IGTV came to revolutionize us all. Not only for those of us who work in the digital world, but also for the users and companies that use Instagram everyday.
These were some of the questions that I received when Instagram officially launched IGTV both from my friends and family, and also from marketing professionals:
We could continue the list, but let’s leave it there and go to the interesting part of how to take advantage of this new application to connect and generate more conversations. Through this guide, I will share what IGTV is, what you can use it for, when and how to use it, and many more hacks that’ll help you achieve more if you finally decide to have a presence in this “extension” of Instagram.
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IGTV is a new platform that Instagram recently launched to upload and view videos.
In short, IGTV is the television of Instagram and a new space to consume content in videos of 15 seconds up to 1 hour.
This Instagram bet is due to all the video content that millions of users upload daily. You can see it as a way to compete with YouTube directly or as a way to increase quality time within Instagram.
It is no secret that video marketing is gaining strength, the creators of more recognized content (YouTube, Instagramers, celebrities and other influential) capture their creativity and their daily life in videos that are then consumed by millions of users around the world. I use it every day to educate people and also for all my paid leads and sales campaigns. The use of videos decreased our advertising costs and allowed us to expand the visibility of our brands.
The use of IGTV is very simple, but the first thing I want to tell you is that in addition to consuming the videos from IGTV you can see them from your Instagram application and that you’ll receive a notification when users continue to upload new content.
In the image that I share below you will see how, following the notifications and IGTV icon, you can consume and interact directly with the contents of other profiles. The advantage of consuming as a result of the application is that it automatically shows you videos of your possible interest and this will allow you to know and connect with other creators.
The only thing you can’t do on your Instagram mobile application is uploading your videos.
Here are the steps you have to take before you start creating and sharing your videos:
The use of IGTV is very easy. You can see videos that the platform has selected for you, videos of the people you follow on your Instagram, videos that are popular and trending, and also those that you left halfway (which is something that I really love).
You can also use the search engine to access the videos of your interest and upload your own content as well as being able to switch between one account and another.
Unlike YouTube, where you have to upload quality, well-edited, and with very good content videos (assuming that you want to stand out in YT). In IGTV, you can upload videos which are more homemade and natural.
Here are some ideas for using IGTV:
PS: You can make your first video about introducing yourself with a promise of what kind of content your followers will see.
With the arrival of IGTV, I’ve seen many content creators and companies who were overwhelmed with its launch, but remember that you can start with a recycled strategy to maximize your content.
Don’t worry, your current and new organic followers provided by SimplyGram’s free trial, one of the best Instagram growth service apps, will support you through your first few steps in diving into the IGTV world. Through recycling your strategies, you’ll also see how your main content (article of your blog) can give more content to your videos or images for different channels.
For you to better understand what kind of content, here are some examples:
Can you see how when I recycle, I extract different points from the main theme of Facebook Ads? This is a simple exercise that you can easily replicate.
If you’re wondering why I first launched the IGTV video and then the YouTube video, the answer is simple. YouTube content has a long duration, IGTV content after a few days drastically decreases consumption. With IGTV, I validate my themes and through the feedback (comments and questions) that I receive, I can create a better YouTube video.
This small strategy makes everything more effective and your conversions increase.
So now you know, the next time you want to publish a new video on IGTV, remember to have your article (to convert visualizers into visits), your lead magnet (to convert traffic into leads), and promotional pieces on other channels.
IGTV is thinking for the consumption of videos in VERTICAL format, you can upload them horizontally but you would be forcing your audience to turn the mobile to consume your content and this is NOT the objective of the video platform.
From IGTV or entering https://www.instagram.com/ tusuario / channel / (from your computer), you can get the direct link to your videos to share them on another channel.
Ex: https://www.instagram.com/tv/BkVdij3BRNH/
You can upload your videos from the IGTV application but let’s be honest, if you’re going to edit your video on your computer then it’s easier to upload it from your browser (Ex: Chrome) than having to put it on Dropbox, download it on your mobile, and then upload it to IGTV .
To upload the videos from your computer, just go to the following link https://www.instagram.com/tv/upload.
From there, you can upload videos of more than 10 minutes and in a more comfortable way than from your mobile
From the mobile application, you can NOT edit the title or description of your videos. However, from the computer and once you are logged on to your Instagram profile, you can enter the IGTV tab, select your video, and give it a quick edit to finally change the title and description.
If you want to get more results with your IGTV content, check out the following tips:
Only accounts with more than 10 thousand followers can add links in their stories. However, with IGTV any Instagram profile (regardless of the number of followers) can link a story to an IGTV video.
This is great in order to get more views and even more after the trick that I taught you to add clickable links in your videos. From the story, we get a production of traffic that can become leads and sales.
From the mobile application, you can see the analytics of each video you upload. For me, the most interesting is the graph of the percentage of video consumed by the viewers.
To see the analytics you have to go to your video and give the three points to finally choose the Insights option. The metrics that you’ll see are the following:
From the computer, you can use the application of your choice (Adobe Premiere, Camtasia, ScreenFlow, iMovie, etc.). Now, as IGTV is designed to be managed from the mobile and not only from the computer I want to share some applications that can help you when making basic editions (cuts, add text, filters, gather videos, etc.)
To create a video in vertical format from your computer, you have different options:
– You can make it in a horizontal format and then flip it with tools like Quicktime
– You can make it right from the beginning with the vertical format. With Camtasia, ScreenFlow, Adobe Premiere and any good video editing application, you can create a workspace for your video with the size you want. Ex: 1128 x 2008px.
To conclude this guide, I would like to leave you some recommendations for the strategic use of this platform.
Finally, do not forget to experiment and try different formats until you find the ideal one. I do not recommend “falling in love” with one single content format right now on IGTV. It’s very recent to define a unique content strategy. In this first stage, you must validate the format and the type of content that your audience prefers.