Content Ideas for IGTV
Incase you haven’t heard yet, Instagram recently launched IGTV — a standalone app for watching long-format vertical videos from all our favourite Instagram creators.
Videos on IGTV can be anywhere between 15 seconds to 60 minutes long giving you and I a massive opportunity to put out content and grow on Instagram. Even though the feature is relatively new, IGTV definitely looks like a promising platform which is why you should start experimenting early — even if it’s just repurposing some of the videos you’ve already shared on Facebook and Youtube.
But what happens when you’re done repurposing?
I thought about it too and so, I’ve put together this list of engaging, easy to execute content ideas for IGTV.
First things first!
If you’re serious about putting out content on IGTV, it would be a great idea to invest in a phone tripod that will help you shoot those vertical videos. You won’t have to worry about balancing your phone on top of a chair or getting a video that is slightly tilted. With a tripod, all you need to do is set up your phone and focus purely on the content.
Research, read reviews and get a good tripod.
I personally recommend the UBeesize Portable and the JOBY Gorilla Pod 📱
Onto the ideas 👇
Remember that your IGTV channel is an extension of your Instagram profile. So the videos you put out need to be of the similar nature of how your Instagram personality is.
Meet the team/Introduce yourself
Do you work with a bunch of people or are you the CEO, Marketing manager, Accountant, Business Developer of your company all rolled into one human being?
Regardless, whip your camera out and film a clip of what you do and how you do it. Share a fun fact about yourself or two and show the audience how you contribute in bringing your product to life.
Easy-peasy and super engaging 🚀
Tutorials
Tutorials are the easiest way of adding value to people’s lives. Figure out what you’re good at, create content around it and engage your followers in a meaningful way ⭐️ What tools you use? How do you improvise? If you’re into food and beverages, share that secret ingredient. Audiences love learning the intricate details about a company and it’s people they’re emotionally invested in.
Office Tour
Whether you workout of a basement or a shared space or a kickass office or a room, show your audience where you create what they consume. Who doesn’t like a little tour and a little behind the scenes, anyway?
Behind The Scenes
Show them the times you spend 3 minutes conceptualising something and 3 days executing it. Show them the times you waited an hour for the light to fall at a certain angle so that you take that perfect Instagram picture. Give them a glimpse into what goes behind writing the perfect blogpost — the brainstorming, the 17th attempt to write it — everythang!
Compile all of this together into a Behind the Scenes @ <companyname> video and share it on IGTV.
More content ideas for IGTV 🌟
➤ Launch Parties/Events
➤ Unboxing Videos
➤ 25 facts about you/your company
➤ Answer questions from the audience
➤ Your product/service in action
➤ Explain the timeline/process of one of your services — From the drawing board to the launch.
➤ An Interview with an expert in your space
➤ Save and upload a value-packed LIVE you did on Instagram to your IGTV channel
➤ A Day In Your Life (as a social media manager, CEO, blog writer etc)
➤ Office Retreats/Taking a break
➤ Your favourite tools to save time and increase productivity
An important point to note here is that the vertical format is for content that is created on the spot, using a smartphone with a decent camera. Sure, you can go ahead and shoot this on a DSLR (in vertical mode), but your audience on Instagram is used to Stories — which is essentially raw, unpolished, relatable content.
Don’t try to perfect your videos too much. You did a decent job and added value in one way or the other? Go ahead and hit share!
IGTV Specs to keep in mind
Video length: 15 seconds to 60 minutes (60 minutes is currently available to larger accounts or verified accounts. Everyone else has a limit of 10 minutes.)
File size: up to 3.6GB
File type: .MP4
Video size: 9:16
Video thumbnail/cover image: .JPG
PRO TIP 💪
Instagram Videos are not searchable yet, which means if you type `Office Tour` or `Travel Videos` in the search bar, you won’t be seeing relevant videos as per your search criteria. For now, you can search only by “channel name” or “name” on IGTV.
But here’s something interesting — if you want your channel name to show up for a specific type of content that you create update your Instagram name with that particular keyword.
All the travel channels on IGTV show up when you search for Travel because these accounts have that keyword as a part of their Instagram name.
Instagram also released a complete handbook full of ideas for creating content, that you can download right here. This document is purely targeted at Creators and outlines key things brands and publishers trying to create content for IGTV should keep in mind.
Now is the time to start creating content for IGTV, folks! It’s hot, it’s trending and a little birdie tell us, there are talks about Instagram monetising it real soon 🕊
How are you engaging your followers through IGTV videos?
Got any other IGTV ideas to share?
Let me know by leaving a comment below. I’d love to hear from you😇 👇
