Today, we announced two video updates to the platform: the ability to share videos of up to 60 seconds and create videos from multiple clips from your camera roll on iOS. Longer video on Instagram will start being rolled out today, and will be available to everyone in the coming months. Multi-clip video is available this week as part of Instagram for iOS version 7.19 in Apple's App Store.

Businesses are seeing results with video on Instagram. Over the last six months, the time people spend watching video on Instagram has increased by more than 40%. And research shows that adding video to an existing campaign drives higher favourability than campaigns with static photos only.¹

For example, to increase customer awareness of its quarterly colour launch last autumn, OPI turned to video on Instagram. The market-leading nail polish company created a series of video adverts targeting females aged 18-40 with interests around make-up, nail art and beauty. When setting up the campaign, OPI selected the Video Views objective and paired it with Reach and Frequency buying to maximise its adverts' reach amongst its target audience. With the autumn-centric campaign, OPI reached 5.4 million people and saw an 11-point increase in advert recall and a three-point increase in top-of-mind awareness, not only generating awareness of its new line, but of the brand overall.

And television network TV Land ran a video advert campaign across both Instagram and Facebook to drive awareness and intent to watch its new series, Teachers. The network used Reach and Frequency buying to get the most views amongst females aged 18-49, and leveraged the same creative across both platforms. At the end of the combined campaign, TV Land saw a 16% increase in impressions and a 7% increase in unique reach without any increase in the budget. The video adverts also saw a 24-point lift in advert recall, a 21-point lift in brand awareness and a four-point lift in intent.

When creating videos for Instagram, we suggest that you follow these general principles and best practices for creating videos in a mobile feed environment.

1. Establish a connection quickly: Select a captivating video thumbnail image and title. Use brand colours, themes and imagery to help people connect the video to your brand. And consider using front-facing lifestyle or product shots, or scenes with action or vivid imagery, to spark interest, as used by UK food retailer Marks and Spencer.

2. Design for sound off: Videos automatically play without sound, so ensure that your videos express your message visually. Add captions, logos and products to better communicate your message.

3. Experiment: Target your adverts and check your video metrics to see how people are responding. Make iterations based on what works for your business and audience. Add a call-to-action button, play with square and landscape formats and repurpose or create new content specifically for Instagram. There's no one-size-fits-all answer when it comes to video creative on the platform.

Now that you understand the benefits and best practices for creating video adverts for Instagram, try them out in your next campaign. After selecting your campaign objective and targeting, upload a video as your creative. We've seen that clients such as TV Land, and many others, are more efficient when running their campaigns across both Instagram and Facebook.