Instagram Marketing: Strategies for Engagement and Growth

Hey friends today. We are going to be learning about Instagram marketing. Oh, it's a very interesting platform to perform social media analytics. I've been using it myself and I've come to understand that the Instagram marketing basically the course will help you in understanding how to use the platform how it can help you become a brand and by the end of the course you will be I think an Instagram marketer with killer applications to be used and comes to Instagram marketing. So let's get started. So basically what is Instagram or Instagram is like a social media platform just like Facebook Twitter tumbler flicker. We have been using them all for quite a long time. But the only difference between Instagram and other social media apps or platforms is basically Instagram only operates on images of which have been uploaded from the app, which is indeed again used from the mobile device itself. You cannot operate on Instagram from your desktop. But yes, you can use your profile or go about seeing what comments people are posting on your post or liking the picture or whatever the activity or engagement is happening on your profile. Yes, we can view it from the desktop. So now let's see what happens on Instagram every day. Now, basically Instagram has grown in terms of visitors and active application users multiples when it is compared to Facebook or any other social media platform currently, it's having more than 500 plus active users on month on month basis of when it comes to daily activity. There are more than 300 people who are engaging with the app which includes posting of pictures videos gifts or commenting on other pictures following their brands knowing what's happening in their social circle and 300 million people daily are doing this on Instagram when it comes to comments, there are more than 95 million plus comments, which are being posted on the Instagram platform on daily basis. But when it comes to likes it beyond anything, which you can imagine small and 4.2 billion plus likes on photos which are posted by users or I would say brands or us individuals on the Instagram app. The reason why Instagram is becoming popular nowadays is due to the USP of it being the images. So basically when you are on Instagram, you are just seeing images unlike on Facebook, which is very tech-savvy or I would say filled with a lot of text all around the screen of your desktop. So instead of seeing a lot of text, you are just using the visual images. Now, this helps you engage a lot more on the platform or the Instagram app other than on Facebook or any other thing. So industry wise Instagram is the best platform for social media activity when it compares to, you know, reaching out to your audiences. So now let's understand what are the users or and what are the age demographics and the social circles of the users of Instagram are if you see this, this is an Instagram graphic made by Sprout Social. So what they have done is they have conducted a exhaustive study and try to find out what other Instagram users what are their ages or what is their gender? What is their localization in terms of where are they located physically? Or what is the income group? What is the education? So when it comes to gender our 29 2% of the men and 29% of the women are on the Instagram. Now, you would be wondering just 22 on 29. This is basically the adults which are on the age group beyond 21. So when it comes to people who are from I would say about 14 to 21 years, the rest is being covered by those people. So yeah, since they are still in the, you know, the youth or I would say in their teens. They are not being considered as the main target audience for a group. But yes, they are the potential target which can be, you know, later on focus on when they become more mature when it comes to age group. As I mentioned earlier 18 to 29 is the prime age, which is 53% of the people on Instagram. So if there are 500 people on Instagram or more than 250 million are youth and teenagers. The next group is basically a more mature group, which are individuals are married or whether they are working professionals. They are in a busy life with a lot of family to handle go to work and that's where the age group is 30 to 49 and that contributes around 25% of the whole age demographics. Now, if you see a major since majority of the Instagram users are current college students. This makes this platform very appealing since you can directly reach out to what diverse audience in terms of age as well as the mindset, which will be having in their own because of the generation gaps, which have they been born into so millennials and youth will be the target audience. If you are using Instagram as a platform on where and from where you can engage with your audiences. Statistically, if you see you can also target the working professionals because working professionals are the one who will be, you know, Spending on the products, which have been advertised on the Instagram platform. Now working professionals. Why because they have a spending power and they have a way in which they can, you know, go about performing luxurious or maintain a luxury lifestyle collectivity. There are more than 52% of the people who are having a spending power of more than 75,000 annually. So this makes them a potential target audience or I would say potential customers to whom you can reach out to and sell your products or services. All right, let's deep dive and understand how the platform actually works. So let's get started. Basically Instagram begin as a simple photo sharing app of among the friends. And then it is being, you know conceived as a global platform for social media interaction or just like Facebook of the Facebook story wherein, you know, Mark Zuckerberg invented for the college and it went viral and the whole globe started to use the platform. So same has been with Instagram. It was just a small app created by some college friends for, you know, interacting between themselves and just sharing their social life with each other. But due to its create uniqueness of just images, it is taken around 400 million members right now and the photos and videos which are being shared on this platform are insane. You cannot imagine the volumes and the quantity of the post which have been posted on daily basis. Now, there are ways of using Instagram correctly correctly or I would say in a perfect sense