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Big changes are in the works for the influencer marketing community.
As social media platforms tweak their offerings to compete for top content creators—and their audiences—brand managers should watch carefully and stay agile in their approaches to visual marketing.
Instagram wants influencers and creators to bring their content to its popular platform, a new section of its app called IGTV.
Instagram CEO Kevin Systrom said the app was designed to make it easier to find and watch videos on the mobile phone. He noted that most video apps require you to search or browse through a directory — as opposed to television, where you simply turn it on and start watching. IGTV, on the other hand, will simply start playing video the moment you open it. Among other things, this “lean back” mode could make IGTV a powerful new place for Instagram to put ads.
IGTV will also allow creators to upload video directly to Instagram, a product manager said, representing an effort to turn the app into a home for mobile video to rival YouTube. Videos can be up to 10 minutes long to start, with larger accounts able to post hourlong videos. Over the long term, the company expects to let all users post videos of unlimited length, Systrom said.
For now, the new format has little pull, as most content is still hosted elsewhere. As creators migrate to Instagram in search of new audiences, the platform could challenge YouTube as the home