Ahhhh, Instagram.
Instagram is my favorite social media platform today! It has the engagement levels like Facebook without the sheer amount of toxicity! Despite the number of features it got from others (mostly from Snapchat), Instagram shined through!
I never thought that they would delve in the world of video! People spend more and more time watching videos on their phones that it’s becoming normal. Because of that, Instagram launched IGTV.
What is IGTV?
This is Instagram’s new video platform that focuses on three primary things:
- Mobile-first: Because we live in a world where we watch more video on our phones, this service focuses more on vertical video. The whole UI focuses solely on vertical video more than ever in a platform. Other services like Snapchat and YouTube already have support for this. Instagram just made it THE way to go.
- Longer videos: Instagram already had videos but they were usually short. (It lasts a minute for video posts and around 30 seconds for video Stories.) With this, you can now post longer videos! (Up to 60 minutes for creators with a large following and verified accounts; up to 10 minutes for everyone else) This way, you can tell better and more meaningful stories through these videos.
- The Power of Instagram: Instagram recently crossed 1 BILLION monthly active users! This is a big deal because this will matter in getting exposure for this video service. It needs to be easy to leverage your IG community to watch your stuff on IGTV!
Should You Use IGTV?
To be honest, I don’t really have an answer for you yet. The platform is clearly in its early days. A lot of creators (including myself) are still finding what works for this new world of vertical video. You can always wait it out and see what others do. The problem is that you would need to catch up whenever the platform is valuable already. I suggest you try it out and see what kinds of content works for you on IGTV. You really never know until you try!
If you need some tips to start out, here’s my good friend and yours, Joshua Vergara.
I figured I would just show this instead of writing down tips since it’s appropriate.
That’s it for the gist of IGTV and my thoughts on it. What do you think? Is this THE YouTube competitor to be at? Leave your thoughts in the comments below!
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