of manner through which you can, you know, go about community communicating where brand is all about. So let's get started friends. Now, there are three elements of within profile or I would say your Instagram account. So with the profile of the Instagram of what we can do is we have basically three elements of which constitute a profile on the Instagram app. Oh first would be the profile picture then the brand bio or this bio can be about yourself as well and your website now website can be your own personal website or if you are a marketer for a particular brand or particular organization can be that organization's brand website. Now the fundamental use or the core use of a profile on Instagram is to communicate to your audience who you are and or your brand is about and what are the products and the services which are available for users or the customers to opt in for all right, let's get started and understand the importance of a profile picture. So the basic concept behind a profile picture is that it should be iconic and it should represent your brand such as your organization or yourself through a logo. So the logo would be responsible for creating a top of the mind recall in the minds of your followers. I would say audiences on the Instagram app. Now the strategy behind profile picture should be that the strategy behind profile picture is that over time when people start to remember your profile picture when scanning through the newsfeed and want them to remember something that is used in the other mediums like here you can use the cross promotion Facebook. So if people are seeing your logo on Instagram in the newsfeed as well as on Facebook, it creates a strong top of the mind recall in their minds. Now, this logo will create place in their mind. And whenever they see this logo, it's when they will remember your brand. Now when it comes to profile picture, there are three types of profile picture we can use or I would say to precisely which can be used for your profile on the Instagram. Our first would be a logo of which you can see here in the example is Gucci. They have been using simple text as the logo And that's why it can be used as a profile picture on the Instagram app on the sides. You would see Dove and Red Bull. These are a different kind of logo wherein they have used their mascot, which is a dove in case of doubt and Red Bull in case of their bull sign. And now this creates a different top of the mind recall as I was talking about in the mind of the users. So when I see a dove which is golden color or when I see a Red Bull logo, which is two Bulls are locking horns with each other in red color. It will create an instant click in my mind telling that. Okay, this logo is of doubt or this logo is of Red Bull. Okay guys. So the next element inside the profile picture would be your bio. So when it comes to bio, you basically have around 200 characters in which you can communicate a message to your audiences and give them a reason as in why they need to follow your page or basically I would say you need to answer two questions, which will be give them a reason for you know, following your page and secondly tell them what you offer as a product or services. Now this will help them understand that what your brand is into and what you have a product or a service to offer to them. Now when comes to the strategy now, you can use your bio in a strategic way itself of which is by using a hashtag specific to your brand. Now, what it will help is whenever you are posting on Instagram, you can use this bio on all the post or like the images videos or gifts. And when you're using this hashtag through this hashtag, you will be creating a repository on the Instagram platform. And whenever someone clicks on the hashtag, which is relevant or specific to your brand, what happens is they'll get a feed of all the posts which are available on the Instagram. Now this helps a person or an individual on the app to know about what the brand has been doing for the whole period of time, which is since when you existed on the platform. So now I don't need to go about anywhere searching for your brand but through that one hashtag, which was there in your bio. I was able to, you know, figure out what are the things which you have been doing? What are the images or videos or gifts? You have been posting on the platform and understand what your brand is all about. So like the classic example here would be dove again, wherein they are using the hashtag has real beauty. Now this their brand communication, which is all about inner beauty of a woman. So when it comes to in a beauty real beauty is a very relevant hashtag and will definitely have a strong recall in the minds of their audiences. But when you come when you read their bio, which is dove is committed to helping all women realize their personal beauty potential by creating products that deliver real care. So basically now they have communicated a strong message that they care for the inner beauty of a woman by delivering them the real care, which is through their products. So this is a very strong bio which helps a person visualize as in what the brand is out about what are the products and by saying that they're committed. It gives them a reason to you know, follow the brand itself. So basically the brand bio is all about giving them a reason so as to make them your followers or I would say your potential customers. Okay, so let's move to the next element, which is the website. Now when it comes to website, the concept behind putting a website on the Instagram app is you want the people to you know, come to your website visit the products and services, which you have and potentially at the end of the user journey by the product itself. So now putting up on the web a website on the Instagram profile helps the visitors come to your website, which is directing traffic to your website and the strategic use of a URL on Instagram profile will be either land the users directory or brand website, which is your own website or to a eShop wherein you would be using the landing page of a product page. So if suppose I'm seeing the dove when I visit dove.com, it will be all about the brand website. But if you see specific shopping apps or wherein they are promoting their products or services, there would be links through which you can directly visit their eShop and then go about shopping. So now putting a website helps you a lot in terms of, you