How to create igtv video on instagram

The Complete Guide for Marketers

IGTV (Instagram TV) lets brands create their own long-form video series on Instagram.

It’s a great opportunity to:

Build engagement
Collaborate with influencers
Improve your Instagram marketing strategy

… among many other things!

But how do you create an IGTV channel? And what are the best ways you can use it for your business?

Let’s dive into the answers, and find out how you can make IGTV work for your brand.

Note: In October 2021, Instagram combined IGTV and feed videos into a single video format: Instagram Video. The IGTV profile tab has been replaced by a Video tab. All Instagram videos can now be up to 60 minutes long, and standard post editing features are available for long-form video content. Learn more about Instagram Video.

What is IGTV ?

How to use IGTV

How to track your IGTV performance

How to create an IGTV series

IGTV video specs

5 ways to use IGTV for business

IGTV tips and best practices

Bonus: Download a free checklist that reveals the exact steps a fitness influencer used to grow from 0 to 600,000+ followers on Instagram with no budget and no expensive gear.

What is IGTV ?

IGTV is a long-form video channel accessible from Instagram and as a standalone app.

Instagram launched the feature in June 2018. It gives brands the opportunity to make videos longer than typical Instagram Stories and posts.

In fact, verified users can post IGTV videos up to an hour long. Regular users can upload 10 minute long videos—still much longer than normal videos!

In 2019, Instagram also allowed creators to post one-minute previews of their IGTV videos on their feeds to improve discoverability. That’s perfect for getting your audience’s attention without them having to download the app.

Instagram more recently introduced the IGTV series feature. This allows creators to make a regular series of videos to be released on a consistent cadence (weekly, monthly, etc).

Now you can easily watch IGTV series from creators you love and get notified when there are new episodes.
👋@YaraShahidi @KadeSpice @IngridNilsen pic.twitter.com/0QmpHwpxYw

— Instagram (@instagram) October 22, 2019

Think of it like a series you’d see on television or YouTube—but all on Instagram.

Brands have been relatively slow to adopt IGTV for a number of reasons. Chief among them: the high costs and time investment required to produce long-form social videos.

But if you do it right, IGTV can actually be a fantastic way to build engagement for your brand. Read on to find out how.

How to use IGTV

Watch this Hootsuite Academy video for a quick overview of how to use IGTV. Once you’re done, read on to find exact instructions (with visuals) below:

How to create an IGTV Channel

It used to be that if you wanted to upload a video onto IGTV you needed to create an IGTV Channel. However, Instagram has since done away with that feature.

All you need to create an IGTV account now is an Instagram account. Your account allows you to upload videos onto IGTV via the Instagram app or the IGTV app.

If you’re reading this, there’s a good chance you already have an Instagram account. If you don’t, that’s okay! Here’s the directions straight from Instagram on how to create an account.

How to upload an IGTV video

Uploading an IGTV video is very simple—but there are a few ways to do it.

How to upload and IGTV video from Instagram

1. Tap the + button at the bottom of your newsfeed.

2. Choose a video 60 seconds or longer and tap Next.

3. Select share as Long Video. This allows you to post the full-length video on IGTV, while a shorter snippet of the video is shared to your Instagram feed. Tap Continue.

4. Choose your video’s cover image from one of its frames. Alternatively, you may choose an image from your gallery. Tap Next.

5. Fill out the title and description for your IGTV video. You also now have the option to Post a Preview of your video on your newsfeed and Make Visible on Facebook if you want to cross promote it.

You also are able add the video to an IGTV series from here. If you don’t already have an IGTV series, don’t worry. We’re going to show you how down below.

Once you’re done filling out your title and description. Tap Post in the top right. Voila! You just posted an IGTV video from your Instagram app!

How to upload an IGTV video from IGTV

1. Tap the + button in the top right.

2. Choose a video 60 seconds or longer and tap Next.

3. Choose your video’s cover image from one of its frames. Alternatively, you may choose an image from your gallery. Tap Next.

