Author
Marilyn Cowley
If you learn anything about Social Media Marketing in 2020, it should be that videos are KEY to your success. Videography no longer requires a full production with an expensive team, as Instagram is making utilizing videos and its features more accessible to everyone. With Instagram Stories, IGTV, and Instagram Lives, the possibilities are endless for small businesses that would like to produce video content.
Studies have shown that videos are outperforming photos in engagement rates, with video engagement rates increasing by 53% overall since last year. Whereas photos only had a 46% growth in engagement since last year. Engagement rates are so high for videos as they allow brands to tell stories and deliver messages in a way that photos are not able to. If you’re still not convinced that video is the right move for your business, check out these statistics:
- 87% of brands using video report video has increased traffic to their website
- 80% of brands using video report video has increased sales
- 89% of brands using video report video has given them a good ROI
- 95% of brands using video plan to maintain or increase their video spend in 2020
- 84% of consumers said they’ve been convinced to buy a product or service by watching a brand’s videos
Key Takeaway: Video is definitely worth it. Now that you know your business SHOULD be utilizing video marketing, here are some tips and tricks to help you get started!
- Start with regular Instagram Videos. These videos can be up to 1 minute long and are uploaded directly to your Instagram feed. You don’t need a fancy camera to create these (although you can definitely use one if you have it), all it takes is an iPhone!
- For quick and entertaining videos - use Instagram Stories. These videos can be up to 15 seconds long and are great for engagement. Instagram Stories are automatically deleted after 24 hours, so this is a great place to experiment! Add GIFs, polls, and even hashtags to your stories to see what your followers react to best.
- Instagram Lives are great for when you have a longer message you want to get out to your followers or if you want to sit down and connect with your followers. These videos can be up to an hour long. It’s best to go live at a time of day that your followers are most active and to tease the live video beforehand, so your followers can tune in. Help your followers feel even more engaged by answering their questions in the comments section!
- Lastly, if you have a prerecorded video that’s longer than 1 minute, IGTV should be your go-to. IGTV’s can be up to 10 minutes for smaller accounts or up to 60 minutes for larger, verified accounts. On IGTV, you add a title, description, and keywords to your video, just like you would for a Youtube video, and your followers can tune-in whenever they want. This video will be posted to your feed!
Video marketing can seem pretty complicated, but once you get started it’s relatively simple. Now that you have all the basics down, what are you waiting for? With so many benefits for your brand, there’s no reason you shouldn’t get started on making Instagram videos today!