know, getting the conversions from the Instagram app, which is again a strategy point. All right. So let's understand now how the profile picture will look like with all these three elements together. So if you see when you're connecting the dots, this is how the profile picture with the brand bio and the connected website look likes. Now, I've taken the example of Starbucks because of one reason, which is their link to buy extension on the Instagram app. What they have done is they have used link shortness for reducing their links to the shopping app, which they are promoting here. So when it comes to Instagram, you can just read through their bio and you can see they are having a large and humongous following which is more than 10 million followers. Now the connected website, which is they are linked to the App Store or I would say a Google Play Store link from where you can, you know, okay guys, so let's see when you get all the three elements together what you get. So when you connect the dots, you will see here that I have specifically used the Starbucks profile. Now, the reason behind it is I want to show you how to use different links. So now if you see the profile picture, they have used their mascot, which is the green lady, which is omnipresent on all their products packaging, which is their cups. They are mugs and all the different kind of jars or I would say utensils in which they serve their coffee. Now, they are bio. It's a very interesting bio, which says inspiring and nurturing the human spirit one person one cup and one neighborhood time. Now, they are again giving you a reason to follow them so that you can, you know, nurture the human spirit which they're trying to communicate with you. Now, they have used a different website link here. The use of the link here is basically to encourage users download their app from the Google Play Store. So like to buy.com is basically an app extension or I would say URL shortener through which you can customize the long URLs, which are there on the Play Store and put it on your profile picture. Now, this will encourage your followers to download the app and get the special offers as well as you can then communicate a lot of different other things and products or services through the app, which you which you will be encouraging your users to die. So this is about Starbucks. Now, let's see how the doubt would look like on the Instagram platform through the desktop perspective. So guys, you can see this is the doubt profile on the Instagram app. Now, this is the desktop version. That's why I'm getting a different look and feel. But when you see this from your mobile phone, this will have a completed look and feel on its own. Now, what they've done is they've broken the cliche of, you know, using the models for beauty care products. Instead. What they have done is they have used real-life women and showed the world that what a real woman is all about. It's not just about the physical beauty, but as well as the inner beauty so you can see all the images communicate a very strong message of inner beauty. Okay guys, let's move ahead since we have seen the doubt phase now, this is basically a spectator view, which you can see from your mobile phone. Now, there are two different kinds of you which you get when you are actually logged into the app and logged out of the app. When you're logged in, you basically get to see all of the images pictures of the brand or the person you're searching. But when you're logged out, the only difference is you cannot actually go about exploring the whole profile and then, you know, try to follow the person. So it's better to be always logged in from your account and then go about searching a profile so that you can instantly follow them F side. If you see the person is on instagram.com through his mobile. Now, he is not using an app and he's trying to find a person on the Instagram. Now what Instagram is intelligently doing is it is always giving you a pop-up saying that open an app. Now, this is basically encouraging users to use the app and rather than come on their website through the desktop version on the left. If you see it's about a follower, which is on the left. If you see is the account of Charlie the chunk. Now, what he has done is he has provided his birth date, his weight and he's tried to showcase what and how different his dog is as well as of the importance of his dog in his life. So now this helps the dog lovers connect with him and understand more about dog life here. In this case would be a bulldog, which he is having as his pet. So this perspective when you get on the instagram.com from the mobile phone or on the left from the app itself should be the way in which you communicate the brand message or your personal message to the audiences, which you are getting to see here. So now if you see the profile on the left hand side, which is in the Samsung mobile phone, what it happens here is when you see all the images here, you can directly see that it's all about his dog. But when you see on the right hand side, it's about the profile of Elizabeth Gilmore. She is a fashion stylist. Okay. So let's now go about exploring the different option, which the app provides you when you are logged in. So now on the screen, you're seeing three tabs, which are basically the vertical screens in the app, which you get on keep on scrolling on and find the different options. So now there are a diverse options, which are available for a user when he's logged into the app. So if you see now, it allows you to synchronize your different social media accounts, which is Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn or any other profile, like even your personal website, which can be synchronized here when it comes to account. It has all the general options, like editing your profile, changing the password. Also, it has an interesting feature wherein you can find out all the posts that you have personally liked on, which is finding about if you have liked a particular thing, you remember something. And if you want to find out who that person was who had posted the thing, you can go about searching it here. Now private account is an interesting feature provided by Instagram for personal safety of the users. This can be leveraged by an individual as well as a brand. But when it comes to brand, it is always recommended that the private account should be disabled because you don't want to go about approving