4. Fill out the title and description for your IGTV video. You also now have the option to Post a Preview of your video on your newsfeed and Make Visible on Facebook if you want to cross promote it.

You also are able add the video to an IGTV series from here. If you don’t already have an IGTV series, don’t worry. We’re going to show you how down below.

Once you’re done filling out your title and description. Tap Post in the top right. Voila! You just posted an IGTV video from your IGTV app!

Bonus: Download a free checklist that reveals the exact steps a fitness influencer used to grow from 0 to 600,000+ followers on Instagram with no budget and no expensive gear.

Get the free guide right now!

How to track your IGTV performance

To see your IGTV analytics in Instagram:

Tap the video you want to analyze.
Tap the three horizontal (iPhone) or vertical (Android) dots at the bottom of the video.
Tap View Insights.

In the app, you can view:

Likes
Comments
Direct messages
Saves
Profile visits
Reach
Interactions
Discovery
Follows
Impressions

While in-app Insights will give you a quick view of how a video is performing, it’s not easy to compare it to the rest of your Instagram content — or even the rest of your IGTV videos. To get a more holistic view of your IGTV performance, you may want to consider a third-party social media management tool like Hootsuite.

In Hootsuite Impact, you can view your IGTV analytics alongside all your other Instagram content. You’ll be able to see all the same IGTV performance metrics you would get in the app, plus a customizable ROI metric that allows you to determine which IGTV videos are giving you the best return-on-investment based on your business goals.

You can also customize the way your engagement rate is calculated, if you prefer to calculate it in a different way than Instagram (for example, you could choose to count only saves and comments as “engagement”).

Hootsuite Impact is worth checking out if you’re looking for a more holistic view of your business’s Instagram performance, how it performs in comparison to your other social networks, and how it contributes to your business’s bottom line.

How to create an IGTV series

Whether you want to create an IGTV series on your Instagram app or your IGTV app, the steps will be the same.

Here’s how to create an IGTV series:

1. Make sure you’re at the window where you fill out your title and description. Tap Add to Series.

2. Tap Create Your First Series.

3. Fill out your series’s title and description. Then tap the blue checkmark in the top right.

4. Make sure the series you want your video to be a part of is selected. Then tap Done in the top right.

That’s it! You just created a new IGTV series.

IGTV video specs

Here is all the video spec information you need for your IGTV video:

File format: MP4
Video length: At least 1 minute long
Maximum video length when uploading on mobile: 15 minutes
Maximum video length when uploading on web: 1 hour
Vertical aspect ratio: 9:16
Horizontal aspect ratio: 16:9
Minimum frame rate: 30 FPS (frames per second)
Minimum resolution: 720 pixels
Maximum file size for videos that are 10 minutes or less: 650MB
Maximum file size for videos up to 60 minutes: 3. 6GB.
Cover photo size: 420px by 654px (or 1:1.55 ratio)

Pro tip: You can’t edit your cover photo after you’ve uploaded it, so make sure it’s perfect before you do.

5 ways to use IGTV for business

Below are 5 ideas for IGTV videos or even series you can create for your brand.

Create tutorial videos

One great way to build engagement is through handy tutorial videos.

These how-to videos can cover a variety of different topics in your industry. For example, say you had a fitness brand. You could create a series focused on workout tutorials, or maybe one about healthy recipes.

If your organization sells a product, you can create a how-to video focused on how to use that product. There are a ton of possibilities for great IGTV series for your brand!

Host a Q&A session

A question and answer (Q&A) session with your audience is a great way to answer any pressing questions your followers might have.

It’s also a great opportunity to present some solid thought leadership on your industry.

Pro tip: Make a post on your Instagram feed and Story promoting your Q&A session beforehand. Be sure to ask your followers for questions then. You can use them during the IGTV recording!

Go behind the scenes

This is a great way to build transparency into your brand. By giving your audience a look at how your company works—whether that be by interviewing coworkers or simply touring your workspace—you humanize your brand to viewers.

That results in more trust between the audience and your organization. And brand trust is a crucial thing for everything from marketing to sales.

