10 tips to small businesses on how to improve your Instagram video marketing strategy
If there’s one commonality across the modern landscape with the business, it would have to be the necessity of social media platforms. Although every social media site has its pros and cons, Instagram is arguably the most quintessential site for the wide range of versatile functions it offers in the marketing world.
Marketing is a challenging task for any person, brand, or business to achieve, with many small businesses wondering how to build their Instagram marketing strategy. How to effectively apply video marketing to raise brand awareness and increase engagements? After all, how many Instagram views does a successful marketing strategy need?
There are plenty of other options to consider for improving your Instagram game, especially your Instagram video marketing strategy. Whether it’s simple techniques regarding a camera set-up to paying attention to analytics, all of it is worth highlighting.
Regardless, below will take an in-depth look at everything worth highlighting with an Instagram video marketing plan. These ten tips are indeed worthwhile for just about any small business or brand looking to improve their video marketing strategy, so definitely take a look if this applies to you!
1. Use Subtitles
Believe it or not, subtitles go a long way with Instagram videos and any video format. Even people who speak the video language will more than likely prefer subtitles to precisely know what’s being said. On the other hand, another group of people watches videos without any volume, making subtitles a necessity in that regard.
Even if someone were to watch the video with the volume on, the subtitles aren’t going to bother or affect them in any way. There’s a reason so many people utilize subtitles when they’re watching a film on Netflix. Not to mention the ton of apps that can add subtitles for you without any trouble.
2. Keep Content Short
Nowadays, people’s attention spans seem to be between a few minutes or several hours long. As great as the longer length might seem in the film medium, the shorter length is obviously much more suitable for social media. Thus, it’s always ideal for Instagram videos to be as short as possible.
Obviously, the phrase short can mean a different length to every person but don’t try to make it any longer than a minute. Although IGTV exists for a reason, most promotional videos shouldn’t be too long unless they fit a specific niche that’ll work for a longer length. Either way, be mindful of your video content length.
3. Share Links
As excellent as Instagram videos can be for growing a specific page, that page is nothing unless it has the appropriate links going out for that business. Whether it’s to a business website, an E-Commerce store, or something completely separate from the matter, it’s exceptionally vital to have the right links set-up.
Unfortunately, pasting links as a caption is never a good idea, so a business has two main options. They can either paste the link in their bio or have it as a swipe option in their story. Depending on where you qualify, you may only have access to pasting the link in your bio, which should more than suffice.
4. Utilize Thumbnails
Similar to the world of YouTube, thumbnails go an incredibly long way for Instagram videos. If you don’t have the ability to craft a special-looking thumbnail, you don’t have to worry about it too much but at least try to get a good still from the video for the thumbnail. Doing this can do wonders for the video itself.
Thumbnails tend to make a video look more professional and tend to generate more clicks as a result. Think of a thumbnail as a DVD or CD cover, meaning it’s there to entice someone to actually click and watch the video. If you can manage to develop a solid thumbnail, you’ll be surprised how well it’ll do for your video.
5. Have Great Captions
A caption refers to what someone will read below the video. Think of a caption as a cross between the title and bio of a specific video. It’s challenging to find the perfect caption, but if it’s done properly, it can do wonders for a specific video’s longevity and success.
Some brands choose to go the minimalist approach, meaning they don’t add anything special to their caption and allow the pure clout of their business to carry their business. This is a tough challenge to achieve, and it can’t be done all the time. Try to figure out what captions work for you and stick to it.
6. Utilize Tagging that Makes Sense
Like having the right caption and links attached to a video, there is also a vital necessity attached to utilizing the correct tagging. Tagging can mean many things, from linking the business you’re collaborating with to people in the video. As long as it’s crucial to the video, be sure to tag it.
Tags tend to go a long way since most people tagged in a video or post will more than likely share it. Obviously, don’t go around tagging random people, hoping they’ll share it for no reason. Instead, try to understand what and who makes sense to tag and see how it’ll work out for your videos.
