Instagram today is one of the best social media platforms around for growing brand presence. With over a billion active IG users, businesses of any niche, size, and budget can be sure to find a target audience here. The question is how to get this audience to notice you and believe in your brand value as soon as possible.
One way to successfully launch one’s Instagram marketing is to use what is trending. The current version of Instagram is highly video-friendly, and it has the facilities to post videos in different formats and specifics. Moreover, video views count as engagement that directly affects Instagram algorithms in your favor. You can build an organic and active following conducive to your business by having an intelligent video marketing strategy.
Why Use Videos as a Prominent Part of Instagram Marketing?
Although there is no clear public statement by Instagram on the exact workings of its algorithms, it is generally observed that:
- Videos get a visibility preference over static/still posts.
- Videos have a more substantial reach and impression compared to static publications.
- Videos tend to bring better engagement and audience traction to the IG page.
All of these make videos a must-present component for any business marketing strategy. Your small business will benefit from using videos in its IG brand-building exercise. You should experiment and experience the results of using each type of video Instagram currently allows for. An ideal marketing strategy would be to periodically mix and use all kinds of videos.
What Types of Videos Can You Use to Enhance Your Small Business Marketing on IG?
At present, you can choose to create and publish:
- Regular feed posts of up to 3 minutes duration.
- IG Story segments of 15-seconds each. There is no limit to how many clips you can put together here.
- Reels can be 60 seconds long.
- Long videos of 10 to 60 minutes duration as IGTV uploads.
- Host a live session for up to 60 minutes.
As you can see, the range of video length and type is endless. Furthermore, the platform has several free ready to use inbuilt enhancers to make editing and publishing an easy and fun experience for each user.
What Counts as Direct Engagement on Videos?
Your small business should have a reasonable engagement rate on its IG content to establish a prominent brand presence. In addition to comments, likes, saves, and shares, views are an essential engagement parameter for videos. A lot of people remain confused about what a view is. If you check your engagement metrics, you will notice Instagram takes into consideration each of these as separate parameters:
- The reach and impression the video got.
- The number of people who scrolled by the video (number of “seen”).
- The number of views obtained.
A video is viewed if run for at least 3 seconds by a unique user, which means auto-plays or reruns of a video do not get counted. When all your competitors focus on creating dynamic video marketing content, getting your videos viewed can be a tough nut to crack.
What Should Your Video Marketing on Instagram Aim for?
Getting likes, comments, and social media engagement is not enough for a business. You need your videos to bring you:
- High conversions.
- Direct sales.
- Returning clients.
- Social proof.
Create videos keeping these in mind, and you are highly unlikely to go wrong with your IG marketing plans. If you are unsure of what to post, we have curated some of the most tried and tested ideas.
Here Are a Few Pointers for Creating Videos that Can Help You Successfully Market Your Small Business on Instagram
- Study the Videos Published by Peers
When you are unsure of how, when, and what to post, research what is working for others in your niche. It does not mean copying their content. Research implies understanding:
- What are video types more popularly used to attract your target audience?
- What are the peak posting hours for your peer?
- How are they putting forward content?
- When and how are they using backlinks, tags, and hashtags?
- What kind of success has their content generated for them as a business?
Understanding these will surely give your insight into how to go about selecting themes and presentation techniques for your video content. When you set about studying others in your industry, keep in mind what works for one may not always work for another. Keep a check on your organic engagement growth, fan numbers, and visibility ranking to self-evaluate how much of such research is helping you in your quest to create the best types of videos.
- Create a Recognizable Visual Identity for Your Brand
Establish your identity visually so people can associate the post with your brand at a glance as they scroll through feeds or search results. You must create a look that represents your brand value and builds a brand aura. It could be:
- A color palette choice.
- A consistent font usage in your subtitles.
- Use a recognizable template for presenting your theme.
- Use of a recognizable audio score.
The idea is to get IG users to associate your videos with your brand immediately.
- Have a Content Theme Plan
While it may be tempting to do a dance Reel because everyone else is doing it or try out a filter because it is trending, you need to make it work for your brand. This can be easily done if you have a set of themes or core themes to work on as the basis for your content. Create content pillars that will make video creation more accessible. Your content pillars should reflect your:
- Brand values.
- Brand message.
- Brand credibility.
- Have a Video Posting Schedule in Place
It goes hand in hand with the above pointer. A consistent posting schedule is essential for sustaining and growing audience interest and attracting loyal viewers. Whether it is short videos in teasers, IG Stories, Reels, or long videos like a live session or an IGTV episode, make a timetable for posting them routinely. It is an excellent strategy to line up several videos and put them on an auto-posting schedule to publish content as per audience expectations, even if you pause from video creation now and then.
- Organize Your Posting Schedule as per Audience Online Behavior
It is not enough to post consistently, and aim to publish your videos at l times when they can attract the highest traffic. It is crucial as it can significantly bump up your visibility on feeds of old and new audiences. To know when is the best time to post, study your target audience’s online behavior patterns and accordingly schedule your posts. You can use auto-scheduling to ease the process.
