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How to promote live video on instagram


How to Promote a Facebook or Instagram Live Video

More and more, live video and livestreaming is becoming the wave of the future. It’s somewhat difficult for brands to accomplish on a whim, which means there’s a high barrier to entry. That barrier to entry means those who are able to stream live video are at the cutting edge of marketing technology. That, as we all know, is where the best reach, engagement, and benefits lie. It’s only once that barrier drops and the practice becomes widespread that people start to drop away from it.

Both Facebook and Instagram support live video streaming, and as a marketer, this should be incredibly exciting. If you can reach your audience – and any segment of an audience that could potentially find your content – you can pull in a ton of reach, a ton of engagement, a bunch of new followers, new customers, you name it. Live video can be a pain to set up properly, but once you have it up and running, it can serve you well for months or years to come.

Current metrics indicate that Facebook live video has roughly three times the engagement of non-live video, which itself is higher than other forms of media posted on Facebook. Over 3,000 hours worth of video is consumed every day, and yours can easily become part of that number. All you need to do is take advantage of the tools you can access.

Before Your Broadcast

During Your Broadcast

After Your Broadcast

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Before Your Broadcast

Before you even consider hitting “go live” on your broadcast, you need to lay a strong foundation. A lot goes into livestreaming regardless of platform, so you need to make sure you can take advantage of it. This is very much not a “if you build it they will come” situation. If you start streaming with no prep work, you’ll get maybe a dozen viewers at most, and more likely a resounding zero.

I have a bunch of different tips for setting up that strong foundation, and you should try to enact as many of them as possible.

First, invest in a good setup. If you’re broadcasting video taken with a camera, don’t just buy a cheap off-the-shelf webcam, invest in a decent video camera that can handle streaming content. If you’re recording your screen, like if you’re playing a game or showcasing a tutorial, invest in decent software. Even something as simple and free as OBS can work very well.

Make sure you have a high quality microphone as well. Nothing kills a livestream faster than terrible audio. You may need an intermediary piece of software to handle noise gating, noise reduction, and audio clarity. A pop filter can help as well.

Make sure you, or whoever is operating the technology at hand, are aware of how to use the software and hardware. Despite our best intentions, tech issues crop up quite often, and the better you can troubleshoot, the less you’ll waste your opportunities.

It’s also worthwhile to invest in a powerful enough computer and internet connection to stream effectively. You need to be able to encode video on the fly, so a more powerful computer makes your stream look better and play more smoothly. Meanwhile, you need an internet connection that has a sufficiently high upload speed to handle broadcasting without delay.

Yes, I know people broadcast with phones over cell data connections, but these generally look terrible, sound awful, and are generally low quality. A business needs something better to set it apart.

You might also want to invest in some lighting, maybe a green screen and some color-key overlays, and even a script if you’re making something that’s more of a presentation than a conversation.

Secondly, test multiple times. Don’t just assume you’ll be able to get everything working fine once you go live. Test some local recordings and play them back to see if they look and sound fine. Test broadcasting to a private Twitch server or on a Facebook account that isn’t your brand account, to make sure it displays properly and works fine. You don’t want to build hype to a stream only to have it delayed by an hour by tech difficulties.

Third, and this one is important, build hype before you broadcast. Treat your livestream as an event! Schedule your stream at least a week in advance, and post to your wall letting people know you’re going to be streaming.

Depending on the kind of content in your live video, you might want to get users to prepare ahead of time. You could promote the fact that you’ll be running flash sales announced during the stream, or that you’ll be available for Q&A and that users should prepare – or submit via web form – questions ahead of time. Make sure users know what they can expect out of the stream, even if you’re keeping the real meat of the stream a secret.

Note that you cannot pay to promote a live video while it’s live. You can pay to promote posts that announce the live video, and you can pay to promote the video once it is no longer live and has been converted into a standard video post, but you can’t promote the livestream itself.

Make sure you set the stage. If you’re broadcasting from an office or from home, make sure anyone who could potentially be a distraction is aware that you’re live and that they shouldn’t interrupt. You don’t want to be in the middle of a presentation only to have an employee walk in and tell you the printer is broken. You don’t want a kid running around and interrupting your sales. You need to be attentive and focused on your audience, not on distractions.

You also want to choose the right date and time for your stream. Keep in mind the peak active hours for your users, but also what they might typically be doing during those hours. You could stream at noon on a weekday because of the spike in activity, but since most of your users will likely be on a lunch break, they might not tune in. The same goes for 5pm, when they might be on a commute home or sitting down to dinner with their families.

