We have all heard that videos are the most effective format for generating engagement on Instagram. Although this has become a well-established fact, we observe a clear distinction where some videos perform significantly better than others. Sometimes the reasons are clear, other times you just don’t know what went wrong. This blog can help you put a full stop to this dilemma because we are going to spill all the psychological tricks you need to make your Instagram video engagement skyrocket.
So, without making any further delay, let us dive into the psychology of Instagram video engagement and how you can use it.
10 Psychology Backed Ways To Make Your Videos A Success
Psychology has delved deeply into the workings of the inner mind. And this understanding has been taken a step further by advertisers, by using these nuances to take their product and advertising to the next level.
With Pro-tips such as the following, you can also get in on the insider information and make your videos an engagement magnet:
1. Reduce Mental Cognitive Load
Cognitive load occurs when users are overwhelmed by too many things on their screen. In this state, they will not be able to understand what their seeing and struggle to process information.
Make your Instagram videos with the following points in mind to avoid this effect on your viewers:
- Avoid unnecessary jargon and restrict your content to simple language.
- Divide your topics into subtopics and tackle them one by one in a sequential manner.
- Make the concept as simple as possible, then keep adding bits of information to paint a whole picture.
- Use visual cues wisely to guide your audience towards the essential information.
- Do not have too many elements on your screen at the same time.
- Have a clear CTA that points your users towards the next step.
- Have supportive links in the captions for people who want to delve deeper.
2. Evoke Emotions
Emotions are powerful. And memories associated with said emotions never really vanish from our minds. Imagine the last time you did something that lit you up. I am sure you had no problem recalling it. Similarly, videos that bring forth such strong emotions get a special place in the brain.
If you want your video to instill strong emotions in your viewers, these are some tips for you to follow:
- Develop a storytelling narrative. Without proper narration, you cannot bring the emotion that you anticipate.
- Understand the emotion that you want to instill and work your video towards it.
3. Establishing Yourself As an Authority
There is this brand called Popflex that I follow. And their brand is my favorite for 2 reasons:
- They listen to their users and actively implement their feedback.
- They make it a point to show their audience that they implemented that feedback.
As a result, their followers love them, their products, and everything about their brand. Why? The audience believes their product is superior because every problem they had, the brand solved it.
This way, Poplex has established its authority subtly and in this process has gained an impressive following of loyal customers. Having authority in your niche is very valuable since it instills trust in your brand.
To establish authority with your videos, use these simple tips:
- Make subtle word shifts, such as instead of saying tips, say “Expert tips” or “Consult with our experts”.
- When you claim something, make sure to include necessary citations and sources to support it.
- Have an industry expert on your team? Then show that to the world. E.g., Say Mary Jane, Ph.D when referring to them.
- Answer your viewers’ questions about your niche wherever possible.
4. Adopt Storytelling Techniques
When compared to videos with facts and figures, videos that have a story perform better. Because with a story, you can easily understand the information that is being presented.
And when a story has characters and plots to it, the viewers get emotionally invested and want to know what the final outcome is. This is a great motivator that makes people see it through.
To employ storytelling in your video content, use these techniques:
- Pick up a plotline format from well-performing videos. For example, if you want to create more informative content but don’t know how to present it in a story, then look at TED-Ed for inspiration. Their short, animated, easy plotlines make for a short and nice watch.
- Waning attention spans make it hard to retain viewers throughout the video. To prevent people from bouncing, place a hook in the beginning and keep your videos short.
- Have some relatable elements in your video. When people feel something relates to them, they will have a higher inclination to see what happens next.
- Avoid filler content and only include scenes that drive the content forward.
- Instead of going full-on formal on your audience, adopt an informal, friendly voice and tone.
5. Include Social Proof
Have you ever skipped a video because it had very less likes or comments? If yes, you are not alone.
Many people use these metrics as a shortcut assessment of whether the video is good or not. If there are no likes, then they automatically assume the content to be subpar. This is what we call a lack of social proof.
This is also one of the reasons why a lot of creators on Instagram now prefer to hide their like count on their posts.
On the bright side, this creates a feedback mechanism:
- Your video with a lot of likes will attract more viewers because of the algorithm
- The social proof from your likes will act as an incentive for the user to keep watching and eventually interact with your content.
- When new people interact with your content, the algorithm will push it to even more people. And the cycle continues, thus improving Instagram video engagement.
6. Sounds and Music
Sound and music have a crucial role in storytelling. It invokes emotion, sets the mood for the scene, and intrigues us. This is why adding music or voice-overs to your video can amp up the quality of your output and encourage engagement.
To set it into perspective, imagine listening to an audiobook. Even without visuals, the sounds and the dramatic narration still help you visualise it to the best of your ability.
But on the other hand, think about watching a movie without a single sound in it. It might feel disorienting, right? This vacancy, filled by sounds and voiceovers, is a valuable added element that can make your video engagement pop.
7. A Compelling CTA
In an ideal marketing strategy, a perfectly curated video is not the end point. It is usually where the funnel starts.
This means, if you make a great video, write a convincing copy, and don’t tell people how to stay connected with you, then they are going to move on and forget all about you. To avoid this scenario, you need to have a compelling Call To Action that complements your video and urges your audience to take the next step.
When writing a CTA, you have to keep in mind some best practices, which are:
- Keep your CTA short and simple.
- Make your CTA invoke an emotion such as urgency, excitement, FOMO, and reciprocity. All these emotions are strong action makers, which will make your CTA click-worthy.
- Keep your landing page in alignment with your CTA, so your audience is assured that they are in the right place.
8. Instagram Algorithm
The most important thing that determines the reach of your videos on Instagram is the algorithm. So, when creating videos for Instagram, you have to satisfy both the algorithm and the user to succeed.
Instagram usually prefers to promote videos that receive good engagement, such as likes, saves, shares, and comments. Therefore, making content that is saveable and relatable to the audience is very important.
Furthermore, Instagram will only show your videos to people who share similar interests. Therefore, the type of content that your followers tend to like more will generally perform well with them as well.
Final Thoughts
Having to incorporate psychological tips on top of making amazing videos to improve Instagram video engagement can be hard. Video production in and of itself is very resource-intensive and time-consuming without having to bring psychology into the mix.
But this issue can be easily sorted with Predis AI. Because Predis AI will analyze all the posts you have ever posted, their engagement, and give you custom recommendations on how your posts can be touched up.
If you want to make everything from scratch, then with a single prompt, you can make the whole video complete with captions and hashtags within Predis AI itself. You can even schedule them on your socials and collaborate with your team here.
If this is something that you are intrigued by, then sign up for a free account today and get started!
FAQ:
Videos are dynamic and present the information in a streamlined manner, which makes it easy to grasp and understand. And when the storytelling is interesting and relatable, people tend to be intrigued, which makes videos more engaging.
Yes, people’s attention span is shortening day by day. If the video is not short and does not hook them from the beginning, they will move away.
Yes, the Instagram algorithm analyzes a person’s interests and serves them content that will be liked by them. Therefore, your content should be something that will interest your target audience to be able to reach them.
