Instagram is an incredibly popular platform, hosting millions of users globally, including celebrities, content creators, influencers, etc. If you want to build a brand from scratch or already have a well-established business and want to further your mileage online, you need to choose a username (perhaps with the help of a tool like this instagram name generator) and get on Instagram immediately. Since Instagram allows you only to post image and pictures, you ought to know how to navigate Instagram and create videos. Before you worry about who to follow on Instagram for business, read this article. Here are a few tips to get you started:

Be clear with your goals

Not setting goals is one of the most common mistakes newbie Instagrammers tend to make. Your goals determine your marketing strategy and your content. Knowing what you want helps ease the process of creating and marketing your Instagram videos. You could upload Instagram videos to drive traffic to your site, get more followers, appeal to prospects, cater to existing clients, increase engagement, etc. You cannot have a lucrative marketing campaign without fixed goals. 

Learn how to tell stories

As you may have noticed, every successful video or piece of content that enjoys massive amounts of engagement manages to evoke emotions, which is precisely what you need to do with your videos. Once you fix macro goals and goals for each video, you need to learn how to tell stories to compel the viewer to watch the whole video and find out more about your brand. 

Ask yourself what kind of videos you wish to create

As mentioned earlier, your goals will determine the kind of videos you will create. There are several types of videos you can experiment with, including: 

Sneak-peeks

Sneak-peeks are primarily used to trigger curiosity and create hype, especially if you plan on releasing a product or service. Ideally, you need to make people anticipate your product launch (or whatever the event is). Sneak-peeks help create the hoopla you need to sell your products or services. 

Behind the scenes or unseen footage

Behind the scenes footage is another excellent idea to consider. Everyone is interested in the making of successful products and what went into them. Posting priceless unseen clips is an excellent way to gain tons of traction. 

How to make Instagram Videos?

Now that you have an idea about the kind of content you need to create, here’s how you make videos for Instagram. Follow these pointers: 

• Primarily create videos that last 60 seconds. However, you may use IGTV for longer videos. Be sure to experiment with both types.

• You are allowed to upload ten posts in one go. Make sure you mix it up by adding images to your videos. 

• Your videos’ aspect ratio needs to be either 1:1 or 1.9:1.

• Consider adding stickers to make your posts look more attractive and colourful. For instance, you may use a Santa GIF for Christmas holidays, or a ‘sound on’ GIF informing the viewers that they need to turn up the volume for the video

• If you have a ton of content which you want to post on your Instagram stories, make sure you categorize your posts, segregate them, and save them to your highlights. Name all your highlights and store all related stories in one set of highlights, making it easy for the visitor to look them up. 

• As you may have gathered, Instagram video creation is only one half of the equation. You also need to figure out how to optimize these videos and market them to get as much traction as possible. 

How can you market your Instagram videos?

Here are a few things you can do to market your Instagram videos: 

Use hashtags in all your posts

Hashtags are one of Instagram’s most powerful features. You can use these to reach an audience that is oblivious to your existence. 

Each brand, user, influencer, and content creator uses relevant hashtags in every piece of content they post on Instagram. Instagram enables you to follow hashtags like you would other users. Instagram users who follow the hashtags that you include in your posts will find your posts. Additionally, you can come up with your own hashtags for Instagram stories, polls, quizzes, product launches, or anything else. 

Consider Target advertising

Believe it or not, targeted ads are still a thing. Growing your traffic organically is excellent. However, you need to also get paid traffic to compete with other brands in the market, which is why you will have to invest in targeted ads and boost posts. This is true of Facebook as well. Find your niche, create content, and use targeted ads. 

Use Analytics

Just like you worry about Facebook analytics vs Google analytics to track your posts, you need to use Instagram Insights to gauge the progress you make with your posts. Posting content and tracking your posts over time should give you a crystal-clear idea about which posts work the best, thereby allowing you to amend your strategy accordingly. 

Describe your posts with captions

You may have some incredible posts, but those will not be enough to make a significant impact. Adding descriptive captions to your posts will help you create context, helping the viewer understand your message. Your visitors are more likely to stay on your page or account if there is no disconnect. Write informative captions and add a Call-to-Action (CTA) at the end. 

Connect with your audience

Your job does not end once you gain followers. You need to retain them, which means you need to engage them periodically, to let them know that you care about them. You can ask them questions, check-in with them to see how they are doing, ask for feedback, reply to comments, answer questions, clear doubts, address complaints, talk to them live, and so forth. 

Conclusion

There you have it – simple tips to make the best of Instagram. This article should help you get started with Instagram video creation, optimization, and marketing.