Everything you need to know about video content on Instagram

I don’t need to tell you that video on Instagram is important, by now - everyone knows the importance of video and how leaning into this format can positively affect your Instagram strategy, but today I want to break that down and share with your everything you need to know about video content on Instagram.

Why video is so important?

I know I just said that everyone knows the importance of video, but just in case there are a few of you who need convincing, let’s first talk a little bit about why video should be added to your strategy.

The average daily time spent on Instagram is 53 minutes, which is approx. 8 months of a person's lifetime on Instagram. But on top of that, people are glued to video right now, so in that 53 minutes people might spend on the platform, a large portion of that time is most likely spent in stories or scrolling through Reels. Want more stats, here you go -

Per Social Media Week, 78% of people watch online videos every week, and 55% view online videos every day. In fact, that 54% of consumers want to see more video content this year.

Per Insivia, viewers retain 95% of a message when they watch it in a video, compared to 10% when reading it in the text.

...and the last one, per HubSpot, 54% of consumers want to see more video content from a brand or business they support.

Not leaning into video on Instagram can lower your chances of getting views and followers, and converting them into sales (if that’s your goal).

Now let’s chat about the 4 video formats I believe are most important for your Instagram success.

Reels

Let’s start with the one that’s on all of our minds, Reels.

What are Reels? Reels are short-form, vertical videos that can be up to 60 seconds long. You can create a Reel within the app by hitting that little “create” plus sign in the top right, and then record and edit together video and photo clips set to music or sounds and share them to your Feed, Stories, and the Reels explore page. Instagram favors Reels that are in the proper formatting, which is vertical or 1,080 pixels x 1,920 pixels. and use music or sounds found directly in the Instagram music library. They also prefer Reels that have a high engagement rate, which includes likes, comments, shares, saves, and also watch time and that use the Instagram creative tools, like adding text, captions, filters, etc.

The purpose. Reels will work best for you if your ****goal is to increase reach and gain followers. Since Reels are shown to folks who aren’t currently following you, this gives you the opportunity to get your content and profile in front of new eyes and potential followers.

Best practices. I have already told you what the algorithm likes, but pleasing the algorithm should never be your main goal. Your main goal should be pleasing the end viewer. The best way to grab the attention of this end viewer would be to create creative, entertaining, and high-value content.

Let’s break down one of my more recent Reels as an example and why I believe it performed so well. The Reel is titled, “my fave Instagram hack” - which is educating the viewer on how to make sharing your content to your Story more fun, engaging, and interactive. This Reel outperformed my others and in my opinion, here is why:

✅ Educational: This Reel is providing a quick win. This is something the viewer can apply to their Instagram strategy today. This isn’t something they have to buy or take months to learn. In this short-form video, they will learn all they need to know to take action.

✅ Unique: This hack isn’t something you see a lot, it’s something that can stand out from the normal Instagram-related Reels the viewer has probably already seen previously. This also keeps them hooked and engaged, it might be something they haven’t seen or heard before.

✅ Transitions: In this video, I switch from just a basic selfie view to using the green screen effect, which allows the viewer to still see my face while I explain what they need to do, but also see a video tutorial behind showing them what they need to do as well, then even just tutorial style with voiceover. Bouncing back and forth between these three formats keeps the viewer's attention.

✅ Accessible: One thing I always recommend having on your talking Reels is captions. This makes it more accessible. Not having captions available to read on your Reels means that you miss the opportunity to gain viewership from those who cannot listen to your Reel.

✅ Short Caption: Especially with an explanatory Reel like this one, there is no reason to have a long caption if it doesn’t truly add value to the post. In this case, the Reel stands on it’s own and didn’t really require additional text to support the point. I also did not use hashtags in this caption, which just proves that hashtags aren’t everything when it comes to reaching. What I did do though is make sure to use keywords/terms in my short caption (like “hack”, “engaging”, Instagram Story”, and “feed content”) that can help drive home the topic for the Instagram algorithm.

✅ Reel Cover: Finally, with this Reel, I created an on-brand Reel cover that created a little mystery. I didn’t say “how to share your Instagram content on your Story” - I said, “my fave Instagram hack”. Short and sweet, and leaving a little intrigue.

Feed Videos

What are Feed Videos? So this is just the original form of content on Instagram, but in this case, we are just referring to the videos. The recommended size for these is 1080 x 1350p, which is a 4:5 ratio. These are videos you can create outside of the app and published to Instagram, just like you would with carousels and photos.

The purpose. Feed Videos (as well as other Feed content) ****will work best for you if your ****goal is to generate engagement and build relationships. Though Feed content can help with reach, more than anything it is a place to build your connection with your audience by providing value through the three E’s (encourage, entertain, or educate).

Best practices. There are so many different directions you can take with your Feed videos. You can use this to repurpose a podcast or YouTube video, pulling a valuable nugget and sharing it on your Instagram. You can also use this as a way to share a funny, relatable meme using a GIF, which will make it a video. Let’s break down a meme we posted on the Creatorly Media Instagram page. This Meme is actually a Tweet Reshare, but the Tweet itself includes a GIF, so it was posted as a video.

