Instagram used to be just a square photo-sharing platform. You took a photo, edited it in Photoshop, and posted.
Well, those times are gone.
And it has all started with Adam Mosseri’s announcement about how videos will take Instagram by storm as they begin to highly promote this feature.
It doesn’t mean that photos will no longer work… but videos will be better.
Let’s take a closer look at how it’s going to look.
Instagram CEO’s announcement
As I mentioned before, just a few weeks ago, Adam Mosseri (the Instagram CEO) said that Instagram is no longer just a photo-sharing app and that their main attention is going to be around videos.
After that, a huge way of promotion for Instagram reels begun.
Not just because they have created a separate tap on the bottom menu to discover more reels, but because they even started to suggest them in your feed, and they started to appear on the explore page.
In short, video is something that has such a massive growth potential now that if you abandon it… you might miss an opportunity you’ll never be able to get any time in your life again.
Without any ads, shoutouts, or sponsored posts you can reach tens of thousands of people the organic (free) way!
But now you might ask, “What kind of a video should I use? There is IGTV, Reels, I can do IG Live… what’s the difference?”
No worries. I will show you now.
Instagram Reels
I would be a liar if I said that reels aren’t dominating the Instagram platform.
Reels are short-form videos that are a maximum of 30 seconds long.
It seems like Instagram has created them to beat TikTok at their own game as they did with Snapchat and their “story” feature… and it works pretty well.
They get an incredible amount of reach, the engagement is over-the-top, and they often go viral which makes them a fantastic way for you to get your company discovered by new potential customers.
To be honest, I literally saw new people grow from 0-7,000 followers in just 14 days by using Instagram reels. I couldn’t believe my eyes. It is crazy!
The problem is how can you create reels that will get the reach, engagement, and go viral like this?
It is really simple:
- Be Entertaining
- Show Your Face
- Use Popular Music (you can go to tokboard.com to get some great tips)
- Add Subtitles to The Reel
- Write an Amazing Caption
- Record The Reel About a Topic Your Audience Likes or Wants
- Get Your Lighting Right
- Make Sure The Video is High Quality
- Remember, You Only Have 30 Seconds So Do It Quick
This is the science behind creating amazing reels. Instagram has also created a great editor that you can use if you don’t have an app that you use to create the video in its entirety.
It can take some time to figure out your “reel” style, but once you do, your page’s growth is going to explode.
IGTV
IGTV (Instagram TV) has been around for a while now, yet it has massive potential.
You could sell on a webinar you upload to Instagram or go into depth about a certain topic with an amazing tutorial.
However, it takes some skill to get good at it.
Instagram is not promoting IGTV as much as Reels now, but the views of videos are definitely on the incline.
The most interesting part is hidden in the description that you can write for IGTV.
For marketers, this little thing that Instagram allows us to do is a game-changer.
When you create an IGTV video (it has to be longer than 60 seconds), you can put a CLICKABLE link into the description.
This can be a massive source of traffic for you if you leverage it!
So, definitely go and try using IGTV now.
Instagram Live
Instagram Live is really powerful for three main reasons.
First, when you start an Instagram Live, you can be easily seen as the first person in the “Instagram Stories menu“ which means that your Instagram Live is going to be exposed to virtually all of your followers.
Second, you will be able to build a huge bond between you and your audience if you are willing to go live and talk directly to them.
(The whole thing feels way more personal than just a conventional post or story.)
And third, Instagram decided to let you MAKE MONEY by going live! “What? Did I hear that right?” Yes, you did!
Instagram is supporting video content so much, that they have created a feature called “badges“.
When you go live, your followers can buy badges and support you as a creator/marketer. That way, you can make a lot of money from your live videos without even selling anything.
So, try going live and use this feature now.
Final thoughts
Instagram has started to promote videos at a rapid pace and if you are going to use them, you can see some astonishing benefits.
With Reels, you can easily reach hundreds of thousands of your dream customers without having to pay a dime for advertising as Instagram is trying to beat TikTok at their own game, so they promote them like crazy.
With IGTV you can drive way more traffic to your website and sell to your followers effectively as you can put links into the description.
And with Instagram Live you can make money directly on the platform.
The time to use Instagram video in your content strategy is now and if you don’t, the chances are that you are going to regret it forever.
Guest author: Filip Konecny is an experienced marketer, copywriter, and author of 4 astonishing books. After years of learning and building his skills, and after writing many sales copies and working on a lot of marketing projects, he had decided to start helping other people to improve their marketing skills and achieve massive results.
The post How to Use Video to 3X Your Instagram Growth appeared first on Jeffbullas's Blog.
* This article was originally published here
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