Using IGTV Series to Grow Your Audience & Sell Your Products

Over the last few years, Instagram has become the leading social media platform for business marketing. Through Instagram, companies, and brands can reach more than 1 billion active users of the platform. Since the market is huge and the competition is intense, it is easy to reach this wide audience. To help marketers and businesses reach their potential customers, Instagram regularly launches new tools and updates. One of them is IGTV or Instagram TV.

What is IGTV, and how can it help businesses

Instagram launched the feature of IGTV in 2018 that paved the way for new opportunities for business growth. Through IGTV, users can create and upload videos of longer duration that were earlier not allowed on Instagram. The video length can be from 15 seconds to 10 minutes. It can also extend up to 60 minutes, but this feature is available only on larger or verified accounts.

IGTV offers numerous benefits to brands. Some of them are

1. Increased visibility of products and services:

Through IGTV, businesses got an opportunity to create Instagram videos for a longer duration. This gave them more chances to generate traffic on their profiles and websites. Consequently, their product and service visibility also increased significantly. Since online viewership is growing over time, using IGTV is a great way to enhance the effectiveness of your marketing strategy.

2. Source of education and entertainment for viewers:

Researchers opine that the most popular kinds of video content are tutorials and demonstrations. Obviously, both tutorials and demonstrations cannot be shown within a minute. The announcement of IGTV removed this barrier. It allowed marketers to educate their potential customers about their products and services in detail. Therefore, by creating engaging IGTV videos, marketers can educate and entertain the audience at the same time. This is undoubtedly the best way to market your products and services online.

3. Creates opportunities for higher engagement:

Video marketing has emerged as one the most effective marketing tools over the years. Using IGTV, businesses can leverage the benefits of both video marketing and the wide user base of Instagram. It is a wonderful way for growing engagement organically. The higher the engagement level, the greater is the probability of getting more conversions.

What is IGTV series?

Recently, Instagram upgraded IGTV by launching IGTV series. The announcement again created excitement among brands who could not wait to explore the potential here. IGTV series are similar to the playlists function on YouTube. It allows creators to group similar content together. Users can watch series both on IGTV app and your Instagram profile.

Why you should use IGTV series is that this feature encourages your audience to watch similar videos. This enhances engagement on your other video content as well. More engagement equals to more reach and higher growth on Instagram. In short, IGTV series can help you capture the interest of the viewers, drive traffic to your profile, and increase your visibility on the social media platform. Additionally, grouping related content in the form of series makes your profile look highly organized and streamlined.

How is IGTV series created?

If you are thinking of starting your own IGTV series, here are some steps that can help you out:

1. Plan the content:

Planning video content for IGTV series is different from creating a regular one. To make videos for the series, you need to first think about the whole concept and theme of your IGTV series. As each series include similar content, you will have to plan out your videos such that multiple videos can be created under the same theme. Another factor to take care of when preparing content for IGTV series is that even though the videos will have a repeatable theme, the viewers should find them engaging.

Here, you need to research what your audience wants to see and how can you frame such content in an episodic format. You will also have to consider the budget, resources, schedule, video length, and other details.

2. Develop a storyline and create a script:

While preparing your IGTV series, it is better to plan out the basic content of all the videos that you will be including in a particular series. For this, create a storyline. Identify what exactly the flow of the videos will be and how you plan to achieve it. You have to take into consideration the camera angles, lighting, the people involved, and so on.

To save time and enhance the quality of your videos, script all the videos. It is also recommended to prepare captions and subtitles to increase reach.

3. Film the series:

Once all the base work is done, the fun part begins. Film the series as per your budget. You do not always need to have high-quality cameras, equipment, and videographers to create engaging videos. If the content of your videos is unique and entertaining, the viewers will get attracted to you and support you.

4. Upload the video:

Uploading an IGTV series is super easy and quick. After your video content is ready, upload it on the IGTV app. When you do so, you will be asked to select or upload a cover image for the video. Once this is done, move forward to the next screen, you will see the options for writing caption, adding location, tagging people, sharing on other social media sites, and so on. Among these options, you will also find a title called “IGTV series.” Underneath that select “Add to series.”

When you click on this option, you will have a choice to either add the video to an existing series or create a new one. If you are forming a new series, you must give it a title and a small description explaining what the series is all about. It is advisable to keep the title and the description as short as possible. Now that you have created an IGTV series, you can regularly upload and share videos on the same.

How to use IGTV series for business growth?

There are numerous ways through which you can grow your business using IGTV Series. Let us look at some of them.

1. Collaborate with Influencers:

Collaborating with influencers is perhaps the most popular way of growing engagement on Instagram. You can think of creative ways of creating IGTV series content with influencers. For instance, if your company deals in clothing, you can send your products to influencers and celebrities and ask them to make 5-10 minute videos informing their followers about the products. Each of these videos can be grouped under a series. Such an IGTV series will build trust and credibility among the audience for your brand.

2. Create Tutorial Videos:

Tutorial videos are the most-watched videos across the internet. They work well both in the case of marketing products and services. Various brands dealing in cosmetics create tutorial videos to increase their viewership. Companies selling technical or unique products also make tutorial videos to educate their audience about the correct method of using their products. In the field of services, fitness videos such as the correct way to do squats or lunges are some examples.

3. Create behind-the-scenes videos:

People love to watch what goes behind the making of a product or delivering a service. For example, if you are a fast-food company, you can create a video series showing the processes that go into making a single burger or a pizza.

4. Stories of Customers and Testimonials:

You can create a separate series covering the testimonials of real customers. This again increases the credibility of your brand in the eyes of the viewers. Thus, it helps in building customer loyalty.

Tips for creating engaging IGTV series

To create a highly effective IGTV series, take care of the following:

1. Maintain a consistent or similar aesthetic for all the videos in your series. This makes it very appealing and attractive to viewers.
2. Promote your IGTV series regularly not only on Instagram but also on other platforms such as Twitter and Facebook. This is necessary to earn more views and followers.
3. Create SEO-rich video content. When it comes to digital marketing, SEO is the utmost priority. Use proper keywords and relevant hashtags that will help people discover your content.
4. Measure your IGTV performance regularly using Instagram Insights. Instagram Insights is a free tool that lays out the performance metrics of your content on Instagram. Some metrics are views, saves, likes, comments, and so forth.
5. The attention span of viewers is short. Consequently, to hold them till the end, you must make the first 10 seconds of your videos highly engaging and attention-grabbing. It is best to clearly explain what the video is about and what you will be doing in this duration.
6. Carefully select your cover image, as this is the first thing that your audience will see. This must again be eye-catchy.

If leveraged properly, IGTV series can result in a lot of benefits for your business. Make the best use of this feature by applying the tactics mentioned above!