Are you ready for the ultimate guide to making your Instagram videos stand out from the crowd?
You can be an experienced Instagrammer or completely new – this guide will help you get the most out of your video content on Instagram. Learn how to plan, shoot, edit and optimise videos that make an impact!
IGTV was Instagram’s late video platform, which was sadly overshadowed by its cooler cousin, Instagram Reels. First, recently, Instagram merged IGTV and feed videos in quite a bold move. Then, it converted it all into Reels.
Over the past few yearsInstagram introduced several new features for Reels including trimming, the ability to upload video captions, people and location tagging and 60-second feed previews. The new Video tab has now replaced the old IGTV tab on users’ profiles, with a new “play button” icon.
If you are looking to see how your videos perform, you will be able to access a new range of insights under a new “Videos” tab in Instagram Insights, rather than in separate displays.
By combining IGTV with other forms of video content (excluding Reels) the app is creating one place for longer-form storytelling (Instagram Videos can be up to 60 minutes in length).
Looking to show up more on video? You now have four formats to tap into:
- Stories – fleeting, 15-second videos that disappear after 24 hours
- Reels – videos starting at 15 seconds all the way to 60 minutes (eek!) showing in Feed and Reel tab
- Instagram Live – live streaming videos, up to four hours long
Best practices for beginners
We all know mobiles are now making us as resourceful as videographers – and this is such a great thing about Instagram video.
- Naturally, the best solution for creating video content would be to go vertical where possible. The original vertical video naturally encourages you to record on your phone, making for a better mobile experience, because you don’t have to rotate your phone or watch a smaller version.
- Remember that now you can also share a 60-second preview, so make sure that the first minute of your video is truly exciting, and ideally, you would start to create some intrigue or cliffhanger around the 1-minute mark, to get your viewers to tap over to the video to keep watching.
- Instagram videos are at least 15 seconds long and can run up to 60 minutes. If you’re wondering what size vertical videos are, they’re a 16:9 aspect ratio (the same as Instagram Stories) You’ll save time on production, editing and fancier tools.
- With the new formats, titles are no longer required for your videos, so make sure you add any relevant keywords to your description to make it easier for people to find your videos in the Explore feed.
- When it comes to your cover, you can upload still your own custom cover, or choose a thumbnail from your video.
- You can even add captions automatically through your advanced settings.
Taking your videos to the next level
More and more of us find ourselves totally immersed in some tearful jaw-dropping hair-rising video story of a cat saving a dog from a fire, or a yogi stepping far beyond what is considered normal human body stretching capabilities.
The good news is that you too can use the enormous potential of Instagram videos to connect your own audience today, and here are some tips which we hope will be useful.
You don’t need a huge budget or professional video editing skills to create video content that you can post on Instagram.
In fact, you might’ve noticed how many of the most popular videos you’ve watched are taken with shaking hands using a smartphone and in poor light conditions.
- An iPhone and simple editing software are all you need, though of course, that is not to say that you shouldn’t start making beautiful short films of your own, should you wish to.
- Quality videos are being created from smartphones not only because smartphone-camera technology has advanced, but also because users enjoy the convenience they bring to their lives.
- There are too many other things to watch out there, so make sure you grab attention and deliver your message in a very contained time. It is particularly important to include a wow-image in the first few seconds so your lovely fans stop and watch it, rather than just scroll right through.
Tools of the trade: favourite apps for Instagram
If you are looking for help, resort to an app.
- For example, Impresso was developed specifically to make social media promo videos – optimised for Instagram. When you capture video content on your smartphone, you are able to make and upload high-quality & engaging videos straight from your phone to your social media platform.
- If you’re looking to repurpose your video footage to use across your Instagram Stories and posts, and add some filters to match your Instagram aesthetic, InShot Video Editor is a photo and video editing app specially designed to make your content fits in with both your feed and your Instagram Stories posts.
- Looking for a handy tool for your scripts? BigVu allows you to read text straight from your phone!
- Let’s not forget accessibility. If using automatic caption is not your cup of tea, CapCut is the best tool out there to generate captions for your videos – and style them for your brand.
Video production tips
Ok, everyone wants to see your pretty face – there is no doubt about it.
But do try to incorporate texts, images, graphics, animation, etc. to make your video more informative and engaging.
One important reason why to do so is that they are a smaller format, and easier to digest. As a result, videos with your pretty “talking head” only might not do so well, rather than those that deliver some information even when watched on silent.
We recommend you look at creating consistent branding for your videos – may that be covers or specific look and feel: branding increases revenue by up to 23% and overall brand recognition by three to four times.
- Use your existing branding to shape up your videos: if you have always been focusing on low-key and behind the scene content, you want to keep that consistent feeling.
- VSCO, one of the most popular Instagram editing app allows you to edit Instagram video content in the app as well. The lesser-known feature lets you add any of your favourite VSCO filters to your video content to help you maintain a cohesive aesthetic — no matter what you’re posting.
Make friends with Instagram analytics for video
Make time to see what works and what doesn’t, just like you would do on Reels and Instagram Live. Head back to analytics to check your video performance.
- Click on the “…” button and select “View Insights”.
- When you click on “View Insights” you’ll be able to see your views, likes, comments as well as audience retention rate (how many people watched your video all the way to the end).
- According to Instagram, a “view” on a video is the number of times people watched at least 3 seconds of your video. You can even see the ‘average percentage watched.
Don’t underestimate the power of analytics.
There you can have a clear look at your followers’ habits, and see which days and times they are live more often. You can also test the effectiveness of your calls to action, with metrics like ‘website taps’ and ‘follows’.
A few metrics to keep an eye on include:
- Percentage of video viewed
- Saves and comments
- Website taps & follows
The future of Instagram is rooted in video content
As of 2021, mobile video has accounted for 78% of total mobile data traffic. So video is the way to go, it seems. Head of Instagram, Adam Mosseri, has been hinting at a more “simplified video experience” on the platform, which also highlights how the app is truly capitalising on Reels at this stage.
With the right technique, planning and optimisation, you can take your Instagram video content to the next level.
Get creative, have fun and stay up-to-date on the latest trends – you’ll be well on your way to making unforgettable videos that will keep viewers coming back for more!
Ready to get started with positive impact marketing?
Set up power marketing systems build a marketing strategy that drives results, when you join our certification.
Develop an advanced set of marketing skills that drive more measurable results to any project and harness the power of psychology, purpose, storytelling, and impact to build trust in an increasingly skeptical world.
Take our certification, build your marketing plan and build your ultimate marketing toolkit.
Skip to content