You may also want to plan an incentive.  Some streams have incentives built in, like announcing flash sales. Others, you might want to augment with periodic giveaways during the show. There are a bunch of ways to do this, and you might consider looking into chatbots for submission and random viewer pick functions.

During Your Broadcast

Once you’ve actually hit the button to go live, you need to make the most of it. Remember, you’re on camera in front of who knows how many people, with the recording available afterwards for anyone who missed it the first time around.

It can be worthwhile to make the occasional post on your wall or on other social feeds, like Twitter, that you’re live and broadcasting. Even making a simple update like “We’re live! Come ask your questions here!” can bring in a lot of new visitors.

Since people can come in and drop out in the middle of a stream, it’s a good idea to occasionally recap what’s going on. All it takes is a few sentences, something like “And if you’re just joining us, welcome! Here’s what we’ve been doing, and in a moment we’ll talk about X. ”

While you’re live, even if you’re not really doing a Q&A or something with a ton of customer interaction, keep an eye on the chat. You’ll be able to see people talking about your stream, which is important for a variety of reasons. One reason is that they’ll point out if they’re having trouble viewing or hearing your video, and if enough people are having issues, it can point to a technical problem. They can also make note of errors you make, or expand upon things you’re saying. This is, of course, even more important when you’re doing something with heavy customer interaction.

In some cases, it can be worthwhile to have something behind the scenes working to keep you up to date. I’ve seen some brands where the presenter isn’t reading chat, but they have a Slack channel open to the messages from someone who is, and that someone can filter and refer the most important messages. This can be even more important if the chat ends up as spammy as a typical Twitch chat, moving too fast and with too much garbage to really read.

Try to keep things moving throughout your stream. It can be tempting to sit and wait for viewer interaction, but this really only works for larger streams where there are a lot of active viewers. You may need to ad-lib to fill dead air, so consider prepping some questions and filler comments ahead of time. The recaps are good for this as well, so long as you’re not doing them every two minutes.

Meanwhile, you don’t want to drag on too long. The best length for a live video seems to be around 15-20 minutes, with some stretching as long as an hour. Anything too much longer and you’re either losing a lot of benefit or you have to have prepared a lot more. Context matters, of course, but many people just don’t have the attention span to sit and watch your brand representative chatter for three hours.

After Your Broadcast

Once your broadcast has ended, many people feel like their job is done. Unfortunately, that’s not true at all, and by treating it as such, you might be leaving a lot of value on the table.

Immediately after the stream ends, make a post on your feed thanking everyone for showing up, apologizing if you had tech troubles, and announcing any immediate future plans. If you plan to stream regularly, this is a good chance to keep people hyped for the next stream. If you mentioned a call to action during the stream and want to reinforce it, you can do so, with a link to whatever landing page you wanted to use.

Make sure to save a local copy of your video. Facebook will convert the recorded live video into a video post users can watch later, and that’s fine, but you can also keep a local version for other uses. I recommend editing it down and posting clips to YouTube, as a way to hype up future streams and to showcase your content in a more valuable way. It allows you to cut out a lot of the dead time or the less useful questions, plus all of the recaps, and maintain the core value of the video.

I mentioned above, and I’ll say it again: once the video has been converted into a regular video post, you can pay to promote it. I don’t recommend doing so, however. If you want to pay to promote a video, make it an edited copy. Make a clip show with a “what you missed” theme and promote that. That way, you can get people to tune in to the next one while still getting value out of the current one.

You should also monitor your analytics. See how well you performed in terms of impressions, engagements, and clicks. See if there were spikes during your broadcast, and if so, what they associate with. Keep various factors in mind, like when you posted about your stream on other social channels.

With any luck, you’ll pull in plenty of value from your streams and will be able to keep them going, building an audience as you go.

A Step-by-step Guide for Businesses

Instagram Tips & Resources

By Jillian Warren

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Updated on March 15, 2022

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10 minute read

Now's the perfect time to experiment with Instagram Live!

Published March 15, 2022

Instagram Live is an incredible channel for driving new followers, engagement, and even selling products.

But there are no retakes on Instagram Live – so preparation is everything!

We’re covering everything from how to kick off your first Instagram Live to our top tips for hosting next-level broadcasts that drive real value for your business.

Ready to jump right in? It’s time to go live!

Why Should Instagram Live Be Part of Your Strategy?

Going live on Instagram is one of the best ways to connect with your followers in a direct, transparent, and authentic way.

