Instagram TV (IGTV) is one of the latest additions in the list of audience targeting platforms offered by the social media site, Instagram. The social media site has more than 1 billion active accounts globally. Moreover, videos are one of the biggest sources of audience engagement when it comes to social media, especially Instagram. As per the social site data, 50% of users share stories daily, and 80% follow at least one business.
The duration of videos in stories or posts on Instagram was capped at 60 seconds. However, IGTV supports the long format of videos, giving an extra edge to brands. As a video creator, influencer, or digital marketer, you must have used IGTV for brand promotion. In this blog, we will discuss in detail how to create a successful IGTV strategy.
Instagram As A Marketplace
As discussed earlier, Instagram is one of the biggest social media sites. People are bored with Facebook, Twitter is too serious, and YouTube is focused only on videos. Instagram seems like a mix of all the three platforms with a bit of non-serious touch to it. Now coming to IGTV, in the past, one could only access it from the IG app, but now there are other ways as well. You can get a separate tab for IGTV in the search section. Over the years, marketers have come to know the power of the tool, as it provides:
- Opportunity to Create a Visually Appealing Message: It allows marketers to tell stories using powerful tools and immersive formats.
- Provisions to Explore More: On Instagram, brands can build one to one connections with customers and further strengthen it.
- Expand the Creative Space: As per psychology, visual messages cater to the creative side of the viewer and help in forging a deeper connection.
- These qualities are what make Instagram one of the most sought after social media sites. It dominates the picture and short video space, and for taking on the video format space, it introduced IGTV in 2018.
Tips For Building A Zazzling IGTV Strategy
Do you know that videos generate 1200% more shares than any other format of content? And, that’s what IGTV is all about. So, here are a few tips to successfully plan your IGTV campaign:
- Be Crisp, Short, and Sweet: The length of videos plays an important role in deciding whether a viewer will watch it till the end or not. To keep an audience engaged for a 20 or 30-minute long video needs a lot of hype. The optimum length of IGTV videos lies between 2-5 minutes. This long video will keep them engaged and leave then lingering for some more.
- Follow the Format: Initially, Instagram started with vertical video support. The same goes for IGTV, though it supports horizontal orientation as well now. Viewers on IGTV expect full-screen videos. Shoot and upload your videos while keeping that in mind.
- Use Stories as a Test Lab: Since producing a 2 to 5 or 10-minute video requires script writing, lighting, location finding, and much more, you can always use stories to test your idea. It is somewhat like a screening of a movie where you can get the feedback and audience response to the video. It will help you decide whether the video needs some tweaking, or it’s all good to upload and share.
- Keep Things Spiced Up: Social videos are all about breaking the monotony and coming up with new ideas. Always keep mixing and matching stuff to keep the audience on toes. There is a lot that you can change in your IGTV videos, including:
- Look: Without altering the quality of videos, there is a lot that you can play with. You can always mix up things like settings, lighting, and locations to give each video a unique feel.
- Length: Don’t resist yourself with time limits. If you have a good idea or concept, you can always play around with time. Always ask – what if this scene is removed, will I be able to tell my story? If you are left with no scene to omit, that’s the final length of the video that you should go ahead with.
- Every Video Should Serve Some Purpose: In today’s digital era of marketing, there is nothing uncertain, unless you have no idea why you are doing it. Hence, it is vital to edit, format, and write each video with a set of goals to achieve. A good IGTV video should always have an intro, title screen, hook, and should end on a call to action.
- Always have a teaser of 10-15 seconds in the start so that the audience can understand what to expect from the video.
- Put a cliffhanger around the 55 to the 60-second mark. It will leave the viewers lingering for more.
- Videos without a call to action are just like exams without results. You won’t want your efforts to go in vain, so always end your videos with a CTA.
- Promote, Promote, and Promote: Do whatever you can to promote your videos. Use these tips to engage more audience:
- Design an eye-catching thumbnail.
- Create compelling titles, and the bold first three words as the viewers focus more on them.
- Produce a teaser 3 days before the release of the new video to spice things up.
- To build up the hype, include countdown stickers on your IG posts.
- On the day of release, post a 15 seconds preview on IG stories and a 60-second preview in the post.
- Change the Video Format
Don’t limit your campaign with a single video format. Try to use different formats to appeal to different viewer groups. Various video content formats include behind-the-scenes videos, tutorials, interviews, promotional videos, and much more.
Conclusion
IGTV can act as a compelling tool that can make a huge difference in your digital marketing campaign if you use it smartly. By being creative and open-minded with your Instagram marketing and devoting enough time to research and produce interesting videos, you can grow your audience base, and ultimately, your brand’s presence exponentially.