How to use Instagram video marketing to drive more sales

By Val Razo June 11, 2024

Instagram has 2 billion monthly users, 83% of whom say they discover and research products in-app, making it a potent marketing channel. 

As a visual social platform, it offers various options for businesses to promote their products or services. There are carousel posts, vertical Reels videos, and ephemeral Stories. All these content types, if done right, can yield impressive reach. 

Having an Instagram presence is a must. But if you want to stand out from the crowd, leveraging Instagram video marketing can bring you ahead of your competitors, as this content format is taking the world by storm. 

Based on the Social Media Marketing Industry Report, 53% of marketers use Instagram for publishing videos regularly and 66% of marketers plan on increasing their usage of Instagram videos soon. Now, it’s the second most popular platform for video content after Facebook.

Instagram videos can also be the golden ticket to drive more sales, as 87% of marketers say video marketing helps them boost sales. 

Scroll down your Instagram feed, and you will see more videos than images. Why do brands prefer video marketing on the platform? Because: 

• Videos are easily understandable
• They show your product in action
• The algorithm loves videos and pushes them to a wider audience

So, how do you use Instagram video marketing to increase revenue for your brand?

In this post, we’re going to find out the definition of Instagram video marketing, talk about its potential, and walk through eight best practices on how to drive more sales with Instagram video marketing. 

What is Instagram video marketing?

First things first: Instagram video marketing is a social media marketing method where brands leverage videos to showcase and explain how to use their products.

Instagram video marketing includes different content options to choose from, depending on the campaign and business goals. These include: 

• Reels
• In-feed single videos 
• In-feed video carousels 
• IGTV videos
• Video ads 
• Stories

Instagram users love watching videos on the platform and here are their preferences in Instagram video types:

The potential of Instagram video marketing for sales

At first blush, it seems that Instagram video marketing requires much time and effort. 

Around 80% of small businesses ignore video content creation as it may require time, knowledge, and effort to create eye-grabbing Instagram videos. But for many brands, Instagram video marketing strategy is worth giving a try as it has huge potential to drive sales.

Case in point:

The Korean hair care brand GrowUS created Instagram video ads with product tags to see if this campaign could simplify the online purchase experience. In two weeks, the campaign drove wonderful results. People who saw it and shopped via Instagram video ads generated 1.7X growth in content views and  3X more sales in comparison with website visitors who hadn’t seen this ad campaign.

To understand why Instagram videos offer tremendous sales opportunities for brands, we need to take a look at a few statistics.

First, 82% of consumers decide to buy a product after watching a brand’s video, and Instagram videos let you showcase your products from different angles. This helps the audience make informed decisions quickly, shortening the sales cycle. 

Second, demand for Instagram videos is increasing rapidly. Meta’s own data claims that 91% of users watch videos on Instagram weekly. This means people have strong interest in this type of content type. 

What’s more, Instagram video marketing can affect consumer purchase intent, as 87% of people take an action after seeing a product in a video, such as searching for more product information, visiting a website, or making a purchase. 

Finally, Instagram videos have in-built features that allow people to complete a purchase without leaving the app. Instagram offers shoppable product tags in videos and live shopping. So it has spectacular potential for video marketing, which helps to boost lead generation conversions.

Now that we know the immense sales potential of Instagram videos, let’s see how brands can use them: 

1 – Showcase your products from all sides 

Instagram videos offer impressive conversion rates. Why? The audience sees products from all sides. And it helps to make informed decisions about the products. 

In fact, 48% of customers claim that watching product videos increase confidence in their online purchases.

Luckily, there are a great number of video editing tools that help simplify video creation, even for those without any prior experience. 

For instance, Videoleap by Lightricks (available for Android or iOS) makes it easy to create attention-grabbing Instagram videos and unveil product collections from all sides, with the help of various ready-to-use templates as well as AI-enhanced video effects and filters.

To showcase your product from all sides, there’s no need to have experience in video editing – hundreds of creators make and share their templates so that you can browse the library and select what suits your needs best.

2 – Leverage the power of video storytelling

Impactful stories connect your audience to your brand. Storytelling makes you look authentic and improves your chances of conversion.

Indeed, storytelling is what makes you different from others who hope for the attention of your audience. 

Video narratives can revolve around your brand purpose, how your products impact lives, or even the founder’s journey. 

For example, Lego features one of its designers Carl Merriam building a jellyfish out of his Lego sets and talking about what makes it his favorite sea creature. The video is engaging, conveys an informative story, and makes the audience want to get their own Lego sets. 

If your video story resonates with your audience, it can help to increase views on your reels further. The secret is simple: people want to repost it on their stories and feed. 

3 – Make the most out of Instagram Story videos

Want to promote a limited-time deal? Producing in-feed videos may waste your resources, as they are irrelevant after the offer ends. 

Easy to create and live for only 24 hours, Instagram story videos are the perfect short-form video format for marketing short-term sales. You can offer early access to your followers, promote upcoming events, or create buzz around your new product launches through stories. 