the request from thousands of followers, which you get over a period of time when you are a brand. But if your personal account you want to limit the followers and you want to personally check who are the followers or who are the people want to follow you, then you can keep it on and keep a tab on all the audiences. So now what happens is if you if you're an individual if you're keeping this option on you get to approve all the requests of the followers and you can always get away from the spam which happens on the Institute the other options, which you can use your are linked accounts or you can choose a language. You can enable the settings which are push notifications. You can select your how the push notifications would come up on the screen. Since it's an iPhone. It's give you it gives you a lot of option in terms of how the notifications which come down from the notification panel by enabling the mobile data use of feature of the app. You would definitely save on the precious data, which we always care about. Now save original photos is basically an option which you can keep off or on depending upon your personal preferences. Keeping it on is always a good option as it's recommended by the app itself. Now, you can also reach out to Instagram's Help Center where you can learn about a lot of different updates, which are being put up by them or report a problem. If you have been facing with the app in the about section, you get to see a different policies, which are being made up by the Instagram ad network as well as the Instagram company itself. So now it tells you about how the Edwards will come to you. How will they look like? What will that what we all about blocking of which get when you can see about the flows from the different bloggers of the Instagram network privacy policy terms and open source library. So open source library is basically different development features, which are being provided by Instagram to its selected base of developers. The clears is search history option enables you to clear the complete search history from the Instagram account. So now if you have searched different people or different brands on the Instagram and of for your own privacy or for own security reasons, you want to clear them out. You can directly come here and click it and all the search history should be gone from the Instagram account and the another options, which are add account and log out is basically or add account helps you to add multiple accounts so that you can log into them through one account and switch back simultaneously or I would say smoothly from one account to different account and log out is basically for helping you. Okay guys, let's understand. How do we actually go about using the app now? So using the app when it comes to using the Instagram app, it's just plain simple. Let me tell you how so when it comes to the app, it only in provides you with three options, which is images videos and gifts, which can be uploaded on the Instagram platform through their app. Now why using the Instagram app is so simple is because of its materialistic design. It's easy to use interface and the browsing and the user experience, which it gives is very immense and it's very immersive. So you get to experience a lot of things from the app itself. All you need to do is just select the type of the post which can be either an image video or a gift from your image library, which can be on your mobile phone and then simply upload it on the Instagram platform. But before doing that you can use a lot of filters, which will be covering in the later sections of the course. All right. So now let's understand how do you use images on the Instagram app and try to make a brand strategy out of it. So it's basically all about the images mostly on the Instagram. Yes videos and gifts can be used but images are still very dominant on the Instagram app. So the images on the Instagram are basically out of four types, which are currently being leveraged by each and every brand, which are present on the Instagram as well as the individual users. So when it comes to building a community of followers and creating a personality for your brand, there are four types of images which you can use on the Instagram platform. First would be the customer-centric images. Next would be employee-centric images. Third would be product-centric images and fourth would be blog-centric images. So basically these are the images which helps you create a brand persona on the Instagram. So whenever someone is seeing your profile with a specific flow of images, which are specific to either one type of image, It helps the viewer understand what the brand is all about and what are you trying to communicate with them? Okay, so let's deep dive and understand how to use these four types of images on Instagram. So customer-centric images would be our first focus. Now, basically as the name suggests the images in these type of posts are basically customer-centric. So when you're posting off Instagram, it's all about a customer-centric city. And that's why whenever you're thinking about promoting your products or some services, you should always think of promoting their benefits and not their actual products to the customers or the audience which is there on the Instagram. So your main focus should be marketing the content of the benefits to the products and not the products itself to the audiences. Now, this can be done by using your products in different backdrops, which is which can be a different scenario or different place or a different situation and which is obviously free of you know, the focus on the product itself. It should just coexist with the whole backdrop, which are creating there. This keeps the users interested into the post and thereby helps them engage more rather than just being product-centric or I would say just putting the four products in the highlight. You should always just focus on the customer-centric for images. So let's understand. How do we do it? Now, I have taken a classic example of Artesia. Artesia is basically a women brand which is focused on delivering apparels and accessories to women and they have used customer-centric images on a different level. So now what they do is they tell their audiences, which is their women who are actually the users of the product to use the products or I would say while they're wearing the product. They encourage them to post a selfie with the products on the