The New Kid on the Block: IGTV

So by now, you’ve all heard the buzz about IGTV—the new kid on the social media block. Instagram, keeping tune with the original IG Stories feature, has come up with their answer to the call for upgrades. Users can now head to the IGTV feature, and watch full length ‘shows’ from their favorite brands and users. Moreover, ANYONE can be a creator.

Instagram primed us all for this one with stories, by training us to keep using our phones how we always do, in portrait NOT in landscape mode. When ‘grammers head to IGTV, videos play immediately and can last anywhere from one minute to an hour. You can also discover new ‘channels’ in IGTV: for you, popular now, or following.

Swipe casually through a variety of longer-form videos, swipe up to browse through recommended or popular videos and creators you’re already following or to continue watching previously started videos. Users will also get callouts from the IGTV button alerting them to new content.

You’ve probably navigated to your IGTV by now, but here are some ways you can use this to your advantage:

1. Jaden Smith recently released his entire album on IGTV.
2. ‘How To’ video channel. Are you the queen of DIY? Prove it!
3. Travel Channel, for those struck by wanderlust.
4. Product promotion- Hey, it’s free! So why not use your channel to further promote your products?

If you’ve already created a video but it’s in landscape format, just open it in Quicktime, navigate to edit, and rotate the video to the right or left. Instagram prefers that you post videos in the same aspect ratio that you view your phone screen in every day, but don’t they realize that wide-screen is where it’s at?!

Anyways, now you don’t need some fancy-schmancy DSLR camera that weighs a metric tonne, or a GoPro, instead you can use your cellphone, which you carry with you every single day to shoot, edit and upload the footage. There are so many editing apps out there, you’ll have no problem creating your channel and flooding it with quality videos.

Read more about Instagram tips and tricks at https://carmellaconsulting.com