IGTV For Your Business
We all want our business to work out one way or another right?
So let’s see how this feature on Instagram known as IGTV help you grow and continue your business.
In this article we will discuss the Pros and Cons Instagram TV will bring about to businesses just like yours.
What is IGTV?
IGTV- is a new app for watching long-form vertical videos presented to you from your very own Instagram creators.
It’s their hottest new feature since Instagram launched stories and 60 second videos before that!
Whether it’s DIY or a comedy skit or even a cat video creators now can make videos upto an hour long.
It maybe a new app which can be easily downloaded through google playstore or the apple appstore but get this! Since it’s a part of Instagram you can also easily access it from within the Instagram app too.
The main thing that sets it apart from what is already existing in the market is that the videos are all in portrait mode.
The goal is to make a “mobile first” video watching platform, and such format allows people to watch content without turning their phones around. Videos shall then be no bigger than 3.6GB and in a 9:16 size
How To Use IGTV ?
There are 2 ways that you can use IGTV,
Method 1
Using The Instagram app
If you already have an Instagram page for your business then the IGTV button should already be there on the top right of your screen.
Method 2
Using The IGTV App
If you want to keep things separate you can head over to the google play store or the apple app store to download the IGTV App itself.
Uploading videos on IGTV
- Tap your profile-icon on the IGTV screen
- Create a ‘Channel’
- Allow IGTV to access your media files
- Upload the video (Note: You can’t shoot a video from the IGTV app)
- Fill in brief details about the video
How’s IGTV different from other social networks?
The new standalone Instagram app will now take on a swift competition with the likes of YouTube and Snapchat.
IGTV is looking strong! Instagram doesn’t have everything figured out yet but it’s got a solid game plan.
YouTube dominates the video market on every conceivable level.
Vimeo has carved out a strong niche for its reputation as a professional’s streaming platform and Dailymotion’s audience appreciates it for being laxer on content restriction than YouTube.
However, neither have come close to challenging YouTube’s ubiquitous presence. The closest threat has been Twitch, the live streaming platform that YouTube has challenged by launching YouTube gaming.
Instagram knows it can’t possibly challenge YouTube on desktop (yet). But it does know that if you’re using Instagram, you’re on your phone, so why not give you an easy way to watch videos of the people you follow without needing to swap out to another app right?
This is the front that Instagram has chosen. IGTV aims to be the efficient, accessible app for mobile videos, right down to the vertical format, because Instagram has correctly determined that people would greatly prefer to watch a video without needing to flip their phones
Pros of Using IGTV for Your Business
Expand your reach
Be a pioneer. IGTV is brand new and novelty attracts people like bees to honey.
Your brand or business has a great window of opportunity to get in front of a new audience by being one of the first to try it out.
Show off your creativity
Think of IGTV like a digital blank canvas. As a marketer, there’s so much you could do with 60 minutes you could almost say sky’s the limit.
The added time allows your customers to get to know you on a deeper level.
Give a backdoor into your business
You could give behind-the-scenes at a runway show and include everything from hair and makeup to the final model lap at the end of the show, or the creation and preparation of a certain brand during the start-up period till the time you open your business, store or brand.
Use what you got
You do not need fancy equipment to create videos. Just use your mobile phone and upload the video directly to IGTV (since it allows videos shot in portrait mode)
Become Extraordinary
If YouTube is too mainstream for you, IGTV is giving you the opportunity to start vlogging and experiment with the platform in various angles and eventually find a way to make it beneficial for your business.
Reach More Customers
Another way to go about this is to directly engage with influencers. This provides some further advantages, such as a wider reach.
Indeed, the number of people posting content is still relatively low, therefore your campaign has more probability to reach an audience. Another consequence of having such few accounts on IGTV also means that the influencers are ready to accept a lower price.
Cons Of IGTV to Your Business
This app offers several advantages but there are a few disadvantages of it as well, depending on how you look at it:
It is yet another platform to keep up with to make sure that you are not left behind. It is relatively easy for large businesses to deal with new social media platforms since they have dedicated teams to manage their accounts. For solopreneurs, this means more work than just handling Instagram since the content for IGTV needs a different approach than Instagram Stories and Instagram Live.
Tying in with the point mentioned already, the portrait-video mode also means that you cannot directly share your YouTube videos to IGTV and vice-versa. You need to edit them or record them for two ratios. It means more work in editing if you want to share the same video on both platforms.
But In my humble opinion, the app appears to be more promising despite its disadvantages and you may want to give it a go if you want to strengthen your business especially on Instagram.