Unlike pre-recorded Instagram Stories, Instagram Live is a totally unedited stream for your followers to tune into and engage with — which can be a great way of showcasing the more human side of your business for your audience to connect with.

And that’s not all. Instagram Live allows your audience to submit their comments and questions in real-time, making it one of Instagram’s most interactive video platforms.

This can be a hugely beneficial tool for building a stronger connection between your brand and potential customers, allowing you to gain valuable feedback and insight — straight from the people that matter most!

Hosting an Instagram Live can also help boost your discoverability on Instagram. For example, every time you go live on Instagram your followers will receive an in-app notification, and your Live will be bumped to the front of their Instagram Stories feed.

With all this in mind, Instagram Live is an awesome tool to promote your products, engage with potential customers, and increase your reach.

TIP: Give your Instagram Live a boost by promoting them on Instagram Stories in advance! Storyboard and schedule your Instagram Stories with Later today, available on all paid plans.

How to Go Live on Instagram: A Step-by-step Guide

Instagram Live is an incredibly easy tool to use! But before you start broadcasting, there are a few administrative items to take care of.

Step 1: Adjust Your Instagram Live Settings

Before you jump into your Instagram Live, it’s a good idea to check your camera settings.

To do so, open the Instagram Live mode view. Then, tap the wheel icon in the top right-hand corner to open your controls.

From here, you can select if you'd like to hide your Live from specific people, along with other tools like which side of the screen you want your camera toolbar to be on.

You can also select one of the icons on the left-hand sidebar to add the title of your Instagram Live, set the audience (either Public or Practice mode), or schedule it for a future time and date.

TIP: Practice mode is a great way to alleviate any technical difficulties or pre-show nerves before you go live (more on that later!).

If you’d rather not see inappropriate words in the comments on your Instagram Live, you can automatically hide offensive comments, and manually filter comments that contain specific words or phrases.

Open your Instagram settings, scroll down to “Privacy,” select “Hidden Words,” and then toggle “Hide comments” from “Off” to “On.”

You can even take it a step further by using the "Advanced comment filtering" option, or manually adding words, phrases, and emojis that you don't want to see to a list.

And even better, with Instagram's new "Live Moderator" feature, you can appoint someone to be a moderator during the livestream.

Streamers + Mods = Dynamic Duo ❤️

We’re launching Live Moderator on Instagram Live, where creators can assign a mod and give them the power to:

✅ Report comments
✅ Remove viewers from Live
✅ Turn off comments for a viewer pic.twitter.com/S9j7s4dInB

— Instagram (@instagram) March 11, 2022

Your moderator will have the power to report comments, remove viewers from the Instagram Live, and turn off comments for a viewer — making one less thing for you to worry about.

Step #3: Check Your Live Stream in Practice Mode

With Instagram's “Practice Mode” tool you can test out your Live setup in advance.

Before you go live, select the eye icon on the left-hand corner of the screen. Toggle from "Public" to "Practice." That's it!

This feature is perfect for ironing out any kinks before you go live to the masses.

Step #4: Go Live

Once you're happy with your practice session and ready to go live, it's quite simple.

Tap the “Live” icon at the bottom of your screen to start your broadcast, and get ready for your close up!

Step #5: Use Instagram Live's Interactive Features

Once your live is underway, you can choose from a number of features to make your broadcast more engaging:

  1. Share questions from your viewers to the screen by tapping the question mark-speech bubble icon at the bottom of the screen. You can only share a question once a viewer has submitted it during the broadcast.

  2. Send a Direct Message to someone about your Instagram Live by tapping the paper plane icon at the bottom of the screen.

  3. Invite someone to co-host your Instagram Live by tapping the person icon at the bottom of the screen.

  4. Apply an Instagram Stories filter to your broadcast by tapping the filter icon on the right-hand side of the screen.

  5. Tap “Comment” to add a comment to the live stream. You can also pin a comment to the top of the feed by tapping and holding it.

  6. Disable your video feed by tapping the camera icon on the right-hand side of the screen.

You can also share an image or video to your broadcast screen.

First, tap the picture icon in the top right-hand corner of the screen:

Then, choose an image or video from your photo library:

TIP: Use this feature to share educational content like an infographic or a collection of recent photos. Think of it as giving a mini live presentation!

Step #6: End the Live Broadcast

Once your Live is over, tap “End” in the top right corner and then “End Now” to confirm.

From here, you can tap the save icon in the top left to save it to your camera roll to re-use elsewhere. You can choose a cover, write a caption, add a location, and tag other users.

We love repurposed content.

