CLIENTS ASK: What’s the difference between Stories, Reels, and IGTV?

Instagram is a savvy app with an ever-changing algorithm, but it’s the social platform with the highest engagement, so it’s crucial to take advantage of the many features. If you aren’t making content on Instagram, you might as well throw your engagement metrics out the window.

Visually based, this app relies on well made, creative content to keep consumers attention and businesses to utilize their best Call To Actions (CTA) for each feature. Between Stories, Reels, and IGTV, how do you know which one would be most beneficial for you and your social media marketing?

Well, that’s what Take Flight is here for, to help you meet your goals and understand what makes the most sense for your business. Instagram’s metrics are the most important to understand your true engagement to conversion rates, so we created a quick guide to each individual feature.

Why Use Instagram Stories?

Instagram launched Instagram Stories in 2016 after their initial app launch in 2010. The short form content is all about brief, attention-grabbing minimal advertisements, whether that means dynamic images or animated videos. They last for a total of 5 seconds, so you can always do multiple slides on a story, but the kick is that the story will only last for a limited time—24 hours. So, it’s important to use stories as a brand to showcase specific products, services, or to promote brand awareness.

While you can’t give consumers an in depth look into your company, you can highlight the faces of your brand, specific employees, or pieces of your brand personality. The benefits of Stories lie in the fact that they are straight to the point, you only have a short period of time to catch consumer’s eyes to prevent them from just swiping past to the next ad or story. You’re not just looking for viewers, but overall impressions between likes, comments, link clicks, etc.

Instagram is a visually based app, but stories heighten that effect with the length of time you have.  These opportunities are best used for making a sale with the consumer, wherever they are in the buyer’s journey. Using a CTA is essential with this Instagram feature, turning this opportunity into great conversions for your business.

Why Use INSTAGRAM Reels?

The Instagram Reels feature was launched in 2020, but with TikTok and other short form videos blowing up the Internet again, Reels have gained a massive boost in popularity. The Explore tab in the Instagram app is one of your best options for growing your organic reach and getting to new consumers, driving up your impressions. However, Instagram’s algorithm is smart and will only boost content that is well made, so videos that have grainy audio or visuals or that are overall subpar will only hurt your branding. If you post anything that has average or below content, Instagram’s algorithms will take that into account for all of your future content.

While you can use paid ads for Stories once you get to 10k followers, Reels are not in the game for paid advertising; here it is all about organic and original content. You do have the benefit of posting your Reels on your regular posting feed and within your Stories, which is a plus when promoting to your followers. Having your well-crafted Reels show up on the Explore tab and improve your organic reach will do more for your brand than hashtags ever will.

Reels are best used for short-form content like Stories, but you have more than five seconds to catch their attention. This feature is all about creativity, branding awareness, and personality. Remember to still have some sort of CTA is important, but knowing who you are targeting is the main point to absorb.

Why Use IGTV?

IGTV (Instagram TV) is highly comparable to YouTube as this feature can have much longer videos, but they must be high quality. IGTV thrives on high quality, edited videos that are similar to YouTube’s how-to’s, educational videos, or informational videos.

Many news sources have taken to IGTV to improve their metrics and reach potential new viewers. Whether you use short clips that last one to two minutes or a video that is longer than 5-10 minutes, these are the opportunities you need to show your audience who you are as a brand, what your products are, and what problem you solve.

The major difference between IGTV and YouTube videos is IGTV is vertical in size, like how you would hold your phone to take a selfie. It is a mirror of TikTok and makes it a mix of both YouTube, which is horizontal in size, and TikTok, which has shorter videos, like the Reels feature.

Confused yet? There’s a lot to digest when it comes to the dynamic video features Instagram offers, so don’t hesitate to reach out to the Take Flight team to get a better handle on how your small business can utilize these (and more) to help drive your social media goals.

Top 5 Social Media Trends of 2022

We are well into the new year, still battling the Covid-19 pandemic, still wearing masks, and charging ahead the best we know how. We’ve already noticed several trends in the world of social media marketing and e-commerce requiring businesses to change and adapt to a social-first mindset and get creative with marketing.

The pandemic has created changes that have transformed B2B and B2C industries; most notably, how businesses are observed by the public and the importance of remaining authentic. With information researched and reviewed from sources like Forbes, HootSuite, Later, and other favorite Take Flight go-to outlets, these are the top five trends that are vital for small businesses to know:

1.    Smaller Influencers Hold More Power

This shift is centered around connecting with audiences and earning trust rather than just boosting sales and producing ads. Most major social networks have offered a way for content creators to monetize and simplify branded content. The focus is narrowing in on brands getting to know their communities and what matters to consumers. These influencers bring a way to humanize brands, giving consumers a familiar face to trust, and offering a pathway for brand awareness. Consumers are no longer looking for perfect curated images from brands, celebrities, or influencers; they want faces and stories they can relate to, deeper connections, and making choices that matter.  

2.    Consumers Want More Creativity in Marketing

Consumers are becoming wiser surrounding marketing, searching for more enriching, original content. They feel over-saturated with ads, and major social networks are adapting, saying organic content that fits with the platform will be more beneficial than ad interruptions.

The largest increases in spending according to a recent survey will be towards TikTok, Pinterest, and Snapchat. Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn will also continue to be essential for digital business growth with Facebook at 62% and Instagram at 49% ranking as the most effective overall platforms. However, the most impactful growth is on TikTok’s platform with a 700% growth rate in the last year in terms of effectiveness.

 3.    Accountability and Authenticity Impact ROI

Increased confidence surrounding measuring ROI in social marketing efforts makes it easier to see success for business goals. The impact of the pandemic on social media and digital accountability is no secret, the power of the public is shown in big brand scandals or being “exposed”. Consumers are looking for validity, honesty, and authenticity from businesses. The need for inclusivity and diversity within companies is more weighted than ever with consumers looking within the companies’ employees and their values when doing brand research online. With engagement on platforms rising, the ability to measure the effect social campaigns and content have on profitability becomes easier.

4.    Social Commerce Continues to Grow

Social commerce is not new anymore, nor is it exclusively for large companies to use. Small businesses can use the power of online communities to thrive and build brand awareness. The pandemic pushed e-commerce and social marketing to the forefront of profitability and will continue to grow beyond the pandemic. You must be present in every step of the consumers journey now, as social commerce relies on it. Younger generations are using social media even more than search engines to do brand research; and social media networks rank second overall in online brand research, creating a demand for brands to be present on those platforms. With the use of tools like Instagram Shopping and Facebook Marketplace, they are using social networks to enter the buyer’s journey and exit buying products as they consume more content.

5.    Social Marketers and Consumer-First Mindsets

Customers now have access to service through an immediate, convenient, and effective route- social media networks. Pressure on brands to be accessible and adapt to all digital customer outlets is heavier than ever. Social media managers are essential to maintaining active, positive communities with consumers majorly contributing to the overall big picture. The power that social marketers’ content and creativity is evident in companies like The Washington Post and Duolingo on TikTok, who post content that is quirky and unexpected, unlike postings on other platforms, but continues to go viral every time.

Marketers in 2022 are focused on growing relationships with customers, improving customer service, and reaching new communities and audiences over relying solely on boosting sales and producing ads for products.

These are just some of the trends that will dominate the social media landscape in 2022 and beyond and by taking advantage of these trends, you can stay ahead of your competitors. 

If you need help creating an on trend plan for your social media marketing, reach out to Take Flight and let’s talk about what you’re currently doing, what may need a boost, and how you can meet your digital goals this year.