✅ Polarizing: This meme specifically was referring to hashtags and how they are “so last season”. It was more of a joke, but the entire post was implying how hashtags are not as important as they once were. There are obviously a few people who might have disagreed, but that’s fine - it helps increase engagement and opens up the opportunity for a healthy conversation with our audience.

✅ Mystery: This post was meant to grab the attention of our viewers and lead them to a new podcast that broke down our thoughts on hashtags in 2022. Since the post was a bit mysterious, as we didn’t really provide why we are saying that hashtags are “so last season”, so a lot of people responded saying they were eager to check out the podcast episode.

✅ Entertaining: At the end of the day, the post was funny. The tweet read, “What do hashtags do for my views on Instagram” with the GIF saying that Adam Mosseri’s response to that is “oh, um, nothing”. It’s just a funny play on the changes that were announced last year about hashtag. If you are curious, you can check out the podcast we keep referring to - which is “These Instagram hacks won’t help you grow”.

Stories

What are Stories? Stories are one of the best ways you can allow your audience to dive deeper with you on Instagram. Stories give you the opportunity to show the behind the scenes of your life and business, and promote anything you want to those folks who are already following you. Stories are commonly created right inside the app, these can be photos or videos (in 15 second increments). But, if you do plan to pre-create your stories, these are vertical videos, 1080px by 1920px.

The purpose. Stories will work best for you if your ****goal is to generate engagement and build relationships, just like the Feed content. But beyond that, Stories help you stay top of mind of your followers and will nurture a more personal connection with more casual content.

Best practices. As I mentioned, stories are a great way to both show more casual, behind the scenes content - but also promote what you’re doing in your business. You can also do a mixture of both. One of my top performing stories right now is actually when I share my feed content, which is super uncommon for most creators. Let me break down how I made these Stories interesting and interactive.

✅ Educational: Because I am sharing a carousel graphic from my feed that is fully of great educational content, this Story is providing easy access to a lot of value. They didn’t have to rely on their home feed or coming to my page to be provided education surrounding a topic they’re interested in.

✅ Interactive: Normally, when someone shares a a feed post to their story, they will just go to the post and share to their story, then maybe add text, but that’s it. In my case, I made it more unique, engaging, and interactive by taking a selfie in my Stories, adding text and an image of my post (not the post itself), and then saving this as a photo. Then what you do is share your post, make it big on the screen and upload your pre-created selfie - so if someone clicks on the image of post, the interactive post share behind it will still work. I even added a poll that was more related to the selfie, not the post - just for more engagement opportunity. If this sounds confusing, I have an entire Reel on how to do this on my Instagram, @katiesteckly.

✅ Natural/Casual: Pre-creating Stories is sometimes necessary, but what most folks love about Stories is how authentic and raw they can be. In my opinion, the Stories where I am taking a real time selfie and documenting that specific day, perform the best.

Livestreams

What are Livestreams? This is pretty self explanatory, but livestreams are when you go live for your viewers. Just like a lot of the video formats on Instagram, this is a vertical format as well, which makes it so easy to prop up your phone and go live. With this being a vertical format, you won’t be surprised that the required size is 1080 x 1920p.

The purpose. Lives will work best for you if your ****goal is to covert followers into true fans. Lives can help you create a more personal connection and offer value - or even build hype about a timely opportunity (like a product launch or new content on a different platform).

Best practices. In my opinion, one of the best ways to go live on Instagram is being super casual and making it more like a chat with a friend. There is no need to plan ahead too much, just be present and interact with your viewers the best you can. One of my more interactive Lives I have done in the past was when I was just chatting with my viewers while dying my hair. Yes, I died by hair red while live on Instagram chatting with my audience and answering their questions about, well anything. Here is why I think this was a good tactic.

✅ Casual: How much more casual can you get than dying your hair? I think this helps remind folks that I am just a normal person, doing normal things. Though no one should ever feel intimidated by me - from my own experience with folks online I love, I know it’s easy to put those people in a box and feel nervous, or intimidated. Doing something like dying your hair or makeup, just reminds folks that I am just a regular person that puts my pants on the same way as you.

✅ Engaging: Lives can sometimes have awkward silences or feel boring to the viewer, but doing something outside of just chatting gives the viewer a second story line to follow. They might feel invested in my hair-dying journey and want to stick around for the results. It just gives them something more to watch visually outside of just my mouth moving. I will actually be doing a YouTube video about this theory, so make sure to subscribe at www.youtube.com/katie if you don’t want to miss it.

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I hope this podcast gave you a deeper understanding of video content on Instagram and how to use them to reach your goals. I hope this also gave you some inspiration on how you can create high-performing content from me breaking down some of my own content. Can’t wait to see what amazing videos you create this year!