Well, let’s talk about Instagram video. At the beginning of its appearance, Instagram was called the most popular photo-sharing platform. But now, not only photos but also videos. Instagram videos take various forms, there are IGTV, Reels, to Live.
Things to Know About Instagram Video
Here’s the thing about Instagram videos. You can tell far more complex stories than you can with photos, even the carousel, which used to be so popular on Instagram. You can showcase products, create “how-to”, tell your company story, showcase your team members, demonstrate your social responsibility, and much more.
Make a list of all these stories, and keep adding them to the list as new ideas emerge.
Remember that you have a purpose with every story you tell – brand awareness for potential customers, relationship building, explanation, education, etc. And each goal must translate into something you want viewers to do. You need a call to action. Choose one CTA for each video and describe it.
The Use Case of Videos on Instagram
It is unquestionable that many people surf the Internet from their mobile phones. Since the dawn of the smartphone era, everyone is able to connect to the Internet from a tiny device and connect with the virtual world. They are reading emails, blogging, social media, playing music, and watching videos.
It encourages startups to create new mobile solutions that mainly targeted smartphone users. One of the phenomenal smartphone apps is Instagram, which has been acquired for $1 billion in stock and cash by the social media giant Facebook in 2012.
Instagram currently has 130 million active users, and this sole fact apparently seduces BBC News to expand its audience to mobile phone users. Watch Breadnbeyond’s app demo video for Instagram below:
As Steve Herman, head of BBC News online, said:
We want the process to be organic, and we’re keen to trial new ideas on how we can use our video content to reach new audiences. [We want] to find innovative ways to bring the best of our journalism to new audiences, something our team has been looking at for some time.
That is why on January 16th, 2014, BBC news launched its service called Instafax. It is a new short news video service delivered to Instagram users in a 15-seconds video option. It is named from their former Ceefax service. The first world of Teletext service that runs on UK television. Instafax seems to be a modern version of Ceefax.
Each video on BBC News post comes with a picture and a layer of text information on it. The text information is intended to quickly tell the story due to the time limitation and it’s good for video content for Instagram.
However, BBC is not the first one who create this kind of service. Nowthisnews.com was already doing this since 2012. Since the first launch of Instafax, BBC has already received so much feedback from the audience.
As always, there are pros and cons. So, what do you think about Instafax?
Using Instagram video as the one of your social media marketing tools is always a good idea. Make sure you have one. You can create it easily by using free tools on the internet or trust it to your beloved explainer video company like Breadnbeyond.