You have probably heard the news by now (or noticed the brand new icon on your Instagram home page) – the creators of Instagram recently launched a brand new application – Instagram TV (IGTV). Instagram TV network allows you, the IG user, to view and upload longer, higher quality videos and better connect to your personal Instagram community! Instagram TV has been predicted to be not just a huge rival to YouTube – but a major threat. In fact, According to Business Insider, YouTube has even started cutting five- and six-figure checks to top creators in order to assure that those stars don’t share their new content in an exclusive IGTV window.
Before the launch of IGTV, Instagram had been limited to a maximum of 60 seconds in feeds, and 10 seconds per “Stories” frame. If you wanted to create anything longer using Instagram Stories, you needed to piece together a bunch of shorter clips or add multiple videos to a single post. While this was fine for personal account users who just wanted to share small clips – this was not so practical for content creators in our digital world where a seamless video is the expected standard.
The basics of IGTV
- Videos are full screen and vertical
- Videos can be anywhere from 15 seconds long, to 60 minutes (currently – 60-minute videos are only available to verified accounts, all other users have a limit of 10 minutes)
- Users can watch IGTV content from within the Instagram app, or they can download the dedicated IGTV app from the app store.
- Videos start to play automatically upon opening the IGTV app
- Users can like or comment on videos or send videos to friends via DM
- Creators have their own “channels” like YouTube (and anyone can be a creator)
- Videos can be uploaded via the IGTV app or the web
- File size: Up to 3.6GB
- File type: MP4
- Video size: 9:16
- Video thumbnail/cover image: .JPG
- At the moment, there are no advertising options available, but Instagram says it does plan to make sure popular video creators and influencers are able to make money from their content.
Why Your Brand Should Start Using IGTV – NOW
The opportunity for both brands and content creators is endless and can definitely benefit your brand and it’s exposure within social media.
The Spotlight Will Be On YOU
Because IGTV is still so new, the content selection for anyone clicking on the IGTV icon in the Instagram app is limited. Starting to use IGTV for business now means that your brand will be seen and will be capturing the majority of your followers’ attention!
Building Credibility & Trust
IGTV will help your business gain credibility and trust through video content. Creating videos like tutorials or special announcements (new products or sales announced to your followers on IGTV first) will keep people following and watching. This can easily build trust and credibility for your brand. This is also a great way to point viewers towards your website to learn more or shop! If you need ideas for video content, check out our post: 16 easy ideas for engaging video content.
Captivate Your Audience
The current automatic settings for IGTV include alerting your Instagram followers whenever you publish new content on IGTV. This means that your followers will know right away that your content is there! This means you have a ready-made captive audience to communicate with, so make the most of it!
Engagement
Similar to posts and Stories, IGTV content can be reacted to and commented upon. This will be a huge boost to your engagement rates. And, if you continue posting content and engaging – most algorithms will favor your content which means you will be found faster within your list of followers AND new potential followers (aka – potential customers).
Don’t forget to return the favor – take some time to engage with other brands/people’s IGTV content, as well as publishing your own. This allows you to build relationships with other brands and potential customers. Also – watching other peoples content is very beneficial for you – it can inspire new ideas for your own content.
An important note to remember is that Instagram TV is housed in an app that 500 million people check daily! Even though it is less than a month old but in this first month alone the number of videos posted daily is rising – quickly! And the best thing of all is, you can log in with your existing Instagram username and password!
Has your business started using IGTV? Let us know what you think about it in the comments below!