ITV

Tag: IGTV

  • Instagram announces ‘Lite’ for Indian user

    Instagram announces ‘Lite’ for Indian user

    KOLKATA: At the first Facebook Fuel For India virtual event, Instagram said it is democratising expression for people in India. And to underscore its commitment, the photo and video sharing platform extended the testing of Instagram Lite to India, and announced the second edition of the ‘Born on Instagram’ creator program.

    ‘Facebook Fuel For India’ is being held to showcase the most impactful stories of change in India, and the way the Facebook family of apps are bringing together products, programs and plans to fuel India’s progress. Instagram showcased the slew of new features in the past few months that have either debuted or been beta-tested in the country, which includes Reels, the Reels tab and Live Rooms.

    Now Instagram has made Instagram Lite available to people in India. The app is less than 2MB in size and is built to deliver the core Instagram experience to those who are currently not familiar with the app. It also brought back ‘Born on Instagram’ to equip the next generation of content creators with best practices to use the platform, and enable them with collaboration and mentorship opportunities. 

    Instagram VP product Vishal Shah said, “India is such an important country for us and has been a testing ground for innovation, thanks to the natural creativity and entrepreneurial spirit we see here. With the test of Instagram Lite, and the next edition of ‘Born on Instagram’, we’re aiming to democratise expression and creativity for a greater number of people in India. We’re also hoping to gain valuable insights before a global rollout of Instagram Lite.”

    Early this year, there was research conducted in India to ascertain the attractiveness and comprehension of new products, and one barrier that was observed was the compromised internet experience, as a result of low memory phones and heavy-sized apps. This set the context for the test of Instagram Lite, and India is a primary test country for it.

    The app is made for Android and this new version has improved speed, performance, and responsiveness. The experience is similar to the core Instagram app experience, though there are some features that are not currently supported such as Reels, Shopping and IGTV. The app will be available in Bangla, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Punjabi, Tamil and Telugu.

  • Guest Column: How to prepare for influencer marketing in 2021

    Guest Column: How to prepare for influencer marketing in 2021

    If you think it’s too early to plan influencer marketing strategies for 2021, then you’re wrong. The marketing and PR industry has grown by leaps and bounds in the past few months and influencers have played a huge role in it for businesses. With powerful tools like Instagram Reels, Shop, IGTV, Facebook pay and Instagram Live badges, social media has become a rich and engaging alternative tool to counter the traditional form of media; to target consumers in a new manner.

    Influencer marketing has helped brands map out their strategies and get ahead of the curve. Since companies plan marketing campaigns months in advance, now is the right time to prepare a strategic and advanced influencer marketing approach for 2021.

    How does influencer marketing work?

    In the past, brands would approach an influencer and pay them to create content promoting their products – new launches or talk about the service. The fees would vary as per the following range and engagement rate of the influencer. The influencer would then post the content and share it with their social media following – usually on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, etc. The best part about influencer marketing is that it can work for businesses of all shapes and sizes, whether you’re a start-up looking to grow your awareness and following, or a big brand wanting to launch a new range or drive sales of a specific product.

    Considering the above, here’s how one can prepare for influencer marketing in 2021.

    Know your ultimate goal

    Well, how will you aim if you have no goal to achieve? Your goal will be the driving force of your influencer marketing strategy. You need to know the five Whys behind your actions to begin with. There are certain crucial points one needs to keep in mind before setting your goals:

    ●      Be specific

    ●      Set attainable goals

    ●      Make sure that your goals are measurable

    Create a breakthrough influencer marketing plan

    The success of an Influencer Marketing plan relies on how well strategies are planned and executed.  The strategies can rapidly build brand awareness by generating premium content to the customers it’s designed to engage. Executing a complete influencer marketing strategy that boosts your brand exposure and connects with your target audience sets the base of a successful plan.

    Choose the right influencers

    When there are too many creative influencers out there, it becomes difficult to choose the best one for your campaign. There could be various ways to choose influencers on the basis of their genre, engagement, content and lots more. The ideal way is to determine which influencer is the best in their own niche and whether or not that fits well with your brand.

