You may have heard that the head of Instagram, Adam Mosseri, recently said that Instagram is no longer just a photo-sharing app.

Rather than remaining a place to share photos and captions, right now, they are focused on four key areas:

• Videos
• Creators
• Shopping
• Messaging

What Does This Mean For You?

As the CEO of Amplified NOW, a video-first content marketing agency, I was very intrigued by this news. But, if you are using Instagram simply to share photos, you may be wondering what this means for you?

Not to sound like a smug professional, but it means you need to focus on video!

If you’re not focusing on video, or if you’re a service provider, and you’re not focusing on video for your clients, now is the time.

Be Platform Agnostic

One important idea we can take from this news is to ensure we’re not too reliant on one platform.

When Instagram makes changes like this, it’s a reminder that we are not in charge of what gets shown on social media. We are squatters living on Instagram rent-free.

If we take a platform-by-platform approach, we will often find ourselves struggling to understand how to navigate all the different rules and algorithms while creating content that might never be seen.

However, if we take a platform-agnostic approach where we’re talking about the things going on in our industry and film it natively so we can re-purpose it, we will be able to navigate better the changes that have and will continue to occur.

Get Started With Video Re-Purposing

While we know that static photos aren’t going to be prioritized on Instagram, the good news is we know that videos are going to be. So, for those of us doing video for ourselves and our clients, for now, our videos will get a lot more reach.

For Instagram, that means video posts, Instagram Stories, Reels, and IGTV. 

That is a lot of potential for a lot of video views if you play your cards right!

The first and most important thing is to make sure you record yourself natively so that you only have to do it once. Then that one piece of content can work for you, or your client, 27 times.

Talk for five to 10 minutes about your topic. Establish your expertise in that idea and tell people what they need to hear. 

Next, pull micro-content from that. Remember that most people watch videos on mute, so it’s important to include captions. Don’t use the auto-generated captions because they may not be in the correct placement for your video. 

Now, post your video and micro-content across your social media channels. You can continue to use that content for weeks, or even months, to come.

Don’t Be Afraid To Experiment

Now is a great time to experiment with Instagram Stories, Reels, and IGTV, rather than just putting all your videos in the feed. 

When you upload something to IGTV, it will automatically put the first minute in your feed. Of course, that’s not always the best minute if it’s your intro, but it’s still a good place to start. 

A lot of clients we work with are hesitant about using Reels. There are many exciting and creative content creators out there, but don’t let that intimidate you. Just because you’re not decorating a cake or showing off your dog on a skateboard doesn’t mean that Reels isn’t the place for you. 

Whenever we have posted reels for Amplified NOW, we have gotten more than 1000 views on each reel. So even though the content I’m creating is not extraordinarily creative or exciting to everyone, we still enjoy a much larger reach with Reels than we would with just a photo or video on our feed.

You don’t need 3 million views per reel to make a splash. The point of doing video content marketing is to get your business, or your client’s business, in front of the target audience. 

Now Is The Time To Prioritize Video

You or your clients have already spent the time cultivating Instagram followers. Make sure you’re prioritizing video so that those followers have content to keep you or your clients top of mind as their go-to authority on that topic.

Prioritizing video will also increase your reach and potentially grow your followers and your client base, all with the simple push of the record button.