Video advertising on Instagram

Well known and well loved, Instagram sees daily activity from a whopping 500 million world-wide accounts.

A must have for all video marketers, Instagram offers a variety of video options both live and pre-recorded, and reaches professional and personal accounts with both B2B and B2C impact. By creating eye-catching and interesting visuals you can reach a wide range of consumers in a natural and creative way on social media’s fun and hip younger cousin. 

At DreamingFish, we’ve put together information on demographic, advertising styles, and what works, so if you’ve left Instagram off of your video marketing plan and are unsure where to start, this guide is all you need to get going with Instagram for Business.

Audience

Compared to its parent platform Facebook, Instagram has a much younger user base, as half of users are under 34 and it’s largest user group are aged 18-24. In terms of gender demographics, there is an even spread, as users are 51% female and 49% male. Instagram’s audience also spend on average 28 minutes a day on the app and 70% of shopping enthusiasts visit Instagram for product discovery.

Why Advertise on Instagram?

With Instagram’s video advertising style, you can seamlessly integrate your ads into the Instagram feed and between users’ stories, meaning these ads are less intrusive and better received by users. Instagram’s heavily curated feed allows your brand to show off personality and create beautiful visuals increasing engagement and awareness. 

Instagram Loves Business – According to Instagram, 90% of accounts follow a business meaning it is a key avenue to reaching consumers. Instagram users aren’t bored by business either, and 78% say that they view brands on Instagram as popular, 77% as creative, and 76% as entertaining. Equally, brands know Instagram works as 25 million+ businesses are on Instagram and 200 million+ Instagrammers visit at least one business profile daily.

Instagram’s Popularity Continues to Soar- Instagram has a huge community base which is growing rapidly. Equally, engagement on Instagram is higher than any other platform especially for e-commerce and when products are visually engaging they boost engagement and benefit ROI. 

Video Proves Popular-  Breaking up the photo heavy feed, Instagram videos get over 2 times more engagement than Instagram photos. Equally, a report by eMarketer concluded that in 2020, Instagram and Facebook will account for around two thirds of social video ad spend. 

Types of Video Advertising on Instagram

In-Feed:

With 72% of In-Feed content being photographs, you can use video to stand out from the crowd. 

Video content can be posted directly to your business page with additional information in the caption, and the use of simple hashtags linking people to related content. As the Instagram Feed is heavily curated, users expect this content to be professional, so by spending a little on production you can impress your next customers. 

In-Feed video length can be anywhere between 3 seconds and 2 minutes, so can present a longer story or be quick, inspiring a call to action to find out more about a brand or visit their page or website. In Feed video ads will increase brand awareness, interaction and professional impression. 

Additionally, this content can be boosted via Instagram for Business to appear in the feeds of those who don’t follow you. Boosted ads are presented as sponsored, with a link to your brand’s page, and a ‘Learn More’ or ‘Shop Now’ section clicking through to a chosen landing page. 

Here are some Ideas to Get You Started with In-Feed Video: 

Tell A Story- Get users to invest in your brand’s story by using the full 2 minutes to tell them a bit about yourself. Consider showing the ethics behind your brand, how you set up your business, or why you set it up. However, keep in mind, if people don’t see something they’re interested in in the first 3 seconds they may lose interest, so make the first 3 seconds count. 

Demonstration/Product Videos- By seeing how your product works users will find out how it might be relevant or useful to them. Moving from the ‘awareness’ to the ‘interest’ stage of the sales funnel, these videos will push users to click through to your website to find out additional information such as price, and half the work is done for you.  

Time-Lapse- Because we all love a time-lapse! 

Instagram Stories: 

For many, Instagram Stories have become more important than the Instagram Feed, with 500 million accounts using stories everyday. Instagram reports that one third of the most viewed stories are from businesses, making Instagram Stories an important engagement route for brands. 

Instagram video Stories tend to be more free-hand, user-generated content allowing brands to quickly engage users without spending time on production. In a form of point and shoot, you can video there and then, showing a behind-the-scenes look at your business, a day in the life, or a sneak-peak at a new product. 

However, much can be said for a little production value, so every so often consider producing a professional and polished video which can be used as paid promotional content. 

Story video content is short (15s per video) but multiple videos can be uploaded one after another giving you more time, and only last 24 hours. 

Here’s What Works: 

Vertical Format Works Best- By using as much of the dimensions of the phone as possible you create a full visual display for the user. 

Seconds Matter- use speed to your advantage by splitting into different scenes and using a fast-paced narrative and quick messages- you want to create thumb-stopping visuals. 

Stories Are Only 15 Seconds Long- and that’s if it doesn’t get swiped, so make the product the star and show who you are in the first 3 seconds. 

Instagram Live: 

Offering you an unedited, user-generated video marketing approach, Instagram Live allows brands to create their own Live Events for longer content forms such as product demos, Q+As and unboxing content. 

According to New York Magazine 82% of audiences would rather watch a livestream than see a social media post, proving that people prefer watching over reading.  

Live video can also be kept and uploaded to Instagram highlights, serving as useful long-term content. 

IGTV (Instagram TV): 

After a slow start, IGTV seems to be gaining popularity, and recent trends have seen that people enjoy longer videos that share more. 

These videos last between 1 and 15 minutes and allow you to post a brief preview on your feed where people can click through to watch the full video. This preview will be the first 60s of your IGTV so make sure it’s interesting and consider adding visuals and a well designed, captivating opening card.  

Providing vertical and horizontal options, IGTV allows brands to show more personality. What works well are unboxing videos, behind the scenes content, brand story- how and why the company was created, and Q+As with founders. 

IGTV content should be more thoughtful and polished, so spend time and money on pre and post production to make users pay attention to your brand. 

Ideas to Get You Started: 

Documentary/Docu-series– Take some time to present the story behind your brand. This could be over a series of documentary style videos where you show how your brand was born, the benefits of your product or service, success stories, or how it’s made. 

Q+As with Founders- Utilise the questions feature on Instagram Story to understand what your followers want to know and take the time to answer them in detail. By adding question cards to the video and captions, people can find the exact questions they want answered, watch without sound, and your video looks professional. 

Product Videos- Show your followers in-detail how your product or service works so all they have to think about is how many they want. 

Instagram Video Top Tips 

Focus on Your Customers- Make your video content audience-focused. By tracking your view count and interaction rate you can see what works and continue making similar content (not too similar though or they will get bored).  

Make Sure Your Videos are the Right Length- Both long and short videos prove effective, so don’t make yours longer than needed or you may lose your customer attention. Again, you can track what length works through the Instagram for Business feature. 

Hashtags and Ads- On your organic posts you can add hashtags to link to related content and can sponsor your In-Feed and Stories to take them further than your follower-base. 

Get involved with your customers- Answer questions and respond to user comments to increase your overall engagement rate helping you with Instagram’s infamous algorithm. Equally, a lot of people take to social media to air complaints, so by responding quickly and referring them to an email address where they can contact you, you will look reliable to other users.

Use Video Variety- Many brand pages use video and video ads to help with the different stages of the sales funnel. By creating a more general and informative video to produce brand awareness, you can then feature more organic and personalised content to continue brand investment after users have followed your Instagram page. 

Use UGC (User Generated Content)- By featuring videos from influencers or users who are loving your product or service you can increase reputability and retarget users who have looked at your site but haven’t committed to buying. 

So there you have it; all the stats & facts about Instagram! Need help with Instagram Video? Get in touch!