Stream an event

Hosting an event like a convention or a seminar? Share that with your viewers on your IGTV channel!

This is a great opportunity to allow those who couldn’t attend a chance to “attend” virtually. Your viewers will appreciate it, and you can give them content they can engage with.

Host a talk show

Ever dream of seeing your name under the “Tonight Show” banner? Now you can (kind of)!

You can host a talk show on your IGTV that’s centered on your brand. Have guests on who are influencers and thought leaders in your industry. Monologue about industry news. If you’re really ambitious, you can get your coworkers together and create an in-house band.

(Okay, maybe don’t do that last one.)

IGTV tips and best practices

Cross promote your video

Whenever you start posting to a new channel, it’s best practice to inform your followers on other channels what you’re up to, in case they want to follow you there too.

This is especially true for IGTV, as some people will have to download a new app to view your content.

IGTV offers a few different cross-promotion options:

Preview and link to an IGTV video from your Instagram Stories (verified or business users only)
Share one minute previews of your IGTV videos to your Instagram feed and profile (users will be prompted to Keep Watching on IGTV)
Share IGTV videos to a connected Facebook page

Outside of Instagram, consider including callouts to your IGTV channel from:

Twitter
An email newsletter
Your Facebook Page

Optimize for silent viewing

Chances are if people are watching your video in the IGTV app, they’ll turn their sound on. But even the videos that play automatically in the app default to “sound off”.

And if you’re sharing your video in your Instagram Stories or on your feed, most people will not have their sound on.

So make sure your video is optimized to play without sound—i.e., it either makes sense without sound, or has easily visible subtitles. Clipomatic can help with this.

Include the most important info up front

People scroll through their feeds quickly. You only have a small window of time to grab their attention—up to a minute if you’re lucky, but 15 seconds is probably a more realistic target.

So make sure your IGTV video hooks your viewers as soon as possible. Don’t let their attention slip or give them a reason to swipe through to the next thing.

This is especially true if you’re sharing a preview to your Instagram feed, where viewers will be prompted to “keep watching” on IGTV after one minute.

Think of the first minute of your video as an introduction to a blog post. No matter how flashy and engaging your video is, you’ll need to answer the following questions:

What is this video about?
Why should you keep watching?
Optional: Who is this video for?
Optional: How long will it be?

Answering these questions as soon as possible will guarantee longer and higher quality views.

Use relevant hashtags in your description

Search functionality on IGTV has received some criticism. As of April 2020, you can only search for profiles rather than videos on a specific topic (think: how you search for a YouTube video).

But Instagram is said to be working on changing that

In the meantime, ensure your videos are also seen by non-followers by including relevant hashtags in your description. Your videos will show up on the corresponding hashtag page on Instagram, where people following that hashtag can discover your content.

Only post content that warrants a longer format

IGTV isn’t just a place to be cross posting your Instagram Stories. If you want people to follow you on both channels, you need to make sure they have a good reason to do so.

This means developing new content that fits a longer format. While your Instagram Stories are designed to fit within snappy 15-second clips, what would you do with more than 15 seconds? Lean into that space and brainstorm.

Like YouTube, long-form tutorial content is popular on IGTV. But some brands have even developed entire TV series for the app.

Obviously what you choose to do depends on your budget and your brand, but here are some long-form video content ideas to get you started.

Use your brand colors, fonts, themes, etc.

Just because it’s a different app doesn’t mean you’re presenting a different brand. It can already be a jarring experience to leave one app to watch content another, so make the experience as smooth as possible for your followers. Let them know you’re the same old you, just on a different channel.

That means sticking to the same colors, tone, and vibe as usual. Bonus: this will help your IGTV content fit into your feed too.

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How to Post Longer Videos on Instagram with IGTV

Home > Blog > How to Post Longer Videos on Instagram with IGTV

We’ve all been there – we have a cool video that we want to easily share on social media and so we upload it to Instagram and then hit “share” to Facebook. No mess, no fuss right? Unfortunately too often we see videos that were specifically produced for a wider format shared to Instagram. The result? Off-centered shots, weird cropping, and cut off titles. Fortunately now with IGTV, your social media team can upload your video to Instagram and cross-post it to Facebook without losing any quality, even if it’s longer than one minute. Here’s how.

