Instagram VideosFollowing on the heels of Twitter’s Vine Videos, Instagram Video offers a few amenities that make it superior to Vine. First, it increases Vine’s six-second-clips to a walloping 15 seconds. It also offers the classic Instagram filters to give your video a chic vintage look. There’s no need to create a new account to use this video feature; just make sure you’re using the most up-to-date Instagram software available. All of your videos will show up on the same account as your photos, so your current audience will not disappear. And all of the videos will be searchable with the same hashtags as photos. It’s that easy!

Here are some ideas to get your business’s Instagram Video moving:

1. How-To: Create a short video to explain any hard-to-understand facets of your business. Spell out a service or a product to your customers in an easy, accessible clip. Even show new and inventive ways to use your product or service.

2. Crowd Participation: Encourage your clients and customers to engage using videos of their own experiences with your products or services. This engagement will not only let your current customers feel like they’re participating in the action, but it will widen your audience as all of their followers will see the video. Hey, you can’t beat free advertising.

3. Promote: Tease and introduce new products or services using one video or a series of videos released over a period of time, like movie trailers. Build yourself some hype!

4. Publicize: Have an event coming up? A convention that is open to the public? The grand opening of a new branch of your business? A huge sale? Let the people know! Make a catchy video that marks the date of your special soiree so that your customers remember. And even post some “wish you were here” videos from your event!

5. Behind the Scenes: Clients love to see the man (or woman) behind the curtain. It lets them know that your organization is run by real people, not faceless computers. This builds relationships and those relationships build trust, in you and your brand.

Now it’s time to go add some classy, vintage-tinted videos to your business site! (And follow along on our Instagram (ghosttweeting) as we document the life of Ghost Tweeting’s CEO Nika Stewart, as she continues to build her empire, while being a hands-on mommy and wife.)