Instagram. So what are to the Artesia basically does is it takes as customers own profile pictures and post it posts the pictures on their brand profile. Now, this helps them create a lot of connect with the audiences, which is the woman here and thereby, you know, creating a deep connect with them. So let me show you how they actually do it on the app. I'll just show you a desktop version of it. All right. So now we are on the desktop version of Instagram and I have the Artesia profile in front of me. So now you can see as I was mentioning you about the customer-centricity what they have done is there's focused always more on the women and indirectly highlighting their products. So if you can see from the images, they have used different products and encourage users to share their images while they're wearing this now, they have taken celebrity endorsements as well as you can see the see this is Taylor Swift wearing their particular dress or you can see other celebrities wearing different kind of apparels designed by Artesia. Moreover, what interesting things they have done is they have dwelled into candid mode, which is here you can see people or I would say their followers taking candid pics while they are into their products, which is the apparels and you know, you can see here as well posting them on the platform. So what Artesia does is it takes those images from the users and showcases them on their brand profile. So this is how I'd say has been using the Instagram app to connect with the audience and build a brand. Okay, let's move on to employee-centric images. Now employee-centric images are basically images which are having a focus on employees while they're handling the products or services or providing a customer exceptional customer service to the customers. So what employee-centric images are all about is behind the scenes or either the look of how the actual product or services is being made. For example, if you are a manufacturer of footwear, you can go about creating images or behind-the-scenes look of how the craftsman actually carve out the footwear and make it a finished product. This helps in users getting a perception of how the brand actually creates a product which they are going to be using. Let's see how they actually do it. So now here I have taken a classic example again of vehicle battery. Now what they are into is they are a bakery based out in Canada and what the leverage on is the behind-the-scenes in their shop. So now if you see the classic examples here, which is one post wherein they have a can pick of all the products when and if you see the lady in the backdrop, she is serving the product to the customer. But if you see here and the post which is at the bottom, you will see their manager you which the post itself says that he is happy serving the customers. Now what this helps is it creates a sense of connect with your audience by telling them that we have an exceptional customer service and you are always welcome at our shop. So let me show you how they have been using the Instagram to create a brand persona now. So guys, this is the profile page of vehicle battery. Now the post which I've been mentioning about is this of their manager. You as well as you can see this particular post where in Jacqueline Cobb is basically a scholar recipient here and they are promoting her saying that she has an exceptional service here. So now this gives a sense of feeling to the viewers that what goes behind in creating a pastry or a particular sweet dish. So this and if you're going through the profile, you would see that they are always promoting such kind of images, which are employee-centric. Now, one more thing of what you can do with employee-centric images is you can leverage on the one of the most popular hashtags, which is hashtag BTS, which is behind the scenes. Now, this hashtag has been a frequently used by all the people around the world, which are either into product designing or I would say bakeries Shores manufacturing of products or they are into something which takes a lot of craftsmanship and specific handling while the product is being made up into a finished particular product. So you can leverage it by using these kind of images on the Instagram app. Now, let's mount onto the product-centric images. So product-centric images are basically the images with an indirect focus on the product. So now like how we were talking about customer-centric images where in the focus is indirectly on the audiences or I would say the actual users of the product in product-centric images. It's vice versa. We are definitely using our customers, but our focus is also towards the product. So, let's see how we do it. Now, I have taken a classic example of Miller beer. Now, what Miller beer does is they takes their product, which is the beer and they promote it and show it in different backdrops, which is either on an outing or either value having a picnic. So what they what this does is this helps you or a particular viewer give up get a feeling that where other places which I can consume a beer, which can be occasions or achievement or if you see the post which I've posted here, which is the second one here. The guy in the jacket has been using the beer as a sense of celebration as a hash as opposed itself reach when you reach your destination. It's time to celebrate hash champagne of beer hash road trip. So now what they're doing is they are telling you that you should all they are indirectly saying that beer calls for celebration and when it's celebration what better than Miller beer. So I will show you how their profile on Instagram looks like or so that we get a deeper perspective on how the brand or the brand persona of Miller beer looks like on the Instagram. So guys, we are on the Miller account on the Instagram app. So as I was mentioning about the brand persona, if you see their posts, it's always a product centric image with an indirect or sometimes a very direct focus on the products. So if you see what they're doing is they're promoting the products in every situation of the light like whether it can be a beach outing whether you are driving or whether it's an occasion whether you are out with your friend or whether you are campfiring or if it's even a bargain barbecue time when they're promoting the can. So this is a different product altogether. So this is how you can use product centric images to create a brand persona and show a direct or sometimes