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With the growing demand for video content, brands and influencers should make the most out it and use Instagram video marketing for maximum impact.
With a year-on-year growth that exceeded experts’ predictions, video is undeniably the most popular type of content on the internet. In fact, when customers were asked how they’d like to learn about a product or service, a staggering 73% cited videos as their preferred medium.
If you’re looking for ways to boost your Instagram marketing performance, video is clearly the way to go.
In this article, you’ll learn more about the impact of video on Instagram and get actionable tips with concrete examples to inspire you.
Instagram is no longer a photo-sharing app. The popularity of Instagram videos is on its rise, as around 91% of active Instagram survey respondents say they watch videos on Instagram weekly.
By ramping up your video content, you can generate two times more engagement than photo posts while satisfying your customers’ wants and needs. Plus, posting video content like Reels introduces your brand to a broader audience—no boosting necessary.
If you still doubt whether Instagram videos should be a part of your marketing strategy, here are three reasons to use Instagram video marketing:
In short, Instagram videos are one of the most important content types these days, so let's learn more about them as well as find out ways on how to use them for maximum impact.
Instagram has come a long way since its early days as a strict, square-only photo-sharing platform.
Today, you can post multiple photo sizes and, yes, all kinds of videos like the standard in-feed videos, Instagram Stories, Reels, and Instagram Live. Here’s a quick overview of each type:
Each video type has a maximum video length, with Live videos being the longest at four hours.
And if you can't afford to create all video types for your Instagram account, it's a good idea to focus your efforts on the type that people watch most. Today, Instagram Story videos remain the most popular video format on the platform, according to Hubspot research.
Now that you know the value of videos on Instagram and the different types, we’ve come up with nine tips to help you boost your performance and make a lasting impact on your audience.
It’s not enough to shift your efforts to video marketing to get the maximum impact. You need to hook your audience in the first five seconds. The proven way to do that? Strong visual content.
To spark users' interest in what you're sharing, your video content can't be boring; making eye-catching videos that provide value is a must to stand out from the crowd.
Check out this post by Morgan Richmond-Watson (@homemade_morgan), who shoots all videos with his phone and adds effects to make videos dynamic and interesting.
The best thing about today’s social media trend is that you don’t need to hire a professional videographer or have exceptional editing skills to succeed. Sometimes all you need is a decent smartphone camera and a trusty video editing app like Videoleap that works for iPhone and Android devices.
From ready-made and trending templates to the library of sound effects and more, this tool helps you publish high-quality content in minutes. And its new outline feature that allows users to add outline animation around the body makes any simple video into wow content.
Let's take a look at Jessy (@jesse_efff) who makes the most out of Videoleap's outline feature. The combination of close-ups, overlays, and ultra-fast transitions make the video stand out.
With the vertical orientation and a fun nature, it's no wonder Instagram Reels are listed as one of Instagram trends that grab the attention of your followers.
If you haven’t utilized Instagram's latest video tool just yet, this may convince you: Reels have an average engagement rate of 1.95%, which is at least two times higher than any other post type. Posting Reels exposes you to people beyond your followers who have expressed interest in similar content.
Retail brand Asos (@asos) uses Instagram Reels to market its products and announce new releases. Reels allow you to easily add trending or original audio that can quickly level up your content and make it season-appropriate.
The best thing about posting Instagram Reels is that your video can appear in multiple touchpoints now that the platform has been pushing the feature. Your video can pop up on someone’s Suggested Reels, on Search, or on the main Reels tab. As long as you post high-quality videos, you may not have to spend on ads!
What is more, you can analyze Instagram Reels insights to get a better understanding of the Reels that work best for your audience. It helps to create valuable and effective video content that results in business growth.
Want to get to the next level? Create Instagram Reels and schedule them in advance with Iconosquare's publisher. Not only does it help to make sure your content calendar is full, but it also allows you to publish content on autopilot and save time.
Influencer-created content performs better than branded content. This is because over 60% of consumers trust influencer recommendations, while only 38% trust brands. Combine the effectiveness of influencer marketing with the popularity of video content, and you get a high-performing post that converts.
M.A.C. Australia used beauty influencers to connect with younger customers after finding out that 55% of them think it’s important for brands to post “unphotoshopped” content.
The video ads featured raw shots of the creators using M.A.C.’s products, a step away from the brand’s typical studio-shot campaigns. The results? An 11-point increase in brand awareness for the featured product line and 79% of sales attributed to the campaign’s target audience.
Instagram Stories have 500M daily users, proving the popularity of its limited-time nature of 24 hours. Short-lived content creates a sense of urgency and when you create IG Story videos that hold the attention, you get the maximum impact.
