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The following is a guest post by Cristian Stanciu. Cristian Stanciu is a freelance video editor, owner, and post-production coordinator of Veedyou Media – a company offering video editing services to videographers, marketing agencies, video production studios or brands all over the globe. I can catch up with him on his blog or on LinkedIn.

Even the experts couldn’t predict the phenomenal rise of Instagram.

With double-digit growth in its membership for the past few years, the social media platform has more than a billion users now.

More than 50% of the platform’s users are below the age of 34. Instagram also has a large female user base.

On average, over 100 million posts are published on Instagram every day.

These facts make Instagram an attractive marketing option for all businesses.

Instagram started as a platform to post and share pictures. But, seeing the growing craze for videos, the platform introduced videos in the posts.

Simultaneously, the increasing popularity of video production resulted in a burst of creativity in the form of video content on the platform. And, the users loved it, and they can’t get enough of it.

If you want to gain more followers and want people to show interest in your message, then here are 6 types of Instagram videos to use.

1. Short Tutorial Instagram Videos

Let’s begin with the most important video type that has the potential to garner quite a large number of followers.

Short videos, clips that are less than 60 seconds long, are more likely to go viral on Instagram.

It’s no secret that consumers are quite fond of tutorial videos.

They are perhaps among the top three most searched video types on Instagram, YouTube, and various other platforms.

The beauty of tutorial videos is that their popularity transcends any industry.

Electronics, fashion, software, automotive, technology, cosmetics and make-up, and more; you’ll find consumers of all these industries interested in tutorial videos.

Tutorial videos are a huge hit because they satisfy our curious nature, thirst for knowledge, and the need to find a solution to a problem.

People are drawn towards tutorial videos because of the questions that pop up in their minds: ‘How will this product help me?’ ‘How do I use it?’ ‘What is she cooking?’ ‘How is it done?’

There is more than one reason to keep tutorial videos short.

First, you can use short tutorial videos to create interest for your long-form tutorial videos.

Second, the attention span of online users is declining. Consumers nowadays prefer content in small doses.

By keeping the Instagram video length less than a minute, you can ensure the consumer stays till the end.

BuzzFeed Tasty Videos

Simple, short, and engaging – these are the hallmarks of BuzzFeed Tasty videos that are posted on Instagram.

These easily shareable recipes are visually appealing and light-hearted; they are practical and helpful; easily replicated at home.

This was precisely what the creative director of BuzzFeed Motion Pictures, Andrew Gauthier, wanted to achieve.

Before created hundreds of ‘BuzzFeed Tasty’ videos the creative team had a simple goal – to produce short recipe tutorials that anyone can pull off at home.

So far, more than 500 such videos have been posted on social media.

The BuzzFeed Tasty campaign was a roaring success with more than 14 billion views so far.

Here is a simple video on how to make an Omelette Cup.

2. Instagram Live Videos

Can you imagine that nearly 70% of posts on Instagram don’t receive any views? It’s true.

What’s the use of investing energy and resources in video production if no one views it? Well, you can change this by investing in Instagram Live videos.

The social media platform gives priority to live streaming content and places it at the top of the storyline.

Plus, it’s believed that people are drawn to live videos because there is a sense of curiosity watching scenes that are happening at the same time.

Not just sports and award events, almost all business marketing content can be live-streamed.

Expert interaction, whiteboard video, and Q&A session – all these can be live telecasted on Instagram to attract more followers.
The real-time video also builds trust among the consumers because the scenes aren’t rehearsed and there is very little chance of faking a product demonstration.

Image via Instagram

Ask Adam Series

The Sift Bake Shop rolled out a social media campaign called Ask Adam.

In these videos, Adam replies to baking-related questions on a live Q&A session on Instagram.

This marketing method allows the brand to know their audience better and help them with their queries. Plus, the audience gets to see the humane side of the brand.

Q+A by Nutritious Life

Another great example is the question and answers session from Nutritious Life.

The live session host comes prepared with text to help the viewers understand the interaction without turning up the volume.

3. Handheld Device Instagram Videos or Selfie Videos

The growth of another social media platform – TikTok – sheds light on a very valid point.

Although people like high-resolution videos, they are also in favor of more authentic content.

Even on Instagram, videos filmed using handheld devices and where the video creator talks directly to the camera is popular (Selfie videos).

Only basic filming equipment such as a smartphone and editing software is required to shoot such videos.

You can create behind the scenes videos, Q&A videos, testimonial videos, etc.

The current trend of selfie videos has also resulted in a burst of creativity.

You can also carry out Instagram hashtag campaigns and encourage your followers to share their creations about a topic or theme.

Restaurants made the best use of the selfie videos during the COVID lockdown period.

Many restaurant and food delivery businesses uploaded such videos to engage with their target audience.

They also used selfie videos to showcase the safety measures adopted during food preparation.

Businesses can use employee-created selfie videos to add a human touch to their social media marketing efforts.

GoPro Video

The GoPro videos on social media are quite popular.

