Top Tips on Promoting IGTV Videos to Get More Viewers

The rise of vertical video has been apparent on Instagram, with 400 users checking out not just photos but 15-second videos on IG Stories on a daily basis as well. Given the steady growing popularity of vertical videos, Instagram launched IGTV last June 2018, which was designed to allow longer videos, ranging from 15 seconds to 10 minutes; and verified accounts can even upload videos up to 60 minutes long.

However, since this new feature was launched, there hasn’t been much buzz about it among Instagram users and marketers don’t seem to be benefitting from it as much as it was supposed to; until the new IGTV preview started showing on the main feed in February, 2019.

But is this enough? If you are a brand investing time and efforts into you IGTV channel, you would want to reap the optimal advantage from your marketing investments and relying on this latest feature may not be sufficient. If you want to boost your IGTV videos, there are several ways to promote these and reach more users.

Here are seven ways to promote your IGTV videos so you can get more viewers….
 

“Send” Your IGTV Videos to IG Stories

Instagram has made it very easy to promote your IGTV videos to its users by simply sending out an IG Story as you upload your IGTV video. All you have to do is select the option to also send to ‘Stories” while you are uploading your video on IGTV, so a screenshot of your IGTV video is seen on your Story and users can then swipe up to view your IGTV video.
 

Promote Your IGTV Videos on Facebook

If you are creating videos that are exclusive to IGTV and want to promote these on Facebook, you can make a short teaser video informing your Facebook audience that you have exclusive content which they may watch on IGTV. IGTV may be accessed either through the standalone app or by clicking on the leftmost button under your Instagram bio, so you may also want to let them know about the button access so they won’t have to download a separate app.
 

Write a Blog About Your IGTV Video

If you are filming for IGTV, chances are, you have written a script for your videos. In this case, writing a blog about your IGTV videos will be very quick and easy to do. You simply copy the IGTV script and paste into your blog post then embed your IGTV video into the post, so you can allow your readers to choose whether to read your blog content or watch the video. If you don’t write scripts for your IGTV videos, that’s fine. You don’t have to write a lengthy copy, a short paragraph introducing the video is enough.
 

Promote Your IGTV Video on Instagram Live

When promoting your IGTV video on a live session on Insta Stories, you can opt to focus your broadcast on the IGTV video, inviting your viewers to watch it, or discuss a topic that is related to your IGTV video to create interest among your viewers and then let them know that you have an IGTV video that is relevant to this topic. Unlike other means of promoting your IGTV, discussing about it on a live session allows your viewers to ask you about the video and you can answer these questions in real time. Of course, you would like to lead them to your IGTV video, so you can give a brief answer to questions and let your audience know that they can learn more from your video.
 

Add a Link to Your IGTV Video on Your Email Signature

Aside from the usual name and company information, you can use your email signature to promote your IGTV videos by adding a direct link to your IGTV channel. You can manually type in this link “www.instagram.com/YourInstagramName/channel/” and replace “YourInstagramName” with your actual user name. Another way to add your IGTV channel link to your email signature is to go to your Instagram page using a desktop computer or laptop, click on the “IGTV” tab, then copy and paste the URL into your email signature line.
 

Promote Your IGTV to Your Email List

What do you use your email list for? To entice your subscribers to take advantage of promos? To inform them of recent updates about your brand? Whatever your main purpose for your email newsletters is, it never hurts to align your email campaigns with your social media marketing. You can opt to expressly announce your IGTV video and add a link in a dedicated section in your email newsletter, send a short copy with a link to the IGTV video, or add your IGTV channel link along with your other social media icons at the header or footer of your email campaign.
 

Promote Your IGTV Videos on Twitter

When promoting your IGTV videos on Twitter, keep in mind not to simply tell your Twitter followers that you have and IGTV video and add a link. Do that and your post will just get ignored. Instead, tweet about something related to your IGTV video and add an eye-catching image to entice your Twitter followers to want to watch your IGTV video and then add the link.

You can also add Twitter hashtags to widen the range of your reach. You might also want to promote the same video several times over a few days as movement on this social media platform is quite fast.


There you have it – seven ways you can spread the news about your IGTV videos and gain viewers. Unlike IG Stories videos, the videos you upload on your IGTV channel are longer and they stay on there for as long as you want, very much like the videos you upload on YouTube or Vimeo. Given these, it is just right to carefully plan for and film your IGTV videos and promote these to get more people to watch it. So, try out these strategies and watch the number of your viewers grow!