How to Host a Great Instagram Live

Now that you know how to go live, we can dig into what makes for a really great strategy!

Here are our top 6 tips for hosting next-level Instagram Lives that drive real value for your brand:

Tip #1: Hype Up Your Instagram Live in Advance

Regularly and strategically promoting an upcoming Instagram Live can make all of the difference when it comes to securing those all important views!

You can now schedule an Instagram Live up to 90 days in advance, which is great for building hype and creating more of an "event" out of your upcoming broadcast.

Going Live hits different when your followers come through 🙌

Live Scheduling lets you schedule your stream up to 90 days in advance and followers can set reminders to tune in ❤️🔔 pic.twitter.com/8t7BWmjEL7

— Instagram (@instagram) October 13, 2021

By scheduling a Live, you can share reminders and countdowns directly to your their Instagram Stories and feed.

Tell your audience what they can expect in the live broadcast, and invite them to share any questions they have in the comments. This can help your followers feel more engaged, and ultimately more likely to tune in.

Tip #2: Go Live When Your Audience is Most Active

Going live when your followers are most active is one of the easiest ways to make your Instagram Lives more successful.

But how can you predict when your audience will be online ahead of time? The best way to do this is by studying historical data trends to understand when your audience are typically most active on Instagram.

Take a look at your Instagram Insights. Under the Audience tab, you’ll find a breakdown of when your followers are most active online broken down by day of the week and time of day.

And if you’re looking for even more detail, you can use your Later Analytics to hone in on your audience’s behaviors.

Your Later analytics dashboard has a super-detailed breakdown of when your audience is online — and you can use that info to tailor your Instagram Live schedule.

PRO TIP: Use Later to discover your best time to post based on audience engagement trends! Upgrade now to find the best days and times to post on Instagram for maximum engagement.

Tip #3: Consider Your Lighting and Location

Planning the location and lighting for your Instagram Live can have a huge impact on how professional your broadcast looks.

Consider how the backdrop of your Instagram Live supports your brand’s message. For example, a minimal white setting with plants will create a totally different aesthetic to a wall with scrapbook-style photos on it.

If your brand is fun and playful, consider how to reflect that with your use of color. For example, a bright pop of pastel can instantly shift the tone of your Instagram Live and make it feel more on brand.

In terms of lighting, natural light is always the most affordable (and often the best) option.

Tip #4: Have a Clear Content Plan

As with any video content, it’s super important to have a clear vision of what you’re going to cover in your Instagram Live broadcast. Having a clear plan will help prevent any awkward pauses, and will also make sure you’re hitting all the important points for your business agenda.

One of the best ways to plan your live stream is to think of it as having a beginning, middle, and an end — or more specifically, an introduction, focal point, and conclusion — and making a note of the most important messages to get across during the broadcast.

It’s also a good idea to consider what could go wrong in a “worst case scenario.” For example, if your live broadcast relies on viewers’ questions, have a backup plan in case you don’t receive any. This could be a list of questions that you’ve gathered earlier from Instagram Stories, or an alternate talking point.

Tip #5: Introduce Branded Elements

One of the main advantages of going live on Instagram is that you’re providing an unedited and direct channel for your audience to engage with your business.

However, that doesn’t mean that you can’t introduce some branded elements to make your live broadcast feel more aligned with your brand values.

This could be as simple as having cue cards in your brand color palette, holding a branded mug, or choosing a backdrop that fits with your creative aesthetic.

At Later, we’ve created a range of branded templates especially to use on our Instagram Live broadcasts — with a colored border in exactly the right place for the camera screen to sit on top of in the top right hand corner.

Watch our TikTok video to discover exactly how to do this here:

TIME-SAVING TIP: Add your customized templates to a dedicated folder so you can easily find and select them during your live broadcast!

Tip #6: Keep Your Business Goals Front and Center

There are hundreds of reasons to go live, so nailing down what matters the most can help keep your broadcast focused, effective, and measurable!

This could be building hype around the launch of a product, spreading the news about an important company update, getting real-time customer feedback, driving sales for an existing product line, or positioning your brand as an expert on a certain domain.

With clearly defined goals, you can regularly step back and make sure your Instagram Live content plan is fully supporting them.

How to Repurpose Instagram Live Videos

Once you’ve ended an Instagram Live, the fun doesn’t have to end there!

Tap the “Share" button to repurpose your Live as an Instagram Video. Live broadcasts have to be at least 1 minute in length in order to be shared.

If you haven’t started using Instagram Live for business yet, now is the time!