even an indirect focus on your product itself. Okay guys, let's move on to the next type of image on Instagram, which is blogger centric images. Now blogger centric images are basically those type of images which are either and Ross by a particular blogger which can be a flock fashion blogger or a particular blogger in his niche and the same is being promoted by the brand which is in draws by the blogger. So now what happens is you can get in touch with popular bloggers. For example, if you are a fashion brand, you can get in touch with the fashion bloggers in this particular niche and tell them to, you know, wear out your apparels or a particular product and flaunt it on the Instagram account. Now this particular bloggers have their own following which is why we call this type of images as a word-of-mouth marketing and brand advocacy. So what it does is it creates a ripple effect where in the whole brand reach is amplified by the blogger as well as for the brand itself by posting the images on their individual Instagram accounts. So, let's see how they do it. So now you're I've taken an example of TJ Maxx. They are a fashion apparel industry in US and they are into mainly all type of fashion, including apparels as well as accessories and handbags. So here in this particular post if you can see the lady is wearing and if you see the post itself, it is having a call out to the wearer of the product which is at the way we are officials and in this post below it, you would see another blogger who is flaunting of the bag made by TJ Maxx. So let me show you how they are doing it on their Instagram account. So guys, we are on the TJ Maxx account. Now as I was talking about blog centric images, you can see this particular video as such now they have used a blogger and they have highlighted the footwear now when it comes to this post it is again about a blogger promoting their bags and the ones which have which I have used personally is here. Here it is and others if you see like you would be seeing a lot of blogger centric images here. Like if suppose you see this as well as this post. These are all being blogger endorsed which are being as well promoted on the TJ Maxx account. So guys, how do you decide which kind of image post you can use on the Instagram? Now what you can do is when you are starting the Instagram account, you can use four of them, which is the customer centric images, the product centric images, the employee centric images and the blogger centric images and try to find out the engagement which are getting on these particular posts over a period of time. I think you would get a fair idea which can be either a month or so or a max period of around two months to understand what the audiences are expecting out of you and what kind of images you can post on the Instagram so that you get a maximum engagement and drive sales as well at the end of the day. So this will help you out and focusing all the efforts on one particular type of image post or what you can do is you can use all of them in a particular series format so that when someone is browsing through your profile, they get a clear idea of the type of images or the brand persona, which are trying to create on the Instagram. Okay guys, so since we're talking about images, there is an interesting in the feature provided by Instagram which are called as filters. Now filters are basically a mechanism built by the app which helps you enhance the quality and the overall image itself. So now what image filters do is is they create a filter on the image and give a particular look and feel to the image which you want to post on the Instagram. So there are many type of filters available on the Instagram, which are normal credit on Juno slumber cinema rise Hudson Valencia like there are many possibilities in which you can, you know post one particular image on the Instagram app. So how do you decide about which kind of filters to use now? What when it comes to filters what you can do is you can as I mentioned earlier when it comes to testing out the images and the types the same happens with the filters as well. What you can do is you can use a different time type of images with different filters and try to understand again the engagement here and depending upon that you can then decide whether you want to actually use a filter or you want to use plain simple images which are being curated by your own self or are being clicked from the phone itself. So this will help you create a lot of specifics in terms of creating a brand strategy on the instant. Okay guys, so let's move on to the next Instagram post type, which is videos basically Instagram has provided users with two kind of video formats, which can be uploaded on the Instagram. Now, this can be a widescreen video or it can be a basic square video. Now, I have mentioned the aspect ratios here, which is 16 by 9 or in terms of fiction. It's 1920 by 1 0 8 0 and in terms of square. It's a 101 ratio as well as in pixels. It's 1 0 8 0 by 1 0 8 0. So basically these two different type of video formats have their own purpose, which I'll be explaining to you in the further slides. But just to give you a brief overview, the widescreen are the videos which are basically used for shooting up landscapes where squares are basically for you know, shooting a picture which is in a portrait mode. So let's go ahead and check what widescreen has it for us. So widescreen videos are basically those videos as I mentioned earlier, which are used to take up as much space width wise rather than just being on the horizontal portrait mode. So what the widescreen videos come into your help is basically shoot a landscape as well as if you are looking to shoot a big video which can be a brand video, which will be lengthier in size and you want to communicate a big message then widescreen videos could be your best friend in terms of communication. But the only downside is that you will not be able to take up the most of the part of the newsfeed on the Instagram, which is inside a mobile phone because widescreen tends to get shorter height wise but not width wise. So when you're shooting a landscape, it's only preferable for a widescreen video else it's always best to go for the portrait mode. Also in terms of advertisement, a widescreen videos would not be your best friend because our widescreen videos as they are shorter in height, they can you know, not communicate your brand video effectively to