IGTV is one of Instagram’s most powerful brand building tools at the moment so let’s take a look at how to use IGTV to build a stronger personal brand.
What is IGTV?
Kind of like your own YouTube channel but within Instagram.
Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve probably seen people sharing this content for quite some time now.
In the beginning it was a bit of a pain to use. You had to log into a separate platform to create your channel. It wasn’t accessible from the main Instagram app. And you had to create all videos in portrait mode. So it wasn’t easy to share the videos on other platforms. And so all in all it was a bit of a flop.
But not ready to give up on it that quickly, Instagram upped their game.
They moved it into their main platform. Making it easier for users to access, and therefore making it far more accessible.
Then they allowed you to upload longer videos, started to accept videos in landscape format. And even made it possible for you to share your IGTV videos to your main feed.
That’s when things really started to change…
Why Use IGTV?
The main appeal for using IGTV is that you can upload longer form content. When you upload a video to your normal Instagram feed it can only be 1 minute. But when you upload a video to IGTV it can be up to 15 minutes (or longer for larger accounts).
And longer form content helps you to keep your audience more engaged. Meaning they stay on Instagram longer. So Instagram rewards you for people keeping on their platform, by showing your content to even more people.
Not just that, but it’s a great way to really establish yourself as an expert in your niche, plus give your audience more of an insight into who you are and what they could expect when they work with you.
AND when you put links in the caption for your IGTV video they become clickable. Giving you an opportunity to share links other than what’s in your bio.
So you can start to see why it’s so great for building a more powerful personal brand.
How to use IGTV?
Step One:
Go to your home screen and click on the little TV icon.
Step Two:
Click the add button at the top of your screen.
Step Three:
Upload Your Video – videos must be OVER 1 minute to be acceptable for IGTV
Step Four:
Choose your cover image. You can choose a section from the actual video. I prefer to create my images in Canva so they are on brand and stand out in my feed.
Step Five:
Add your title and description then choose which Series to add your video to.
If you have a link you want to share that will give people more information (like a sales page, affiliate link, blog post etc.) share it here as it will be a clickable link. As you can see in the below example, the link in the description is bolded because people can click on this and be taken directly to my blog. It’s the only time you can have clickable links in your caption so is totally worth taking advantage of.
Step Six:
If you haven’t set up IGTV Series yet when you click on ‘Add to Series’ it will take you to this screen where you can set them up. It’s basically like a YouTube playlist, so I recommend setting up different Series for each of the different themes you regularly talk about. This way people can come in and binge a certain topic that they are most interested in. And again, it’s a way to keep people on your account longer.
Step Seven:
Share the video to your story. Once the video has been uploaded and is visible as a post in your feed, click on the little plane icon and it will give you the option to share to story.
Step Eight:
When you share to story, add the link. If you’ve got less than 10k followers you won’t have any other swipe up options. But when sharing IGTV videos to your story, no matter what size your following, you will be able to add a link directly to your video. This way anyone who watches your stories and wants to see the full video can be taken straight to it without having to search for it on your page.
And that’s everything you need to know about how to use IGTV to build a stronger personal brand. Are you ready to start your channel?
Want more tips on how to build a powerful personal brand on social media? Check out this post. And for more specific tips on making the most out of Instagram, check this one.
Jade xo
I hope you got lots of value out of this article. As usual, if you like what you’ve read feel free to like, comment, or share. Your time reading my posts is greatly appreciated.
