How to Add Awesome Video Content to Your Instagram Strategy

Videos are now an essential part of anyone’s Instagram strategy, which means it’s time to start developing awesome video content for your Instagram.

A few weeks ago, Instagram chief Adam Mosseri announced that Instagram is no longer “just a square photo-sharing app.” As we progress through 2021, Instagram will be prioritizing video content more and more to compete with YouTube and TikTok.

However, while this information should impact your current Instagram strategy, it doesn’t mean you need to stop posting photos. Nowhere in Adam Mosseri’s statement does it stay that Instagram is no longer a photo-sharing app. This statement just indicates that we will see a lot more videos on Instagram. And, if you want to utilize the algorithm, creating more video content is necessary in achieving that.

If you’re like me, you probably grimaced a bit at this news (even though we all knew this was coming). However, as a social media manager, I don’t really have a choice but to start incorporating video content into my strategy and my clients.

And let me tell you, I much prefer creating graphics on Canva over filming dancing videos.

But guess what? Instagram videos aren’t just dancing videos. They aren’t just reels, either. Mosseri’s statement named YouTube as a competitor, which means long-form video content might become popular on Instagram again.

I decided to take this news as a challenge to get creative with my video content, and it has been a lot of fun! I’m proud of what I’ve created so far. (Want to see some examples? Check out Focal’s Instagram account, which I manage and create content for.)

If you are a social media manager like me or a creative business and were a little hesitant about this news, this post is for you.

Here’s what I’m going to talk about in this blog post:

• How to create entertaining videos that don’t show your face
• 5 Video content ideas for social media managers
• 3 Video content ideas for creative businesses
• Video tips and tricks
• My Instagram video strategy

Here’s how to add awesome video content to your Instagram strategy.

How to create entertaining videos that don’t show your face.

1. Design Videos on Canva

If you don’t want to dance or point for every single video, use Canva to design your Instagram videos. Just like you would a graphic.

Canva not only has Instagram reel templates, but it has so many features when it comes to designing video content. You can use their stock photos and videos, animations, and audio to create engaging and entertaining videos.

When it comes to the final touches of your video, Canva allows you to animate text and photos and edit your videos. You don’t have to download the video and upload it on iMovie to edit and add music because Canva is a one-stop-shop for content creators! That’s why I love Canva and use it for literally everything.

If you want to try out Canva, use my Canva link to earn some credit. ☺️

2. Repurpose Your Graphics

If you’re like me and have tons of square-photo posts, you can repurpose that content into a video.

Do you use Canva? I have an awesome hack for you.

Whenever you create something on Canva, go to the upper left side of your screen where it says Home, File, and Resize. Hit resize and search up “Instagram Reels Video.” Automatically it will copy that Canva creation and resize it to fit the dimensions of an Instagram reel. You will have to play around with it to get your photos and text to the correct size, but you won’t have to find those images again, retype the text, add the audio, etc. It’s all done for you.

Repurposing content is the best thing you can do for your social media accounts, and it should be part of everyone’s Instagram strategy. Otherwise, you will be at risk of burning yourself out and running out of content ideas.

This Canva hack is also great for resizing Instagram content for Facebook, Twitter, or other platforms. You’ve spent a lot of time working on that content so reuse it!

5 Evergreen Video Content Ideas for Social Media Managers

1. A Day in Your Life

These types of videos can show your face, but they don’t need to, which is why this is a great content idea for anyone.

If you choose to film your Day in Your Life as a reel, remember it can be up to 30 seconds, so choose the parts of your day to film wisely! Your days don’t need to be perfect or happy but make sure they are either entertaining, engaging, or educational for your audience.

My favourite videos to film are mornings in my life. While it involves many clips of me at the computer, I love to add some relaxing jazz music over the clips. These are some of my favourite videos to watch too, which is why I am incorporating them more and more into my video strategy.

2. Your Story

It’s important to remember that as a social media manager, you are both a business and an individual. You must have an equal balance of this by showing off your services but also showing your personality as an individual. One way to do that is by sharing your story.

Sit down and tell a 30 second, 1 minute, etc., version of how you started your business with some light inspirational music in the background. Or, film yourself pointing at some text on the screen that shares your story.

I recommend filming and sharing your story every few months so that you can connect with new followers!

3. Quotes

Motivational and inspirational quotes are superior evergreen content. These quotes are always inspiring, and sharing them via video offers you a lot of fun options. For example, you can share multiple quotes, add inspirational music, and more.

4. Testimonials

It’s important to showcase your raving client testimonials because these improve your credibility and can stay on your Instagram account without becoming outdated. Sharing these testimonials via video allows them to reach a wider audience and makes them more engaging too. That means people will more likely watch it and check out your website afterwards because of it.

5. Your Toolkit

What are your go-to tools as a social media manager for content creation, marketing, etc.? Even if you switch these tools up over the months, I describe this as evergreen content because these tools will always help someone else.

Suppose you used free photo editing software when you first started as a social media manager and shared that tool in a video. In that case, that will help another newbie social media manager too. Or someone who wants good editing software for free.

3 Evergreen Video Content for Creative Businesses

1. Behind the Scenes

What does a day in your business look like? Show your audience what it’s like to create your products, package your products, promote your products, etc. Everyone loves getting an insight into what their favourite brands are up to.

2. Your Product “In the Wild”

It’s essential to show off your product “in the wild,” which means featuring photos of your products posted by customers and influencers. This helps your product feel more tangible and legit. If other people are posting about it, it must be good, right?

Featuring customers’ photos on your Instagram builds trust and loyalty between you and them as well. It shows that you care about them and appreciate their purchase. Also, people love to be featured and when they are featured by a brand, they are more likely to engage consistently and frequently with them.

3. Holiday Posts

Holiday posts are a lot of fun. However, make sure to pick holidays that make sense for your account.

For example, if you are a beauty brand, August is National Peach Month. You can use this to your advantage! During this month, promote your peach-related products if you have any and maybe even offer a sale. Or, celebrate Friendship Day on August 1st and offer a buy one get one free sale for face masks so that customers can do them with their friends.

If it doesn’t relate back to your business in some way, celebrating wacky holidays seems random and doesn’t help your platform or business grow.

Want to know what fun holidays are coming up? Check out this holiday website.

5 Quick Tips for Instagram Videos

1. Use trending music (However, if you’re a business, you won’t be able to use popular songs by well-known artists so try to stick to upbeat, pop-like music!)
2. Start your video with a hook
3. Make the first 2 seconds of your video the most engaging
4. Add captions if you are speaking
5. Create attractive reel covers/thumbnails that provide context about the video

My Instagram Video Strategy

Over the next few weeks, I will be testing my own Instagram video strategy, and I want to share it with you.

Here’s my posting schedule:

By posting consistent and frequent video content for one month, my goal is to increase my views per video from an average of 1,000 to an average of 3,000.

After the one month of posting 5 days a week (3 videos, 2 graphics), I will probably scale down to posting 3-4x per week if I’ve reached that goal. However, if my videos are still reaching only a small audience, I will try to change a few things:

• I will post my videos at a different time
• I will see which videos did perform well and create more similar to those
• I will see which videos did NOT perform well and stop creating content similar to those

Stay tuned for an update on how my Instagram video strategy goes! I will write a post analyzing it, and deciding what to do next if it isn’t or is successful.

Make sure to follow along on my Instagram!

Thanks for reading!

Don’t forget to check out my last blog post: 5 Amazing Tips That Will Transform Your Blog Writing Skills