Complete Guide to IGTV: How it Works & Who is it For?

How does IGTV work, how long can IGTV videos be, how to upload IGTV, so on and on. These are the types of questions that the internet has been banging on about since the creation of the IGTV. 

Although it's been years, IGTV is out now, there seems to be quite a number of people who are just catching on to the trend and starting to use it. 

If you are one of those people just hopping into the IGTV wagon or want to find out some cool tips and tricks to use IGTV to grow your business, then this piece is for you. 

In this piece, we will cover all those questions and more and tell you how to use the IGTV app and how to use the IGTV feature to up your business a notch.

Let us just dive right in.

How does IGTV work 

There are two things to explain here when we talk about how IGTV works. 

It was initially built to rival youtube, by offering long-format video content on mobile. Today, the standalone app doesn't have as many downloads and use as youtube, or any other video sharing platform.  You can read more about the Instagram app on their official site here.

But the feature itself stuck and became popular among the users of Instagram. It has opened many keys to business, influencers and helped the app retain its prevalence. 

How would you use IGTV then?

All you need to do is to post content that is longer than 1 minute and it will automatically be uploaded into your IGTV. If you are a regular user and have never uploaded any longer format video you might find this intriguing. As you won’t have that button. 

How to upload to IGTV

However, the moment you post your first long-format video you will have that button that looks somewhat like a bucket with a lightning sign in the middle, like this It may even look a little bit like TV but, trust us, it is a bucket with a lightning sign. 

STEP 1. The easiest way to open up your IGTV if you are just a regular user is by first going to your Explore page. 

STEP 2. To go to the Explore page you will need to click on the magnifying glass icon like this  

STEP 3. Once you are on the search page, you will clearly see the IGTV option on the top left side of your screen pressing which will take you to the IGTV. 

STEP 4. If you want to post a video of your own, all you need to do is to click on the plus icon whose sign we hope we don’t have to leave here 😉

STEP 5. Posting an IGTV video is similar to any other post, you will need to provide a “Video title”, a “Description” and toggle some other options like the "Preview" or the "Addition to the series". 

STEP 6. You can also toggle the "Post on Facebook" option as both platforms are owned by the same company. Yet, that is a personal choice.

How does IGTV work in its own standalone  app

As we mentioned, there is an app that is dedicated to IGTV. Of course, it is now called a little different and Instagram named it “Instagram TV” but the function and the content inside remain the same. 

When you open the app, of course after you download it, you will need to log in to your own account. Then you will have an app that looks a lot like the Instagram app and will have three taps, one for the home, one for videos, and one for your profile. 

It is much simpler but more dedicated to Instagram tv. Thus, if you don’t mind downloading one more app, this will be a better and easier app to control your IGTV videos. 

How long can IGTV videos be 

The length of a video is what determines whether it is an IGTV or not. If you happen to have clips with a duration of less than 1 minute, then most likely those videos won’t be going to Instagram TV. 

You can upload up to an hour of content to IGTV. The only caveat is that you will need to do that with a browser from the website. 

If you want to post from your mobile, then limiting your videos up to 15 minutes will be a good idea, since you cannot upload longer content. 

There are no strict requirements to posting videos onto IGTV if we are to consider the technology of today. They only ask you to have higher quality content, at at least 720 pixels, and have at least 30 fsp (frames per second).

How to delete IGTV video

Deleting a video from IGTV is quite simple. But is it as simple on the  Instagram TV app?

Let us discuss both scenarios and teach you how to delete IGTV videos. 

For starters, if you would like to delete the video from IGTV you will need to have the IGTV page open. That is of course an obvious step but we will still refresh your memory and tell you how to get there in two ways. 

If you are on the IGTV app, then you can skip a few steps like opening the video from the preview and pressing the IGTV icon to go to the IGTV page. 

Because you are already going to be on that page, what you need to do there is press the three dots and confirm the deletion. 

How to download  IGTV videos 

When it comes to downloading, there are two things you need to know. One is when you are downloading your own videos, the other is when you are downloading someone else's.

When you are downloading your own, it won’t cause any problems or implications whatsoever, after all, you uploaded the content. But when it comes to downloading someone else’s content, it will be difficult. 

There are many sites and services available on the market that will help you download any videos from Instagram. We won’t be talking about them, but a simple google search must render you quite the number of results that you can use to download other peoples’ videos.