    Select the right social media platform

    Being on every social media platform is not necessary. What matters is to create an impact on the ones you are present on. Putting out substandard content will only make things worse for you. Instead, research and plan your social media presence that aligns with your goals and appeals to your target audience. Focus on the platforms that are preferred by your targeted demographic.

    Use the art of storytelling

    It is the story that sells, not the product! Consumers are always driven by good and impactful stories. It is the emotional attachment that the brand builds with its audience that counts. They inspire ideas and create attachments.

    Influencer/ celebrity gifting is the new thing

    Influencer/ celebrity gifting can be one of the most effective ways to gain exposure for a client, particularly when they need to make an immediate impact. Although it’s not an easy service that can be accomplished effortlessly. Researching the right bloggers can take hours, and often your top choices don’t respond right away. You can go back-and-forth a dozen times just to finalise delivery details, and follow up for weeks after to ensure the post is published. Despite this, the good part is that influencer/ celebrity gifting is a super cool and effective way to reach out to your audience through top-notch celebrities and influencers.

    Engagement, reach, word of mouth and analytics

    Analytics help you understand your audience and learn what generates more traffic. Without them, you can’t make accurate sales forecasts and perfect your products. You can effectively use social media data to drive performance and analytics must be focused on. Review the analytics, give attention to the stats like follower growth, page views, number of posts, likes, shares, impressions, clicks, etc.

    (The author is the founder of Glad U Came influencer marketing agency. Indiantelevision.com may not subscribe to his views.)

  • Instagram launches festive AR filter, new IGTV shows for Diwali

    Instagram launches festive AR filter, new IGTV shows for Diwali

    NEW DELHI: Ahead of Diwali, Instagram has introduced an AR effect called ‘Share Your Light’, and a host of IGTV shows with creators such as Shirley Setia, Kusha Kapila and Arjun Kanungo. The aim is to enable people's expression and entertainment during this festive period. 

    While celebrations for Diwali, and festivals surrounding it continue, it will be done within the constraints of physical distancing. But the need to connect and celebrate still remains, something Instagram aims to help with this year. Manish Chopra, director and head of partnerships, Facebook India, said, “Instagram is a cultural hub and a place where people can freely express themselves. As celebrations go virtual, we continue to innovate with features and updates that help people during the festivities. We look forward to the AR effect being used during all upcoming festivals, and the IGTV shows being watched by people whilst they’re staying safe at home. 

    The IGTV shows feature original content focused on the creator and their passions. Manish Chopra added, “We’re aiming to inspire the creator ecosystem, with these IGTV shows that best highlight the possibilities with IGTV, once there’s a strong idea, tied closely with the creator’s passion pursuit, and episodic nature of content.” 

    ‘Share Your Light’ AR effect

    To give people a fun way to share during the upcoming festivals, Instagram is launching an AR effect with the theme ‘Share Your Light’, inspired by mandalas, diyas, festive lights and colors.

    Once a user open the effects gallery, they can look for the effect using the ‘festive diya’. 

    The effect is available to use in seven languages – English, Hindi, Marathi, Bengali, Tamil, Telugu and Urdu. 

    NEW IGTV shows 

    ‘Sundays with Shirley’ by Shirley Setia – In a 5-part series, Shirley will share a part of her life that she really enjoys. But it won’t be on aspects that people usually associate with her – singing; it’ll be different. Like in the first episode, which already has 800k views, she makes her favourite banana and peanut butter smoothie.  

    ‘It will take five minutes only’ by Kusha Kapila – In an aesthetically-shot 5-part series, Kusha will set out to find answers to questions that are often not answered. Topics will range from self-help, sex, money and workplace ethics. Each of the three-five minute episodes will feature a monologue, a sketch, videos by users, and influencer guests; all trying to talk about the hot topic.  The first episode aired on 10 November.  

