You know that video is the most powerful type of content on Instagram. Stay with us to learn about using video on Instagram.
You can use the power of video for your business. With its entry into the world of social networks, Instagram spread a common language among the users of this network. This common language is the same photos and videos that many people share every day and every hour from different moments of their daily lives or their company’s products and services on Instagram.
Currently, with 1 billion global users, Instagram is one of the most popular and top video-based social networking platforms in the world. There are many ways to share videos. In this article, we are going to teach you how to use videos in different sections such as stories, live, IGTV, and advertisements. It should also be noted that Instagram is one of the branches of digital marketing, read the digital marketing article to know the other branches.
Table of Contents
Benefits of videos on Instagram
Instagram is not just for normal users who love Instagram, but also for various business owners to promote their businesses on Instagram. It is interesting to know that 71% of US businesses have a serious presence on Instagram. Instagram provides its users with many possibilities and features regarding product introduction and sales. B2C (Business To Customer) companies can use these Instagram features to sell directly to consumers. For example, 98% of fashion brands are active in this program.
While B2C companies may get the most profit from this social network, this does not mean that B2B companies are not active on this platform. The buyers of this type of business are also people, hundreds of millions of whom are present on this platform. Therefore, any business can have a significant profit according to its size.
Video on Instagram feed
If you remember when Instagram was heavily filtered, square videos were common. The video was considered the main part of Instagram almost from the beginning. Since 2013, users of this social network have been able to upload videos to their Instagram feed. Currently, there is no longer the compulsion to use square frames and users can use frames of different sizes.
If you’re not using video in your Instagram feed, you’re missing a huge opportunity. According to the research conducted by Mention and HubSpot, it has been determined that video posts on Instagram engage users about 38% more than other types of posts, and the number of comments received by video posts is almost twice the number of comments. There are other posts. Instagram feed videos are a great option for informative, shareable, and short content. In the digital marketing course, in addition to familiarizing yourself with the marketing of social networks such as Instagram, you will gain skills in all channels of this field, such as SEO, website design, etc.
Tips for Instagram feed videos
Length of video in feed
Instagram allows its users to post 3-60-second videos in their feeds. The length of the video will vary depending on the type of content you are posting. For example, the length of simple animations used to convey a specific and short message can be less than 10 seconds, while advertising teasers may last up to 1 minute.
Video display mode in the feed
Instagram allows you to upload your video in three modes: horizontal, vertical, or square. According to the video you have, you choose the best mode to display it. For example, a simple animation is more effective in a square format, while a selfie video is better displayed in a vertical format.
Sound in Instagram videos
Sound-off is Instagram’s default. Videos will be played with sound only if you have already turned on the mobile media sound. So it makes sense to include subtitles for viewers who are watching without headphones, or who can’t listen with audio. You can also use a combination of video and animated text to make silent movies attractive to viewers.
Ideas for Instagram videos
Animated videos: To show a message and animate a still image for more emphasis, you can use a medium-length animation.
Teaser: You can make a short video using long content such as an interview, seminar, or webinar.
Case study: Show an example of a customer profile in less than 60 seconds, in the form of a video.
How to upload video for Instagram post
To upload a video, just tap the + button at the bottom of the screen to go through the rest of the process. If you already recorded the video, select the Gallery option (Android) or Library option (iPhone). If you just want to record a video, you can press the circular record button and hold it while you are recording the video. After you finish recording the video, write the title of the video, add relevant and appropriate hashtags, and tag your location. Finally, share the video.
Check the statistics of the video published on Instagram
Before anything else, note that you must have a business account to access these statistics or Insights. If you don’t have this account, just go to Settings > Account > Switch to Professional Account and select the Business option. After creating a trading account, you can check Insights.
Instagram offers Insights in three categories which are:
Content:
The information in this category is related to the content you uploaded. This information can include the performance of posts, stories, reach (the number of people who have seen your post), and impressions (the number of times people have seen your post along with the number of multiple visits made by the same accounts. ) to be
Activity:
The number of clicks on the profile, the number of clicks on the website, and checking how many people, from which source, have seen your content, are included in this category.
