We all love our short videos in the form of Insta stories and Reels. Video content is taking the internet by storm and according to Cisco, 80% of Internet users will be consuming video content. It's not a coincidence that Instagram has doubled down on video content features from stories, reels, and IGTV. That alone should convince you to invest in making video content. If that is not enough then consider that Instagram users spend roughly 53 minutes on the platform. If you start producing long form content and hosting live streams then most of that 53 minutes will be owned by you and the more of your content will be remembered.

Creating and strategizing Instagram posts for your feed can be a weekly grind. Just when you think you have mastered the algorithm, it changes or a new feature is rolled out. New features and trends are constantly changing In the world of social media. Instagram alone has gone from a photo sharing app with a scrolling feed to introducing stories, reels, guides, IGTV long form videos, and multi image carousel posts. It's important to not bite off more than you can chew. So if you are still trying to master the feed and story game stick with that, but if you're ready to tackle the next feature then read on.

Introducing IGTV

IGTV is Instagrams long form video feature. Designed for videos 60 seconds to 1 hour in length, consumed mostly in vertical format, but can be viewed in the normal wide format by rotating your phone very easily. What does this have to do with churches? Well video content is where it's at these days. Yes Reels are exploding right now, but long form content can be just as engaging, if not more.

Sermon Highlights

Where do you start? You start with the weekend message. It's that simple. You already have it and unless your pastor moves around a lot it's really easy to upload clips to IGTV. Another great feature is the swipe up feature in stories. We all wish our accounts were big enough to have that blue check mark and the ability to add swipe up links to our websites. Sadly we may not have that, but with IGTV it's possible. Add some text or image to your store and click the link button at the top, this allows you to link an IGTV video that you have to the story and have a swipe up link enabled. That alone is one reason you should use IGTV, so that you can have an added interaction when people are browsing stories.

Pastoral Thoughts and Q&A 

Another great way to use IGTV is Instagram Live. You can have your pastor jump on and do a daily devotional or your worship pastor do a midweek worship session. Instagram gives you ways to interact with your viewers by comments and Q&A features. After the live stream it stays up for 24 hours and also gives you the ability to save your stream as an IGTV video for future sharing and viewing as well. Since livestreams can be an hour long, this gives you the ability to have longer IGTV videos in your feed. 

Pastoral Conversations 

Instagram Live is not just for one person either. You can invite others into your video and have a conversation/interview between multiple people. One idea for this is to do a staff highlight and have a friendly get to know you interview every week. Another great idea is to do a beyond the weekend conversation between the pastor and other staff members where they go a little bit deeper.

IGTV can be a game changer in how your church members view your church. People like to see people, not scroll past a bunch of announcement slides on Instagram. What is your church like, who goes there, and What am I missing? Use live during youth retreats and evenings for games and fun stuff too. When people browse their social media in the evenings they want something fun so think of ways to be fun as well as educational. Increasing watch time will increase engagement and reach as well leading your church to be seen by more people, which can lead to more people finding your website, and eventually attending in person.