Are you looking for tools and practices to create engaging videos for Instagram? As uploading videos isn't enough to guarantee high engagements, your content must be of high quality. Tell stories that reach your target audience.
Ironic as it seems, videos perform better than images on Instagram. They receive more attention and are available in five formats: IGTV, Live, Reels, Stories, and main-feed posts. However, which video format is suitable for your brand?
There may be a place for all video formats in your marketing plan. Or maybe you will decide to focus on just one to show consistency.
Let's break down the features, best practices, and video apps for each format.
Types of Instagram videos
1. Main-feed videos
Main-feed is the original video format for Instagram. Videos are added in the same way as the images are posted: uploading from a photo library or using Instagram's built-in camera.
The length of these videos ranges from 3 to 60 seconds, which means GIFS and Boomerangs also fall into this category.
And similar to an image post, video uploads can include captions, filters, geotags, and users' product tags. After posting, people can share public videos in direct messages and stories.
2. Stories
Instagram Stories are 15-second videos that disappear after 24 hours, similar to Snapchat. Total 250 million users have started sharing ephemeral content on Instagram accounts.
By swiping right, people can also record stories from the home screen. Expired stories can be saved as Highlights, positioned above the grid on your page.
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Engaging features can be added to every story
You can add interactive and attractive features (such as emojis, filters, stickers, and tags) to every story. The addition of these elements happens to be an essential tool for post engagement and brand aesthetic.
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Popularity of stories
Despite the 15s runtime limit, stories are famous as they're located at the top of the home screen feed.
According to a survey by Facebook;
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58% say that they are more interested in a brand/product after watching it in stories.
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59% of people say that they visited a website to buy a product after seeing it in stories.
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Across the Facebook family, 1 billion stories are shared in a single day.
3. Live
Live allows the brand to maintain this direct line with the community in a very authentic way. It's a powerful tool for creating strong connections between customers and brands.
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Live allows people to video stream from the built-in camera.
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As many people are isolated this year, brands have gone Live—hosting interviews, workshops, and other types of content. During the lockdown, this format has seen an increase of 70% in views.
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To keep the stream as high quality as possible, make sure that you have a strong internet connection.
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Live streams can go up to 4 hours. One or two accounts can host a stream. And the longer you stay Live; the more time your customers have to join.
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Viewers can interact by leaving comments or emoji reactions. A live stream host can turn comments off, pin comments, or set up filters to moderate the comments section.
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When you're done recording, Live sessions can be shared for 30 days before they are deleted or saved to IGTV.
4. Reels
Instagram launched reels in November 2019. Inspired by the Chinese video-sharing service TikTok, these video clips are recorded on pre-existing sound clips from other posts.
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Recording effects include AR filters, timed text, green screen mode, access to the audio library, timer, and screen control.
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Similar to main-feed vids, reels can include hashtags, captions, and product tags. The length of the video ranges from 15 to 30 seconds.
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People can engage with reels by liking or commenting on the video or by putting the video in their stories.
5. IGTV
Instagram TV is a sister platform for in-feed videos. It's perfect for videos longer than a minute, stretching up to one hour. Each content must be pre-recorded and uploaded from the camera roll.
Video content on Instagram: Best practices for maximum marketing results
While each video format is peculiar, the following practices apply to all of them:
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Present the solution to customers' challenges
It's important that your video stays in line with the pain points and requirements of your viewers. So, discuss the challenges that they face and how your product or service solves them.
Once a video can recognize a potential client's needs, it creates a brand connection when shoppers do business with your brand and trust you to deliver on your promise.
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Start with the hook; the first 5 seconds are mostly important
Generally, you have 3s to stop thumbs from scrolling your Instagram video.
Give people a reason to keep watching and find a way to provide instant appeal. It means you can have text popping and creative color effects in the first few seconds of your video.
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Use captions and sounds
For one, the majority of people like stories with attractive captions—and with sounds on. So use any audio necessary to boost your video, while crafting captions that describe and promote your video (by using the right combo of hashtags).
Clipomatic automatically adds beautiful captions to your video. Apart from the first few seconds of your video, the caption is your second chance to get the attention of potentially repeat viewers.
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Make sure your video is optimized for mobile
The lion share of Insta viewers is on mobile, hinting at why you should always (or, at least, mostly) shoot in the vertical orientation.
People naturally use portrait or selfie mode when they record with their phones. But for those who plan to upload a video, make sure that the content is created with mobile users in mind.
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Post regularly
Want to attract the right audiences to your videos? Two words: post frequently. This is especially true when you're uploading short videos.
Share a schedule with your viewers so that they know when to expect your next post. What's left is to upload the video on time.
Best Instagram apps for creating engaging videos
Considered an ideal platform for content that requires approvals and teamwork, this tool can also help the material of your video with its content library.
Clipomatic is recommended to add live captions to your video by some high-profile users, including Queer Eye's Karamo Brown and U.S. representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
This captioning tool is available in 30 languages, and the text can be customized and edited before uploading.
