Instagram has recently announced the launch of a brand new, long-form video format called Instagram TV (IGTV).
Instagram, a photo and video-sharing social networking service owned by Facebook, has always been a place to connect with the people who inspire, educate and entertain you every day. IGTV features a new standalone service that features longer videos through channels, all in a vertical format that sits upright.
The new vertical video layout makes it even easier to get closer to your audience and be discovered by new people. It encourages content creators to reach a wider range of users, allowing you to showcase video content and monetise it in the process. 
How Does IGTV Work?
IGTV gives users access to different channels from which to stream long-form content. Videos can be up to an hour long, and are presented in a full screen, vertical format. Once you’re in the app, simply swipe up to change the channel.
From there, either search for your favourite channel, sort through popular content, or scroll through videos crafted by the users you follow. It still provides users the opportunity to like, comment on, or share videos.
What Does IGTV Mean for Brands?
Whether or not your business is already making the most of Instagram Stories, IGTV offers a very realistic upgrade to the organic content from the traditional instagram app.
It enables you to put up longer, permanent video for deeper storytelling to help build stronger connections with current and potential customers as you showcase other features of your brand without being limited to one type of content, length or format.
What are the benefits:
- Increase the visibility of your personal brand and that of your business
- Build and cultivate your personal and professional networks
- Develop and grow relationships with customers and influencers
- Publish and distribute original content that demonstrates your expertise
Over the years traditional methods of marketing to customers like advertising or direct mail have become less effective, businesses are turning to social mediums to give the brand more exposure and to connect with potential consumers. Social media has fundamentally changed the way we are connecting, communicating and collaborating as individuals, and therefore society as a whole.
An article written by Keran smith for LYFE marketing, he reviewed the immediate and long-term impact of using Social Media platforms such as IGTV for businesses which included:
Immediate Benefit: Increase In Trust and Brand Recall
Potential customers are now searching sites like Twitter and Instagram to find businesses, products and services.
By simply launching your brand on social media, you’ll instantly notice increased brand recognition because you can now be found online. If your audience sees your brand on multiple social media platforms, they’ll become better acquainted with your business.
Focusing on creating quality content on a regular (frequent) schedule will help to maximize your exposure and brand recognition on social media.
Long-term Benefit: Improve Your SEO (search engine optimisation)
It’s clearly evident that social media marketing and SEO are two very closely related strategies. Each time a follower or fan shares, comments, likes, or favourites a social media post that includes a link to your website you get what is called a social shares.
And the greater your social media shares, the better your search rankings on sites like Google will typically be.
Focusing on growing your social media follower base, encouraging quality external inbound links, and optimising your social media posts for searches are easy ways that social media can benefit SEO.
Long-term Benefit: Build a Community of loyal followers
Social media is probably your most powerful resource for building a community of loyal followers. This will help you gain insight into challenges your audience is facing and what they like and don’t like about your offerings.
TechRebublic listed 3 ways businesses can use the new service to grow their audience and customer base, build your brand and business in a strategic way:
Welcome/training videos
The long-form nature of the content could allow businesses to produce welcome and training videos. Using the additional length, companies could create videos to explain their on-boarding process, walk users through daily tasks, and go over safety and compliance requirements, to name a few.
Product demonstrations
IGTV also presents businesses with the opportunity to better market their products by creating videos showcasing their uses. In-house experts can create how-to videos for physical products that are easily consumable on the end user’s phone.
Marketing/advertising
Though advertising hasn’t been approved for the app, it’s highly possible that there will be a future potential for marketing and advertising through this app. Instagram is already a popular program, and IGTV will likely generate a lot of user traffic, helping businesses extend their reach ultimately generate new leads and boost sales for your business.
Once you create your content, the next step is to publish it to one or more of the myriad of platforms available which is best suited to your business needs, and sharing the links with your followers on social networks. IGTV can be seen as a prospective platform for businesses, as a marketing and communication tool, giving an advantage for businesses to tell their story and demonstrate their expertise on a global scale in real time with very little cost.
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