I have never been a big fan of IGTV from the start, but with recent updates, I see new possibilities for virality on Instagram. If you wish to know how to skyrocket your IGTV views for free you should give this blog post a try!

IGTV Views For Free

In this blog post, I will tell you how you can skyrocket your IGTV views for free, up to 1492% (you probably can do even better, but this is what I managed to reach).

my first IGTV post only got a lousy 5,773 views, 2 comments and 121 likes ?. 

Instagram introduced IGTV in June 2018. I did my first IGTV post that same month. I wasn’t blown away by the statistics. Back then I tested it on a 300K account which had around 4-5K likes and 100K views per video share on the feed. I waited a few weeks after the release of IGTV to settle in, but unfortunately, my first IGTV post only got a lousy 5,773 views, 2 comments and 121 likes ?.

With companies spending millions of dollars on IGTV content I hoped IGTV would change its format. IGTV shares only got a notification at the top bar in the feed of the posts, and you could share clips on your Instagram Stories (while Stories weren’t used that much also).

That day has come today. Instagram announced a new feature for IGTV which I hoped for months to come.

A new feature that will skyrocket your IGTV views for free

Big news: Your IGTV videos will now appear in your Instagram feed with all your other posts. Like this:

I think this is AWESOME! The problem with feed posts always has been that I could only upload 1-minute clips (okay, carousel posts could do the trick with a swipe…). But with an IGTV share on the Instagram feed your audience get two options:
1. click the button below the video “watch full IGTV video”
2. watch the clip till the end and get a notification: “keep watching (with a notification how many minutes remaining)”.

IGTV also gets a huge favor by the Instagram algorithm. I’ve tested IGTV with feed posts and saw a boost of 100% in engagement and 1492% in views with $0 spend on ads. Would you say no to free engagement?

How can you get IGTV views for free?

Here is how it works:

1. You upload a video on your IGTV channel

You can’t upload an IGTV video straight in your Instagram feed. You need to upload your IGTV video on your IGTV channel.

2. A video “trailer” will appear in your Instagram feed

The video that appears in your feed is not your full IGTV video. It is a one-minute video. Instagram calls it a “trailer”.

3. The thumbnail of the video in your feed is the cover you uploaded on IGTV

IGTV allows you to choose the cover for your video. It can be a clip from your video, or you can upload your own cover.

Tip: Since your cover will automatically appear in your feed, choose a cover that fits with your Instagram theme (if you want to keep your feed looking a certain way). If you want to see how your feed will look like with your IGTV video cover, you can upload your cover in Preview App. This way you will be able to see how your feed will look like with your IGTV cover and all your other posts

4. The caption is the title of the video

The caption that automatically appears in your feed is the title that you wrote for your IGTV video. As far as we know, you can’t write a separate caption to show in your Instagram feed. Caption = Title of the video.

5. You can only watch the full video on IGTV

People can tap on the video at any time if they want to watch the full video on your IGTV channel.

6. Comments are awesome

If people comment from your feed, the comments will show under your IGTV video too (and vice-versa). This is awesome.

7. Your IGTV trailer shows up in people’s home feeds!

And finally, just like your other posts, your IGTV trailer will also appear in people’s home feed. That’s awesome too! You can catch people’s attention with your video. And it is a new way to get more eyes on your videos and IGTV channel.

That’s it to get IGTV views for free!

What do you think about this new feature? Do you like seeing IGTV videos in people’s feeds?

See you again soon with more Instagram tips!