We warn you however that downloading other peoples’ videos for unethical purposes could lead to bad karma while trusting some site you just found out online could lead to even worse. 

So, make sure to be fair when downloading other people’s content and stay away from bad karma.

How are IGTV views are counted 

Understanding IGTV views is necessary if you want to grow on the platform making videos. But it is really simple and easy to understand. 

So, when is a view counted as a view? 

The answer is every time the first three seconds of your video is watched, you get a view! A view from the same person twice doesn't count as two views.  

However, a user watching your preview on their feed also counts as a view, which means if they were to scroll down just a little slower, then that will count as a view as well. As long as they spend at least three seconds on your clip.

This makes getting views seem like a simple task. In fact, it is, but not always. Although you may get a lot of views, the algorithm will pay more attention to retention as well. 

So, if you have more than 1000 views, but only a few watched it till the end, this is really really bad. It is far better to have 50-60 views that watch it till the end than just a huge number with only three seconds. 

Can you see who views your IGTV?

Unfortunately, the answer to this question will be simply no. There is no other way to answer this. However, if you were to ask if you could see who likes your videos, then the answer wouldn’t be ‘yes’. 

Can you boost IGTV video? 

The short answer to this question is yes. You can boost your IGTV videos. But you can only do so with Facebook ads or through a third-party platform. 

We will go over how you can do with the Facebook ads in a while but first let us discuss how you can do with the third-party platform, and why you might want to consider it. 

There are many platforms that sell Instagram views and likes and so on. You could buy IGTV views and send them to your IGTV videos. 

But why should you consider third-party platforms? Well,  because they are usually cheaper. 

The second reason for this is that the quality is almost always the same. Even if you were to buy ads from Facebook, they hardly ever convert.  But you would buy them twice or perhaps even more expensive than you could buy from other platforms.

The only downside to buying Instagram views, followers, and so on is that they may get purged when the platform performs inactive accounts purges. 

That brings us to using Facebook ads whose only advantage is that they will never be purged. Although the platform itself uses many bot accounts, followers you buy won’t be doing anything but follow.  They hardly ever go away. 

You might also want to buy Instagram views from InstaViral if you want to have the best of both worlds. Not only will they stick and but also help you grow just as much as the ads from Facebook would. 

Who is it for 

Let us before we end this piece answer that very question that is in our title. Who is the IGTV for?

This is not a difficult question to answer because it is for everyone. That in fact was the main purpose behind creating the feature and the app. 

They not only wanted the app to rival youtube. But also to be used by anyone. Unfortunately, that app did not get to be used by anyone. But the future got quite the use and fame. 

So, it is functionally for everyone and everyone to use. But from the business side, if we were to compare who gets more use or benefit from using either the app or the feature. 

The answer would sway a bit more toward the business side. Because the IGTV has become very popular among the business accounts and the influencers of the Instagram platform. 

Its permission to make longer format video in fact gave birth to a few new influencers as well. Thus, if you want to promote your business or become an influence, this is going to be very useful for you. 

Yet, regardless of who you are or what you want to do, you should remember it is meant for everyone. 

Final thoughts 

At the end of the article, we want to wrap it with the digestion of all the heading we have written about. 

So that you could understand for yourself that IGTV is for anyone who is willing to do a bit of work and perhaps invest a little bit to get where they are going. 

If you still have more questions, more than the one we have answered already, you can head over to our blog where you will find the answers. But also you can read our FAQs for more.

As per this article, we will put a stop here, and hope that we have achieved what we set out to do; to give you a complete guide on how it works and who it is for. 

FAQ

What is the format for IGTV?

The format of the IGTV videos is mp4 and must have at least 30 fps. It should also be a 16:9 ratio with dimensions of 1080 x 1920 

These are the requirements that are set by Instagram for pretty much any other video content. So, it is not hard to remember. Actually, there really is no need to 

How to convert normal video to IGTV?

If you are wondering about how to convert normal videos into IGTV ones, don’t worry. Because if you have a video that is longer than a minute, it will automatically be an IGTV video.  However, if it is less than a minute, there is nothing you can do to make it an IGTV for it will be considered as a normal post. 

So, make your videos longer, and you will have them placed on the IGTV automatically.

How to make IGTV video?

There were many people who were asking who to make IGTV videos. Since we have discussed this topic above, we won’t repeat ourselves but refer you to go up and read that paragraph if you have not yet done it already. The steps are included to guide you through the process of making your first IGTV video.

