4 Video Formats to Use in Instagram Marketing Strategy
Instagram has become an integral part of businesses’ marketing strategy. This online platform has millions of users worldwide, allowing enterprises to enhance their reach and promote their products to a broad audience. However, using Instagram perfectly to convey your idea or brand to its users is an art.
As a marketer, you must understand that Instagram isn’t only a picture-sharing application anymore. This social media platform now mainly focuses on video content. This makes it no surprise that Instagram video posts get almost twice the engagement rate than other posts. Therefore, it becomes vital for businesses to create a strong video content marketing strategy for Instagram to experience more engagement from the targeted audience.
But what type of video should we post on Instagram? This is a million-dollar question!
To get the best out of Instagram’s video marketing strategy, you must be familiar with all the options, such as stories, reels, live videos, and Instagram posts. In this blog post, we will share how to improve your Instagram video marketing strategy using the most suitable type of videos. So, keep reading this blog post to learn about different types of Instagram videos and how to use them ideally to improve your marketing game.
Instagram Video Formats
Posting videos on Instagram hasn’t been enough recently. You need to use the perfect type of video content that matches your requirements and helps you achieve the desired output. Familiarizing yourself with different Instagram video formats and picking the perfect one for your marketing campaign will help you turn your Instagram game into a blast. The right choice of video format will help you improve users’ engagement, likes, and shares, ultimately increasing conversions.
Now, let’s delve into it and learn about different types of Instagram videos.
1. Instagram Stories
Instagram Stories are short-duration videos that disappear after 24 hours. You might have seen a color ring around your friend’s profile picture. This defines that your friend has posted a story. The colorful ring around the profile picture lets people know that clicking on it lets them view what you have posted.
Furthermore, the profile picture with a colorful ring around it will display at the top of your followers’ screens the moment you post a story. This unique feature has succeeded in earning massive appreciation from Instagram users. Therefore, the majority of marketers use the Instagram Story format to promote their products to targeted audiences on Instagram.
Tech Specs & How-To
Instagram Stories are short videos of up to 15 seconds that will automatically disappear after 24 hours. However, users can save the Stories to the Highlights section, which enables videos to remain on the Instagram profile, but it will be considered temporary.
A few creative tools you can add to your Instagram Stories include:
- Music
- Filters
- Stickers
- GIFs
- Polls
- Quizzes
Indeed, the Instagram story format is an excellent way to attract people. However, there are a few prerequisites you need to understand before posting stories. For example, the Instagram story resolution should be at least 1080 × 1920 pixels. This means your image or video should be 1080 pixels wide and 1920 pixels in height. It is also recommended to use full-screen with vertical videos with a 9:16 ratio to make them visible and attractive to the viewers. Users can record Stories by swiping right from the home screen. Also, they can be uploaded directly from the photo library.
When to Use Instagram video stories:
Instagram Stories has become the most powerful tool for businesses to experiment with different types of visual content. The short duration of these videos gives you an idea to depict your creative side. Furthermore, it is advised to post raw-looking posts as people prefer them over the brand’s incredibly designed feed. Moreover, by sticking to one type of video content, you can attract your audience by providing them with various Stories. This will help you generate more quality content and increase engagement on Instagram.
In addition, by posting realistic and natural-looking videos, you can humanize your brand.
2. Instagram Video Post:
Instagram introduced videos in 2021, which enabled users to create and discover videos without facing any convolutions. Instagram combined IGTV videos and Instagram Feeds in one format to develop a single place for longer-form content. The following features were introduced in Instagram Video:
- New video tab on the profile
- Trimming
- Location and People tagging
- Option to upload captions
- 60-second feed previews
Tech Specs & How-To
An Instagram Feed can be from 3 seconds to 60 minutes long. Similarly, video previews usually last 60 seconds but are restricted to 15 seconds if the video is considered an advertisement. Regarding supported ratios, Instagram Video requires ratios from 1.91:1 to 9:16. But the suggested ratio for Instagram video size is 4:15.