Only a small percentage of businesses are going live, so there’s a ton of opportunity to grab your followers’ attention, build brand awareness, and even make some sales!

Ready to jump-start your Instagram strategy? Later makes it easy for you to plan, preview, and schedule your Instagram content!

About the Author

Jillian Warren

Content Marketing Specialist

Jillian is a content manager with over 8 years of experience in marketing, editing, and social media strategy. You can follow her on Instagram: @jillwrren.

Plan, schedule, and automatically publish your social media posts with Later.

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© 2023 Later. All Rights Reserved.

Promoting Instagram in 2022 - Marketing on vc.ru

Good afternoon! Lyudmila is in touch, a marketer at Altcraft. Instagram already has 1.3 billion users, photo and video content service is one of the top social networks in the world and continues to grow. Instagram brings money to brands and bloggers - it is the most effective platform for influencer marketing in 2020-2021. Bloggers earn up to $10,000 from one advertising post. Brands increase the audience, increase loyalty and sales - 90% of Instagram users are subscribed to commercial accounts.

64 592 views

Instagram is a rapidly changing social network with unpredictable algorithms. There is huge competition here, but the question of how to promote Instagram for brands and bloggers remains relevant. We tell you what will work and what will not work in 2022: how to promote a blog on Instagram using free and paid promotion methods.

Before the start of promotion

It is useless to start development without strategy and account preparation. Therefore, first:

  • Set up an Instagram profile so that the user immediately understands what your account is about and what you offer.

What's important:

  • A name that matches the theme of the account.
  • Description in the profile header: USP, benefits, name (if the account is an individual).
  • Location, if you run an offline business or work in a specific area.
  • Link to the site or your other materials.
  • Page navigation in live stories: prices, location, FAQs and other information.
  • Clean your account from inactive subscribers if the profile has been maintained for a long time. Subscribers who do not respond to your content in any way are bad for promotion.

Example. Instagram sees: only 10 out of 1000 subscribers watch your content. The social network understands that the content is uninteresting and stops showing it. Subscribers by themselves are not an indicator of the success of an account, it is important to involve the audience.

  • Switch to a business account to get statistics and analyze audience reactions to content.
  • Prepare a development strategy. Any promotion is a plan and regularity. One-time actions will not bring results. Define goals - why do you need promotion on Instagram, what do you want to get: subscribers, sales, advertisers, or something else. Prepare a content plan with regular posts, stories and Reels.

Free promotion methods

Reels

Reels is a short video format (15-30 seconds) that Instagram launched worldwide in the summer of 2021. The social network also promised to promote the video format. Therefore, now Reels is the most effective way to promote your account for free. Social media gives Reels an outside reach. If stories and posts work for an existing audience (although posts also sometimes get into recommendations), then Reels has more opportunities. Getting a million views for an account with a couple of thousand subscribers is real.

Another advantage of Reels for promotion is the lifetime. Stories disappear after 24 hours, the post is shown for a couple of days, and Reels “spins” even after a while. Also, one video in Reels can “pull” others along with it: the social network sees that a particular video is interesting to the audience and shows the previously created ones.

Examples of Reels

Commenting

Don't confuse this method with spam comments for everyone. Popular, but meaningless, remains automatic commenting. With this method, there are situations when the inscription “what a beautiful photo” appears under the mourning post with a candle, or there are off-topic comments. You shouldn't do that.

Unsuccessful automatic commenting

How to gain followers on Instagram through comments:

  • Comment thoughtfully and to the point. Communicate in a friendly and honest way - try to make friends, and not advertise yourself.
  • Chat in the comments under the posts of personal accounts of ordinary users, bloggers and brands. A user with a small number of followers is more likely to notice you and visit your page. Major bloggers and brands are unlikely to subscribe, but other subscribers will see an interesting comment.

Hashtags

Promotion with the help of hashtags is a legal promotion method that is unlikely to give huge coverage, but it will still attract some part of the audience. Instagram has a separate search for hashtags and a subscription to them.

Which hashtags to set for promotion:

  • Thematic, which relate to your field, and localized, if you are tied to some territory.
  • The topic of the hashtag should match the topic of the post and photo, then Instagram better understands what your post is about and shows it to the right audience.
  • Do not choose high-frequency hashtags from 500 thousand. The more often a hashtag is used, the less likely your post will be seen.
  • Check the relevance of hashtags. If they were last used two years ago, they don't work.