FROM THE INSTAGRAM APP OR IGTV APP:

Tap the TV icon in the top right of feed, or open the IGTV app.
Tap the + and choose a video, then tap Next.
Tap and slide the image at the bottom of the screen to select a cover image or tap Add from Camera Roll (iPhone) or Add from Gallery (Android). Tap Next.
Add a title and description.
If you’d like to add your video to an IGTV series, tap Add to Series. Note that if this is your first time creating a series, you’ll need to create a series name.
You can choose to post a preview of your video to Instagram feed and your profile or share your video to a Facebook Page.
If you’ve chosen to post a preview, you can tap Edit Profile Cover to adjust how your IGTV cover photo shows up on your profile grid. You can also tap Edit Preview to adjust how your IGTV video will be previewed in feed (you’ll only have this option if your video is 9:16. If 16:9, your video will show in full).
Tap Post.

ON THE WEB AT INSTAGRAM.COM

From a computer, open your web browser and go to Instagram.com.
Go to your profile and click IGTV.
Click Upload.
Click and choose a video, or drag and drop a video file.
Add a title and description. 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.
Click Post.

SHARING A PREVIEW OF YOUR IGTV VIDEO TO FEED AND YOUR PROFILE

When you share a video to feed and your profile, it appears as a preview, which is the first section of your video. Once the preview is finished, the video pauses, and viewers will need to tap Keep Watching to continue watching the full video. Keep in mind that if you share a preview of your IGTV video to feed and your profile:
Tapping the video on your profile opens a preview of your IGTV video with a link to the full video.
Tapping the video in feed will turn sound on and off.
Tapping the link will open the full IGTV video and allow you to keep watching from where you left off in feed.
Removing the preview from your profile and from feed won't affect the availability of the video on IGTV.
Previews will show a 4:5 center crop of your IGTV video.

SHARING YOUR VIDEO TO FACEBOOK

When posting your video, if you select “Share to a Facebook” page, the video will automatically be added to your videos, as well as Facebook Watch.
If you uploaded your thumbnail via desktop, it’s best to go to Facebook and update the preview to the video’s final aspect ratio, vs the IGTV preview.
Add the video to your preferred playlist.
Consider adding closed captions, to increase your video’s accessibility!

Our most recent episode of Traditions was posted this way – check out our Instagram and Facebook to see how easy this made posting a video over one minute without losing any quality! Happy posting!

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How to make an IGTV on Instagram: creating a channel on IGTV

Remember the times when the "pain" of SMM was the inability to upload videos longer than one minute to Instagram? It's in the past!

In 2018, Instagram fought YouTube and successfully launched IGTV, its own video hosting.

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For legal entities and individuals - legal entities can receive closing documents, refund VAT. Individuals can run ads without communicating with managers.
3 payment methods - pay for advertising with a card of an individual, from the organization's current account, with electronic money.

What is IGTV and what is it for? publications.

In general, the requirements are as follows:

Roller orientation - vertical and more recently horizontal;
Timing - from 1 to 15 minutes when downloading from a mobile device, up to 60 minutes when downloading from a computer.
Content is checked by moderators for compliance with internal Instagram policies.

You can view and share videos using Instagram itself or in the IGTV app.

To show the video to your followers, Instagram allows you to repost the “preview” to your account feed or share it to stories. The first part of the video is published with the button "Watch full IGTV video" at the bottom.

The IGTV feature is useful for both personal blogs and business accounts. Video makes up 80% of internet traffic in 2019 and is one of the most effective types of social media content.

According to psychologists, clients trust information from “vertical” videos more, because they send their own videos in the same format to their loved ones. In addition, they are easier to watch from mobile devices, because the phone does not need to be turned over. Well, the duration of up to 1 hour gives room for creativity.

