Launched in June 2018, IGTV is a standalone platform that features longer videos and easy discoverability through channels. Just like its name (Instagram TV), you can think of it more of a TV on your smartphone or a simple version of YouTube. The difference is that 1. your viewers won’t be disrupted by commercials; 2. the video is vertical so viewers don’t need to turn their phones to watch videos.

With longer video, undoubtfully, IGTV gives business and content creators a great opportunity to show their creativity/ products, build connections with viewers and grow followers and engagement.

Have you already uploaded your first video to your IGTV? Are you still hesitating of doing so? This ultimate guide on IGTV will give you some inspirations. So keep reading…

Table of Contents

1. Why should I use IGTV?
2. How to use IGTV on Instagram?
3. Five tips to make great IGTV videos

1. Why Should I Use IGTV?

These days, more and more people are watching videos on their mobile phones.  85% of all internet users in the United States watched online video content monthly on any of their devices (Statista, 2018). People not only watch videos for entertainment purpose, but there is also an increasing trend of watching videos from brands or businesses. Studies show that 54% of consumers want to see more video content from a brand or business they support (HubSpot, 2018).

So for brands and content creators, video is a good way to connect with their followers.

Meanwhile, Instagram has never stopped evolving its video sharing functions. From Video Post to Story, and to the latest IGTV, they make it even easier for accounts to get closer to their audience and be discovered by new people.

So either you are running a business or you are a content creator, you shouldn’t miss the opportunity to promote your page through IGTV.

Before we go in depth to explain how to use IGTV, do you already know the differences between the three video sharing forms on Instagram? — Video Post, Story, and IGTV

Obviously, IGTV gives an upgraded experience on watching videos: in the full screen and up to one hour long videos, creators are able to send more information, and viewers don’t need to search for videos to start watching. IGTV starts to play as soon as viewers click into it, viewers can watch videos from people they already follow on Instagram or people they might like. They can also like, comment and send videos to friends directly.

Now let’s look into how to use IGTV to get explored by more people!

2. How To Use IGTV On Instagram?

Content of this section

1. Create Your IGTV Channel
   1. From Instagram App or IGTV App
   2. On Instagram web
2. Upload Your Videos
   1. From Instagram App or IGTV App
   2. Via the web at instagram.com
   3. Through Apphi Autopost! (Schedule in advance, use for free, both on phone and desktop!)
3. Share A Preview

Step 1. Create Your IGTV Channel

Uploading videos to IGTV is like having your own TV Channel. Once you upload videos, they will all be saved under your IGTV channel, that is where people can watch all your uploaded videos.

You can create your channel from the Instagram app or IGTV app or on the web at instagram.com.

From the Instagram app or IGTV app:

1. On your Instagram app, tap  on the top right corner. Or open your IGTV app.
2. Tap  > Create Channel and follow the instructions.

On the web at instagram.com:

1. Open your web browser and go to Instagram.com.
2. Go to your Profile and click IGTV.
3. Click Get Started and follow the instructions.

Step 2. Upload Your Video

There are three ways of uploading videos to IGTV:

1. from Instagram App or IGTV App
2. via the web at instagram.com
3. through Apphi Autopost! (Schedule in advance, use for free, both on phone and desktop!)

# 1 Upload From Instagram App or IGTV App

1. On your Instagram app, tap  on the top right corner
2. Tap your profile photo to view your channel
3. Click “+” and choose a video from your album
4. Add a title and a description to your video. You can also choose to share a preview of your video to Instagram Feed and your profile or share your video to a Facebook Page.
5. Post!

#2 Upload Via Instagram Web

1. Open web browser and go to Instagram.com.
2. Go to your profile and click IGTV.
3. Click Upload.
4. Click “+” and choose a video, or drag and drop a video file.
5. Add a title and a description to your video. You can also choose to share a preview of your video to Instagram Feed and your profile or share your video to a Facebook Page.
6. Post!

#3 Upload Through Apphi Autopost

If you want to plan ahead and schedule weeks of IGTV videos, just like what you do with your Instagram Post and Story, you should upload your IGTV videos with Apphi!

We are excited to announce that Apphi is the first one in the market that can help you auto post IGTV videos (from both phone and desktop)!

It’s as easy as posting IGTV videos on Instagram, but you can do it anytime at your convenience and your video will be posted at your scheduled time.

Download Apphi For Free – Schedule and Automatically Post on Instagram

Or go to desktop.apphi.com to get started!

Here is a guide of How to schedule your IGTV video through Apphi app:

1. Open Apphi app, tap Schedule > IGTV
2. Select a video from your album, click Next
3. Choose a cover photo for your video. You can either select from the video or choose from the album
4. Add a title and a caption to your video. You can select the caption from your saved captions or choose one from our Suggested #
5. You can also choose to share a preview of your video to Instagram Feed and your profile or share your video to a Facebook Page.
6. Set the post time and delete time
7. Done!

Step 3. Share A Preview To Your Feed And Profile

IGTV videos can be 15 seconds to 10 minutes long, larger accounts and verified accounts can upload videos up to 60 minutes long, but they must be uploaded from a computer. For videos longer than one minute, you can choose to share a preview on your Instagram feed and profile.

