Video content is becoming a powerful marketing tool for every business owner. Like other social media platforms, Instagram is also home to multiple video content from brands. Around 64% of marketers plan to organically post on Instagram for customer engagement. Instagram allows users to post videos in various formats. It can be story videos, posts or Reels.
According to a survey by HubSpot, 43% of the survey participants loved watching story videos. Instagram Reels are becoming more popular as people have come ahead from the initial days of treating it as TikTok 2.0. Instead of posting repurposed content, Instagram encourages people to post new Reels to increase their customer reach.
Small business owners are happy dancing and grooving in Reels to attract more audiences. If you are a small business owner, you too can leverage an Instagram video creator to drive customer engagement. No worries, even if you are an amateur, this blog will teach you the best tips and tricks for Instagram videos.
1. Make behind-the-scenes videos.
Social media advertising has made customers grow an appetite for authenticity. In the era of celebrity and influencer endorsements, being genuine can get you to occupy a place in people’s hearts. Whatever your business is, pulling back the curtain can drive customer engagement.
You can shoot behind-the-scenes videos for the other videos you post on your account. For instance, post a behind-the-scenes post of a photoshoot. Maybe you can post a behind-the-scenes video of a typical day at work. Another great behind-the-scenes video idea for small business owners is to show how they pack their orders.
2. Display your products or services.
Every small business owner struggles with creating an identity for themselves. Building brand awareness is vital to making potential customers interested in your business. Use an Instagram video creator to show the products and services of your brand. You can create small teasers to announce the launch of new products or services.
Another great Instagram video idea is to show how the product or service can solve customers’ pain points. Suppose you are a clothing brand. You can create some looks with your clothing items to show customers how they can up their fashion game with your brand.
3. Post customer testimonials.
Before buying a product, customers look for reviews. Customers want an honest insight into products and services from someone other than the brand. When you post video testimonials of happy customers, you have a high chance of turning your target audience into customers. While paid promotions by celebrities and influencers are a good idea, customer testimonials hold a lot more genuineness.
The old trick of word-of-mouth marketing has become easier as people have become more connected through social media platforms. Showing off your happy customer can help you increase brand loyalty and trust from other customers. You can post customer testimonials on your story or feed. But before you post them, take permission from your customers. Even if your customer has a public account, take consent before repurposing their content for your Instagram.
4. Introduce yourself and your team members.
The best way to attract customers is to humanise your brand on Instagram. Apart from showing your products and services, show the people working behind them. You can start by introducing yourself and telling your audience the story behind your brand. Let your followers know the inspiration behind creating your small business.
You should also take the initiative to introduce your team members to your followers. Get your team members to dance or do something cute and funny while you capture small videos to introduce them. Take a cue from the Reel by People’s Revolt to create an introductory video for small businesses.
5. Use trending music.
Whether it’s “Love Nwantiti” or “Can we skip to the good part?”, the popularity of Instagram Reels can be attributed to the trendy music. Instagram also allows users to post music with story videos. Therefore, don’t forget to use trendy music while using an Instagram video creator to make appealing videos.
6. Answer FAQs.
People are curious, and they will have many questions about your small business. You can address all the questions of your followers in one video. Before answering FAQs in a video, you can encourage your followers to drop questions in the comment section of a post. You can also put up a story with the “Ask me anything” sticker and invite questions from your followers. Answering their questions will bring you closer to your customers. They will develop a sense of familiarity with your brand.
7. Include subtitles.
While adding music to your videos can make them appealing, some videos require you to talk. If you are speaking in a video, do not forget to add subtitles. It will make the video easy to follow. You can also skip talking and let text prompts in the video do the job for you.
8. Shoot under natural lighting.
No matter how good your content is, it won’t be able to captivate your audience without good lighting. An excellent tip for shooting your Instagram videos is to use natural lighting. Shooting in the golden hour can lend your video tints of orange, red and yellow. You can use an Instagram video creator to shoot outdoor videos on a cloudy day. Shoot during the blue hour if you want a rich and cool tone in your videos.
9. Make the first few seconds appealing.
Short videos on social media platforms are popular for a reason. People on the internet have a low attention span. The first five to eight seconds of your videos have the power to influence if your viewers will be interested. You need to use strong hooks at the beginning of your videos. Keep people intrigued and interested with the first few seconds of your Instagram video.
10. Stick to the latest trends but stand out.
You will find new trends appearing on Instagram every other day. Remember the Runaway Aurora filter? The silhouette challenge with the 2015 soundtrack was doing rounds on Instagram for months.
As a small business owner, you should make videos while following the latest trends. But you should also move beyond the trends and do something unique to stay ahead of competitors. Besides, who knows, your unique ideas might start trending on Instagram.
Closing Thoughts
Instagram has emerged as one of the most reliable platforms for video creation and marketing. Brands are making the most of it and converting their prospects into potential customers quite soon.
So, with that in mind, jump into the bandwagon of making Instagram videos now. If you do it right, you will see your customer base skyrocketing quickly.