Many well-known bloggers and top business accounts are already using IGTV with might and main. There are videos that collect 1+ million views, which gives an excellent recommendation for this tool as a marketing tool.

It's interesting : Instagram story masslooking services

How to create an IGTV channel on Instagram

If you have an Instagram account, you don't need to create anything else. It is enough to synchronize the IGTV application with an existing profile.

Download and launch the IGTV app.
If your device doesn't have the Instagram app installed or signed in, IGTV will display the login screen in front of you. Enter your username/password to login.
If, however, the entrance to Instagram has already been made, then IGTV will prompt you to automatically enter it (its name will be indicated). If you want to manage a channel for a different account, click "Switch Account" and sign in to the desired profile.
After entering the desired Instagram profile, the application panel will be displayed, where you can watch the IGTV feed of publications or add your own video (the “+” button).

In the Instagram app itself, working with the IGTV channel is even easier. In the upper right corner of your account feed, click on the IGTV icon.
A section of the application will be displayed where you can watch the IGTV feed of publications or add your own video (+ button).

How to open IGTV from a computer

Unlike Instagram itself, you can work with IGTV from a computer. Useful if the video is pre-edited. Allows you to avoid "excessive movements" (sending to the phone to upload through the application, etc.). Enough:

Go to instagram.com in any browser and log into your account.
You can work with videos on the main profile page in the IGTV tab. For example, to add a video, you need to click "Upload".

Article in the topic : How to promote your Instagram account yourself

What to do next and how to develop the channel

After creating the IGTV channel, you need to develop it. First of all, we are talking about its filling with video content. Please note that you do not need to add an avatar and make a description, they are loaded from your Instagram profile.

How to upload a video to a channel in IGTV and what technical requirements are stated for them, we will discuss in more detail in the next article. But, before you spread anything, you need to think through a lot of nuances. Here are some helpful tips:

Build a content plan for your IGTV posts or add this format to an existing plan.
The main "viewers" of your videos are the followers of your Instagram account. Analyze the target audience (if you have not done this before).
When drawing up a content plan, keep in mind that the most popular IGTV video categories are: reviews, interviews, sketches.
Don't forget about unique content. Show in your account what subscribers will not see from anyone else.
Consider the length of the rollers. According to statistics, videos with a duration of 3-4 minutes gain the most views.
Create IGTV video covers so people can see what's in store for them.

It is worth noting that although IGTV is no longer a new feature, it is noticeably inferior in popularity to posts and stories. Create an IGTV channel to beat the competition. The main thing is to create unique content and choose the topics that are most appropriate for your audience.

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how to upload and add video from phone and computer

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Instagram has created a convenient format for long IGTV videos for bloggers, stars and every ordinary person with a smartphone in their hands - Instagram TV (IGTV). These are vertical videos in Instagram Stories format. You can download and add IGTV videos from your phone or computer right away in the Instagram app, on the website in the web version of instagram. com, or by downloading the IGTV app.

At the same time, you do not need to shoot a picture at the Netflix level, but you can post ordinary vlogs. YouTube investors frowned in unison.

IGTV video on Instagram - what is it?

TV is watched less and less, and perhaps Instagram videos IGTV want to become a replacement for your plasma on the wall. Directly on Instagram, we have the ability to add long videos. Another tool for promoting on Instagram and increasing coverage!

Even cheat services already offer IGTV video views.

What is IGTV and how is it different from Instagram Stories and Live? IGTV videos of a similar format are vertical. But these videos need to be made in advance and then uploaded to IGTV. But there is scrolling back and forth while viewing. Duration - from 60 seconds to 15 minutes (for downloading from a phone) and no longer than an hour (if done from a computer).

IGTV videos can also be liked and commented, they have statistics (if you make a business account or an author account). And in the description, you can add a clickable link to an external site.

Any Instagram account (regardless of the number of followers) in Stories can add a link to an IGTV video. And you can put a preview in the feed with a link to the full IGTV video.

Video size, format and duration for uploading to IGTV

Not any video can be uploaded to IGTV, it must fit the format.

