Have you struggled to adopt Instagram’s new video platform, IGTV? What are you doing to build an engaging audience? Has anything worked so far?
According to Social Media Examiner research, businesses can still succeed on this platform despite its limitations. IGTV competes with a couple of popular networks: Snapchat and TikTok, but it has strong potential. This new video platform has (so far) experienced slow growth, but you can’t ignore Instagram’s success so far.
IGTV success is a matter of how you use the platform. Discover how to apply 5 promising IGTV marketing strategies.
WHY ADD IGTV TO YOUR MARKETING STRATEGY?
People, in general, are watching less television in favor of more digital video. By 2021, 78% of total mobile traffic will be from videos.
Based on Statista research, 85% of U.S. citizens watch online videos as of January 2018. That number is expected to grow. By 2020, around 232 million U.S. users will watch digital videos.
On Instagram, more than 50% of U.S. users watch videos. It’s the most popular platform for this purpose (as of February 2019).
The U.S. age groups accessing videos each week are 15-25 year-olds and 36-45 year-olds (90%). Every age group has exceeded 75%.
How This Helps You:
The best part about younger IGTV users dominating the platform is that they aren’t looking for formal, professionally made videos. Your financial investment doesn’t need to reach high. IGTV users prefer amateur video creators over the pros.
“Amateurs make content sporadically, but they are frequent and prolific contributors to the content community… Amateurs are especially good at capturing the viewing public’s imagination: many amateur videos have “gone viral” and been seen by millions.”
– (BCG publication: The Future of Television)
WHO WOULD BENEFIT MOST FROM IGTV?
Businesses with an existing, large, and young Instagram following would find the most success on IGTV. If your business also has visually appealing products or services, you can benefit from the platform.
Do you sell jewelry? Do you run a restaurant? Any businesses that can demonstrate their value in visuals and demonstrations should give IGTV a try.
IGTV MARKETING STRATEGIES
You can succeed on IGTV. These 5 tactics show you the way.
Connect with Influencers
Who counts as an influencer?
“… Top content creators, specialized in their respective niches, who help you improve brand awareness, increase traffic, and drive your brand’s message to your target audience. These content creators already market to your ideal audience across different channels which you can take advantage of…”
– (The Ultimate Guide to Influencer Marketing by Kristen Baker of HubSpot)
Why consider influencers over celebrities?
In a study by the Keller Fay Group and Experticity, 82% of survey respondents said they were highly likely to follow an influencers’ recommendation.
70% of social media teens (overall) trust influencers more than traditional celebrities:
“Influencers have the power to forge strong ties with fans and experience a more engaged audience gaining 3 times as many views, twice as many actions and 12 times as many comments compared to videos from traditional celebrities.”
– (20 Influencer Marketing Statistics that Will Surprise You by Emma Knightley of Digital Marketing Institute)
How do you find influencers?
Social media searches of follower counts, engagement, and niches can help you find the right influencer.
Use search engines to find active influencers in your industry. Are they active on IGTV? Do they have a popular blog? Ask other marketers for referrals based on their own success. Check influencer tools for options, such as Scrunch, Klear, or BuzzSumo.
Use Exclusive Videos
You have the option to reshare videos you posted elsewhere. If you created videos for YouTube or other platforms, upload them to IGTV for increased reach.
However, people might already know about your video. By making your IGTV videos exclusive, you’re more likely to build a captivated and engaging audience. Users will see that your activity is for only them and IGTV. It’ll draw attention and increase the likelihood of engaging them and building a following.
If you have a verified Instagram account, you can add videos up to one hour. Everyone else has a 10-minute maximum length (for now).
Optimize that time by sharing tutorials, product reviews, or other ideas, but don’t feel obligated to remain formal or professional. Share fun office culture stories or anything funny (while still on-brand and appropriate).
Make your IGTV video unique from other platforms by adding a new cover image as well as memes, GIFs, and other effects throughout.
Be Engaging with Your Audience
IGTV videos allow a live comments thread for viewers to participate in as they watch. This is an opportunity for you to give viewers individual attention.
Create a contest for people to comment on something specific, such as a trivia answer or other targeted response. When you go back, pick a comment to choose a winner. It’s a great way to increase video attention and engagement.
Or, make the contest about your audience’s own videos. Collect and feature audience videos that share your product or recommend your services. You can monitor this best by assigning a specific hashtag that people must add to their video description for entry into your brand’s marketing promotion.
Prepare Videos for Muted Viewing
Whether someone is in a busy room or prefers not to listen, your videos should be made for them, too. Create videos that pique the interest of your whole audience, which includes people with sound on and those who always mute.
You can do this best by keeping videos visual-heavy. Tell the story with actions to supplement the audio.
Add captions for viewers to follow along while watching the video. Describe the contents thoroughly in the video description. You can appeal to both audiences without annoying either of them when you choose tactics with those viewers in mind (personas help here).
Add Hashtags to Video Descriptions
Hashtags are an essential way of getting your videos (and brand) found. By adding them to your video descriptions, you reach beyond your existing audience. This can include people who might not know your brand and could potentially show interest in your products or services. At a minimum, they might choose to follow your account and participate in future video comments.
Some of the best ways of applying hashtags to your IGTV video strategy are:
- Use hashtags that describe your brand and offerings.
- Keep them specific and relevant for your brand to maintain a good reputation and reach.
- Do not ignore industry trends and related successful hashtags.
- Monitor your industry and competitors to find the best hashtags.
- Make sure your videos and hashtags match to prevent confusion or misunderstanding.
- Take care in how many hashtags you use with each video (too few and too many both have consequences).
TL;DR
A quick overview of everything detailed in this article:
- Why IGTV? It has the potential for large-scale reach and brand exposure
- Who benefits? Businesses serving consumers instead of B2B benefit most by IGTV.
- Why influencers? They have more trust, which gives your brand the same influence when you collaborate.
- Why exclusive? It gives people reason to seek you out on IGTV and stick around as followers.
- How to engage? Create contests to draw people in and get them to engage with your brand.
- Why optimize for muted viewing? People have many reasons to keep their phone on silent, so make videos for both sound and silence.
- Why hashtags? They increase video reach and a targeted, relevant audience.
Woobox Support
Launch these IGTV campaign ideas with our help. Woobox Support is available from 8 am until 5 pm PST, Monday through Friday at 1-360-450-5200 or support@woobox.com.