Video Marketing Adds Value to Your Business

The number one all-consuming marketing trend for 2021 is video marketing and this blog post will focus in on Instagram Stories.  However, I would be remiss as a marketer covering the digital marketing landscape to not mention TikTok, Reels, and the YouTube version called Shorts.  Overall, short form video marketing, any video under thirty seconds, is the wave of the future.  

A short form video ad could be six seconds or less.  For example, while watching a video on YouTube a quick little ad, known as a bumper ad, appears at the end. Short form ads are starting to perform at the same rate as the thirty second videos.  They used to under-perform.

As society grows more accustomed to shorter and shorter videos with the introduction of TikTok, Reels and even Stories to a certain degree, people are starting to consume even shorter ads.  

I want to briefly chat about Reels because of the hype surrounding them right now on Instagram.

Reels

• The What–The vast majority of people who are on Instagram recognize Reels are getting pushed in Instagram’s algorithm.  Instagram is putting all of its time, energy, and money into Reels which has been raised up in Instagram’s algorithm so you will want to get in it and get competitive with it and use it to perform better in the algorithm overall.  
• Statistics–More than 50% percent of my followers on Instagram have an aversion to Reels.   They think Reels was created as a way for Instagram to try to outperform TikTok.  Moreover, they see Reels as looking/feeling totally out of place on the Instagram landscape.
• How to Use—Reels are supposed to be a light-hearted, enjoyable experience both for the creator and those following them.  It’s all about “entertainment.”

I want to bring Reels up because there is such a draw to hop on this trend right now, and I’m seeing a lot of creators with the SAME content just to try to get in while the trend is hot.

Hear this: You should not be posting every day, every where – EVER! This can turn you into a content machine. Pushing out things for the sake of the algorithm is not a good long term strategy.

Whatever medium you’re posting should add value to your community. 

Maplewild marketing

 If it is not adding value, then wait until you figure out what would be valuable to your community instead of just pushing things out for the sake of this new wave of the future, which is Short Form video.  All of that aside, let’s look more closely at Instagram Stories. Specifically, why if you are not using Instagram Stories yet, you should be.

Instagram Stories

36% of businesses use Instagram Stories for product promotion.

(99firms)

 There is a massive potential for small businesses in this new landscape where video marketing is such a relevant and prevalent thing to be taking advantage of what is there for visibility sake. Up your game in 2021! 

I could make a prediction that stories could take over posts possibly this year because of the overwhelming trend of video marketing and the way things are going with Reels.  In fact, a study by SocialBakers last year claims 46% of users on Instagram use Stories and 54% use posts.  

Did You Know:

• There are 500 million daily active users on Instagram stories. (Hootsuite)
• Businesses share one-third of the most-viewed IG stories. (Mediakix)
• The latest Instagram stories statistics reveal 62% of people have become more interested in a brand or product after seeing it in stories. (Hootsuite)

There are three things to pay attention to with regards to Instagram Stories:  retention rate (the most important), tap forward rate, and exit rate.  Each insight gives different data to help business owners learn more about their followers and how they are interacting with their content.

Retention Rate: is the percentage of viewers within a day that see all of your Instagram Story frames.  

Many marketing blogs will say retention rates are sure to drop off after six stories, but followers who actually want to see quality content are going to stick around.  Retention Rates give valuable insight into how many people are actually viewing your stories.  They help you know how many real viewers you have and how valuable your content is. If you start out with one hundred in the first frame and by the fifth frame you are down to three people, something is off and you should re-evaluate your content.

Tap Forward Rate: the rate at which viewers tap through Instagram Stories.  

For example, if someone is watching an Instagram Story and decides it is boring so they will keep tapping through.  For a business owner, this is a problem because it means they are not getting people to linger on their content.  To help people stay interested in content, it is important for business owners to switch up mediums.  

Some ideas include videos, photos, a boomerang, or a time lapse; you are more likely to capture people’s attention in the same way as if you use a poll or you say, “hold to read”, or “hold to find Waldo”.  What happens is the viewers actually interact.  Remember, my blog “7 Digital Marketing Trends to Watch in 2021“, covered interactive content as on the rise in 2021!

Exit Rate: takes into account that users have three ways to close out your stories (hit the X, swipe right or swipe down) to go back to the post-feed on Instagram.  

Again, business owners need to think of ways to engage viewers.  Have a plan, make things more entertaining for viewers incorporate ways to tease a product that you can talk about later.  

52% of stories are video and they outperform image stories on both tap forward and exit rates.

(Socialinsider)

To wrap things up, I’ve covered what is sticking around in the landscape of Instagram Stories as well as how to keep people’s attention and what to pay attention to.  In the next post, I will be sharing ways to build your audience, what you can be utilizing, what you could be doing differently, and how to break that ice barrier which a lot of us have about just getting ourselves on camera. 

If you have camera phobia, I have some solutions for you that will intrigue you and help focus in on your marketing plan. Stay tuned as I plan to show you some actual examples of what I do for my Instagram Stories.  

See you next time!