11 Ideas for Boosting Engagement with Instagram Video

According to a recent report from social media monitoring tool Mention, video is king when it comes to engagement on Instagram. The report revealed that video posts get over 2X more comments than image posts and have the highest overall engagement rate.

To help you make the most of this trend towards video video—and boost engagement on your Instagram account—we’ve put together a list of Instagram video ideas. Note that this article is about ideas for using video in the Instagram feed. If you’re interested in learning more about Instagram Stories, check out our Instagram Stories guide. If you're interested in learning more about video on IG in general, check out our full Instagram video guide.

Instagram Video Tips

I know we promised Instagram video ideas, and we’ll get there. But first, we thought it would be beneficial to share a few tips to keep in mind before you jump in and make an Instagram video. These tips come straight from our own Social Media Strategist, Sally Sargood.

Tip #1: Create Self-Contained Content

On some social platforms, like Facebook and Instagram, you may share videos to tease or promote content on your website and encourage people to click through for more information. On Instagram, however, you can’t share a link within a post. Yes, you can refer people to click a link in your bio, but Instagram visitors prefer to consume content within the feed and keep on scrolling.

For this reason, each video you create should stand on its own. Sure, you can still refer people to a link in your bio to learn more, but they shouldn’t have to leave Instagram to benefit from your content.

Tip #2: Use visually-stunning imagery

Instagram is a visual platform. Aesthetics are important, so be sure to include visually-stunning imagery within your video. If you don’t have stunning imagery of your own, search the Getty Images photos and video clips in your Animoto account. You can also check out our article on tools and apps for eye-catching video effects.

Tip #3: Consider your color palette

A consistent color palette can help your Instagram feed and content stand out. Your Instagram feed is an extension of your business or brand, so it’s important to choose a color theme that meshes well with your brand colors. But you can also loop in colors that are on trend, like pastels or millennial pink, in a tasteful way.

Instagram Video Ideas

Now that you’re armed with a few tips for creating Instagram videos, it’s time to start adding video to your Instagram strategy. We’ve put together a list of 11 ideas to inspire you and spark your creativity. Let’s dive in!

1. Weekly Hashtag Video Series

If you want to post videos consistently, an easy way to build out a calendar of video content is to create series where you post a specific type of video on specific days of the week. For instance, you could do a #TuesdayTips series and share a tip related to your business, industry, nice or area of expertise every Tuesday.

Other weekly hashtag series include #WomancrushWednesday, #ThrowbackThursday, #FlashbackFriday, #Caturday, or #WeekendVibes. Here at Animoto, we like to share #MotivationMonday videos, like this example. Here’s a fun article from Vision Creative Group with 79 Hashtags for Every Day of the Week.

2. Share a Quote

Our #MotivationMonday example brings us to our next idea—a quote video! If you’re looking for a quick and easy Instagram video idea, simply find a quote you find inspiring, pair it with a visually-stunning video clip, and you’re good to go. Need quote ideas? Check out our series of quotable quotes, including motivational quotes, photography quotes, business quotes and more.

3. Celebrate fun social holidays

Look to social holidays for inspiration. Each month there are a slew of fun social holidays to celebrate, like National Puppy Day in March, International Day of Friendship in July, or National Coffee Day in September.

When one of these fits with the type of content you post on Instagram, it can be a nice opportunity to get in front of a wider audience. Last year we used Get to Know Your Customers Day in October as an opportunity to (you guessed it) get to know our customers!

4. Celebrate calendar holidays

Seasonal and calendar holidays are a nice source of inspiration as well. Create a video to wish your customers a happy holiday around Christmas time, share what you’re thankful for on Thanksgiving, or spread the love with a Valentine’s Day video.

5. Feature food

Instagram is a major hangout for food lovers. So if it feels relevant to your Instagram brand, try creating a video featuring food. Of course, you’ll want to be sure to include hashtags related to the type of food you’re featuring to reach the broadest audience.

If you need a little help getting started, check out our Tabletop Recipe video template.

6. Feature travel

Travel is big on Instagram too. If you’ve got a trip coming up, shoot some video clips of the most beautiful, interesting, or intriguing sites and it’ll provide ample content for your Instagram feed when you get back.

7. Share some tips

Create a quick list of tips to share with your followers. And remember to keep your list of tips self-contained so viewers can get value without having to leave their Instagram feed.

8. Instagram Ad

The ideas we’ve shared so far work well for getting engagement in the feed. But by putting a little spend behind your Instagram posts you can reach a much wider audience. Ecommerce company Click n Curl increased their online sales on Instagram by 48 percent with video. You can read their story and watch their video here.

9. Post a Boomerang

The Boomerang feature within Instagram allows you to shoot a short engaging video very quickly. You can post it as a standalone clip or use it in a longer video to capture attention in the Instagram feed. We opened this video about Boomerang… with a Boomerang!

10. Share an instructional video

Teach viewers how to do something you’re an expert in. Like in the tips example, we’ll remind you that this type of video should be self-contained for Instagram, so viewers should get all the information they need without having to leave the feed.

11. Create a recap video

You can recap all sorts of things on Instagram. If you’ve had an event, create a video with some of the best photos and video clips; recap big moments from the past month or year, or even create a compilation recapping some of your best-performing Instagram content to reshare for more engagement. Here’s the 2018 recap video we shared.

Have another idea? We’d love to hear it! Share it with us in the comments below. Happy video making!