In this 6-minute read:
- What is Instagram TV (IGTV)?
- How to use Instagram TV
- Ways to use Instagram TV to promote your business
- Best practices for IGTV
It’s no secret that video has become the most popular and highest-engagement content on social media. YouTube (believe it or not) is now the second-largest “search engine” in the world, (after Google—who owns YouTube). Facebook Live, LinkedIn, and Instagram show huge video engagement numbers. Instagram TV is a great opportunity for your business to get on board with the world of video. Instagram has the best engagement numbers of any social media platform, and Instagram stories and video content is the best of the best.
Attract new customers and keep them loyal with reputation management software. Learn more, plus get free reputation monitoring and customer insights when you sign up for Womply Free!
Current and potential customers are more engaged by visual content overall, and video in particular helps draw them in and provide additional value for businesses and customers.
What is Instagram TV (IGTV)?
Instagram TV is Instagram’s way of incorporating longer-form video content into its platform. Instead of the traditional minute-long post that you can share to your profile and followers’ feeds, you can now post up to 15-minute long videos with IGTV.
One benefit of this video platform is that it encourages mobile-created videos that you shot while holding your device vertically, rather than in the “widescreen” format preferred on YouTube and other video platforms.
IGTV allows you to share more engaging content with your followers (and potential customers) and provide them with more information that can be of value to them. The more information you can share with them, the better relationships and trust you can build.
Check this out: Your customers want to know more about you
How to use Instagram TV
On your own, you may have to do a little digging to find exactly where to post to your Instagram TV channel. But we’ll walk you through the steps of getting your first IGTV video posted.
Step 1: Tap on the search icon at the bottom left of your phone screen in the Instagram app.
Step 2: Tap the IGTV option in the Search navigation. It’s at the top left of your screen.
Step 3: Tap the + icon in the top right of your screen.
Step 4: Select the video you want to upload and click next. Your video must be between 1 and 15 minutes in length.
Step 5: Choose a cover image for your video. This can be a thumbnail from the video or a photo from your gallery.
Step 6: Add a title and description to your video. Help your audience know what the video is going to be about.
Step 7 (Optional): Add your video to a series. IGTV gives you the ability to create series to provide ongoing content for your audience.
Step 8: Post a preview. Slide the “Post a Preview” option to on to share a preview of your video in your followers’ feeds.
Step 9: Share on Facebook. Make your video visible on Facebook by toggling the slider in that section.
Step 10: Post your video!
6 ways to use Instagram TV to promote your business
Now let’s talk about some ways to really promote your business through Instagram TV. Simply posting a random video (especially one you didn’t create) isn’t going to take you far. But with these ideas, you can gain some real traction from your audience and start increasing the online impact that your brand has on your customers.
Use video content you’ve already published
Have you created engaging videos for your company? Maybe you have some relevant Facebook Live posts, YouTube videos, or videos that you created for your blog.
Upload those to your Instagram TV channel and start sharing away. Keep it relevant to your audience and focus on relevant topics that fit your marketing strategy.
Create and share exclusive content on IGTV
You might decide to make Instagram TV the only place that your followers can access specific kinds of content, whether that be Q&A sessions, how-to videos, or something else. If they enjoy that content, it will keep them coming back for more and staying engaged with your channel.
You should diversify your marketing methods and content, but IGTV’s “vertical-format” content and high engagement numbers deserve some exclusive videos that you create just for this platform. You can do the same with YouTube, Facebook Live, and any other video platforms you participate in.
Highlight your products and services with tutorials
Highlight your company’s offerings with video tutorials. Show how to use a product or some quick tips on how to prepare for a service.
How-to videos get tons of love across all social channels, and you can give your customers a lot of free value and build their trust with this kind of content.
Create a series to develop your community
Creating a series is a great way to develop your community. This ties in a little with creating exclusive IGTV content.
When you have a specific topic that you can go in-depth on, create a series with a weekly or daily video that your followers can look forward to and get excited about.
It helps you establish a community with your followers, who will then share more about your business.
Host Q&A sessions
Q&A sessions are an awesome way to interact with your customers. Share a poll on your Instagram story or invite customers to send in their questions and then post a video to IGTV that answers those questions.
Another great option for this type of video is to take questions that you get frequently from your customers and answer them all in a video (or create a series of Q&A videos if the list is long).
Build social proof with customer success stories
Don’t just talk about how awesome your business and offerings are, but let your successes speak for themselves. Ask some customers if they would be willing to take a quick video to share their experience with your business. This can be a video they send in to you or one that you take yourself.
Best practices for Instagram TV
As with all forms of marketing and content production, there are some best practices you should abide by as you dive into posting on Instagram TV.
- Post vertical-format videos. Instagram TV videos are meant to be filmed and viewed the way people naturally hold their phones to make watching it easier
- Test different lengths of videos to see what your customers engage with the most
- Add a call-to-action that encourages your followers to do something after the video. Get some mileage from each video for your business
- Cross-promote through Instagram Stories by sharing previews of your videos in your Story. Learn more: How to use Instagram Story Highlights to market your small business
- Always provide real value to your followers, whether that is new information, entertainment, advice, or solving a problem they have
- Create awareness of the fact that you have and IGTV channel. Share on Instagram and Facebook to encourage your followers to watch your videos
- Repurpose any work from other platforms to share on your Instagram TV channel, where appropriate. Find content that has done well on other platforms and share it on IGTV
Take your marketing strategy one step further
As you dive into the world of Instagram TV and enhance your content strategy through video, we hope you’ll find that your awareness and customer base are growing.
As that happens, you should have a plan to take your overall marketing strategy to the next step: getting more public customer feedback and engaging with customers on review sites like Yelp, Google, Facebook, and TripAdvisor.
Working to get a regular supply of online reviews from your growing customer base will help round out your online reputation as new potential customers start researching your business.
Womply’s reputation management software allows you to manage, read, and reply to all your online reviews from the various platforms in one place. You can also send out automatic reminders, engage via email and SMS/text, get business insights and CRM features, and much more. Learn more, plus get free reputation monitoring and customer insights when you sign up for Womply Free!