Today, Instagram is the fastest growing social network with the largest volume of total user engagement, so it’s no wonder that it has become the most popular platform for business promotion.

Since the network rolls out more and more business-specific features, even small companies can build a successful social media marketing strategy to get value from Instagram.

But with over 25 million businesses on Instagram, it can be a tough task for small businesses to cut through the noise and reach their target audiences on the platform. And it can be even tougher to start selling on the platform unless you have an established following. Thus, small businesses should know how to create content that resonates with your audience, draws attention, and engages.

The solution? Instagram video marketing!

Why? Instagram has become a perfect place for sharing video content, thanks to in-feed videos, Instagram Stories, Instagram Live, and IGTV. Moreover, Instagrammers crave video content.

Let’s the numbers speak for themselves:

• 80% of customers believe that demonstration videos help to make purchase decisions

• Time spent watching video on Instagram has increased by 80%

• Video posts get a 38% higher overall engagement rate than image posts

What is more, 87% of businesses use video as a marketing tool. And if you’re just starting out on the platform, don’t miss out sales potential and learn more about Instagram video marketing that helps to build brand awareness, improve brand reputation, and increase e-commerce sales.

Instagram Video Ideas for SMBs:

1. New Product Announcement

It’s in human’s nature to be curious about new things. When it comes to promoting your business, the situation is the same – your followers are interested in new product announcement, so using video to promote your launch is a great way to grab their attention and interest them in your company.

2. Product Launch

If you launch new products, you’re growing your business, and that’s great. However, this means nothing until you have loyal customers who want to give these products a try. And the best way to spread the word about your new product is to create a short video that hints at what customers can get with it.

3. Unboxing Videos

Although customers rely on brand videos when making purchase decisions, people want to know what they really are. Thus, customers seek out genuine reviews, and the unboxing phenomenon is getting more and more popular among online shoppers. For marketers, it’s a great opportunity to get exposure and promote a business on Instagram.

The main idea is to find an influencer who can review your product and share the unboxing experience. If you don’t have a budget to work with popular bloggers, you can still find Instagram influencers who match your needs and wants. For example, you can work with micro-influencers who don’t charge much for their service yet they have loyal and engaged followings.

4. Product Reviews

When buying products, customers want to get solutions that can solve their problem: Consumers are interested in the benefits your product has. And it’s no wonder that most customers want to find product reviews before making the purchase decisions.

Luckily, video marketing helps to create engaging content that answers customers’ question to your advantage. Once you make an explainer video, you can tell your potential customers about your product, and therefore convince them to give it a try.

5. How-to Video Tutorials

No matter what your product is, there are still customers who want to understand how to use it. Instructional videos are gaining in popularity, so brands produce how-to tutorials that educate their followers. Moreover, sharing these videos is a creative way to tell potential customers more about your product without keeping a focus on it.

6. Q&A Sessions

When starting out, people know nothing about your company and products. Thus, they have many questions before realizing that your brand can meet their needs. Organizing question-and-answer sessions is a great way to let followers understand more about your company, and therefore encourage potential customers to make the purchase decision. Whether you use social listening tools or ask your followers to put questions directly, it’s important to get ready for Q&A sessions to provide answers to frequently asked questions.

7. Expert Roundups

Here comes the ugly truth: When it comes to shopping, people often choose reputable brands over little-known options. For small businesses, this means that they need to gain customer trust first, and being an expert in the niche is a great way to start it out.

With the help of video content, you can organize expert roundups to show your knowledge in the niche. Moreover, using IGTV for business is a smart choice if you plan to upload long-form videos (up to one hour), featuring experts who share their thoughts on niche trends.

8. Lifestyle Videos

People buy not your products, but the lifestyle you sell. Thus, many customers want to see your products in action before adding them to shopping carts.

Once you start promoting a certain attitude and style, you attract your target audience who wants to get this lifestyle. Moreover, people want to understand what they can get with your product, so lifestyle videos get higher engagement.

9. User-Generated Content

In the era of sponsored posts and ads, customers crave authenticity, so it’s no wonder that 83% of people seek out peer recommendations before making the purchase decisions. It also proves the popularity of user-generated content.

After all, people want to see what other customers choose, so this content gives companies an opportunity to build brand trust and loyalty and spark interest in the products. Moreover, when a customer creates a video for the brand, this means it’s worth giving a try, right?

10. Week’s Top Picks

Wouldn’t it be great if you could feature the most popular products in a single post? Creating a video with week’s top picks is a great way to promote many products within a short video.

As a marketer, you must know that small businesses can use content marketing to their advantage, so collecting the best products helps to interest more customers who have different needs and wants. What is more, you can make it easier for followers to discover featured items.

11. Branded Giveaways

No matter what your business niche is, it’s more likely that your potential customers love free stuff. It’s just in our nature to hunt for best deals and offers, and most people want to get something for free.

When you organize a branded giveaway, you attract the right audience and provide your followers with an opportunity to try your product out without buying it. Thus, branded giveaways get engagement, and when you create an animated video, it’s even better.

12. Time-Limited Offers and Discounts

Want to boost engagement and sales? Share time-limited offers with your following. It’s proven that discounts and offers help to increase sales: 76% of young shoppers claim that promos influence their purchase decisions.

Moreover, sharing exclusive offers and discounts with your loyal followers is just another reason for Instagrammers to follow your brand on the platform and spread the word about your business.

How to Create Instagram Videos that Engage – Bonus Tips

Posting Instagram videos isn’t enough to boost e-commerce sales. Your video content should grab the audience’s attention and spark interest, so it’s important to create videos that engage, and here’s how to do it:

• Analyze video performance: If you want to sell more with your Instagram video content, it’s important to ensure that you’re posting the right posts that hook your audience and keep people interested. Thus, you need to use social media analytics to understand what video ideas work well for your following.

• Listen to your followers: Who else wants to turn Instagram followers into customers? To sell on Instagram with video content, you need to know your audience’s pain points, needs, and wants. And there’s no better way to understand them more than listening to them: read their comments, encourage them to start a conversation with your brand, and collect their feedback.

• Rely on professionals: Creating eye-grabbing videos requires much knowledge, time, and effort. Unless you have a budget to hire in-house video creation staff, create compelling Instagram videos.

• Make the most out of Instagram features: Instagram users can share up to 10 pictures and videos in a single post, so it’s a great way to upload a video tutorial or product review to your main feed without clogging it up.

• Run Instagram video ads: Today, Instagrammers follow many accounts on the platform, so it’s more likely your video can get buried in the newsfeed. Thus, you need to make sure people see it online, and paid advertising is a great way to reach your target audience and interest them in your product.

In a Word

Video content marketing is taking the world by storm, and small businesses should make the most out of this trend to get better business results. Using Instagram for business promotion, there are many ways to use Instagram videos to increase sales.

This article was originally published by Hugh Beaulac

Freelance SMM manager and content strategist at MC2 With over 6 years of digital marketing experience, Hugh has a passion for blogging and Instagram marketing. He runs MC2 blog and helps SMBs grow their businesses on social media. As a guest author, he has also been featured on top-notch websites like Semrush, SmartInsights, CrazyEgg, Wordstream, etc