Are you interested in launching your own IGTV series? Need help in getting started?
IGTV is becoming more popular lately, and more and more brands are venturing into launching their own IGTV series.
The problem? Well, there is far more to creating a successful series than just publishing some videos and hoping for the best.
In this guide, you’ll learn everything you need to know to launch a successful IGTV series.
The Rise of IGTV
Instagram announced the launch of IGTV back in 2018 as “a new app for watching long-form, vertical video from your favorite Instagram creators.”
IGTV stood out as it allowed you to watch long-form videos both from Instagram and the new app. Needless to say, this simple thing allowed brands and creators to expand their content to longer content and push their creative limits.
Now, I have to be honest, the initial reactions to IGTV were mixed.
Many marketers found themselves confused about whether they needed a new Instagram app to which they could push their content at all. The engagement wasn’t great at first either.
But Instagram was determined though to keep pushing new features on IGTV to make it work, and much has certainly changed since then.
Today, more and more brands are jumping on IGTV, using it as the Instagram add-on to upload longer videos. The community is growing, and more creators are eager to try the app’s full potential.
What makes IGTV stand out is that your followers who choose to watch your longer videos are becoming way more engaged with your brand. It’s not just about content that you watch on your feed; it’s a conscious app to keep consuming content through another app, which is ideal for your engagement strategies.
One of the reasons that IGTV seems to work better is the launch of the IGTV series, which more creators have started using.
Let’s find out more about it.
What is an IGTV Series
IGTV launched their “Series” feature in 2019 as a new option to organize your Instagram stories with a consistent title and theme. They are like ‘playlists’ that help you categorize your content in a relevant way.
“Series” is a new option to help you brand your videos on IGTV more consistently while encouraging your viewers to come back to check new content.
Think of it as an opportunity to link one video to another. Or, if you’re feeling more creative, you can be your own media producer and create a mini-series for your brand.
You can watch the series both from Instagram and IGTV, which is a great opportunity to boost your exposure with creative ideas. Not everyone has their own IGTV series yet, so it can be easier to stand out and keep your followers engaged.
Let’s review all the benefits of creating an IGTV series today.
The Benefits of Launching Your Own IGTV Series
Three key features make the IGTV series stand out:
- IGTV notifications: you can get your viewers to opt-in to notifications every time you launch a new video
- Series branding: it’s easier to group your videos by being consistent with your branding
- Continued watching: once an episode is over, your viewers are automatically viewing a new video
These three features are important when considering the reasons to start your own IGTV series.
Let’s focus on four benefits you can get out of it.
#1. Produce Longer Content
Your videos can be up to 60 minutes long on IGTV. Such an extensive time allowance makes a good choice to store your longer videos, especially if you’re already active on Instagram.
The fact that you can cross-promote your longer content on Instagram brings out an additional benefit to boost your exposure.
More social platforms are favoring longer content as it signals increased engagement. Thus, it’s the perfect opportunity to give it a try.
Improve Your Audience Engagement
An IGTV series can help your viewers come back to your profile multiple times. The more invested they are in your content, the higher the chances of keeping them engaged in your brand.
You can boost your IGTV content through Instagram to maximize your chances of success.
Engagement can always be challenging on all social platforms, so repeat viewing can be of great help through the right content.
Experiment with New Creative Ideas
It’s always better to experiment with new creative ideas while it’s still early. You don’t want to lose ground from your competitors. Not everyone is launching their own IGTV series yet, so this is your chance to shine.
Try out new content themes, create different series and find out what works best for your viewers.
Boost Your Branding
An IGTV series can make your branding more consistent. It gives a clearer direction to your channel and your brand, and it makes it easier for your viewers to relate to your content.
It’s not just about increasing your engagement to your videos, but it can ultimately help your overall brand presence on IGTV and Instagram.
Now that we’ve presented all the benefits of launching your own IGTV series, it’s time to look at a step-by-step process on how to get started.
How to Launch Your IGTV Series
It’s easy to launch your very first IGTV series.
Here are all the steps you need to follow.
Open the IGTV app.
Click at the top right at the + sign to upload a video.
Select the video that you want to upload
Pick a cover photo. You can also add a cover from your Camera Roll.
Add title and description to your video.
Select Add to Series to add the video to your very first series. If you haven’t created a series before, this is the step to click on ‘Create your first series.’
Add the name and the description of your series.
Select the series you just created to add your video to it.
Click to Post on IGTV
Overview shared by Matt Navarra
If you want to add more videos in the future, all you need to do is to follow the same process and click to add the new videos to this series or even create a new one.
Right after setting up your first IGTVN series, let’s explore the creative ways to produce good content for your IGTV series.
