IGTV – The Ultimate Guide

Instagram’s IGTV is a welcome development for marketers because it allows brands and people to bring long-form video content to Instagram to share with followers.

If you’re wondering what IGTV is, how to use Instagram TV, what the proper dimensions are, what it means for Instagram as a whole, and more, find out below in this post.

We’ll even give you a few examples of types of videos you can create to help incorporate IGTV into your marketing campaigns.

What Is IGTV?

First up, what is IGTV?

This is a program that works one of two ways.

You can use it as an integrated tool inside Instagram’s original app, or you can use it as a stand-alone app.

On the platform itself, you may know that Instagram caps videos at a maximum of 60 seconds.

However, IGTV allows you to create and share videos that are a full hour long.

You can now use IGTV to upload longer videos directly to the app where your users can view them.

If they look at the same content on Instagram, they’ll notice a small icon on your profile that tells them you currently have content available on IGTV.

If they click on it, it’ll take them to the stand-alone app to view the full content.

One of the nice things about IGTV videos is that they come designed for mobile viewing.

They play as full-screen and vertical experiences, and this mimics Instagram Stories.

Any users that view your videos on the app can like them and leave comments.

When users click on your content and go to the IGTV app, the video they click on will start playing automatically.

They’ll see navigation options listed at the bottom of the app.

Additionally, they can watch videos based on several categories like Popular, Following, or For you. The latter is a compilation of videos based on their interests.

How to Use IGTV

If you go look at your Instagram, you’ll notice the IGTV icon sitting below the search bar, and it’s most likely placed around the app.

This quick step-by-step will show you how to use Instagram TV below.

Step One – Create Your Video

The first thing you have to do is create a video so you have content to post to IGTV.

This is different from Instagram Stories where you can upload a video straight away.

Instead, you have to record and edit it before you post it on IGTV.

You can use free and paid apps like Final Cut Pro X and Adobe Premiere Pro CC to get your video ready to publish.

Once you have your video ready, you have to click the “Add new post” button before clicking on IGTV.

Step Two – Post Your Video on IGTV

When you add your video to the IGTV app, you want to draw as much attention as possible by personalizing it.

First, you have to post the video in your gallery and get ready to post a thumbnail of it.

This is an easy process.

All you have to do is pick the video, hit “Continue,“ and pick an image from your library to add as the thumbnail or pull the thumbnail from your video.

Next, you want to optimize your video to expand your reach and help it stand out. To do this, you’ll need to include the following:

• Description – You want to add a short description to each video you post. This is where you add details that tell potential viewers what your video content is about.
• Title – Make your title appealing and short. The title helps guide the user to picking your video by making it very clear what the video entails.
• Series – The IGTV Series is a playlist. If you don’t have a series going already, the app will give you an option to create your first series or add this video to an existing set. If you want to create a series, click on the title and add a short description.
• Profile Cover – You want to edit your video’s profile cover to make it appealing. The profile cover is the image that shows up in your Instagram feed. You can pick what part of the video you want as your profile cover and save it.
• Preview – Your video’s preview can be up to 60 seconds long. It will show up on your Instagram profile and on the feed.
• Facebook and Watch – If you’d like to share your IGTV video to Facebook, make sure you check the box before you publish it. When you do, it’ll automatically cross-publish for you.

When you finish optimizing your video, all you have to do is click on the “Post” button.

However, take care before you post. Once you post a video, Instagram doesn’t allow you to change it unless you delete it and reupload it.

You can still edit the description and title.

IGTV Dimensions

Your IGTV video has to meet several dimensions to play and show correctly on Instagram.

First, your video should be 650 MB and lower.

Anything bigger won’t play.

The video dimensions on IGTV are 1080 by 1920 pixels, and they have an aspect ratio of 9:16.

These dimensions match the Instagram Story ones.

For the duration, your video has to have a minimum duration of 15 seconds, but you can stretch it up to 10 minutes long without a problem.

For accounts with larger followings or verified profiles, your videos can be up to an hour long with a maximum file size of 3.6 GB.

The videos have to be in MP4 format with a minimum frame rate of 30 frames per second.

You have to have a resolution of at least 720 pixels, and the cover photo has a ratio of 1:1.55 or 420 by 654 pixels.

As long as your video meets these dimensions, you should be good to go.

Types of IGTV Videos That Excel in Marketing Campaigns

What types of videos should you use for your IGTV?

Ideally, you’ll use these videos to draw interested parties in and show people your products or services.

You can also save your live videos as IGTV to let your customers stream it. IGTV works very well for:

• Reviews – Reviews are immensely popular on IGTV because it’s a fantastic way to engage your audience. You’ll present a short summary of your service or product and present both the negative and positive aspects to be impartial. Keep your tone friendly and approachable.
• Teasers – Teasers can create buzz about new products. You can incorporate them into IGTV when you want to announce new services or products. They should be short, engaging, and exciting.
• Tutorials – If you have a product, put together a quick tutorial to show it off. Not only do you create a connection with anyone who watches it, but you’re also helping anyone who wants to solve a problem or learn. This builds your authority.
• Webinars – If you host a webinar, you’ll have a nice way to offer your audience very rich content and pull new customers into your business. You can put links into every video description on IGTV, and this allows you to direct people straight to your landing page and turn them into leads.

Schedule Your IGTV Videos Using Kontentino

Are you ready to embrace IGTV and incorporate it into your marketing campaign?

If so, Kontentino can help schedule all of your IGTV videos and post them exactly when you want.

You can save time while effectively managing your Instagram presence and introducing fresh and relevant content to your followers.

You’ll use one centralized dashboard to schedule and approve all of your IGTV videos to publish them to Instagram.

You can start now and get 14 days of Kontentino free today!