(Update on November 14, 2021 at 8:30AM PT: This blog post was published in 2016. For up-to-date information about using video on Instagram, please visit our video solutions page.)

Today, we announced two video updates to the platform—the ability to share up to 60 second videos and create videos out of multiple clips from your camera roll on iOS. Longer video on Instagram begins rolling out today and will be available for 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 spent watching video on Instagram increased by more than 40%. And research shows that adding video to an existing campaign drives higher favorability than campaigns with static photos only.¹

For example, to increase customer awareness of its quarterly color launch last fall, OPI turned to video on Instagram. The market-leading nail polish company created a series of video ads targeting females ages 18-40 with interests around makeup, nail art and beauty. When setting up the campaign, OPI selected the video views objective and paired it with reach and frequency buying to maximize its ad reach among its target audience. With the fall-centric campaign, OPI reached 5.4M people and saw an 11-point increase in ad recall and a 3-point increase in top-of-mind awareness—not only generating awareness of their new line, but of the brand overall.

And television network, TV Land ran a video ad campaign across both Instagram and Facebook to drive awareness and intent to watch their new series, Teachers. The network used reach and frequency buying to get the most views among females ages 18-49, and leveraged the same creative across both platform. 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 budget. The video ads also saw a 24-point lift in ad recall, a 21-point lift in brand awareness and a 4-point lift in intent.

When creating videos for Instagram, we suggest 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 colors, 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 such as UK grocery retailer, Marks and Spencer.

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

3. Experiment: Target your ads and check your video metrics to see how people respond. Make iterations based on what works for your business and audience. Add a call-to-action button, play with square and landscape formats, 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 know the benefit and best practices for creating video ads for Instagram, try it out on your next campaign. After selecting your campaign objective and targeting, upload a video as your creative. We’ve seen that clients like TV Land, and many others, get more efficiency from running their campaigns across both Instagram and Facebook.