Every day, I wake up and immediately dive into my social media ritual: I respond to my Snapchat streaks and then browse my Instagram feed. Ask a majority of my fellow millennials, and they’ll say something very similar.
Instagram is undeniably one of the most important social media sites of the decade. With its exciting range of visual content, Instagram holds the most weight with consumers and influencers.
Taking this into consideration, photo-based Instagram added fifteen-second video to compete with the old social media craze that was Vine. Three years later, in 2016, they lengthened their video time limit to sixty seconds. In an interview with Forbes, Instagram stated that “the amount of time users have spent watching Instagram videos has increased by 40%.” When asked why they settled on a sixty-second limit, they attributed the decision to their primary user base of millennials, telling Forbes “Unlike YouTube where users jump from video to video, Instagram wants users to finish videos.”
Millennials are known for their short attention spans, surely, but are you putting yourself in the best position to keep their focus?
If you want to truly capture the attention of consumers in both my demographic and others, you need to avoid this one big mistake: posting a video with no background music. Too many producers don’t give the audio track that same attention because they underestimate its importance to video. The power music has in your media is incredible. Don’t believe me? Watch these two videos below that have no music, and then watch the following two that do have music.
NO MUSIC:
MUSIC:
It’s crazy how different the energies of each piece are. Each one is certainly visually appealing, but there’s just something about the ones with music that are far more engaging; it’s as if a new dimension has been added to the piece.
For the record, this isn’t the case for every piece of Instagram content that moves. If you have a quick GIF or short image slideshow, music isn’t necessary. But for the sake of your brand, in the future, please put music on your future Instagram videos.
To learn more about pairing the right music with your video, head down to the comments section and subscribe for future weekly Write-ups. See you next week!
Zach Ciampa produces and licenses music under the pseudonym Haelphon. He has spent the last ten years working both independently and with global brands and agencies helping them amplify their message and excite their audiences through the power of successful music selection and integration into their videos, social media, and events. To view his audio collection, visit the Music Library tab on the top menu.
