Instagram’s new launching long form, vertical video platform IGTV is said to be “just like turning on the TV”. Neil Waller, co-founder of influencer marketing platform Whalar, looks at what does IGTV mean for brands, for content creators and for consumers themselves.
Neil Waller, co-founder of influencer marketing platform Whalar, said: “The advertising and creative industries are on the cusp of immense change. Just this week we’ve seen a cornerstone in the creative calendar, Cannes Lions, welcome social and influencer marketing into the fold for the first time with its inaugural Social and Influencer category. Brands can no longer rely on print or TV ads alone, and Instagram’s creation of IGTV represents the future. It has been built around how we would traditionally watch TV, with content launching from your favourite creators just as soon as you open the app.”
Instagram’s other big announcement was that their global community now stands at 1 billion, an epic achievement and one that is no surprise to Neil Waller: “When we work with global brands on their integrated advertising campaigns, Instagram is where they want to be. The digital revolution has democratised creativity and given everyone the ability to be a creator with influence, developing their own engaged, loyal communities of followers. With IGTV, the creator is the channel and this opens up even more opportunities for regular people to drive and impact the emerging view of advertising and creativity.”
As one of the top 5 influencer marketing platforms in the world, Whalar connects brands with the right influencers for their campaigns, recently collaborating with Beko, sponsors of Barcelona FC to help them raise €1 million for UNICEF. Creators from the Whalar platform produced exciting content with a healthy eating message, every post shared using the hashag #EatLikeAPro earned €1 for UNICEF to end childhood obesity. Of IGTV’s potential for brands, Neil Waller said: “We are seeing some fantastically creative campaigns from brands now that have harnessed the power of influencer marketing for important societal reasons, like Beko’s Eat Like a Pro campaign to end childhood obesity. By centring it on the El Clásico football fixture, and giving up their sponsor space to the hashtag #EatLikeAPro, Beko used influencer marketing alongside more traditional TV and achieved over 3 million social media engagements to date. IGTV has almost limitless potential for brands within their campaigns.”
For creators too Instagram’s IGTV opens up yet more avenues, with the feature allowing them to share longer content than they currently can in their stories. Whalar creator with influence Scott Bass @ampisound has over 37,000 followers on Instagram and over 500,000 subscribers on YouTube. Asked how he might utilise IGTV, Scott said: “In the past I’ve used Instagram as a funnel for YouTube. Having regular content on Instagram is really key, so it made more sense to cut longer videos into clips I could post over a few days. Considering this, I think I would try a few full length videos on IGTV and see how they do. If they can nail the monetisation and analytics features, it could be a serious contender.”
IGTV is paving the way for greater opportunity for consumers, brands and creators, Neil Waller said: “Instagram’s co-founder Kevin Systrom said he hopes that IGTV ‘brings you closer to the people and things you love’ and that is the essence of what makes influencer marketing such a powerful force. You’re connecting with creators who are into the same things you are, who inspire you, and who you trust. With IGTV we will see more creators overall and more opportunities for creators to develop and monetise their careers, there will be previously unheard of opportunities for brands to work with creators, and for followers there will be more of what they want to see. It’s a positive move for everyone.”
By Neil Waller
Co-founder
Whalar
Watch Whalar’s long form video with creator with influence @me_and_orla.