If you or your nonprofit uses the photo-sharing social media platform Instagram, you may have noticed a new TV screen icon pop up on your screen where there wasn’t one before. It’s a new feature: IGTV.
IGTV is an app for viewing long-form, vertical video that launched on June 20, 2018. Previously, Instagram only allowed minute-long videos. Now, IGTV allows users to upload longer videos through the app, or watch other user’s videos on Instagram. The average IGTV user will be able to create videos up to ten minutes long, while bigger and verified accounts can create up to an hour.
So we can watch longer videos on Instagram now. Why is that such a big deal?
Creators can distribute long-form content to their followers, in an app the audience is already using. No, “click here to see our video on our website or Youtube” needed. It’s instantly viewable. The videos start playing automatically in the IGTV app, just like turning on a television.
Your nonprofit is on Instagram (if you’re not, why not?!?). And, now IGTV offers nonprofits a new venue for sharing their stories in a social way. It provides a potential audience for your message and a platform for distributing it.
Storytelling fuels fundraising and opens hearts, and video is powerful storytelling medium. It allows you to take your audience into new worlds, show them behind-the-scenes, and introduce them to people and issues.
At CauseVox, we’ve seen the difference video can make for nonprofits. When we looked at the top-performing CauseVox campaigns, we weren’t surprised that the majority of them used video to tell their story.
Check out this video from Story Pirates, a nonprofit that encourages writing skills by turning kids’ stories into shows.
It would be impossible to bring every supporter along to a Story Pirates show, but with a video we can get up close and see their crew in action, go to school with them, hear their songs, and watch kids respond to their programs. We know who they are, what they’re about, and why it matters.
What makes video really effective for nonprofits is that it’s so shareable. With just a click or two, someone who loves your cause can share it with their social networks, or send it to a specific friend. “Hey, watch this!” is an easier ask than, “Please read this.” It’s quick and simple.
IGTV takes the social aspect a step further by bringing the content directly to the people who follow you, instead of requiring them to seek it out. They can open the app, and start watching your videos.
Social video is an opportunity for your audience to engage with your content, and for you to engage with your audience. They can comment, like, or share your video via direct message. This turns watching your content into an interaction instead of a transaction.
Since IGTV content is created by Instagram users, there isn’t one set way to use the technology. Still, some good ideas are quickly emerging.
Clean water champion charity: water has posted a series of videos on IGTV in which they take viewers on a journey to Ethiopia to see their programs in action.
Everytime something new comes out, there’s pressure for nonprofits to jump onboard. With limited time and resources, adding another thing to your social media to-do list isn’t always appealing. IGTV is worth considering, though.
Since IGTV is new, there isn’t data yet on how people engage with it. However, considering the upward trend of video and Instagram, it seems like a reasonable technique to experiment with.
If IGTV seems overwhelming, remember, you don’t have to create an entire TV show! You can dip your toes in before you commit to an entire social video strategy.
To start small:
Are you going to give IGTV a try? Wait and see how people use it? Are you using it already? We’d love to know.
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