Best IGTV Hashtags For Getting More Views

The days that IGTV used to be new have long gone, and now almost everyone who uses Instagram is familiar with IGTV. 

On the other hand, the best IGTV hashtags for getting more views are relevant to the topic that has not yet been clearly explored and talked about in detail. 

We will demystify the hashtags strategy so that you could get more IGTV views and more of everything you need for your Instagram business or account. 

Before we move forward, one of the biggest and obvious differences between regular videos on Instagram, and IGTV is that any video post longer than 1 minute is automatically an IGTV post.

Why Use IGTV for Video Content

There are two main things that make IGTV a better option for video posts than reels even against the surge of demand for short videos. 

Many people don’t pay attention to and/or perhaps don’t notice that IGTV videos take more space when they show up. 

Have you ever noticed that there is always a video on the Explore page that takes almost 4 times the size of carousels or other posts? 

This is how an IGTV post is shown as the platform promotes the Instagram TV feature.

So, you could help the algorithm and the platform by posting good quality and engaging videos that are longer and would represent IGTV in the best possible light. 

As a result, you get more views easily. 

Additionally, there is one more important aspect of IGTV videos that is far more beneficial than other aspects. 

It is a fact that you can share links over your videos. If you are planning on promoting your business or a website outside the platform, leaving links will not only affect your SEO (search engine rankings) of that specific site but might as well bring more traffic. 

🔥  You may also check a separate blog post on Instagram SEO, where we outline the 4 step strategy to optimize your posts for the most likes and views.

Can You Add Hashtags to IGTV?

The short answer to this question is yes.  However, even more, important is how and what hashtags you should add. 

At the end of the day, you don’t want to be copying and pasting the same hashtags over and over to every video you have. 

We will of course include a list of hashtags for IGTV with each table being dedicated for different occasions. But we also want to teach you how to find relevant Instagram hashtags yourself. 

After all, giving a man a fish feeds him only for a day, while teaching a man how to fish sets him up for life. 

Hashtags for IGTV should be utilized in the optimal ways possible. In fact, you can add as many as 30 hashtags to IGTV videos. Yet while using all 30 is sometimes a good idea, 10-15 hashtags seem to be the best. 

Keep in mind that sparing them helps but little, as is overusing. 

Now let us talk a bit about where to put hashtags on IGTV then, we move on to talk about tags.

Where to Put Hashtags on IGTV

When using IGTV, hashtags are as important as they are if you were to use them on picture posts. In fact, with IGTV having a lower engagement rate and fewer visits it is even more important to use hashtags.

Since IGTV has fewer visits, it also means that this feature is less competitive than other features on Instagram. For example, the photos, which were the actual types of posts that the platform was built upon. 

When you upload a video you will have the chance to write a title and description and even leave a link regardless of the number of followers you have or not. 

Where should you put hashtags? Should you put them in the body of your description or title? 

Include your hashtags in the body of your description. Not at the end, or in the beginning, right in the middle of where you are explaining what the post is about. 

The reason for this is both psychological and practical. 

People usually don’t really read your bio or the description of your videos, to be honest. What is worse is even when they read, they rarely remember what you wrote there. 

By including the hashtags in the middle of the description, you make the readers pay attention to the hashtags, which are naturally short and easy to remember. That increases the chances of someone remembering your video if they are ever to read the description. 

IGTV Hashtags and Strategy 

The last topic before we give out the list of hashtags is the strategy you should use with IGTV hashtags. Although you know where to include them, which we discussed earlier. 

The truth is that just by placing hashtags, you won’t be getting more views. 

Because we all know there is way more to Instagram than just the hashtags we use regardless of what we are posting whether a video, photo, or even IGTV material. 

There are three important things when it comes to IGTV videos specifically. They are: 

The cover image is the equivalent of what the YouTube thumbnails would be. So, they are very important to get the attention of a person to look at your video. 

Making the cover image as engaging as possible with a bit of controversial tone is what brings results and is something that we recommend as well. 

The title is how you name your video which again should be as interesting and engaging as possible. You can in fact, write borderline contentious titles that claim attention.

Obviously, the description is where you add your IGTV hashtags but also give an introduction to a video. Besides the hashtags, keywords for IGTV are equally important in getting your post featured.