5 Tips to Create Successful Content for Your IGTV Series
You’re ready to start your own IGTV series. Be careful; not every video will be successful. That’s why you need to be strategic with your planning.
Here are five tips to consider.
Think of a Narrative
The first step is to work on your theme and the narrative of your series. What do you want to talk about? What makes it unique? Think of a topic that is relevant to your brand that will still be interesting for your viewers.
You don’t need to be predictable with your topic. Think outside the box but still, make sure there is some affinity to your brand.
For example, a skincare brand can launch an IGTV series with stories of everyday mothers who talk about their work-life balance and how they manage to juggle everything in their routine. Your products can still be part of the stories by presenting these women as everyday brand ambassadors, but you don’t necessarily want a series that’s all about your product.
Come Up with a Content Plan
Once you know your theme, it’s time to work on your content plan. How often will you launch a new episode? How will you differentiate one episode from the other?
It’s up to you to decide the frequency of your series. It’s usually a good idea to plan the content to stay organized. You can shoot, for example, ten videos at once and then launch each one of them every other week.
Right after the launch of the first video, you can update your followers on when to expect each new video so that they are also aware of your content frequency to keep coming back.
Define your Objectives
How do you define success for your IGTV series? Set your objectives before you get started to ensure that you’re able to measure your success.
For example, you can launch your first series to boost your brand awareness. You can even launch a series for lead generation if it makes sense for your brand.
No matter what you pick, measuring your content’s success is crucial to explore what works best and what you can improve on.
Think of Ways to Keep Your Audience Coming
When you launch an IGTV series, it’s crucial to get your viewers to come back for your next videos.
It’s not enough to see an increase in views in one video if the next ones stay low.
An excellent way to keep your audience engaged is to edit the videos so that they want to check out more.
Whether it’s a continuous series or one-off episodes, you can still provide a teaser to what’s coming up.
You can even encourage your viewers to turn on their notifications for new videos so that they’re always aware when your new videos are live.
Cross-Promote your Series
As with every new channel, you want to direct your viewers to your profile. That’s when cross-promotion comes in handy. Luckily, the integration with Instagram makes it easier to bring views to your new IGTV series.
The option to show a preview to your Instagram feed is handy when you want to add an excerpt of your new series to your account. It’s up to a minute long, so make sure that it gets the viewers to want more of it.
Creative Ideas for Your IGTV Series
Here are a few creative ideas to consider if you need additional help to turn your IGTV series into success.
Add a Thumbnail
Boost your brand in your new IGTV series with a consistent thumbnail to all your episodes. You don’t need to have an identical image to all of them, but you can still make your cover images stand out with a specific thumbnail for each series.
It makes it easier to spot a new episode and group a series of videos in your feed.
Grab Your Viewers’ Attention From the Start
As with every video, you need to engage your viewers from the very first seconds. Don’t wait too long for a hook that will get your audience to continue watching.
The option to provide a preview on your Instagram account means that you have less than a minute to grab your audience’s attention.
Give them a reason to visit your IGTV profile to continue watching your video.
Think Like a Broadcaster
IGTV offers you an opportunity to shift your perception in terms of content creation. You’re not thinking like a marketer anymore. You’re also a broadcaster, which requires different planning.
Treat your content like a TV series. You want to engage your viewers from the first episode to keep them coming back. Aim for continuity and consistency with your content.
Decide on Your Filming Requirements
Right before you start creating a video, you need to decide what equipment you’ll need. If you’re serious about filming, you need to consider the following:
- Camera
- Lighting
- Microphone
- Editing software
You don’t need a big budget for all the above; it depends on your brand’s standards and the current equipment and software that you have available within your team.
Takeaway
As you can see, there are many reasons to consider launching your own IGTV series. It’s a fresh perspective in creating video content that your viewers will enjoy watching frequently.
Your brand can benefit from thinking outside the box in tactics to boost your engagement. After all, you can be an early adopter in a trend that’s still growing.
If you’re ready to launch your first IGTV series, keep these things in mind:
- Do your research – Look at your competitors and how they may be using IGTV. Find inspiration from other series and spot content gaps that you can fill with your content.
- Prepare your content – Plan in advance for your content and how it’s going to split into different episodes. Be as organized as possible and treat your IGTV series as a narrative.
- Set your objectives – Decide what you want to get out of your first IGTV series. Is this about boosting engagement? Do you want to try out new ideas and possibly expand your reach? No matter what you decide, make sure you measure your success and learn from your first experiments.
Last but not least, enjoy the process!
This article was written for Business 2 Community by Hugh Stephens.
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