A preview is one minute long and is the beginning section of a video, after the preview, viewers can tap the link on the video and open the full IGTV video to keep watching from where they left off.

Posting a preview will help you get more attention and bring more viewers to your IGTV videos. A preview post has a small preview icon on the right corner and it will stay in your Instagram profile unless you remove it.

Note: Remove the preview from the profile and from feed won’t affect the availability of the video on IGTV.

3. Five Tips To Make Great IGTV Videos

Now you know how to upload videos to your IGTV channel, but what should you upload?

Brands and content creators are using so many different kinds of videos to promote their pages. We’ve seen product explanation videos, tutorial videos, vlogs (video blogs), product reviews, video ads, etc.

You may have already posted many videos to your feed and profile. Is posting IGTV videos the same as posting regular Video post and Story Video?

Yes and no. Here are some important tips you need to be careful when you post IGTV videos.

Tip 1. Share A Preview To Your Profile & Feed

When you post your IGTV videos or schedule it with Apphi, you can choose whether to share a one-minute preview to your feed and profile. Don’t forget to toggle on!

The preview will show on your feed and profile page, with an IGTV sign on it. You can see the example below from @kylieskin:

When your followers see this preview post from their feed, it will automatically play, and they only need to tap WATCH FULL IGTV VIDEO to go to your channel and finish watching it.  Instead of going to IGTV and your channel to watch your videos, your followers can easily discover the longe videos you posted to IGTV channel. So certainly, the preview gives you great more opportunities to be seen by more people.

Tip 2. Be Careful Picking Your Cover Photo

A good cover photo will help you grab people’s attention, either you can use an eye-catchy cover or a cover that can clearly show your video theme. When people browse their IGTV, let your cover photo stop them.

Adding the title to your cover photo can help, like the examples below.

Also, sharing a preview to your profile also means the profile post needs to fit in your profile grid. If you have a specially designed grid, for example using the same filter with all posts, you definitely don’t want a preview cover photo in a different style to mess up your grid.

@twisted is an Instagram account who share food/cooking videos. @twisted has its own IGTV channel, and it shares IGTV previews to the profile. Some cooking videos may start from ingredients image, but by carefully choosing the cover photo of the finished dish, the grid of @twisted looks good in the whole picture.

So be careful picking your cover photo if you are sharing the preview. If you are using Apphi to schedule IGTV videos, you can even choose a photo from your album to be the cover photo of your IGTV video!

Tip 3. Don’t Make People Go By The Sound!

Videos shown in people’s feed will automatically play, but there is no sound unless the viewer tap on it. This means two things:

First, your video needs to be catchy and understandable even without sound. If you are telling all the story in the sound but pair it with a vague video, people may not get your points and quickly skip the video. Then you may lose a potential customer. In this case, you need to make the story as clear as possible without sound or add some captions to the video.

Second, when people get attracted by the silent video and tap to turn on the sound, you don’t want a sharp and sudden sound to scare them away. We all know how embarrassing it is when you watch videos in public and a sharp sound comes out. So try to avoid that when you make your videos.

Tip 4. Videos Too Long Can Be Boring

Even the keyword of IGTV is long video, it doesn’t mean that you need to make a full 10 minutes or 60 minutes long video. People watching videos on their mobile devices normally do it at fragment times, meaning they won’t spend 30 minutes watching one video. It’s very difficult to retain viewers’ attention over a long video, videos too long can be boring. You can use a video editing app to adjust the video speed and find the best length for your videos.

Besides the length of the video, you also need to be careful about the beginning part of a video. The first few seconds is the key. If the beginning is not catchy, viewers won’t continue watching your video. So make sure you keep the video condense, and cut the boring beginning.

Tip 5. Write A Good Caption

At the moment, people can only search for IGTV channels instead of searching for an individual video. But hashtags in the IGTV videos can be searched.

Just like a regular video post, you can add a caption to your IGTV video, and include some relevant hashtags. When people search for hashtags that match with yours, your IGTV video may show up on the corresponding result page and get a chance to be viewed.

With Apphi’s Saved Caption and Suggested#, you can organize all your most used captions and quickly select a good caption to your videos. 

Note: Click here for a detailed guide of how to add saved captions.

Tip 6. Adjust Your Videos According To Data

There is no one best practice for all accounts, so you really need to take time adjusting your videos. Tutorial videos may work well for makeup products, but review videos work better for skincare products. You can improve your video marketing strategy by analyzing the IGTV insights.

You can check insights data such as likes, comments, view count, the average percent of video watched, and an audience retention graph. The retention graph shows you when people start to get bored and leave your video. It is important for you to understand your viewers and make future videos.

To see insights of your video:

1. Open the video.
2. Tap  (iPhone) or  (Android) at the bottom of the video.
3. Tap View Insights (iPhone) or Insights (Android).

With all the information about IGTV in this guide, I believe you now have a clearer understanding of IGTV.  For both business and content creator, it is a great tool to reach more audiences and grow your followers. The longer videos allow more information to be passed to the viewers, and it is a great opportunity to promote your brand and product. So if you haven’t started to use IGTV, you definitely should give it a try!

Download Apphi For Free – Schedule and Automatically Post on Instagram

Or go to desktop.apphi.com to get started!