Best IGTV Hashtags 

You should always start your hashtags with the following:

Thus, you will have some hashtags that you may use every time, but you cannot use the same hashtags for each and every video 

We will give the list of some of the most basic ones that you can use all the time but you should add on top of that more from yourself:

These are just 9 of the most common IGTV hashtags that you can use regardless of the type of video you post

You should not forget to add your own ones though. They can be anything from modeling to cars, from kitchen stuff to kids, etc.

If you are to post a video where you teach, say, programming you should include hashtags that are specific to that field and are tailored for that audience like in the image below. 

a list of IGTV hashtags with InstaViral.io

The results are generated by our free Instagram hashtag generator tool while entering the primary keyword as "programming". 

To Wrap Up

When it comes to the best IGTV hashtags for getting more views, there is a little more you need to do than just pick a few hashtags and hope for the traffic to arrive. 

The best hashtags for IGTV are the ones that describe your video, niche, or POV.

You are always better off finding new hashtags for each IGTV post. That said, the primary ones describing your niche and/or brand should be present on each post you upload.

Monetize Instagram: 4 Ways Instagram Creators Make Money

Monetizing Instagram is a huge topic and is one of the most searched on the Internet. Because almost everyone who has a good set of racks and booties, wants to become an influencer. 

This banal type of understanding and overgeneralization is wrong. It is true that there are many girls and accounts of girls with millions of followers. 

However that is not all it is, and the platform still is thriving with opportunities not just to grow but to make money on it.

In this post, we will be covering how to monetize Instagram and talk about a few ways you can become an influencer. 

Let us get started with three tips that are guaranteed to make you an influencer if you follow them.

Consistent Output of Quality Content 

Before we get to Instagram monetization tips and tricks, you need to have an audience to monetize.  

To have an audience you need to have content. Having content is like the king of all the tips or tricks. It is so important that nothing else will be possible without it. 

However, you also cannot have just any kind of content, you need to have good content. You need to have the best quality pictures, videos and so on.

They should be entertaining and interesting and best of all, provide value to the audience. 

You can read more about how to make quality content on Instagram, but the idea is to really make it stand out from other people in your niche. 

It is also not enough to make an excellent post once in a while and think you have accomplished something. 

You literally need to post extraordinarily incredible content every single time you upload. Because that is how competitive the market has got. 

But the better your content and the more you post, you will be growing faster, which means faster compensation as well. 

So, do  you think consistently working your ass off and posting quality content will do it?

Unfortunately, no!

You will need to optimize. Let us discuss this next

Hashtags, Keywords, Alt Text

To optimize your Instagram account as a result of which you can monetize Instagram. You need to focus on the second most important aspect of growing Instagram account 

This one is equally important as the first one. Because what good is output quality content if it does not bring any new followers and people in? 

To increase your followers, you need to present your photos, Reels, and videos in front of the right people. 

Presenting in front of the right people utilizes the keywords and hashtag strategy. We have another post on this very topic that goes a bit deeper into this. 

Quick Links 💡: Go into the details of hashtag research and Instagram SEO reading Instagram SEO: From Strategy To Action In 10 Minutes".

However, in short, you need to include keywords basically everywhere. That means your bio, username, captions, and so on. 

Hashtags are the next big thing after keywords, and are equally as important. Including them in your bio, descriptions and captions is a good idea. 

There is also the thing called alt text, which greatly helps you with Instagram SEO. Which you can find more about in that article as well. 

But the simple idea is that you should also put alt texts on every one of your photos. Because Instagram automatically assigns this, so it is better you control that. 

Buy Ads, Collaborations  

If you consistently post quality stuff, and fix your SEO, you should definitely grow organically and fast. This is guaranteed. 

However, to make the process even faster, and more assured. You can buy Instagram Ads. 

Buying Instagram Ads will help you with increasing the number of followers but also with clicks on your products or links. 

This part will come in handy when we will discuss how to monetize Instagram traffic. 

Thus, buying Instagram Ads will not only help you grow but monetize Instagram. That is why you need to  be ready to spend some money to make more money. 

Collaborations are another part of how you can grow on Instagram. Asking for a shoutout from another influencer, or showing up on their Stories, any any other creative way you can think of. 

Shoutouts especially could be the best form of collaboration if you can find the right profile to shout you out. 

The right profile is someone in your niche, and has more followers than you do, and most importantly with better engagement. 

Now let us assume you follow all three of these tips and garnered a fair healthy level of following with high engagement because we did it with hard work by providing a lot of value. 

Let us now talk about how can you get paid on Instagram. 

