Video is Instagram's Biggest Marketing Buzzword, and Here's How to Harness It

September 10, 2015

By Laura Brauer

It’s a fact—video is everywhere. And according to a recent Animoto surveyfour times as many consumers would rather watch videos about products than read about them.

According to Megan O’Neill, the SMB Content Marketing Manager at Animoto, more than 7 billion videos are watched each and every day on Facebook and YouTube. O’Neill says one thing is clear: “Customers are hungry for video and our recent survey confirms that businesses that are using video have a leg up in 2015.

It makes perfect sense to us, then, to team up with Animoto to feature a WPPI member or speaker every week—otherwise known as the #WPPIsizzlereel—on Instagram to feature a video slideshow of his or her work and explore more about how video is changing the landscape of how photographers promote their brand.

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Take, for example, newborn and maternity photographer Ana Brandt, who will be speaking at WPPI 2016. She decided to offer more video content when she discovered that about half of her clients were on Instagram. With a few changes and a lot of new material, she turned 500 followers into 25,000 in just a few months.

Brandt says she quickly found that what boosted engagement to her Instagram account was video, with roughly 75 percent of the responses to her videos coming from followers sharing what she’s created. In other words, making Instagram videos should be part of your regular workflow. When you make a client video, she advises, “You can then go back and cut a second one for Instagram. Or if a still photo gets a large number of likes on Instagram, try creating a video surrounding that session to keep up interest.

Want to know more of Brandt’s secret to video marketing success on Instagram? Click here.

Check out our first featured sizzle reel on our Instagram feed @rfwppi. It’s by none other than Sue Bryce, who just happens to be speaking at our sister pub PDN‘s PhotoPlus Expo in New York City on Thursday, October 22!

Related links:

How to Boost Your Business with Animoto Videos

Animoto Survey: Consumers want More Video Marketing on Web, Social and Email

Instagram Video FAQS

Using Instagram to Create Videos