How to do marketing with Instagram?
The undisputed king of social networking photography now also loves video. Instagram has over 400 million active monthly users, and its audience is primarily female and under 35 years of age.
Instagram was inspired by Snapchat and published “Instagram Stories”, a slide show full of photos and videos that disappear after 24 hours in user profiles and feeds. In a sense, stories work like short videos, combining photos and clips into a stream of content.
So, Instagram launched it’s video options in June 2013 and one of its main features is to be short: initially, it’s videos were limited to 15 seconds, although they were extended to 60 seconds.
You see the stories of the people you follow at the top of your feed, with a colored ring around the new content. You also see someone’s story, whether you follow them or not, by clicking on their profile picture. If you do not follow the user, you will only see his stories if his account is public.
As with Snapchat, Instagram users can tap stories to move back and forth or switch to another person’s story. They can also press it to comment and send private messages. But, unlike other messages on the platform, users can not like or comment publicly.
How to use Instagram Stories in your social media marketing?
This feature can open the door to more frequent viewing without overwhelming your audience. And while the expiry of content within 24 hours is limiting for some, Instagram has facilitated the publication of marketers through a photo or video that is part of a story to a regular message. It is therefore easy to highlight the contents for the 24 hour period and save it in your regular feed for longer storage.
And with stories displayed at the top of user feeds, you might even see increased engagement since your messages are not pushed down by others. Unlike Snapchat, Instagram even provides engagement measures for the content you add to your stories, allowing you to see how it resonates with your audience and make the necessary adjustments.
How to use Instagram for video marketing?
The Instagram video offers many new opportunities in social video marketing.
This forces you to be creative to get your idea across quickly. You don’t have more than 60 seconds to capture the viewer’s attention. So every second has to count.
Here are some of the best strategies of successful brands for Instagram video marketing, which you can apply to your own business.
Don’t hesitate to go backstage
One of the best ways to get into video marketing is to give consumers a behind-the-scenes look at your business.
For example you can show yourself doing this type of action:
- How your services or products work
- What is a typical day at a workplace like?
- Show behind the scenes of a corporate event
Help your audience feel more connected to your brand through outfits or decorating. This gives you transparency, which is much appreciated by consumers.
Make practical videos
Even if Instagram gives you 60 seconds for advertising, you want to get your message across immediately. So, you should try to create elevator slots for your Instagram video strategy. Try to create consumable content quickly, making it more difficult for viewers to scroll.
This is where video marketing and content marketing meet. Content marketing is about giving value to your audience. What better way to add value than a short video showing how to solve a common problem or just do something new?
You can go further by using your own products in your videos. Sometimes it is easier to describe the use of a product in a video than in a user manual. Don’t settle for static images. Be dynamic using the power of video. Because Instagram videos are small, people are much more likely to watch them.
Promote your products
The mistake of some marketers is to use social media only to push their products under the noses of consumers. But it doesn’t work on Instagram. Unlike some of the larger social networking sites that are full of marketers, Instagram is still largely composed of casual users. Although Instagram has begun to allow advertisers, people do not expect to be bombarded with promotional content.
User-generated content creation
User-generated content is becoming very popular. Having consumers and your followers on social media that create content for your brand does two things:
- Gives you more content without having to create everything yourself.
- Establishes a link between your brand and the public.
There have been very creative uses over the years, and the Instagram video opens a new world of possibilities. User Generated Content can generate more commitments on Instagram, so more comments and likes on your posts. It’s simple, the more your followers will be engaged on your posts, the more your posts will have priority in the Instagram feed.
Be fun and entertaining
Sometimes you have to let go and have a little fun. It’s a way to pass the time and have fun. Meet this need by showing the personality of your brand, without fear of humor.
Give the audience a sneak peek
You can add suspense and curiosity by doing only one teaser instead of showing your new product completely. This will help create momentum and interest to make your official launch an even greater success, as the audience will be anticipating for some time.
Doing something incredible
In a world where millions of content elements are created every day, it becomes increasingly difficult to escape noise. Creating a video so interesting and incredible that people feel compelled to share it, is one of the best ways to grow your brand through social video marketing.
The first few seconds of your video should arouse curiosity to keep people watching. Movement is a great way to capture your audience’s eyes and make them focus.
Don’t always rely on sound
Instagram videos do not automatically play sound. They start mute and users can choose to enable sound. Create meaningful videos even without sound. Some people like to scroll Instagram in class, at work or in other places where sound is banned. They may not get the full effect, but they will still understand the general concept of your clip, even silent.
Know how to use infinite loops
One of the coolest features of Instagram was the endless looping videos. Once a clip is finished, it restarts automatically.
The clips naturally lend themselves to being looped over and over again, because you can’t help but watch them again in case you’ve missed something.
Capture special events
When the big parties come, it’s the perfect opportunity to make a theme video. You can also capitalize on major events such as the Olympic Games, the World Cup or the Presidential.
As Instagram videos continue to develop and grow, there will be even more opportunities to reach followers and create a community. Today, the company deployed video ads for advertisers, which is a whole new element to explore.