Audiences:
The demographic information of your audience (such as age, gender, city, etc.) and the general review of the growth of your followers during a certain period are included in this category.
Instagram story videos
In 2016, Stories were added to the Instagram platform. Stories are only visible for 24 hours. The story allows users to show off the events they like to share at any moment without the sensitivities of the Instagram feed. It is interesting to know that more than 500 million people use Story every day.
The maximum length of each story video is 15 seconds. If your story is long, it will be displayed in the form of 15-second videos, one after another. Instagram has provided users with a series of tools such as text, poll boxes, tags, and many more so that they can edit their videos very quickly.
Tips for Story video
Instagram story length:
The length of each Instagram story is 15 seconds. You can split the video into one-second segments to create longer stories. If your video is already recorded, it will be automatically divided into 15-second parts, although the number of parts is limited. You can also use a program like Continual for this. It is suggested to use live or IGTV for long content.
Story display mode:
When it comes to Instagram stories, vertical mode is essential.
Story audio:
Most users watch different stories by turning off the sound. Therefore, it is suggested to use a program like Clipomatic to generate subtitles for your video. You can even use the story editor’s text feature. It is important that users can understand your story even if they cannot hear your voice. If the sound is very important, you can write in your story that you must listen out loud.
Ideas for story video
question and answer:
Use Instagram’s “ask a question” feature to enable an interactive question-and-answer session with your audience. As soon as you are asked questions, you can record and send video responses.
Educational Highlights:
If you provide informative content in your story, you can save it as a highlight so that your users can always access it.
How to create a story on Instagram
Tap the camera button at the top of the screen and select your desired video from the gallery. If you just want to record, press and hold the circular record button until your video is finished. If you record more than 15 seconds, Instagram will split your story into different slides. You can add emojis, text, etc. to each slide.
Review Story Insights
The information you can see through Story Insights includes things to know the level of audience engagement and the number of views. Some of this information is:
Information about Story Impressions:
Stories Sent: Total number of stories created by you
Story Impressions: The total number of views of your stories
Average Reach Per Story: The number of visitors who have seen your story
Information related to audience interaction
Replies: The number of times users have replied to your story.
Taps Forward: The number of times people tapped forward to see your next story.
Taps Back: The number of times people have tapped back to revisit your story while they’ve already watched it.
Exits: The number of times people left your story and returned to the feed.
Among the criteria mentioned, the most important criterion is the Average Reach Per Story. If this number increases, it indicates that your audience is growing over time.
Live Instagram video
After releasing the Stories feature in 2016, Instagram looked to add a new feature to create Live Stories. The live story allows you to share your stories with the audience in real time and allows the audience to interact with you at the same time and share their opinions with you.
Live is a great option to create a conversation with your audience or to hold events online. One of the advantages of Live is that it notifies your followers when it starts, which is very effective for attracting more and increasing engagement. The more important thing is that after the end of Live, you can keep that video in your story for 24 hours.
Tips for Instagram Live video
Live video duration
The length of the live video is a maximum of one hour and it will warn you when it approaches one hour. Your live sessions may last more than an hour, in which case you can notify your followers that you are pausing and restarting the session before the session ends. Then stop and restart the live session. In this case, Instagram will inform your followers again and you can continue the meeting.
Live video display mode
As with Stories, it’s best to record your Instagram Live vertically so that your audience has a better sense of it and doesn’t get confused. If you hold a live video together, the screen will be divided horizontally into two parts and the images of two people will be displayed.
Sound in live video
Unlike Instagram’s various features, Live Video doesn’t have many features for generating captions. Therefore, this feature must be listened to with sound.
How to create a live video
Before you go live, let your followers know in advance. You can even advertise and specify the exact time of the live broadcast so that your followers follow you more readily.
