Ever feel like you are just stuck, doing the same type of social media outreach all of the time? If you do, I have some great ideas to help you spice up your social media! Today, we will go over 5 ways to make Instagram video work for you and your business!

First, I want to explain what is Instagram video. Instagram started out life as an image sharing social media platform. Recently the ability to record and share short videos was added. This is a great new tool to keep your brand fresh in your customers minds!

It is simple to make a video to share. Just follow these steps. You will be amazed at what you can accomplish, and what you can communicate in 15 seconds.

1. Open Instagram
2. Press the blue button with the camera face on it
3. Press the movie icon in the bottom right corner
4. Hold down the RED button to record and let off to stop recording

From there, editing the video in Instagram is very much like a picture, you can add effects and post it for the world to see. There is also another way to create video -- upload a video from your phone. You can use videos already saved on your phone or record new ones, just remember the time limit of 15 seconds.

You now know how to make a video! Now onto my 5 ideas, and then its your turn to use those 15 seconds wisely and creatively!

1. Stop Motion

These ideas aren’t in any specific order but stop motion is my favorite, so I had to put it first. Stop motion is the process in which you take an object, make it move, and take pictures of each movement to give it the appearance of moving. Lets start small with a simple “how to” so you can make your first stop motion Instagram video.

How To:

1. Take a simple object (toy car, action figure, pen, anything!)
2. Set it beside your keyboard
3. Open Instagram and go into video mode
4. Move the camera onto your object and press the RED button ONCE (make sure you press it just for a second, do not hold it down)
5. Next, move the object forward a little and then press the RED button ONCE (again, just for a second)
6. Repeat step 5 several times moving the object around your keyboard, and then making it climb onto the keyboard (TIP: Make sure that your fingers aren’t in the video and don’t rush it!)

BOOM! You’ve made a stop motion video with Instagram. Now go ahead and post it to your Instagram, look at you, you rock! Take this new found knowledge and go forth into the world and create some amazing videos, and be creative. Here's an example of a stop motion video that we created at the PhotoBiz office:

2. Behind the Scenes

Anytime you go out onto a shoot, have someone make an Instagram video of you shooting. You already have behind the scenes pictures, the next step is behind the scenes video. Splice together video clips from multiple phases of your sessions and multiple poses so that it puts a lot of action and motion to the video. Once you have done that, share the video and show the world how awesome it is to work with you! This can also apply to prep before a shoot, or even showing the world how you make a bowl a cereal - video makes anything entertaining. Below is an example of how we created a behind the scenes video on our Instagram account by trying to tour our office in under 15 seconds.

3. Special or Sale Marketing

When you roll out your seasonal sales and specials, make sure to have them accompanied by a video! This could help reach people you may never reach if it is creative enough. Think about it, how many times do you click play on a video and not bother to read a full description? Ok, stop thinking, now you see how important stuff like this is, imagine how many people you can reach! We created a simple video example to demonstrate how you could use Instagram to market a new sale in the example below:

4. Be Funny

This idea is a simple one. We get so caught up being professional and what not that we can sometimes forget the humor side of life. Whether it is a joke, a prank, or even funny facial expressions with no sound, don’t be afraid to be funny to let everyone know that you are human … and funny! Here's a good example of how we like to keep the atmosphere light around our office and that we aren't afraid of the occasional prank.

5. Something Crazy

Yes, something crazy … the more it stands out to people the more they will think about it, watch it, and share it! I guess I could have picked a better title, I don’t mean crazy, crazy, just a little crazy. An example of this would be, putting your phone in a waterproof case and going cliff jumping while screaming your business name. Sounds amazing right? In our example of using Instagram video to do something crazy, we used our office "Stunt Dinosaur":

Those are my 5, AWESOME ideas for ways to use Instagram video for your business. Now go forth, be creative, and share your awesome videos with us!