Live From Instagram, It’s IGTV

As is always the case with social media phenomena, Instagram’s rocket ride of popularity started with teens.

When their parents started infiltrating Facebook in the late 2000s, teens and college students decided they couldn’t abide by this development and flocked to Instagram, knowing they’d have relative freedom there before their lame parents would catch on and ruin that too.

Of course, in the online space, wherever large numbers of teens and 20-somethings go, the brands aren’t far behind. Just as companies were getting used to Facebook marketing, Instagram became the hip location for the under-25 crowd, and a whole new set of ideas was needed to capture their attention.

Once the province of sepia filters, Instagram’s platform continually grew as their user base and influence increased. Where once users could upload just one photo at a time, they allowed multiple entries. It then became a messaging hub. And Instagram’s simple interface kept it from being cluttered with distracting ads.

And that’s when something amazing happened: as brands and an older audience discovered Instagram, its popularity never waned with the younger crowd. Even today, with Instagram firmly in the mainstream, its vitality to the social media experience remains.

Its success was so intimidating to Facebook, that Mark Zuckerberg’s behemoth started “borrowing” some of its more popular features before just outright buying Instagram in 2012 for a billion dollars.

(*Cue Justin Timberlake’s version of Sean Parker here: “A million dollars isn’t cool. You know what’s cool? A billion dollars.”)

Instagram has continued to evolve, eventually adding the “Stories” feature, which to be fair, was a response to SnapChat.

And then in 2018, Instagram, which began as a simple photo sharing platform, made another significant change with the introduction of IGTV. No, this isn’t another network with home flipping shows.

IGTV is Instagram’s way of allowing users to post longer videos – in fact they can be up to an hour in duration, whereas on the main Instagram app they’ve always been limited to one minute. And yes, this is a direct shot across the bow at YouTube, the heretofore undisputed and uncontested leader in the video space.

YouTube has never had a viable opponent that could realistically siphon away users, but none of their opponents to date have had the heft of Instagram.

So what does IGTV mean for your company? Let’s take a look:

Usability

As long as smartphones have been around, there’s been a debate about the best way to shoot and watch video: turning the phone horizontally makes use of how a video “should” look – after all, your television is horizontal, not vertical. Can you imagine watching Black Panther vertically?

But then the problem is you’re holding your phone horizontally, which isn’t natural for how it feels in your hand and isn’t the optimal way to use other apps.

The makers of IGTV decided to keep it simple: video stays vertical. No more turning your phone sideways. You hold your phone vertically to shoot video, keep it upright to upload it into IGTV, and it remains that way to watch video. Phones are built to be held vertically, so IGTV works that way.

For creators, it’s important to note that when uploading video, using their YouTube videos won’t work – as mentioned above, those are meant for horizontal viewing and won’t translate well to IGTV.

So yes, it will be extra work to make your videos fit both formats as you shouldn’t depart YouTube yet.

Longer videos

Before IGTV, if your company had a fantastic 4-minute video that you’d been using on most of your social media accounts, the best you could do on Instagram was a snippet of it with a “Link to full video in bio” in the description. Let’s face it: much like no one never reads the terms and conditions, no one ever clicks the link in the bio either. Your videos were getting almost no value from being on perhaps the most influential social media network out there.

IGTV solves that issue. A four-minute promo video? No problem. A 20-minute profile of a key executive or employee? That’ll work. A full 60-minute documentary about the entire history of your business? Nothing’s stopping you now.

You can unleash the full capability of your video department – or preferably, Flowerpot’s video team – onto IGTV and not have to cut down valuable content to fit within the one-minute parameter.

Channels

IGTV content creators can have their own channels, with users able to subscribe to receive their latest content. It’s a good idea to have content come in “episodes” that connect to one another – it will drive people to subscribe for the latest content.

You’ll also want to post videos consistently. As much as the linear TV format is in flux in the streaming era, there’s something to be said for users knowing they can expect regular content at set times. If some breaks between new videos are a few days, then extend to a few weeks, people won’t know when to expect your content next.

While optimizing videos for IGTV could mean extra work on your end, it’s something you’ll want to partake in given that Instagram has a billion users, many of whom will also be downloading IGTV. A billion sets of eyeballs can’t be ignored.

As a business owner, it can be dizzying trying to keep up with the latest in digital video trends. From YouTube, to Facebook Watch and now to IGTV, you only have so much time to invest in video marketing. But the results are unmistakable. Consider:

• 81% of marketers are optimizing their social media videos for mobile use
• 39% of marketers are already creating video formatted for square and vertical usage
• 33% of time spent online is watching videos
• 39% of consumers are more likely to finish watching videos when subtitles are on

That’s where Flowerpot comes in. When you partner with us you’ll get high definition, professional videos optimized for whichever platforms you want to engage with. Our team are experts in working with all of them, so we can take that task off your plate to let you focus on what you do best: running your business.

You can download IGTV and find our channel for examples of how we run our channel, and be sure to follow us as well at our main Instagram page.

Contact Flowerpot today to find out what we do and how we do it, and how we can help you jump into the digital video space.