IGTV was launched in June 2018. Alongside Insta Stories, it’s one of the hottest ways to grab more leads on Instagram. Even Jamie Oliver — the popular celebrity chef — uses it, as do many businesses around the world.
Which can only mean one thing: You need to start using it too.
Especially now that Instagram has eclipsed 1 billion users worldwide.
The good news (see this October’s top social media industry news) is that you’re joining the trend at the right time. The even better news is that IGTV and Insta Stories are a super fun way to grab more leads. You can use them to chat with your audience, hold contests and create engaging videos.
How? Let’s take an in-depth look at 6 of the best ways to use IGTV and Insta Stories for lead generation.
1. Answer questions
“Hi. Can you tell me more?”
This is a common question asked by customers.
Naturally, they have more questions than that. They want to know exactly how your product works, whether it can be used for such-and-such a thing, what features it has and so on.
While there are other ways to answer questions, one of the most engaging ways to respond to customer queries is via Instagram Stories.
Brands are doing this more and more. Whether via a video or text images that people can read, they’re using Instagram to ask their customers to comment on their photos with their most pressing questions. Then, they’ll create an epic Instagram Story in which they answer all or most relevant questions.
When you group together questions and answer them via Instagram Stories, you’re able to settle numerous concerns in one go. Instead of having a private one-to-one chat with a customer via DM, email, or phone, you’re engaging your whole audience at once. Not to mention, you’re teaching them about your product in a fun, engaging, and visually pleasing way.
Everybody wins, and people learn so much more about your product and business than they would in any other environment. This builds trust and confidence in you and your business.
Moreover, answering questions is a simple but great way of improving your engagement with your audience. And when you position yourself as open and happy to discuss and answer questions, more people will reach out.
Don’t stop there. You could use IGTV to host a pre-planned F&Q session. Just gather together some of the most popular questions that your customers have been asking you, and upload a video on IGTV to answer them in-depth.
There’s also the possibility to go live through stories. Conde Nast Traveller recently did this, with their Editor-in-Chief Melinda Stevens who went live to answer multiple questions. This is a fantastic way to build trust with your customers, and it shows that you’re 100% transparent and prepared to go the extra mile to answer their concerns.
If you or one of your team has natural charm, it’s even better. You can go live on Instagram and educate, inform, and entertain.
SEE ALSO: 24 Instagram Marketing Tools You Need To Check By 2019
2. Host a contest
Contests on Instagram Stories can be a logistical nightmare — primarily because the stories vanish so quickly. But, it’s doable nonetheless.
But why should they be done?
Contests are great for engagement in general. As long as your social media giveaway is awesome enough and relevant enough to your target audience, people will play along.
Because an Instagram Story disappears after just 24 hours, contests held on Instagram Stories create a sense of urgency. And that sense of urgency creates a buzz only seen at the mall on Christmas Eve. In other words, people are in a mad rush to enter! This is exactly what you want, as it will improve engagement and it means the Instagram algorithm will push your content more.
Here’s a basic example of what you’ll need to do to host a contest via Instagram Stories:
- Ask your customers to post a story (be specific) to enter your contest. The story could be them acting silly, pulling a funny face, or even holding your product with a cute/funny caption.
- They need to tag your account within their story. This is a great way to get more followers because a person can only tag you if they’re already following you!
- Now the hard part — keeping track of notifications. You’ve only got 24 hours and one can only hope that lots and lots of people will enter your contest. Because of the ephemeral nature of Insta Stories, you need to screenshot each entry as soon as you see it. Keep a log of each person who has entered so that you can pick an eventual winner.
Here are a few more contest ideas:
SEE ALSO: The Hidden Features Of Instagram And How They’ll Help You
Photo caption contest
Photo captions fire people’s creativity and they’re super fun. They also encourage a bit more effort from people, because who doesn’t want to get praised for writing the wittiest caption?
Make sure you pick a really cool and interesting photo for this one!
Tag a Friend
This is an excellent way to generate more leads, and all your customers need to do is tag a friend in a photo.
SEE ALSO: Instagram Growth Techniques Of Super Stars – Get Your First 10K Followers
3. Post How-to-Videos
IGTV was made for videos, and the great thing about it is that you have your very own channel.