the target audience, which you are broadcasting it to. Since there will be different other feed going on into the user's feed or their account. What will happen is widescreen videos will allow the focus of the user to be diverted on the different post on the newsfeed other than you know, just focusing on the video itself. Okay guys, so let's see. How do we actually do it? So you can shoot a widescreen videos by tilting your mobile phone in the horizontal direction and then shooting a video which can be either ranging from a time period between three seconds to up to maximum of 60 seconds or I can say a minute which is the default limit Instagram is allowed for users to upload the video on the platform. Now as you can see the example mentioned here, this is how the post looks like but as you can see, it is having a width wise appeal rather than a vertical appeal. So when you want to broadcast something which is in landscape mode, it's always preferable to go for the widescreen and not for the portrait. But if you are doing a particular advertisement and you want the users focus just on your ad and not on any other feed post, then definitely a widescreen would not be your preferable choice. So let's move on to the next type of video format, which is the square ratio or the square videos. Now what I would like to emphasize more on square videos is when you are using a square video, the mobile phone needs to be in a portrait mode so that the video which are shooting will be having a portrait mode on as well as it will be having the maximum detail space on the users feed which are broadcasting the video to if you're a brand or if suppose if you're a user are like a normal individual person, they can be also used for promoting different kind of brand messages. If you want to be communicated in a very effective manner, then square videos will be the best one to go to. Now it is more beneficial in terms of advertising because since it's a vertical video or I would say a portrait mode, it allows you to fill in most of the details height wise. So if you are trying to educate someone on a particular topic, which includes some text to be fill in, then our square videos will be your best friend as due to the higher width appeal or I would say due to the higher vertical appeal, you will be able to incorporate text as well, which will you know, not overshadow or cover the communication or the brand message which are trying to give out through the video. So, let's see how we actually do it. So basically as I mentioned earlier, you can take square videos by keeping your phone vertical and then shooting a video up to 3 to 60 seconds or I can say a minute. Now what happens is when you're shooting a square video and this is how a feed post or a video post will look like in the Instagram feed. Now, this is beneficial in terms of mobile first because since mobile is having a less of width or I would say less of width ratio, your post will occupy the maximum space on the mobile feed of a user and then there is no way that someone else's post or someone else's communication can come in your way while you're trying to showcase your video or trying to advertise your video to someone. So square videos will always be the best preferable choice in terms of advertisement since of their mobile first and most of the users on Instagram, I would say not even most maximum person, which is the around 99 to 100% users on Instagram are from mobile phone because the app itself can be just operated by the mobile phone and not by the desktop. So obviously the square videos will always be your best friend in terms of advertisement. So guys now, how do you actually record a video and then upload it on Instagram? So the process is very simple guys. So guys the process is very simple. You just need to click on this camera button then go on and select the video option, which will be there apart from the video option. What you need to do is you need to first decide whether you will be shooting a widescreen video or will it be a portrait mode, which is the square video. So what you can do is you can keep your phone vertical to shoot a square video and you can tilt it and make it a horizontal video or widescreen video by just tilting your phone horizontally, which will be just like this in this direction. So now let's understand how a gif image or how a gif post can help you on the Instagram platform. So gifts gifts are basically image posts of which are a three to five second of video, which can be recorded in blue and then show up the users or you can put up on the Instagram platform. Now gifts basically stand for graphic interchange format, which is a type of image which can be recorded as a video and then can be used for various other purposes. Like it can be uploaded on various social media platform and to be very specific Instagram here now gif cannot be actually directly created by Instagram app, but there are various other third-party website and softwares to which you can create a gift. So basically my personal favorite is Giphy because it has a lot of options and it's very user-friendly in terms of creating a gif. So before we go on to learn how to create a gif, what I'll do is I'll just show you an example of how the gift look likes. This is how a gift will look like on Giphy. So what you can do is this is a platform. I'll be taking you to the platform. I'm giving you a demo on how to actually go about creating a gift. What you can do is this is how the dashboard will look like once you're logged in so you can just register on Giphy with your normal email ID and password and you can create as many gifts as you want, depending upon what is the purpose and how would you want the gift to look like apart from that? What you can also do is you can select a pre-made or already available free gift on the site itself because it has a tons and millions of gift which can be used if there is a specific purpose and the gift is meeting that purpose. So guys, let's get on to the platform of Giphy and understand how do we actually create a gift? So guys, we are on the Giphy website now. Now what you can do is you can either register your account through a normal email and password or what you can do is you can directly log in with Facebook. So what I'll do is I'll just log in into my own account and show you how a gift is made. All right, guys, I'm logged into my account and these are three GIFs which I have created for, you know, showing