An example of thematic hashtags

How many hashtags should I put? There is no single answer. Instagram allows you to add up to 30. But such a “canvas” does not always work. Irrelevant hashtags will reduce reach and minimize the effect of relevant ones. Therefore, experiment and do not copy the same hashtags from post to post - this is inefficient. Another social network may think that you are a robot and block your account.

Cross promo

This method will not fit the query "How to promote instagram from scratch". An account for cross-promotion or mutual PR should already have an audience.

What we do next:

  • We are looking for an account with a similar or related theme and with approximately the same number of subscribers.
  • We exchange content, for example, we make guest posts, live broadcasts or joint marathons.

An example of a successful cross-promo is a sportswear brand account launching a marathon of fast workouts with a fitness trainer.

Promotion on other platforms

If you are actively running another channel (Youtube, Yandex.Zen and others), invite the audience to subscribe to your Instagram.

Important! Users should understand why they need another account of yours. It is unlikely that subscribers are interested in watching the same content. Work with different formats and themes.

An example of such a promotion method from a blogger with a promoted Youtube channel with expert information. The girl offers to subscribe to her Instagram, where she shares her personal.

Instagram promotion on the blogger's Youtube channel

User Content

Works for brands and individuals who want to promote their account.

An option for a brand is to invite users to post a photo with their product and a special hashtag. Then the brand reposts these publications to its page.

For personal accounts, tag brands. Then there is a chance that the Instagram page will be reposted to the brand account. It turns out win-win - the user gets more coverage, and the brand gets more content.

Location

Adding locations to the account description and posts to Instagram promotion is an additional way. This is especially true for local businesses and events. Just put a location and wait for thousands of subscribers will not work.

Paid promotion methods

Targeted advertising

Instagram's official advertising is an opportunity to reach an audience with specific interests. If the algorithms themselves decide who to show your Reels or post to, then in advertising you set the audience yourself. Instagram offers to advertise in the feed, stories and Reels.

Examples of targeted advertising on Instagram: in the feed and in stories

Advertising is set up on Instagram itself or through the Facebook advertising account (if the account is linked to the page). For advertising on Instagram, goals are available: visiting an account, a website and increasing engagement - more messages. The audience can be selected automatically or configured, but the criteria are limited.

Setting up an advertising campaign on Instagram

There are more opportunities to designate an audience in the Facebook advertising account.

Possible goals of an advertising campaign in the Facebook advertising account

The downside of advertising on the social network is an impressive list of restrictions that are constantly changing. For violation of the rules, advertising is stopped, and sometimes the account is blocked without explanation.

Advertising with influencers

Influence marketing remains trending in 2022 as the blogging market grows. Therefore, Instagram promotion through opinion leaders is still relevant. Advertising among bloggers, famous personalities and experts is more trustworthy and is perceived as a recommendation of a familiar person. Advertising options for influencers: native (does not look like advertising) or direct.

Advertising with bloggers

How not to promote on Instagram

If to the question: “How to promote an account on Instagram”, someone offers cheating and giveaways, then run. Gray methods of promotion will not only not be useful, but will also destroy your account. Read about them and forget.

Giveaway

Giveaways are influencer contests in which you need to subscribe to the page and all giveaway sponsors in order to participate in the prize draw. Subscription is a prerequisite for the draw. This is how sponsors gain a new audience, but after the draw:

  • users unsubscribe because their interest is a prize, not a sponsor's page;
  • Instagram algorithms see a large number of unsubscribes and reduce profile coverage;
  • it is difficult to save such an account.

Even during a giveaway, the gathered audience is ballast. Prize users are not involved in the content. For Instagram algorithms, this is a sign of irrelevant content.

Cheat bots and comments

Instead of live subscribers, you get fake accounts - bots that create the appearance, but in fact "drown" the account. For algorithms, the more subscribers, the more engagement should be. If the subscribers are bots, there is no activity from them. Instagram sees an uninteresting account and does not show it not only in recommendations, but also to subscribers. The social network also fights against bots and suspicious activity, bans accounts that are engaged in cheating.

Activity chats

They create the illusion of involvement, show social networks and other subscribers interest in the account. These are groups where users gather who like, comment on posts and watch each other's stories. The main disadvantage of the method is an irrelevant audience. If this method is still possible in an account from scratch, then after growth it will most likely harm - you will not see real involvement and interest in the content, so you will not understand how to improve it.

Mass following and mass liking

The essence of the methods is subscribing to multiple accounts that can be the target audience or/and likes to posts by different people. The goal is to draw attention to your account: the user will replace your activity and subscribe in response. But the methods are no longer relevant: users do not respond, but Instagram punishes for such promotion. The social network has a limit of subscriptions, unsubscribes, likes, comments, marks, and even the number of publications. For suspicious activity, the user receives a ban. If you resort to the help of automated third-party services, the risks of losing your account forever increase.