Videos are vertical on IGTV, so you always need to keep that in mind when creating your content. Videos are also capped at 60 minutes in length.
How-to videos in particular work really well for lead generation because a major stumbling block that’s preventing conversions could be that your customers simply don’t know how to use your product. To remedy this, you can create a short, actionable how-to video that demonstrates exactly why your product was made, who it was made for and how to use it.
Once you’ve created your video, it’s time to upload it. If you haven’t done this before on IGTV, here’s what you need to do:
Navigate your channel before tapping the “+” icon situated at the top right corner. This will then allow you to add a video to your channel. Follow the prompt to upload your video before adding your title and a description.
At the time of writing, the search function doesn’t allow users to search for hashtags or keywords, but it’s still a good idea to write a relevant description that explains what your video is all about in simple language. For one thing, this will encourage the right people who come across your video and channel to click “play.”
You can also add clickable links to your descriptions, so don’t forget to add a link to your website.
Then, you need to add a vertical cover photo. Remember that this will be displayed on your channel’s page, so it needs to look good and relevant.
Once you’ve published your how-to video and it’s live, you need to monitor your analytics to see how well it performs.
SEE ALSO: The 5 Instagram Trends That Will Define 2019
4. Teach something
How-to videos are a fantastic way to generate more leads via IGTV, but you don’t need to stop there. You can use Instagram Stories to teach your customers about anything in your niche.
Let’s say that you’ve got an SEO tool. Why not use Instagram Stories to teach your customers about bits and pieces of SEO? For example, you could make a Story about how to generate more backlinks.
There are literally myriad things you can teach your audience. Don’t stick to topics centered on your product, but branch out and see what else is in your niche. And, hey, how about some useful life skills now and then?
When you teach your customers something, you’re sharing value. This is always appreciated. More than that, you’re also strengthening your position as the expert in your field.
Eventually, your customers will want more from you than snippets on Instagram Stories that disappear in 24 hours! And at this point, they should be ready to convert.
SEE ALSO: Never Run Out Of Content Marketing Ideas With These 13 Methods
5. Invite suggestions
Let’s say you’ve got a couple of new logo ideas in the works. You could just share them with your team before deciding which one is best.
Or … you could share them with your customers.
Inviting suggestions like this via Instagram Stories involves your customers, which makes them feel included and trusted. It creates powerfully positive associations with your brand. All of a sudden, you’re including them and they feel a part of what you’re doing.
How to collect their answers? It’s a good idea to run an Instagram Story where you ask for suggestions, before asking your customers to respond via a DM. Alternatively, you could ask them to leave their suggestion in a comment on your latest photo.
SEE ALSO: 30+ Professionals Share The Best Hacks On Growing Your Social Media Brand
6. Promote blog posts
That last epic blog post that took you literally forever to create? It needs better promotion if the ROI is going to be worth it.
Here’s an idea: Why not use Instagram Stories to promote it by adding a link to your story and a compelling call to action?
*Lightbulb moment*
All you need to do is create an Instagram Story that’s relevant to your latest blog post, before adding a link that easily allows your followers to be taken straight to the right page.
As you’ve probably already realized, you can also use this technique to promote big announcements, such as a free eBook or a new product.
Bear in mind, however, that you can only add an external link to your Insta Story if you have a business account that has at least 10,000 followers. If this is you, use it. Drum up interest!
These are 6 brilliant ways to use IGTV and Insta Stories for lead generation. Remember, it’s important to have some fun, but the main thing here is that you’re offering value while educating and informing your audience. Hosting contests is the really fun bit, but you should also focus on teaching your audience things about your products and niche. Be consistent, be personal and be engaging. It’s what TV was made for!
If you’re interested in reading more, check out these awesome resources
- Essential Guide To Performing A Social Media Competitor Analysis
- Why Your Social Media Proposal Isn’t Getting Results [FREE TEMPLATE BONUS]
- How These 3 Awesome Photographers Are Ruling Social Media
This article was submitted by Aljaz Fajmut, the founder of Nightwatch.
Dropped out of college, moved to another country with 2 of my friends and built Planable (Techstars London ’17), social media collaboration platform, at 19 y. o. Forbes 30 under 30
