Video content is one of the best ways for a business to build brand awareness because video is preferable to text and so easily consumed. Video is excellent for attracting viewers who are new to your company, but also for engaging viewers who are already familiar with you.

Video is an asset all-around, because audiences are much more likely to share video content, which helps create even more exposure of your brand to new viewers. There are a lot of great platforms for watching video content, but one of the most popular right now is Instagram.

Instagram is a platform of choice for people who prefer to consume visuals like photographs and video. Videos on Instagram have proven to be so powerful, that Instagram increased their allowance for video length from 15 seconds to a full minute! The following are five reasons why you should be posting videos on Instagram in order to build brand awareness:

1. Instagram Is a Popular Social Platform

If building brand awareness is your goal, then social media is one of the most effective methods for achieving that goal. As far as video goes, few social channels are as effectively built for video content as Instagram.

Also, consider Instagram’s user base: Over the course of just two and a half years, from the beginning of 2013 to the end of 2015, Instagram’s user base grew from 90 million to 400 million.

As of the end of 2016, Instagram boasted roughly 600 million monthly active users, with around 300 million of those users being active on a daily basis. That’s a very large audience that is only continuing to grow.

2. Instagram Is a Mobile Platform

Instagram is a mobile app, which means that its users can take pictures or videos on their smartphones and instantly upload them to Instagram. It also means that the majority of Instagram users check their Instagram on their phones. How does this benefit you?

Well, mobile marketing has become increasingly more important over the years as mobile use has skyrocketed. More people use mobile devices to access the Internet than they do computers, and their phones are with them almost all the time!

Many people check platforms like Instagram multiple times a day, basically seeking out content. By understanding user behaviors and taking advantage of this form of distribution, it can be much easier for you to reach a large portion of your audience on a regular basis.

3. Instagram Videos Are Short and Sweet

At the beginning of last year, Instagram increased this limit for video length to 60 seconds, thereby giving marketers a lot more flexibility. While 60 seconds doesn’t sound like a whole lot of time to work with, it can feel like an eternity for someone who is browsing and ripe for something to grab their interest (which usually only takes the first 5 seconds!).

Since Instagram users are on their phones, they’re may not have the time or intention to spend five minutes watching a video, but often just a few seconds of video on a regular basis can make a memorable impression on your viewers.

Secondly, shorter video content is simply more shareable than long-form content in general. This means that by posting videos on Instagram, they’ll be more likely to be shared.

4. Instagram Videos Can Showcase Your Brand’s Personality

When sharing videos on Instagram, you’ll want to focus on creating content that interests your followers, but also captures new sets of eyes as well. Instagram is the perfect opportunity to capture new followers with eye-catching video imagery that showcases your brand’s personality.

There are tons of different ways that you can do this. You can post short how-to videos or quick, snazzy product demos that use a creative visual approach or humor. You could also post fun behind-the-scenes or company culture videos.

For example, if your company has an element of excitement that can be captured (like your company’s annual Paintball tournament for charity), you can catch some eyes with exciting footage, and parlay that attention into communicating what your company does, the charities it’s involved with, hence what’s important to you.

5. Instagram Videos Can Be Easily Cross-Promoted

Another major benefit is that when you post videos on Instagram they can easily be cross-promoted onto other social platforms as well. Instagram is owned by Facebook, and they can connect to each other.

This means that posting videos on Instagram and sharing to your Facebook page is incredibly easy and beneficial to online algorithms. Also, by using popular related hashtags when you post your videos on Instagram, you’ll help expand the reach of each post to viewers who may be browsing those hashtags.

This can help boost brand exposure because often there are millions of people on Instagram just browsing for something new to look at!

These are five ways that using videos on Instagram can help boost your brand awareness and strengthen your brand identity. One thing to keep in mind is that just Instagram is most successful when high quality, interesting videos are shared on a regular basis.

A solid video marketing strategy can help you identify your best opportunities for video content, as well as a plan for production, execution and posting! If this is something you’re not very familiar with, working closely with a professional video production company can offer you great advantage.