Video marketing has been rising in popularity in the past five years. According to the Social Video Forecast, conducted by Animoto, nearly 77 per cent of marketers and small business owners are getting more qualified leads due to video.
Consumers love video too. In fact, Hubspot’s research shows that 45 per cent of people watch an hour or more of video per day.
So, how can jewellery retailers capitalise on this popularity?
Well, retailers could certainly post videos to their Twitter or Facebook feeds and hope to raise customer engagement rates but there is much more that can be done with video and this article intends to explore one of these emerging options by asking: why not try Instagram’s IGTV?
Triple-video capabilities
Unlike Facebook and Twitter, Instagram allows users to post three types of videos: Instagram Feed, Instagram Stories and IGTV. Within the Instagram Feed, users can post videos up to one minute long.
These short clips can be uploaded as a single video, as part of a carousel post or even as multiple videos to be shared as a single clip. Instagram also allows users to trim videos so retailers will be able to edit multiple clips together before uploading.
The second type of video retailers can post is an Instagram Story. Users can shoot videos directly inside the app and decorate these with stickers, GIFs and text tags – both general hashtags and tagging relevant accounts with the @ symbol.
Users also have the option of uploading pre-recorded videos to Instagram Stories. Unlike videos in Instagram Feed, Story videos have a limit of just 15 seconds.
The third type of Instagram video is the most flexible and possibly most useful to retailers. IGTV videos can be anywhere from 15 seconds to 10 minutes long for accounts with smaller audiences, and up to one hour for accounts with larger audiences.
Go long
As previously mentioned, IGTV allows users to post long-form videos. They are also hosted on a company’s own ‘channel’. This means that a retail jeweller can brand the channel with their own logo and have all uploaded videos stay available until they choose to delete them, bypassing the automatic expiry of Instagram Stories.
Unlike other videos on Instagram, users can also upload videos in both vertical and horizontal formats.
Even better, users are able to add links, hashtags and account tags to video descriptions, which means retailers can drive traffic to their websites from their IGTV channel, increasing sales and audience engagement with new products.
All three Instagram video formats can work together in a complementary way.
For example, to help increase audience viewership, jewellery store owners and managers could post previews of their IGTV videos to their Instagram Feeds, increasing the number of views.
They can also post previews of IGTV videos on Instagram Stories, teasing viewers to click through to watch the full clips. This opens another avenue for increasing engagement.
Create inspiring content
There are so many possibilities for retailers when it comes to IGTV. They can highlight new product lines as well as share educational ‘how-to’ videos, such as how to clean and repair different jewellery pieces.
Educational videos are always a good way to introduce products and they don’t have an expiration date until the product is no longer available.
The feature-length tutorial format will help to build a library of evergreen video content; you could teach a valuable skill to followers; highlight behind-the-scenes moments with staff or customer interactions; show bench jewellers completing repairs; and publish regular product updates on a monthly or even weekly basis.
Every jeweller is bound to have some customer success stories and sharing personal testimonials from satisfied customers can help retailers build social proof. After all, nothing is more persuasive to consumers than other customers talking about why they love a business or brand.
Retailers can even make a contest of it among their most loyal customers – offer free gift cards to those who would be willing to share their experiences on video.
For any retailer looking to improve their digital video marketing, IGTV presents great opportunities. Incorporating any of these content marketing ideas will help retailers raise brand awareness, increase audience engagement and potentially gain more sales.