Making IGTV Work For Your Business
IGTV was announced this week as Instagram’s response to the ongoing growth in popularity of video platforms. Instagram now sees a billion monthly active users, so if you still haven’t created a profile for your business, what are you waiting for?
IGTV, which is integrated into the existing Instagram experience, will support videos up to ten minutes (for most users), or up to an hour for creators with a significant following. Eventually, there will be no time constraints on videos, according to Insta CEO Kevin Systrom.
While the long-form videos of IGTV mightn’t suit every business, they’re a great opportunity for many to create and shape their relationship with potential and existing customers. Considering the huge audience potential and continuing improvements to the discovery algorithm, IGTV is an undeniable game-changer for those who can create enjoyable long-form content- here are our tips for incorporating IGTV into your marketing activities:
Product Demonstrations And Features
The most obvious advantage to IGTV’s longer-form videos is the ability to present longer product demos and explanations. This feature will be particularly useful when launching a new product- enabling you to fully describe it and its new features, explain a product with a lot of useful features, or focus in on particular benefits of your offering.
IGTV will also be a great way to create Q+A style videos, responding to comments gathered on your existing Instagram profile in a direct and transparent way. This doesn’t have to be anything flashy- sit down in a corner of the office and read through the list. Addressing FAQs is a great way to build trust with customers, especially those who are aware of your business but maybe haven’t engaged with it yet.
Behind The Scenes
This approach is absolutely under-utilised on Instagram’s existing video and story options. It’s the best way to create an impression of what the people behind your business are like, and give your followers an impression of your values and operations in process.
If you have products that are manufactured in a factory, take us to the factory! Give us a tour of the space, show us the product rolling through its manufacturing process, and introduce us to some of the people who make your thing happen!
IGTV will come with the expected host of analytics and insights including views, likes comments, and audience retention throughout the video, meaning you’ll be able to track where users stop watching your video. Keep track of these figures to shape your future content, and ensure you’re creating content that is interesting to your audience.
Grow Your Profile
While IGTV is technically its own app, it’s also smoothly integrated into the Instagram that we already know and love. A major plus of IGTV is that if someone follows your video platform, they’ll also be following your standard Instagram account.
Taking that into account, it’s important to view IGTV as an extension and development of your existing Instagram account- aim to keep the general style, standards, and content similar to ensure you can retain followers across each app.
It’s hard to imagine the different ways that social media will shape our online presence in the future- IGTV is a great new development to the ways we can post, consume and share video content, and a great way to connect with your consumers.