7. Go Live
Many Instagram users debate about the essential being of going live, with some saying it should hardly be done while others think it should be done more often. Depending on your business, going live might not be applicable at all, but if you can figure out a way to have it for your business, you’d be glad you did.
Most people who follow an Instagram page love it when it goes live as it’s a way for them to get a conversation directly with the business itself. It can be a lot of fun for businesses to communicate with their followers, with some companies saying it can even be rewarding.
8. Understand Video Technicalities
Besides all of the various attachments to what you should consider once a video is done, the even more prominent focus is on the video itself. If your video doesn’t have the proper video technicalities, no one will waste their time viewing it. Even if it has a great caption and thumbnail, the content itself is what’s most vital.
Thus, it becomes crucial for you to fully understand video technicalities. Whether you’re shooting on a phone or an expensive camera, realize what comes to play with whatever route you’re going with. Once it’s edited, you should have a good understanding of what to do from there.
9. Shoot In-Focus
As vital as it is to fully understand how a camera operates and the editing techniques are surrounding it, it’s even more of a vital matter for users to shoot in-focus. Out-of-focus videos tend to infuriate people more than anything else, making it such a crucial area for people to fully understand.
Thus, whenever you set-out and take videos for your Instagram page, make sure you shoot in focus at all times. Most phones and cameras have an auto-focus function if you can’t figure out any other way, but try to learn the specifics of doing it if you can. Either way, it should work well for you.
10. Make Adjustments and Look at Insights
As great as all of this information can be for so many business owners, many fail to do the most crucial part, making adjustments. No matter how confident you are as a business owner, just about every business needs to make adjustments once they find out what they’re doing; it isn’t totally correct.
Thus, if you can, try to make adjustments when it comes to your attention that what you’re doing isn’t the best. Insights and analytics are especially useful in this regard, but remember, videos aren’t going to blow up overnight, so be extremely mindful of what the Insights and analytics mean for your business moving forward.
Why is it Crucial for Businesses to Use Instagram Video?
Generally speaking, when a business owner makes an Instagram page, they tend to neglect the site’s video functionality. Considering Instagram is so photo-driven, it makes sense why so many Instagram users completely neglect the video side. However, what they need to know is that video is the future.
Video is so much the future that it has been expanding on Instagram like crazy lately primarily because of all the various video features Instagram has been adding to its platform. These features range from being a part of Instagram’s story model to being an actual part of a video post.
No matter what video functionality is being added to Instagram, realize all of it can be utilized by your business. Whether it’s an Instagram story or something new like Instagram Reels, all of it is extremely useful for every business owner to know. Always do what you can to stay on top of what’s being added to Instagram.
Do All Businesses Need an Instagram?
For whatever reason, many businesses ponder if they need an Instagram at all, highlighting that maybe social media isn’t for every business. No matter what old-school thought you might have with Instagram, realize social media is as popular as it is for a reason, and not having a page will significantly hold you back.
Thus, always do what you can to have an Instagram as it’ll be extremely beneficial for your business in the long run. At the very least, an Instagram page can act as a hub for more people to check out your business, which can be extremely worthwhile in the long run.
Considering business longevity is what every business owner is trying to set-out and accomplish, it’s extremely useful to know that social media sites like Instagram are so helpful in that regard.
What Else Should Businesses be Aware of with Instagram?
Besides having a full-blown Instagram video marketing strategy, businesses should have a sense of what works and doesn’t work with Instagram. Whether it’s high-quality posts, having great captions, or simply knowing what looks wrong, all of it can be extremely worthwhile for a business to utilize.
Aside from that, many businesses should keep up with their Instagram, meaning they should know the importance of consistent content. Obviously, no one will want to follow a page if someone spams on it too much. Still, there’s a difference between posting too much and not having enough content. Just about every business owner understands that difference with their physical business, but the same rules apply to an Instagram page as well.