Summary

Start promoting your Instagram account by creating a strategy and profile packaging: a clear description and location designation.

The most promising free way to promote Instagram is to shoot Reels. Combine it with other methods: commenting, cross-promotion with accounts of similar subjects, use user-generated content and advertise your Instagram on other platforms.

Put thematic hashtags under publications and geolocations if the account is tied to a territory - these are additional free promotion methods.

To reach a larger audience, launch targeted ads or reach out to influencers who will remain a popular paid promotion channel in 2022.

Do not use gray methods of promotion: giveaways, activity chats, promotion, mass following and mass liking. Promote legal methods - this is a reliable and proven way.

How to promote reels on Instagram: the main rules and features

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Not every business is interested in how to promote reels on Instagram. Meanwhile, this way to tell about the brand is not inferior in effectiveness to other proven methods. Since this format is only gaining momentum, those companies that will be the first to use it will have a serious advantage over their competitors.

Promotion reels has its own rules and features that significantly affect the effectiveness. In our article, we will tell you what the advantage of such promotion is and talk about the methods and tools for its implementation.

Instagram is an organization whose activities are recognized as extremist on the territory of the Russian Federation.

Features of reels in Instagram

Instagram has recently added another "chip" called reels to its functionality. These are short videos that any user of this service can see. So far, the use of rails is only gaining popularity, so there is every chance to get to know their algorithms and features of use better.

Reels are 9:16 vertical videos, up to 1 minute long, and 600*1067 or 1080*1920 pixels resolution. 4K videos are not supported.

Features of Instagram reels

For many Instagram users, reels are just another entertainment feature, but for business accounts, this is a great opportunity to attract new customers and sell their goods or services.

Benefits of promoting with reels on Instagram

Usually, reels videos resemble videos from TikTok, where people dance to the music, or make some movements, accompanying it all with funny inscriptions and emoticons. Entertainment content is perhaps the key feature of this service, but thanks to it you can distribute advertising for your business account on Instagram.

Reels is currently the most effective tool that has a number of advantages. Short videos are better remembered by the audience, and they quickly attract the attention of potential buyers to a particular brand, in comparison with other services for promoting business accounts on Instagram.

Reels promotion has a lot of advantages. So far, the tool works much more efficiently than other formats and brings results faster.

Features of reels on Instagram

Here are a few reasons why reels are suitable for promoting any goods and services:

  • High interest in content and its viral distribution.
  • Increasing coverage.
  • Indirect native advertising.
  • Increase in subscribers.
  • Increase in loyal audience.
  • Clear associations with a particular brand.

Each video has its own interesting cover, which will look organically with the visual of the entire account. In addition, actual music, photos, images and captions are added to the clip. Reels do not disappear after 24 hours, unlike Stories, and they are seen not only by your followers, but also by other Instagram users, which increases your reach and adds 50% of new subscriptions.

Instagram's policy is such that the priority for promotion will be those accounts that use all the available functions of the service - these are stories, live broadcasts, long IGTV videos, news feeds and reels. If you do not use such "chips" in promoting your account, then the page rank will drop. Shorter videos have more exposure, and therefore more views and reactions.

11 rules for promoting reels on Instagram

Like in many other services, there are also certain rules for promoting reels on Instagram. At the moment, the videos receive a certain number of views and free coverage, and then, based on this data, the response of the audience can be traced, as is the case with TikTok. In the future, “flying into the rivers”, as they say now, will be more and more difficult, so the video should be uploaded now.

If your content has previously appeared in the "recommendations" section (magnifying glass icon), then you can understand how this happened and use the same algorithm to promote reels on Instagram.

When spinning rils, remember that Instagram is important:

  • Audience activity – which videos are shared more often, which ones are commented, reposted and liked.
  • Interaction with the author of the video and content in general - users show those videos that are interesting to users.
  • Video information available – ie. what kind of music was used, the description of the video, the quality of the video itself and its content.
  • Information about the author of the video - his nickname.

At the moment, reels are interested in promoting those users who have few subscribers, but this "promotion" is unlikely to last long, so do not miss this opportunity.

