There’s lots of thoughts about whether or not Instagram’s take on long-form video, IGTV, is worth spending time on as a business, influencer or professional content creator.
This post isn’t about to dive into that particular debate, however, because there are valid reasons on both sides of the fence. Instead, let’s consider six things anyone can do to give IGTV their best shot and get as much engagement from their audience as possible.
If you use social media yourself, you’ll know that the human attention span on such platforms is incredibly short.
We scroll super-fast through feeds without paying much attention on what’s there, unless something really grabs our eye.
Your IGTV story therefore needs to capture the imagination of passers-by immediately, and most of that will come from how well it’s edited. Don’t do one boring take; using an app like Spark Camera will help bring you’re creations to life.
The thought of people commenting on your videos might fill you with dread if you’ve seen some of the YouTube comment threads, but this is one of the best way to build an engaged audience.
Encourage comments and discussion by mentioning during your video that you want to hear what people think. And make sure you end it with an open question.
There’s absolutely nothing wrong with being forthright with this one and asking for people to like and share your video.
You’ll doubtless have seen other creators do this, and for good reason; encouraging likes and shares is often the only thing you need to do to tempt people into getting your video out to a much wider audience for you.
Don’t feel bad about asking for some promotion on behalf of your audience!
When you’ve created your IGTV video, promote its existence on your Instagram story.
It’s easy to create a link to your IGTV video, and when it appears on your story, people can swipe and jump straight to it without ever leaving the app.
This is a feature that’s far too easy to miss, but one of the most important within IGTV.
The preview option enables you to take a look at how your IGTV video will appear to others. Before you commit your video to the big, wide world, preview it to ensure you’re 100% happy with the content. If you’re not, go back and make changes until you are.
Without an audience, no one will see your IGTV videos. And that might sound obvious, but far too many people go into the world of long-form online video content without first building their audience.
If your Instagram account only has a small following, you’ll be throwing videos out into the ether. Spend time building your audience on Instagram by posting standard posts and stories regularly and being judicious with your use of hashtags.
IGTV doesn’t appear to be going anywhere, and plenty of content creators still use it. So, with our tips in hand, why not give it a try for your business?
