell. You could use regular posts, IG live, or IGTV to make these videos. You can also promote the same using your Story feed each time you upload a new video or make related posts. Attract potential collaborators and customers for your business by creating videos that focus on:
- Product/Service Introduction – Detailed video clips on your products can help you generate sales. Launch your products with a video introduction on when and how to use your services. Include a shoppable tag or a call-to-action button if you can avail of these features in your region. If not, create a solid keyword-enriched caption with a call to action to maximize your sales traffic.
- Reviews – Have real IG users and influencers review your products in video format. IG live presentations can bring excellent audience traction for such reviews. However, recorded videos can also improve your engagement rate depending on how much positive influence your reviewer has on customer psychology on Instagram.
- Tutorials – Create demonstrations and how-toss to familiarize your services with your viewers. Depending on your micro-goals, you can create these in all video formats available on Instagram.
- FAQ-based presentations – Hold FAQ sessions for your IG followers. Go live to address queries and gain feedback. Not only will this get you more audience traction, but you will also be able to humanize your brand and build one-on-one customer-company relationships, which are essential for the success of any business. You can also collaborate and hold sessions for a wider audience reach.
Conclusion
Video content marketing is a great way to build social and professional networks. Create a few and check for yourself how best these can be made a more regular feature of your Instagram marketing plans. Your business is sure to benefit positively from the video content. Let the experience of using them be your deciding factor for your future marketing strategy.