Tap the camera button at the top of the screen. At the bottom of the screen that opens, select Live. Then press the circular record button to start. Instagram will show a countdown of three seconds and your live broadcast will begin. After the live stream is over, you can share it with your story or save it to your mobile device.
Live Video Insights review
Due to the live nature of this tool, you cannot see any metrics about your live stream. However, once your live stream is over, Instagram will show you how many visitors watched your livestream. You can take a screenshot of these statistics so that you can compare and analyze them in the future.
Instagram IGTV video
IGTV is a program independent of Instagram for hosting long films, which is also accessible through the Instagram program. IGTV helps visitors find the content they want more easily. Instagram will show you the IGTV videos produced by the users you follow, and it is interesting to know that it will even show popular videos related to your taste.
Instagram also displays IGTV videos on the Explore page and previews them in the feed section. This is an ideal channel to reach new visitors.
Tips on IGTV
Dimensions and specifications of IGTV
While IGTV initially only supported portrait mode, as of May 2019, it added the ability to use landscape format as well. The aspect ratio of IGTV is 9:16 for vertical video and 16:9 for horizontal video. You should also make sure that your video files are in mp4 format and have at least 720 pixels before uploading.
Length of IGTV
The length of IGTV videos is at least one minute and at most one hour (if uploaded from the web). If you upload your video from mobile, IGTV only allows you to upload 15 minutes of content. The ideal length of an IGTV video varies depending on the type of video content.
IGTV display mode
IGTV is built for vertical video. Although the platform now allows for horizontal video uploads, vertical video still looks more natural.
Audio on IGTV video
Since IGTV videos go directly to people’s feeds, it’s a good idea to include subtitles for people watching the videos silently. You can use the Vidyard tool for this.
How to upload IGTV video on Instagram
Open the IGTV app or tap the TV icon at the top of your search screen. Keep in mind that if you are uploading your video from a mobile device, you can only upload 15 minutes of video. If your video is longer, use a desktop instead. Tap + to select a video. After selecting, click Next. Choose a cover for your video, add the title of the video, and write the necessary description about the video. Finally, submit the video.
Review IGTV Video Insights
To view your on-demand video statistics, tap on your video to access the options. From there, you can tap the three horizontal dots (iPhone) or the three vertical dots (Android) and select View Insights. Like other regular Instagram video posts, you can see the number of likes, comments, and views of your post. It also provides you with a graph of the growth of your audience and the average time spent watching your video.
Instagram video ads
Instagram offers two types of paid video ads as a way to increase business conversion rates and grow followers. Video ads in posts and story ads.
Brands use this type of advertising to increase the level of customer engagement with their posts, increase the number of visits, and encourage customers to perform specific actions such as purchasing a product, visiting a website, etc.
Tips on Instagram video ads
Check out the video ad tips in the post format
Ad length: maximum 60 seconds
Display mode: square format
Audio: If audio is an important part of the ad, use subtitles or animated text to convey the message to visitors who cannot hear audio.
Checking video advertising tips in story format
Length: 15 seconds, but you can use three 15-second stories to have a cohesive ad.
Display mode: vertical or portrait format
Audio: Use animated text to promote your brand and key points
Video advertising ideas on Instagram
Show/No conversation: Show your product only as a video.
Memorable story: Create a very short story to remember yourself, so that in 15 seconds or even less than 15 seconds, hack your brand in the mind of the audience.
How to create video ads on Instagram
To run ads, you not only need to have a business profile on Instagram, but you also need to have a Facebook page. After preparing the necessary background, you can start your Instagram video ads. Determine your advertising goals and determine what action your audience should take. Also, decide on a budget and how much you are willing to spend to increase your business conversion rate.
Open Facebook Ads Manager and click on the “create” option. You can also promote a video you’ve already posted on Instagram. You need to set your ad objective, target audience, and ad format. Using your budget, determine how long you want to run your ad. Then publish your ad.