Their fish-eye view videos of extreme sports give the users the feeling of participating in the daredevil stunt themselves.

On their Instagram account, the audience can find several such videos.

To give you a glimpse of what you can expect from GoPro, here is a longer video.

Without a doubt, this will be the best video you’ll watch today.

Every element of the video is carefully chosen to attract, engage, and enthrall the audience.

Just by looking at the thumbnail, you can clearly understand what’s in store for you.

Every second of the GoPro video is intense. You won’t take your eyes off for a second.

At the end of the clip, you can’t stop wondering about the camera equipment that made the whole experience possible.

4. Hook Videos

We always focus on developing content that would inform and entertain the audience.

But, just for a minute, consider the plight of the content creator who is under immense pressure to churn out fresh content for various marketing channels.

In the absence of video content that’s exclusively created for Instagram, you can use short clips of long-form videos hosted elsewhere to attract your target audience.

The short clips can function as hook videos to drive the audience to a video landing page.

This Instagram marketing strategy is quite simple.

Create a website or landing page with a builder tool such as Leadpages.

You can very well use any builder tool; there are many Leadpages alternatives available.

Add long-form video on a web page. Create a short teaser or trailer of the video and upload the clip on Instagram.

Use the hook video to direct the user’s attention towards the video on the landing page.

We see such tactics all the time.

For example, in the entertainment industry, a brief clip of the next episode of a TV show or a movie trailer creates curiosity and increases the audience’s expectation.

Business, entertainment, and a wide range of industries can benefit from hook videos.
News channels on Instagram can convince the audience to watch a whole video on their news site using headline snippets.

Burger King Video

A wonderfully clever and heartwarming video was posted by Burger King on Instagram.

It was released on the 199th anniversary of the National American Sign Language (ASL) day.

In the video, the famous Burger King mascot asked the brand’s loyal fans who couldn’t speak what the sign of their famous burger – Whopper – should be.

The video was part of the brand’s hashtag campaign: #WhopperSign.

Burger King used the shorter version of the video on Instagram. The longer video was released on YouTube.

5. Graphical Instagram Videos

A famous scientist once said, ‘Talent and skill have limits, but there are no limitations on creativity.’

Hence, you don’t need access to actors, voice talent, or picturesque locations to create videos that will increase followers.

All you need is an idea, a message, some suitable pictures, and an editing tool to add animated text and quotes.

With these, you can create engaging clips for your Instagram marketing.

These videos work best for introducing discounts, where flashy animation, text, and colors can be used to encourage users to take action.

Hence, graphical videos can be used to accumulate more followers and for lead generation.

Create a bunch of highly creative graphical videos and use tools for Instagram such as Buffer to promote the content.

Bear in mind that Buffer isn’t the only choice for you. There are numerous Buffer alternatives available online.

To stay in front of your target audience, you need to post engaging content on Instagram regularly.

You can decrease the drain of marketing resources if you add graphical videos into the content mix.

Allstate

Many of the Allstate Insurance Company’s social media videos disprove the general belief that insurance videos are boring.

Plus, some of their videos prove that brands don’t need deep pockets to create engaging social media videos.

The meme-format video by Allstate on Instagram is clever and engaging.

It’s highly sharable because the short video is funny. Plus, it delivers the message that the brand wants to convey.

As expected, the success of the simple graphical video encouraged them to further create similar content.

6. Influencer Videos

Already many businesses have benefited by partnering with influencers to boost their brand.

You can either host the influencer videos on your social media page or sponsor a video in the influencer’s account.

Both methods will help you reach a wider audience and help attract more followers.

The trend of using influencer videos is on the rise because many of them already have tons of followers.

Sometimes having thousands or millions of followers alone isn’t enough.

It’s important to mention that while choosing a partner make sure the influencer’s followers are part of your target audience.

Instagram is home to all kinds of niche influencers and communities.

It’s important to partner with a person who is a good fit for your brand, product, or service.

The influencer will act as your ambassador. Hence, choose someone whom your target audience would trust.

Sun Peaks Resort

When the Sun Peaks Resorts decided to boost awareness of their best winter attractions, they invested in influencer marketing as one of the many measures.

A marketing campaign was launched in collaboration with Callum Snape – an Instagram influencer and adventure photographer.

The campaign succeeded in creating massive interest among the resort’s target audience.

The images, videos, and articles on Instagram and various other platforms received thousands of views and comments.

The success of such niche influencer campaigns shows that businesses don’t need large budgets to succeed in social media video marketing.

With the help of influencer marketing, even small brands can compete at the highest level.

Final Thoughts

As other social media platforms are declining, Instagram is gaining in popularity. If you’re not on Instagram, posting videos, it’s a massive opportunity lost.

It isn’t enough to be on this visual-dominated social media platform. To boost your presence on Instagram, you need to post videos that engage the audience.

The above list of 6 types of Instagram videos will give you a head start over others.

You can delight Instagram users with these video types, and they’ll happily become your followers on the platform.

Boost your Instagram marketing with special hashtags for each day of the year. Download our free PDF Hashtag calendar:

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