    ‘Arjun Right Now’ by Arjun Kanungo – The show presents highlights from Arjun’s week, be it working out, test driving his dream car or behind the scenes from shoots. 2 of 5 episodes have aired already, securing over 600k views, and a new episode comes out every Thursday.  

    ‘In the Nick of time’ by Nikunj Lotia aka Beyounick – With Beyounick’s signature humor, this five-part series depicts a stage in Nick’s life when his love life goes for a toss. His relationship fails, fails again, and eventually succeeds. Along the way, Nick does anything and everything to change his relationship status from Single to Committed.  The first episode aired yesterday and already has 240k views on it.

    ‘Shockumentaries’ by RJ Abhinav – In his five-part series, for the first time RJ Abhinav experiments with long-duration comedy capsules. He provides a funny take on the most relatable experiences around us, like ‘planning a trip to Goa’! He uses comedy to serve nostalgia and relatability to every middle-class Indian. The first episode aired 9 November and already has 470k views on it.

    ‘Feel Hona Chahiye’ by Lisa Mishra – In this five-part series, Lisa shares some personal anecdotes about why she believes she’s hopeless in love and what she’s getting wrong. She covers long distance dating, bad dates, differences between dating in India and abroad and wraps with an interactive ‘ask me anything’ too. The first episode will air on 10 November.

    Recently, Instagram also launched a few AR filters, gif stickers and content programming for Durga Puja. Creators were also engaged with Reels specific programming, for Rakhi, Onam and Ganesh Utsav. 

  • Instagram to launch IGTV ads, share 55% revenue with creators

    Instagram to launch IGTV ads, share 55% revenue with creators

    MUMBAI: Instagram will soon start sharing revenue with creators through ads in its long-video format section, and by letting the viewers purchase badges on Instagram Live. Fifty-five per cent share of the revenues thus generated will be shared with the creators. The social media giant, a part of Facebook, had been hinting at introducing ads on the IGTV section for more than a year. 

    The Verge reported the ads will begin showing up on IGTV next week, for only around 200 approved, English-speaking creator partners, including Adam Waheed and Lele Pons, from a handful of major advertiser partners like Ikea, Puma, and Sephora.  

    “To begin, the ads will only appear when people click to watch IGTV videos from previews in their feed, and the initial round of ads will be vertical videos up to 15 seconds long. The team will also test various experiences within IGTV ads throughout the year, like being able to skip ads,” The Verge elaborated in its report. 

    To ensure that ads are shown with only brand-friendly content, the creators will be required to adhere to a stringent Instagram Monetization Policy, which includes rules like the content must comply with Instagram community guidelines, and share accurate information only. 

    Current elected and appointed government officials, who are subject to applicable government ethics, will not be eligible for monetization features. 

  • YouTube launches dedicated vertical for fashion

    YouTube launches dedicated vertical for fashion

    MUMBAI:  YouTube launched a dedicated vertical for fashion thanks to the increasing importance of its massive beauty community. The new vertical YouTube Fashion aims to capitalise on the popular style and beauty content at a time when beauty videos last year alone generated more than 169 billion views on the social media platform.

    The new vertical intends to be “the ultimate destination for style content that bridges both our fabulous endemic creator community and the more traditional worlds of fashion and beauty,” as per the introductory video.

    Users will find on the new, top-level destination channels of fashion and beauty creators, collabs between fashion brands with creators, brands, publications, breakout channel like Camila Coelho, Jenn Im, Ingrid Nilsen, Emma Chamberlain, Dolan Twins, Wengie, Louis Vuitton, Dior, Ralph Lauren, LOVE Magazine and British Vogue.

    YouTube hired Derek Blasberg, previously the host of CNN Style and a Vanity Fair contributor, as its new head of fashion and beauty partnerships in June. Earlier, YouTube it launched a /Gaming destination on YouTube.com. Significantly, the move comes at a time when Facebook-owned Instagram already established itself as the platform for style content along with overwhelming popularity of IGTV.