Instagram has come a long, long way from being a photo editing app to being one of the most popular social media platforms. Having crossed the 1 billion monthly active users mark, Instagram recently announced its newest video feature, IGTV on 21st June. IGTV focuses on long-form video content in vertical format making it perfect for mobile consumption. While Instagram Stories permits 15-second long videos, IGTV allows you to post videos between 15 seconds to 1 hour. Users can share your IGTV content, react to it and comment on it. IGTV promises to offer viewers a more immersive experience and classifies content into categories for a better user experience. As a brand, instead of just replicating existing content, here are some ideas to help you get started and make the most of this feature to keep your engagement levels soaring -

Behind-the-Scenes

Take your followers behind-the-scenes with IGTV and show them the work that goes behind some of your best campaigns. You can also do a quick tour of your office and let your followers get a peek into the kind of company you are. You don’t always have to put ‘prim and proper’ content out there. Sometimes, the best content pieces are the ones that are spontaneous and imperfect as they tend to be more relatable and strike a chord with the viewers.

Series

People are watching less TV and more digital video which gives brands all the more reason to utilize IGTV. So, why not start a weekly series on your Instagram page to keep followers hooked? An example of a brand that did this is Vogue with their Beauty Secrets series that features actor Lili Reinhart. The series can be exclusive to the IGTV platform – giving viewers even more reason to follow your page.

Ads

Remember when you had to repurpose your advertisement before posting it on Instagram because of the duration constraints? Guess what, now you have IGTV to fall back on. So, the next time you launch your new ad campaign, you can post the teaser on Instagram Stories and have them directed to IGTV where the entire ad can be viewed.

Host Interviews

You can host interviews or do a Q&A session with industry experts or influencers wherein you can get your followers’ questions answered. By doing this you impart value to your audience and keep them engaged. A good way to execute this would be to announce a Q&A session a couple of days prior to the interview and gather questions from your followers before the session. You can also crowdsource interview topics from them - that way you know you are offering them content that is sure to get their interest.

Product Demonstrations

Whether you are a make-up brand or a food brand, product demonstrations are a great way to sell your product because you get to show your customers the features, benefits and the usability aspect of your product. This helps in building relations with followers and gaining their trust. You can also add a link or call-to-action at the end of the demonstration, directing them to the landing page on your website. IGTV has a lot to offer so get creative and leverage this platform to deliver quality and valuable content to followers to keep them engaged and interested. While the platform does not offer any advertising options, we are sure that is soon to come.