In a very short time, Instagram has become an integral part of the ad buyers’ media mix. Its ability to directly reach potential and current customers with simple messaging makes it a great tool to have an advertising conversation with your audience. Video is king on this platform, but many marketers just assume video of any kind is effective. Here are some simple tips to maximize your Instagram efforts.
Keep It Short and To-The-Point
If you look through Instagram, specifically focusing on video advertising content, you’ll see that most videos are less than 30 seconds long. If you can keep your message to 10 or 15 seconds, you will be able to get a better percentage of video views as users will stay engaged for that length of time. This is also helpful for marketers as it forces them to avoid the trap of trying to jam too many messages into a single video. Short video forces you to focus on one thing and stay on-point.
Be Consistent in Branding and Across Social Platforms
Most marketers already understand how critical it is to stay consistent with branding identifiers like logos, fonts, and signature colors. They also know that having a singular, distinct brand voice is very important. Even the best brand managers are sometimes tempted to create different branding styles for different platforms. While this idea is understandable, it is a short-term solution with long-term ramifications. Your brand is your brand, whether you’re producing a radio ad, or posting on a social platform. Stay consistent and don’t make huge changes without having strategic, internal, data-based discussions. Having said that, read up on the best ways to present photos and videos on different platforms to make specific, yet consistent, content.
Use Hashtags and Stories
One of the great things about Instagram is that you can incorporate hashtags into your descriptions to appear organically in searches. Users expect this and don’t find it intrusive. Include two to five relevant hashtags in your copy. Stories are also incredible ways of delivering a timely, focused advertising message, and users expect them to be raw, making them easy to produce.
Post Different Kinds of Video Content
Finally, people get bored with repetitive videos, especially if they can easily tell that they are being sold to. It’s better to create engaging content. Behind the scenes and how-to video plays well on Instagram.
Use Instagram to reach your audience where they are, with the sort of messaging they want to hear! Stick to tried and true branding and put these tips to work for you.