up on how to actually go about creating a gift. So now one interesting feature of Giphy is that every kind of gift you create, it will initially load up the gifts here and when you hover over them like for this one, I suppose it will keep on displaying and showing you how the gift you have recorded looks like. So guys, when you click on any of the gifts, this is how the dashboard will look like. Now you have various other options like share or through which you can, you know, go about sharing the website on different platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Tumblr, Instagram, which we're talking about right now as well as what you can do is you can embed these GIFs on your personal website through the code which is given here. What you need to do is you need to directly embed this code on your website, which you yourself can do if you are having coding knowledge or what you can do is you can tell your website developer to do it on your behalf. Now also what other features which you can use up for this kind of gift is that you can tag it now. I have tagged it with leopard and leopard attack a man. So basically the tags which you are using for a particular gift here, they need to be very relevant so that the discoverability of the gift is very high on this platform so that other users can also see that what you have created as well as there are high chances if the gift is a very out of the box or something unusual it can become viral on the social media platform if it discovered from your and share on the platform itself. Okay, so let's create a gift now. So what you need to do is you need to click on the create button and wait for the site to load up and and you get different dashboard through which you can create a gift. So what you can do is there are multiple ways of you know, the creating a gift what you need to do is you can either use a YouTube link or you can upload the video which is there on your desktop or if you have recorded on your mobile phone, you can transfer it to your desktop and then you can directly upload it here and create a gift out of it. So I'll just show you how to upload a video here. You can click on browse. So click on browse, then you need to go to the folder or the location where your video will be stored. What you need to do is my video is stored here this you need to open it up on the platform and starts loading your video. So what you can do is while the time is video is loading. You can put up a link here, which will be a source URL. What you can do is you can put up your website here or you can put up a particular eShop link wherein you want the users to go in and buy a particular product, which is being you know, used in the gift while the time what you can do is you can also use a separate com tags separated by the commas so that the video is properly tagged and when someone is typing for the particular tag, which you have used here, there are high chances that the gift will be discovered in the Giphy and then people rather than creating their own gift can also use this particular gift, which you have already made. Now what you can do is you can also make the gift public or private. Now, if you make the gift private, it's only available for you. But if you make it public it is available for anyone to use and to share on any social media platform of their choice. So guys are the video is loaded. Now when the video is properly loaded, what will happen is you'll get a start time as well as a duration. Now, what you can do is you can always keep the duration between 3 to 5 seconds as it will be the best time for anyone to keep it focused on as beyond 3 to 5 seconds. If the gift is more than 10 seconds or around 15 seconds, what happens is it becomes more like a video and cannot be actually said as a gift then onwards because 3 to 5 second is the best time through which when the videos or the images in the video are looped in. You get a perfect gift. So guys, I have set the frame and when you select the time range here, you can just drag and select the particular start time. So what we'll do is it will start recording other video from there and the duration if it's 3 second it will stop after 3 second. This is a limited stop. And now if you see this video, this can be used as a perfect gift because the video will keep on looping. Now, this is a basically a sarcastic expression. If you're trying to showcase here to anyone or any of your friends or to someone you can use these kind of images or videos and create a GIF out of it and then share it on the social media platform, which can be either used as a reply to someone's comment or it can be directly posted on anyone's feed as well as what you can do is you can enter the caption your which will get which can be anything for example this and these are the styles like if you select meme, it will be in a different format here. You can see here. This is how it look like you can also change the location of where you want the text to be or how big or small you want the text to be and then you can use it anywhere on the screen. This is how a GIF would look like. So once you're done with the caption, you can also select different colors available here. Put up the tags put up the URL. I'll just enter text here. Source can be anything which can be your website. I'm just using www.example.com. Now you can select whether you want to give to be a public or private gift and then you can create this now it will create a gift in some point in certain amount of time and let's see how the gift will look like once the loading is done almost done and it's going to get created now. So guys the video is ready now and basically you have your gift here. So now what you can do is I put in the source as google.com because of some reason it was not accepting invalid URL. And so make sure your URLs are always right. And now what you can do is since your gift is ready, you can directly share it on either Facebook Twitter Pinterest Tumblr Instagram and then use it for as many times as you want or for whatever purpose you want. So this is how a gift look like when it's looped in. So this is a sarcastic laugh, which I was talking about now this can be given as an impression on anyone's reply comment or whichever situation you feel possible where something sarcastic can be done. So these are the type of gift post which you can create and share on Instagram platform as well as on any other social media platform.