Use Instagram Story videos to announce flash sales and time-sensitive promos. The feature also has a countdown timer to alert followers about upcoming sales or product releases. The “ephemeral” characteristic of the format allows brands to create hype and instill a sense of urgency in its followers.
Personal care and beauty brand Sephora (@sephora) uses Instagram Stories to remind its audience about launches.
Since the stories expire after 24 hours, followers are conditioned to believe that once the story is gone, they’ll lose their chances of buying a specific product or scoring a deal. As a result, such short-form videos get more likes and turn interested viewers into paying customers. Win-win!
Creating videos on Instagram shouldn’t just be about selling products or promoting your brand. With so much content at their disposal, why should your followers view yours? Always bring value to your viewers, either through entertaining or educational content.
Data from Statista shows that comedy or viral videos are the third most popular type of videos, followed by how-tos and tutorials.
Take inspiration from this video from Coffee giant Starbucks (@starbucks). The video doesn’t just promote the Chai Latte but also teaches customers the different ways they can enjoy their orders. Asking its followers how they like their Chai through the caption encourages comments and more engagement.
But if you also want to combine videos and captions for maximum value, consider using a tool like Grammarcheck.Me to make sure your texts don't have typos, grammar or spelling mistakes.
As specified in the social media shopping study, Instagram is one of the most preferred channels for online shopping.
There are many ways to lead customers deeper into your Instagram sales funnel. But one of the most effective types of content to get your followers to convert into customers is through Instagram Live Shopping.
While live shopping is fairly new to Instagram. Livestream shopping has achieved enormous growth since the pandemic lockdowns, with an industry that’s said to be worth over $600 billion in China and $25 billion in the US. Now that Instagram shopping has provided businesses with the tools to run their own live selling sessions, you can have a slice of that billion-dollar industry.
Instagram Live Shopping has tons of advantages. Once you go live, your followers—whose notifications are switched on—will be alerted.
Your live feed also goes on top of your followers’ feed, making it impossible to miss. Coupled with the ability to interact with your audience, answer their questions, and give on-the-spot discounts, it comes as no surprise that live shopping can take you up to 10x higher conversion rates.
It's no secret that people crave social proof during the customer journey.
Testimonials and reviews don’t just aid potential customers in their decision-making process, but they can also help increase brand trust and boost credibility.
By incorporating more customer testimonials into your video marketing strategy, your followers will have an easier time relating to your brand as they’ll have someone to identify with.
Take a look at this client testimonial posted by BHO Interiors (@bryanho83). Even if the video is professionally shot, the conversational style makes the video seem genuine and organic.
If your customers send you video testimonials, that's great even if these videos aren't perfect. You can always remove background and customize such videos by adding your brand elements to meet your brand visual identity.
Instagram is an incredible tool for capturing more inbound leads.
Instead of posting simple follow ads or hard-sell sales videos, it’s a good idea to collect more information about your customers such as their email addresses, birthdays, phone numbers, and more. This way, you can target them with tailored content.
When it comes to Instagram video marketing, you can tease your viewers with product announcements and invite your viewers to fill out a simple form to be the first to see your new products. The easiest way is to add this form as a clickable link in the bio section.
To incentivize your followers, you’ll need to promise rewards like exclusive access, first dibs, or any other “special” prizes. Foundr Magazine (@foundr) uses its bio section to add a lead gen landing page and the company also encourages followers to sign up as a member with attention-grabbing words like “VIP” or “FREE”.
Instagram analytics is one of the most crucial aspects of your Instagram video marketing strategy as it allows you to make data-driven decisions.
While Instagram has built-in analytics tools where you can view metrics from the last 7 to 30 days, it’s important to invest in other tools like Iconosquare so you can get clear insights about all your social media accounts in a single dashboard. Our tool offers not only the Reels' stats but also the competitor benchmark (all the competitors' stats related to IG and videos).
With third-party tools, you get additional features such as reporting tools so you don’t have to extract data manually and build graphs from scratch—everything is generated for you!
Video is the most popular type of content today, and that fact isn’t going to change anytime soon. If you haven’t shifted your focus to video, this is your sign.
When done right, Instagram video marketing can bring the maximum impact. So, use these tips and examples to guide you but don’t forget: content marketing takes a lot of trial and error. What works for others may not work for you. Keep testing until you find the type of content that works best for your audience.
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Val Razo is a freelance SMM consultant who helps SMBs establish social media presence and interact with potential customers on social media platforms. Val also writes for digital marketing blogs.
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