Social media in 2020 is a platform where curated content accompanied by trending hashtags change by the hour. Among the different formats of well-curated content on your newsfeeds, short videos have emerged as the most effective and engaging medium to convey a story.
Over the last few years, Instagram has made a strong pitch for building up an attractive ensemble of video sharing options. But how to differentiate between the three video sharing options of IGTV, Reels, and Instagram stories and use them to the maximum effect?
Instagram TV (IGTV)
Instagram TV is replicating the success model of YouTube for hosting and sharing short videos, which can be up to 10 minutes long. IGTV has faster video loading times than YouTube and can instantly reach out to a much wider audience through Insta-feeds. Use the following features in IGTV for making the maximum impact on social media users:
#1. Prioritize Your Content
To start with, you can reuse and repurpose already published content on YouTube and Facebook, and 10 minutes is a fairly good time to convey an engaging brand story. Mix it up with live-stream recordings, listicles, short tips to keep your audience hooked on.
#2. Keep it Authentic
Focus on freshly shot authentic content with minimum editing and behind the scene banters. Create a niche audience with exclusive sneak peeks into company events like product launches, speaking engagements, and social gatherings. Chiara Feragni’s house tour clocked 4.4 million views back in 2018 and remains one of the most-watched videos on IGTV.
#3. Deliver Value
Create channels of evergreen content where users will keep coming back for tutorial videos, how-to videos, product information videos, answering questions from the audience, and webinars. Periodically updated fresh content on cooking, health, fitness tutorials, and home repair demonstrations attract returning visitors and grow in followers with every new content.
#4. Basics of Use
Like Messenger and Facebook, IGTV and Instagram are two separate apps. The videos stay forever on the channel and can include a Swipe Up call to action button. You can keep track of the response like Engagement and Audience retention through the view insights feature on the videos. You can opt for promoting minute-long teasers of your IGTV videos by cross-promoting on Instagram through your stories by tapping the link icon, as shown below.
Instagram Reels
This is a short video sharing format inspired by the huge success of TikTok and the subsequent ban in some major markets. Short 15 second snackable videos on fun, skills, and brand marketing form a major share of posts currently on Reels.
Users can record videos, edit them on the app with creative filters, add audio from Instagram music, and share them to the Reels tab along with their Stories and Explore Feed. With the exponential surge in interest in short videos, Instagram has positioned itself as a one-stop app to view and share all types of video and picture content. Backed by Facebook’s brand value, Reels is well-positioned to emerge as the ideal marketing platform on social media.
Instagram Stories
Instagram stories have hit the bull’s eye ever since its launch, and well over 500 million users use Instagram stories worldwide daily. This feature allows posting images, short video clips, and text, which remain on the feed for 24 hours and are excellent at driving brand awareness, engagement, and conversions. Leverage your stories for maximum impact with the following:
#1. Use Story Highlights
The “Add to Highlight Feature” allows stories to remain evergreen and accessible for users to watch at their convenience.
#2. Use the Poll Feature
Engage with your audience and generate user data and feedback through polls, quizzes, and sharing fun facts in your stories.
#3. Use User-Generated Content
Make your audience a part of your brand promotion by requesting them to feature your products in their stories along with brand tagging. This facilitates a build-up of trust and credibility as the user stories amplify your reach and presence on Instagram. This assumes added importance in the case of Influencer marketing, where influencers share the brand story as their personal story to their multitude of followers.
Summary
Instagram opens up a wide range of opportunities with the three distinctly different video sharing platforms. IGTV is the perfect platform for engaging with your audience periodically, akin to YouTube channels, and building up a dedicated base of followers. Instagram Reels is pure fun and can be useful for conveying smart and quick brand messages. Instagram stories have been the preferred choice for marketers over the last few years and will continue to be so till the other platforms catch up.
Tags: Content, Content Marketing, Instagram, Instagram Content, Instagram features, Instagram marketing, Instagram trends, Social Media, Social media content, Social Media Listening, Social Media Marketing, Social media tips, Social Media Tricks