- Enhance Your IG Videos with the Right Tags
Tags are the SEO enhancers of Instagram. You can significantly improve the engagement attracted by your content simply by using the right tagging strategy. The following are essential tags to take into account:
Hashtags:
It is one of the most critical features of IG. Currently, different types of posts have other numbers of top hashtags. But whether you use 5 or 30 tags, choosing the proper tags matters. Hashtags make your public posts discoverable by new users. They help categorize your post by type, creator, or any label you want it to be identified with. Use tags that clarify to your potential customers what your brand is about. Using tags of too diverse a range can confuse your audience. You can create tags unique to your brand and products. You can also make skillful use of trending tags to suit your videos. No matter what approach you take to create your hashtag strategy, remember to check how your tags are doing. You can now see how many users have found your content through hashtag searches. Keeping tabs on this can significantly improve your hashtag strategy.
Geotags:
As the name suggests, this is location tagging. When you update the place for the post/ you’re posting from, Instagram algorithms work to give you higher localized exposure. It can be highly beneficial for small ventures that do not deliver worldwide.
Follower tags:
It simply implies tagging your clients, followers, and fellow IG users on your videos. Tagging others gives your content an expanded reach among their existing fan circles and thus gives you a broader audience range to garner engagement and conversions from. Keep in mind to always use permission before tagging anybody and tag others when there is relevance to the tagging. Some examples of audience tagging include:
- Announcing winners of a contest.
- Thanking a customer for a review.
- Acknowledging an employee’s contribution.
- Mentioning collaborating contributors for the video.
Shopping tags:
These tags make your video a place where audiences can directly shop from. Direct sales conversions are the desired result from Instagram for any business. If you can sell through Instagram, it is worth turning your posts into Shoppable ones.
- Use Instagram Stories as Often as Possible
The IG Stories feature can be of great help in uplifting your brand presence on IG. Stories have their feed and bring direct engagement from active followers in more dynamic ways. You can post multiple segments without cluttering anyone’s feeds. You can add swipeable links and go live with the IG Story feature. Keep checking Instagram insights on Instagram Stories to understand how much traction you derive from using Stories alone. Use this feature to create:
- Announcements.
- Teasers.
- Sneak-peaks.
- Direct communication avenues with your audience.
- Create Collaborative Videos with Influencers and Other Partners
It is a great way to reach a wide range of potential customers at a convenient budget through your videos. You can jointly produce videos with allied businesses or investors, or you can employ the services of influencers as per your budget to create collaborative videos. Some types of collaborations you can aim to produce include:
- Influencer/customer reviews for your product.
- Competition, contests, and giveaways that are jointly funded.
- Fundraising or sponsorship videos.
- Interviews and demos.
- Behind the scenes stories.
9. Make use of Your Videos as IG Ads
It is not about what video to make or how to use your videos to enhance your Instagram marketing further. Being able to reach new audiences can be a challenging organic enterprise. You can ease things up for your small business by using videos as part of periodic IG advertising.
You may choose to create videos specific with this purpose in mind or save yourself time and money by opting to promote an existing video. Using IG ads is a bright and easy technique to give your visibility and conversion rates a push. IG Ads allow you to create promotions that:
- Target specific audience groups.
- Run for particular periods.
- Are tailored to your budget.
- Direct the audience to a backlink of your choice.
10. Use Trends to Fit Your Business
When you have a micro-goal set, and a clear understanding of what is trending on the platform, creating videos that combine your brand needs with what is popular becomes easier. Whether using a particular music score or using polls and surveys in your videos, make videos that will humanize your brand without losing focus of your business values.
11. Follow Up on the Communication
It is not enough to create and post videos, and a good IG marketing approach is also about managing the direction of engagement around your videos.
Respond to comments left on your videos. These may be left publicly or in your DMs. Here time management is of extreme importance. The faster you respond, the more likely you are to be in the good books of your audience. You can create a few auto-replies if you are away from your IG page for a long time, or you can assign someone else to manage the interactions. It is a social media site and how you use your videos to maintain and enhance your client relationships is essential. Do not just sell your products. Listen to what your audience has to say and carry conversations forward accordingly. How you humanize your brand in these interactions can significantly affect the trust people put in your business.
To Sum Up
Videos are a vital source of bringing engagement to your IG account. If you want to build your brand name and enhance your credibility on the platform, making videos a prominent part of your marketing strategy is a must. Study how videos are being effectively used by businesses around you and experiment with them to find how you can best use them to suit your marketing needs. Not only do you need to plan your content, but you must also work on how you present your videos and what you do to sustain healthy engagement rates after you post your videos. A great IG strategy ultimately aims at creating brand loyalty and increasing sales. If you have your end goals clear, micro-managing your video strategy will be easier. Observe, analyze and incorporate as per your business needs. You will be happy with the results for sure.