Monetize Instagram: Affiliate Marketing 

To monetize Instagram followers passively, the easiest way must be to put up the link in your bio and see the money coming in. 

That is considering you have found the right product that will truly provide some value to your followers. 

Affiliate marketing is such an Instagram monetization strategy that you don’t just have to include your bio, but can, in fact, include everywhere else. 

This is not one of the first things you need to do to monetize Instagram. We talked about it first because it is the easiest one to get it up and running.

Also this is semi-passive, meaning you won’t have to do much to sell, except choose the right product. 

Many people choose to market affiliates of the products they use or have used before. Because that way, you know what the product is about and how useful it will be. 

There are about a million affiliate programs and finding one is easy. However, if you have never come across something like this before, try the Amazon Affiliate Program (FBA).

Yet depending on the product you want to promote there will be a bunch of options. 

Don’t worry about that,  just make sure to choose the right product to not only monetize Instagram account of yours, but to help the followers you have there. 

Shout-outs/Branded Deals/Sponsorships

Do you remember that we just talked about you buying some shoutouts, on your way to monetizing Instagram. 

Now how common do you think?

It seems very common, doesn’t it? And it is. That is why, when you already have a good number of followers, making money on Instagram gets easier. 

You can literally sell shoutouts. Isn't that wonderful?

Apart from shoutouts you can also sell branded posts. Branded posts are posts sponsored by a certain brand or a business. 

These are incredibly profitable and very useful too, especially when you don’t feel like creating a post yourself. 

By the way, while the posts can be sponsored, it is not all you get. You could also be monetarily compensated, or given the product you are promoting. 

Now, you don’t have to promote other brand’s products, be it virtual or physical, you can also promote your own products, again be it virtual or physical. 

The benefit of promoting your own products is that you will first earn more money from instagram. Second, you will also have more freedom in terms of your marketing limits, and so on.

However, it is one of the  best ways to monetize Instagram traffic. That means to send the people straight to your site rather than someone else’s. 

Educate Audience

Educating is another thing you can do to monetize Instagram. Although education can take many forms, the idea is to sell what you know. 

Selling is not really the problem, here it is knowing what is sellable, especially on Instagram. Thus, you will have to learn something useful.

These days information is hot and can really be sold on varying levels of pricing. It really is not what you know, but what you can market. 

Things like e-books, and online webinars, and free PDFs with some related information to what you teach. 

Teaching something related to Instagram marketing itself is another good niche to be teaching at.

You can also do book reviews, or shortened retelling, or teaching how to cook etcs. As it was mentioned in the beginning, the list goes on and on. 

Teaching something you know is also the best and surefire way to monetize your Instagram. 

Because people who follow you will be gaining something useful and beneficial. That in return will motivate them to return and engage with you more. 

If you happen to be in this niche, monetizing Instagram becomes so easy. For example, you could even write a book and sell it. 

Selling books doesn’t in fact require you to have your own, but to just have a book that is related to your field and sell it. 

Own Line of Merchandise or Products 

Just like the possibility to sell  books, and ebooks to monetize Instagram. You can also sell your own line of merchandise or products. 

Your line of products can include all sorts of things from educational material like online courses, tutorials, to real physical products like housing furniture etc.

This works really well if you also have something else you do in your day job. Something that is related to what you teaching on IG. 

Of course, it could be that you teach about Instagram on Instagram and that is your job. However, it is important to consider when monetizing Instagram that the platform cannot be your sole earner. 

It should complement and supplement your earnings, but cannot by itself carry you through it all. 

Instagram has supportive features if you want to make a shop out of it.  You can directly sell on the platform and showcase your products. 

Instagram has been long in the works of various programs and features to help support business and entrepreneurs. Which works for you.

Because, you can even get paid on the platform without your customers leaving the platform. This is great because the visitor will be spending much longer time in your account, which also helps with the SEO.

List of Things to Monetize Instagram Traffic 

Although, we have shown just a few ways to monetize Instagram there exists a lot more.

Obviously, some of the things in the list are clear and need no explanation which is why it has not been explained. 

The idea is to first gain a lot of followers and increase your engagement rate. However you cannot do it in one day. 

This requires you actively working on your account and thinking about the value you provide to your followers. 

Once you go through the hard part of making it on Instagram, you need to start implementing the tactics and tips discussed in this article to monetize Instagram. 

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Instagram monetization?

In short, Instagram monetization is the process of earning money from your Instagram account. This can take many forms and varieties like working with affiliates or promoting your own products, you can even charge people for posting them or mentioning them in your Stories, etc.