For example, event videos don’t fit Glossier’s beauty routine-centric Instagram feed. That’s why the brand posts them in stories and saves them in the highlights. 

Moreover, there are various Instagram Story features that help to convert viewers into customers and drive more sales:

• Product tags. Include product tags on all products you use in your video. It lets interested viewers learn more and make an impulse purchase.
• Clickable link stickers. Add a link to your site where you provide more information while getting more web traffic.
• Countdown sticker. It’s a perfect Story feature if you promote a time-limited sale, as it lets your viewers know when the offer ends. Thus, it encourages them to take action faster. 

4 – Create a sense of exclusivity with live shopping events 

Make your audience feel special with Instagram live shopping broadcasts on Instagram. It lets the customers engage with you directly, creates a sense of exclusivity and urgency, generates sales leads and drives sales.

Check out how Too Faced used the Live Scheduling feature on Instagram to create a buzz around their “Better Than Sex Eau de Parfum” launch. Jerrod Blandino, the brand’s Co-founder and Chief Creative Officer, promoted the live shopping event on his profile. It encouraged his followers to tune in on the broadcast. 

Result? They sold 100% of their Instagram inventory and drove 29,700 views on their product detail page.

To make good use of Instagram live videos, you can also rely on Emplifi’s live stream feature to provide a multi-channel livestream solution that engages your customers on different digital and social media platforms. Moreover, it gives you an opportunity to provide real-time customer care, get in-depth analytics, and repurpose videos for further social media usage.

5 – Explain how to use your products with Instagram videos

Instagram video marketing is an excellent tool for product demonstration. You can educate the customers on the best ways to use your product and help them imagine how it might fit into their lives. This builds credibility, improves your customer’s experience, and prompts more viewers to give your products a chance.

And here’s how The Pet Lab.Co uses this Instagram video marketing strategy in action:

Check out another example. It comes from PlayDoh and demonstrates customers how to use their DIY clays. 

6 – Demonstrate your products with transition Instagram reels

Transition reels are the current rage. They let you showcase multiple products within a short reel in a fun and engaging way. This Instagram video format is excellent for showcasing specific collections, or multiple ways to style your products. They are extremely entertaining, keeping the viewer hooked until the end.

What’s more, these Instagram reels give you a perfect chance to showcase various products and influence purchase intent. Some companies also add informative captions where they include displayed product codes so that followers can search for more information as needed.

Looking for transition ideas? You can take inspiration from creators like Jasmin Corley. 

7 – Outsource video creation to Instagram influencers

There’s no need to have an in-house team of videographers to create an engaging Instagram video for your profile; you can find reliable influencers and outsource this social media effort to them. Moreover, a recent Meltwater report claims that video production is the most common service for outsourcing.

Yes, it can be easier to partner with relevant creators and ask them to create content for your brand. They are experts at keeping their followers hooked and will do the same for your business. Plus, collaborative videos let you leverage the Influencer’s credibility to convince their audience to shop your brand. 

For example, Seoul-based HR technology company Wanted Lab partnered with relevant creators to increase registrations for their analytics service. The influencers then shot a vertical video in the 9:16 format for Instagram, highlighting the platform’s newly launched analytics services and how it can help job seekers.

The approach paid off, and the brand saw 2.1X higher conversion rates through partnership ads than their general campaigns. Their conversions also increased by 61%. 

And if you want to focus on one Instagram video format when working with influencers, consider outsourcing reels. 

Nick Baklanov, research specialist at HypeAuditor, claims that this video format is the best these days: 

8 – Use video testimonials for trust and loyalty

Modern customers seek out peer recommendations before making a purchase. The importance of customer reviews has grown over the last few years.

According to reports, 78% of customers feel more confident making purchases when they see content posted by other shoppers. Upload positive customer testimonials and blend engagement and authenticity together. It helps your customers overcome initial doubts and buy your products. 

In this sense, video testimonials can do wonders. Most viewers believe that this video content type is hard to fake.

Thus, it could be a great idea to learn from big brands. It’s time to use video testimonials as a part of your Instagram video marketing strategy. Moreover, it drives sales!

For example, Salesforce posted the above reel, where Britta Seeger, a board member at Mercedes Benz talked about how Salesforce 360 helped them maintain close relationships with customers. 

9 – Cut through the noise with Instagram video ads

If you want to cut through the noise and drive more sales fast, use Instagram video ads. It is one of the best ways to use ads if you want to target audience segments and boost visibility. 

Instagram video ads can yield impressive results. For instance, BCA Digital leveraged Instagram ads to target Gen Z audiences. The campaign helped them stand out with an 8-point lift in standard ad recall. 

In Short

The above case studies and examples show that with the right strategies and partnerships, you can generate revenue using videos on Instagram. 

However, it’s not a one-day process. You must experiment to find what video formats suit your brand the best. 

Be patient, keep experimenting, and follow the above Instagram video marketing tips. All of these can lead to impressive sales growth through in-app videos.