Moreover, the resolution for an Instagram Video should be 1080 x 1080 pixels. Posting videos is similar to posting regular Instagram posts. You can post videos directly from your photo library or using Instagram’s built-in camera.
When to Use Instagram Video Posts:
Instagram Videos are usually longer than Stories, making them perfect for sharing educational content. Instagram videos are also ideal for promoting products or services, as they can be shared through Stories or private messages.
Simply put, Instagram video posts are an incredible way to guide your followers about new products or convey new ideas. Unfortunately, Instagram doesn’t offer any feature that allows you to download Instagram videos. But, users can download the Instagram video they find attractive and interesting using Instagram Video Downloader.
3. Instagram Reels
Instagram recently introduced Reels, which is almost similar to TikTok. In Instagram Reels, you can clip different videos and insert AR effects, music, transitions, and more. Furthermore, similar to TikTok. For You page, the reels’ feeds make the Instagram video format highly valuable for engaging audiences and enhancing your visibility.
Tech Specs & How-To
Instagram Reels can last up to 90 seconds and have support ratios from 4:5 to 191:100. However, it is advised to use a 9:16 ratio, as these short videos are mainly designed to be displayed on a full screen and vertically. The significant difference between Reels and Stories or Videos is that Reels cannot be uploaded or viewed from a desktop.
Audio attribution is another unique feature introduced in Instagram. It allows you to utilize the sound of a reel shared by any other user. However, Instagram will credit the original user’s account for the sound used in your Reel.
Furthermore, it is essential to state that Instagram doesn’t prefer content duplicated from other platforms, including logos or watermarks. Videos with a broad border can also lose their appeal.
How to create Instagram Reels?
You need to tap the camera icon from the top right corner after opening the Reels tab to start creating a reel. Or, you can go to the home screen, tap the + button in the top right corner, and select “reel.”
When to Use Instagram Reels:
Instagram reels are the perfect way to educate your audience about the product and expand the reach of your products. The recent survey clearly stated that marketers found Reels more useful than TikTok in brand promotion. You can also participate in trends and challenges to increase your chance of going viral. If you come across an Instagram reel that you like and want to share it or watch it later, the best approach is to use an Instagram reels downloader.
4. Instagram Live Videos
This unique feature of Instagram allows brands to communicate with their followers in real-time. According to the latest research, over 80% of customers prefer watching a live video instead of reading a lengthy social media post shared by any brand or individual.
Tech Specs & How-To
Are you one of those individuals who don’t have any idea how to start an Instagram Live video? Fret not! Go to the home screen, press +, and then “live.” You can also start the Live video by swiping left and then scrolling to the left until you see the “live” option. You can also find the number of viewers appearing at the top of the screen once you go live.
Instagram also lets viewers engage with you by sending emoji reactions or comments. But if you don’t want it, you can turn off the comments. Moreover, you can invite other people to join your live video to enhance engagement. Also, you can upload your live video once it ends and share it on Instagram. But keep in mind that the duration of Live video is a maximum of 4 hours.
When to Use Instagram Live Videos
Instagram Live is an incredible way for influencers, marketers, and brands to communicate with people. It allows them to start Q&A sessions, organize lectures and workshops, and more. Furthermore, this feature will enable brands to communicate directly with their audience without observing barriers.
With the appropriate use of Instagram Live, businesses can increase their visibility as it will be placed at the top of their followers’ home screen and appear at the front of the storyline. This will also help you reach the audience who have turned off the notifications whenever you go live.
Final Words
Instagram is a remarkable platform that offers businesses an excellent opportunity to promote their products to targeted audiences using video content. Moreover, brands can connect with their community directly using Live videos on Instagram. With the appropriate use of Instagram videos, businesses can engage the audience and let them know about their new products and services. But, using suitable video types is essential to enjoy desired results. The information shared in this blog post would have helped you get familiar with different kinds of Instagram videos and guided you on when to use them to get better output.
