5 Ways DMOs Can Use IGTV, Instagram’s Long-Form Video Feature
November 28, 2018 | By: daniel and Aaron Jones
While creating shareable content, sharing compelling stories and starting conversations with travelers are content goals of most travel brands, too many destinations are neglecting video content as an integral part of their content marketing strategy. And it’s their loss. By 2021, mobile video will account for 78 percent of total mobile traffic and it’s already dominating the way we consume content.
More than 500 million people watch Facebook videos every day and more than a billion people are active on YouTube. With its one billion active users and the strong demand for video content, Instagram released IGTV, its long-form video feature, which some are calling “Instagram’s version of YouTube.” For travel brands, video content is a goldmine of opportunity, and one that destination marketing organizations (DMOs) should be leveraging.
So what’s the deal with IGTV?
Open your Instagram app, and you’ll find a small white TV box icon right next to where you click to view your messages. That’s the IGTV icon. Select it to find videos from Instagrammers you’re following, other popular videos and your search history. Just like the explore page, IGTV uses an algorithm based on your activity on the app to reveal content it believes you’d like to see. For marketers, this means earning a following on the main Instagram account, with IGTV as a supplement rather than a stand-alone strategy, since IGTV is reliant on your brand’s existing Instagram following to broadcast video content.
While IGTV was launched in June 2018, both destinations and users are still learning how to best use the platform’s shiny new feature. As Instagram undoubtedly will make the intentional yet gradual switch to incorporate more and more video onto its platform, marketers should expect to get comfortable with IGTV as it’s not going anywhere.
Looking to incorporate video content through IGTV, but not sure how? Here are five ways your travel marketing organization can use IGTV:
1. Using social listening for Q&As
Though the platform didn’t start out as the ideal place for destinations to have conversations with their audiences, Instagram has become more engaging than ever. DMOs can reply to comments on their content, host Instagram Live sessions, use the “questions” sticker on IG stories and listen to their audience to engage in conversations that are more authentic than ever. These conversations are already happening, and IGTV is a great place for brands to show that they’re listening. Destination Marketing Organizations can utilize this Q&A model by using social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and IG stories to ask their audiences what they would like to know and then turn those responses into the questions for the segment.
2. Refreshing and reusing YouTube content
Why would you push content on IGTV if you already have a YouTube channel? This is a question many travel brands initially asked when IGTV first made its debut. The short answer: Because you can.
Refreshing and repurposing your destination’s YouTube content for IGTV should be a no-brainer because the content already exists. There’s no production crew needed, no marketing dollars spent, no hours spent scripting, directing or producing. The hard part is already done. By repurposing your destination’s already existing YouTube content, you not only extend its shelf life, but you release it to a new audience that probably doesn’t follow you on YouTube and has never seen that content before.
3. Repurposing influencer video
Step 1: Ensure video content is an integral part of your influencer marketing strategy.
Step 2: Repurpose the resulting video content everywhere.
In DCI’s recent survey of 130 digital influencers, The Emergence of Digital Influencers and Their Impact on Destination Marketing, over 60 percent of respondents stated that DMOs only “sometimes or rarely” engaged, amplified or repurposed their content after its initial release. Many brands fail to realize that influencer content (with credit given to the creator) is shared content for both the creator and the recipient. Like refreshing and re-using already existing YouTube content, if the influencer video already exists through YouTube, Facebook or Instagram, it could work for IGTV, too.
4. Behind the scenes
A peek behind the scenes of a press trip, a happy hour, an inside look at a favorite coffee shop, boutique or amusement park, or a tour of the office from an intern’s POV — each of these videos provides an exclusive perspective behind your destination’s brand and the stories that make your place so unique.
5. Tutorial shorts
Do-it-yourself, how-to and step-by-step videos have taken over social media and there’s no question as to why. They’re short, interesting, perfectly suited to mobile devices and optimal for social sharing. While these types of videos are generally created to be shared on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, they’ve now also taken over IGTV, allowing destinations to cross-publicize this content onto multiple social channels and platforms. From a cooking video on how to make your destination’s most beloved dish to a day-by-day itinerary of how to plan a weekend getaway to your destination, the possibilities are endless for these one- to three-minute short clips.
Is your destination already using IGTV? Share your videos with us on Instagram at @aboutdci, and we’ll give you a shout out!