Features of reels on Instagram

What you need to make your reels appear in recommendations:

  1. Open profile – videos of a private account will be visible only to subscribers, respectively, they will not be able to “fly into” recommendations.
  2. Use hashtags - they can be trendy, branded or divide videos into categories.
  3. Announce your rils in the feed and stories - the user will be able to notice the video in the publications on your account or in the story, and go to it. This will also increase the views from subscribers and just "running" to the account.
  4. Interesting cover - do not forget about the importance of this point, as a bright and attractive cover will make the user watch the video. You can use the most colorful moment of the video for this, or use a prepared image from the gallery.
  5. Shooting specifically for reels - you can often see how videos from TikTok are added to the rails, but such videos will not be promoted. Rils was originally created as a competitive alternative to TikTok. The best way to promote reels on Instagram is to upload videos without any watermarks, or shoot them through the reels service.
  6. Analysis of your reels included in recommendation – look at the statistics of your videos, which ones Instagram shows most often. Try to create similar content.
  7. Music in reels - at the moment it is impossible to say for sure whether Instagram promotes reels with actual music, but in any case, the presence of such increases the number of reposts. Videos with trending music, users are more likely to share among themselves.
  8. Content for the target audience - if the interests of your subscribers coincide with the interests of their subscribers, then your content can be recommended to both. You need to shoot videos that will meet the expectations of your target audience, otherwise, random non-target users may hide or complain about your content, and this may negatively affect promotion.
  9. Long videos – you can shoot videos of 15 seconds and 60 seconds in rils. Give preference to the latter. Any service, such as Instagram, is interested in its users spending more time there. Accordingly, long videos move better.
  10. Track, analyze and follow the trends - initially, when you don't have your own special "chip" or unique delivery, shoot your reels according to the trends. Watch what often turns in your recommendations, what ideas are trending on TikTok now and what is popular there. The principle of operation of these two platforms is the same, so what works on TikTok will surely work on reels.
  11. Posting time – each service has its own time at which published videos fall into recommendations. In order to understand at what time reels users are most likely to scroll through the feed, analyze the statistics of each video that you posted at different times.

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8 ideas for cool reels to promote

  • Before and after

This type of video promotes reels well, and as a rule, they are watched to the end. First, users are shown the first option, and then the result of the work done. Weight loss stories are especially popular in this format. However, this idea can also be used in business, for example, if we are talking about a cleaning company: you can show what happened before cleaning and the result after it.

  • Educational content

The main task of such videos is to be able to provide complete and interesting information in 60 seconds without slipping into boring and boring “continuation in the next video”. For any entrepreneurs working in the field of information business, this format of rails is suitable.

  • Backstage

Many users are interested in the inside of a workflow. Open the veil of secrecy to your subscribers, let them into the world of your work. This format is good for photographers and videographers.

8 ideas for cool reels to promote
  • Humor

This is what will always be at the peak of popularity. Whatever, everyone loves to laugh. It will be quite interesting for subscribers to see what interesting and funny situations happened at your work. You can often see videos in the "Types of Clients" format. The main thing is not to get personal and joke within reasonable limits.

Animals are especially popular in the humorous format. Cats and dogs will never lose their relevance.

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  • Manual or instructions

A step-by-step instruction or explanation of something is just as good for promoting reels on Instagram. You can demonstrate how to use your product or make a themed video with relevant music.

  • Unboxing and Product Overview

Unpacking and evaluation of products and things from a particular store is no less popular. Show the brand from all sides, evaluate its appearance, smell, color, texture, composition, quality, etc.

  • Answers to questions and life hacks

Life hacks, tips, expert opinion and valuable recommendations have recently become quite popular content on many sites. In your rails videos, you can tell how to use your product, what else your product is suitable for, in addition to basic actions, how to quickly learn to sew, knit, etc.

  • Collections

Choose topics that will fit with the general content of your blog. For example, if you do nail extensions, post on reels a selection of top nail designs, etc.

Measuring the effectiveness of promotion of reels on Instagram

In order to know whether your reels promotion on Instagram is successful, you need to track their performance and watch the statistics. Business accounts have access to reels analytics on Instagram. It can be found in the statistics section.

Reels-specific performance metrics include:

  • Accounts covered are unique users who have viewed your reels video at least once.
  • Views - how many times your video has been viewed. Sometimes, this figure may differ from the accounts covered because some users may view the video multiple times.
  • Likes is a "like" mark that shows how many users liked your video.
  • Comments .
  • Saves is the number of times users have added your video to Favorites.
  • Reposts - how many times your video was shared in a story, or how many times it was sent to another user.

In the statistics, you can see not only the performance of each individual video reels, but also how this service affects account promotion in general.

Learn more