Instagram Video: Best Tips for Creating Engaging Video Content
Video is a highly efficient form of content and its popularity has gone hand-in-hand with the rise of social media. Even though so many of us consume online videos daily, many marketers still aren’t using video as part of their digital marketing strategy or aren’t seeing the best results.
While convenient and efficient for the consumer, video marketing provides marketers with an engaging, versatile, and greatly shareable medium to reach their audiences.
Instagram video content is an absolute must-have in your brand’s social media strategy.
Instagram video is available in five formats:
- Reels
- LIVE
- IGTV
- Stories
- In-feed video posts
Here’s a breakdown of the different Instagram video formats.
Instagram Live
Instagram Live is a fantastic way to engage with followers around the world. It doesn’t just allow you to create a broadcast, but it’s also a means to interact with audiences and attract new followers and customers.
Live videos are very important because it allows you to engage with your followers in the real-time. During the live videos, you can communicate with your followers and customers, answer their questions and comments.
The best thing about live streaming to Instagram is that it’s completely free. Using Instagram live videos and stories is a way to speak directly to followers and drive engagement, leads, and sales.
Sometimes the regular phone doesn’t nor provide the quality your computer does. On a regular basis, you can go live from your smartphone but if you want to have professional live streaming you should go live from your computer. To have high-quality live videos on IG use YellowDuck .tv.
Instagram Stories
The idea behind Instagram Stories was a single one. The intention was to allow people to share “moments” of their day quickly and easily. These could be in the form of a series of photos or videos. Then everything that you put together for your Story would become a slideshow on Instagram.
This stays on your account for 24 hours and then disappears. The coolest part is, IG Stories are featured at the TOP of the home feed
Instagram Stories are ideally:
- Timely — Stories only last 24 hours, so they can be more “at the moment”
- Casual — Selfie videos or behind-the-scenes content are more common
- Designed for engagement — Your Stories will be watched by your current followers
Instagram feed video
In-feed video is the original Instagram video format on the app. Video posts are added the same way images are posted: using Instagram’s built-in camera or uploading from a Photo Library.
The in-feed video must be three-60 seconds in length, which means Boomerangs and GIFs fall into this category, too.
IGTV (Instagram TV)
Instagram launched the feature in June 2018. It allows brands to make videos longer than typical Instagram Stories and posts.
IGTV (Instagram TV) is a long-form vertical video channel that is accessible from Instagram.
It used to be that if you wanted to upload a video onto IGTV you needed to create an IGTV Channel. However, Instagram has since done away with that feature.
All you need to create an IGTV account now is an Instagram account. Your account allows you to upload videos onto IGTV via the Instagram app or the IGTV app.
Tip 1: Keep videos between 3–5 minutes. When people see a lengthy video, such as 10 minutes, they tend to scroll past. The average time a person watches a video on Instagram is 3–10 seconds.
Tip 2: Keep in mind the use of a thumbnail and the proper dimensions for the video. When videos are not cropped correctly, users are less likely to watch.
Reels
Reels invites you to create fun videos to share with your friends or anyone on Instagram. Record and edit 15-second multi-clip videos with audio, effects, and new original tools. You can share reels with your followers on Feed, and, if you have a public account, make them available to the wider Instagram community through a new space in Explore. Reels in Explore offers anyone the chance to become a creator on Instagram and reach new audiences on a global stage.
Reels give people new ways to express themselves, discover more of what they love on Instagram, and help anyone with the ambition of becoming a creator take center stage.
Instagram gives you a unique chance to tell great stories through visual content. Instagram videos are highly effective at telling your brand’s story within a short time frame. Storytelling is a fantastic way to market your brand and create engaging images or videos