IGTV video sizes and format

The most popular format in Stories is vertical. You can also upload horizontal video to IGTV - while watching, you can turn the screen over and it will unfold (just like on Youtube). If you shoot and upload videos from your phone, then you don’t need to think too much - when uploading a video to IGTV (detailed instructions below), you will open a gallery and it will contain only those videos that are suitable in length and size.

IGTV video size:

Aspect ratio:

9:16 vertical videos
16:9 horizontal videos

Video size ("weight"):

1-10 min.: 650MB maximum
10-60 min: 3.6GB maximum

File format: .mp4

IGTV video duration:

download from phone: 1-15 min. (file size up to 3.6 GB)
download from computer (web version of instagram.com): up to 60 min.

How to upload and post IGTV videos to Instagram

There are three ways to upload videos from 60 seconds to IGTV:

in the Instagram app (from phone)
via the web version of instagram.com (from a computer)
on IGTV app (from phone)

How to add IGTV video to Instagram from your phone

You can add IGTV video on your phone without downloading additional applications.

The first way to download IGTV from your phone

Log into your account on your phone, press the plus at the bottom in the middle. Choose the video you want (in IGTV, only longer than 60 seconds is suitable). Click next.

If you select "short video", your video will be cut to 60 seconds and appear as a normal video in the feed. For the video to fully load on IGTV, select Long Video.

Choose a cover either from the frames of the video, or click "Add content from the camera roll" and you can upload a suitable photo from the gallery.

Write a title and description for the video. You can add an active link to an external site in the description.

If you leave the 'Publish Preview' switch checked, the first 60 seconds of the video will appear in your feed with a link to the full video.

Here you can also edit which part of the video will be shown in the feed ("Edit preview") and crop the cover ("Edit cover") .

In advanced settings, you can also connect automatically generated subtitles.

The second way to download IGTV from your phone

Go to your Instagram account, click the plus sign on the top left. Choose "IGTV Video". Then everything is as in the screenshots above.

You can view uploaded IGTV videos in your Instagram account.

How do I add a link to an IGTV video in Stories?

Shooting or uploading Stories. Click on the "Link" icon at the top.

Click "IGTV Video". Choose what you need. Click "Done" in the upper right corner. You can add text or a GIF with an arrow at the top.

When watching this Story, followers will be able to swipe up and go to the IGTV video you linked to.

How to post videos on IGTV app on Instagram

We recommend downloading this app if you often watch and post IGTV videos.

Download the IGTV app
👉 download from the AppStore
👉 download from Google Play

Open IGTV, click "Continue as"

Three sections at the top: subscriptions, popular, history (not everyone has these sections). History - those IGTV videos that you have watched before.

To upload a video in the IGTV app, click the plus on the top right, allow access to your photos and videos.

Video that matches the length, size and format will be available for download, the rest will not.

Choose a video, you can watch it. Click "Next" on the top right. Choose a cover either from the frames of the video, or click "Add content from the camera roll" and select the appropriate photo from the gallery.

Write a title and description for the video. You can add an active link to an external site in the description.

If you leave the 'Publish Preview' switch checked, the first 60 seconds of the video will appear in your feed with a link to the full video. You can edit a segment of an IGTV video for feed preview and crop the cover.

After downloading the IGTV video preview, you can upload it to Stories .

You can view uploaded IGTV videos in your Instagram account.

How to download and watch IGTV on Instagram on a computer

You can also watch and upload IGTV videos to your account from a computer.

Go to the web version of instagram.com, log in to your account. To the right of "Publication" you will see "IGTV" (see screenshot below). Click on the video and watch. So you can watch IGTV from a computer and in your account, and in any other.
To upload a video to IGTV from a computer, in your account, click the blue "Upload" button on the right. You will be redirected to the download page, where everything is clear without words 🙂 Do not close the page during the download. In the Description window, you can insert an active clickable link to an external site.

IGTV statistics on Instagram

You can view statistics for your videos uploaded to IGTV. Moreover, the number of views (this is everyone who watched longer than 3 seconds), likes and comments will be seen by everyone.