I’ve posted another article about how video can be extremely beneficial for marketing your brand online, even helping to increase revenue for current clients. But the idea of video blogging is daunting enough for many businesses that they will procrastinate and never begin creating at all.
Then Instagram, a photo-sharing network that many brands are keen on using to communicate experiences with their audiences, came out with video functionality a couple weeks ago. And the tables have turned. For whatever reason, all those other social video options didn’t spur the desire to start creating. But Instagram, which has attracted businesses since the beginning with the loyal following of so many users, has made the desire to vlog an instant reality.
For those of you on board with Instagram, here are five ways you can use the network’s new video sharing option to effectively market your brand:
1) Share your point of view
One of the coolest features of Instagram video, which was actually started by Vine App, is the ability to record multiple clips in one share. With 15 seconds of total filming time, this makes it really easy to share your environment in the most interesting way possible. Show behind the scenes at the office and use the stop motion functionality to give all your points of view, rather than a boring, continuous clip.
2) Announce important messages
Running a special happy hour today? Maybe there’s a new item on the menu that your audience would be excited about? Using Instagram video to record a 15-second press release is a great way to make your followers feel exclusivity to brand announcements.
3) Show off your product at work
Fifteen seconds is a length of time that brands are already comfortable with when it comes to advertising in the TV world, which is why this feature has been a big winner so far. There’s no shame in showing off your product at its best with Instagram video, as long as you keep in mind that an actual sales pitch is really hard to get right on this network. You should show off the goods but lay low on the where you can buy this talk. You’ll lose followers if they feel like it’s all sales and not personal.
4) Introduce your staff
You have amazing people who work for you, so let the world know you appreciate them. Whether you do a quick introduction and a view of them hard at work, or let them take the camera to share their personality through the brand window themselves. Allowing everyone in your company to be a public brand representative offers more opportunities for personal connection.
5) Show how to do something
Users want content. If you can show how to do something and use video to make it a seamless instruction, you’re going to win big with your audience. How can you share a little secret in your industry that will excite your followers and make them loyal advocates forever?
Have you started using Instagram video yet? What are you sharing with your audience?