The fundamental principle is that you want to make money from the Instagram traffic. You do that by any means you see fit as long as you provide value to your followers on a consistent basis. 

How do I monetize my Instagram account?

You can monetize Instagram account by including affiliate links in your bio, doing shoutouts and posting branded and sponsored content. You can also follow our advice on this and read either the list of things you can to monetize Instagram, or just give the whole article a thorough read.

How much money does 100k Instagram followers make?

You can charge up to 5k per post. However that is not always the case.

That also very much depends on a lot of factors, including but not limited to geography, niche, engagement rate,  etc.  

If you are in a popular niche with high engagement, the rate could be a lot higher. But the same is true for the reverse. 

When you have a huge following it is important that you have more integrity and be cautious about the kind of offers you accept. 

Because, big accounts generally seem to have lower engagement, but the ones with less trust have even lower. The lower your engagement the worse the offers get.

Thus, it is better to work with quality offers asking the highest sum with the least number of sponsored posts.

If you keep posting only the sponsored posts, your followers will be annoyed and may even leave.

Thus, just make sure to post organic content, the kind you used to post before you got too big.

How much money does 10k Instagram followers make?

You can make up to $100 per post. Like the answer above  it also again depends on multiple reasons including those above.

One of the things that will only be available is promoting your own links in your Stories when you hit 10k.

That will make it possible to make more than just $100 per post. Because you can  promote your own products or links and sell them. 

However, the instances when influencers with only or just over 10k followers made more than those with 100k are common enough. 

They smaller influencers sometimes end up making more because of the higher engagement rate they have. 

That is why focusing on engagement rather than making money will actually bring you more money in the long run.

Can you make money with 1000 followers on Instagram?

Yes, you can but only a few bucks considering you get lucky. Thus, when you only have 1000 followers. It is better to wait and work on accruing more than starting to monetize Instagram. 

Despite the popular belief that you can make money  with only 1k followers. Those 1k followers on Instagram are not always proactive and engaged.

Also, some of the features are not available with only 1k followers. Thus, it is better to wait. 

Even though you would make some money with 1k followers, the amount wouldn’t be enough for you to do something with it. 

The best action you can take at this point is to go read this article and grow your followers count even higher and then start monetizing Instagram. 

To Wrap Up

In this post we have not only answered how to monetize Instagram but gave some tips on how you grow before monetizing Instagram. 

At the end of the day, if you don’t have any followers, there is no way to monetize it. This is what the first and the second parts of the article are about. 

To grow your Instagram profile, you need to be: 

To monetize Instagram: 

📌 Make sure to read our article on Instagram SEO and find some of the tips and tricks to help crack the Instagram growth.  

Instagram SEO: From Strategy To Action In 10 Minutes

Instagram SEO?

Are you wondering about how to do it and how to come up higher in Instagram search results? 

Of course, SEO for Instagram is a complicated topic, however, from the point of view of the SEO expert, it works just like any other search engine platform.

Thus, mastering Instagram SEO is just a matter of knowledge and practice. 

In this post, we will give you the knowledge, and the practice you will have to acquire yourself. 

Before you move ahead get ready this is going to be an eye-opening piece of work without any bullshit and cliches of today’s internet world. 

Instagram SEO #1: Identify Niche

The first in our list is a bit counterintuitive to what we have just declared this piece to be; no bullshit and free of cliches. 

However, this aspect is important if you understand the core idea behind it. Before we explain what that core idea is, let us just reveal what actually we are talking about. 

It is to find your niche. 

However, instead of thinking about what niche you are in, shift your thinking a bit deeper into the side of the viewer. The viewer of your posts.

 Who do you think will gain the most from your posts?

In other words, who are you providing the most value in each of your posts?  This is the key to Instagram SEO

That person or group of people should be your target. Or, the category of their business should be your niche. It is as simple as that.

Understanding it this way, helps you create better posts and provide more value to the people who are already looking for them. 

  How do you find or know what people are looking for the most?

This is the part where the finding niche cliche comes a bit in handy.

  1. List a few categories you are interested in, or good at. 
  2. Then, do research to find  which is the least competitive. 
  3. Do more research to find out which group or niche has higher volume. 
  4. Choose the one that has the highest volume of traffic but is less competitive than other topics of your interest. 

Again simple as that! Instagram SEO cracked! 

Choose that niche, and start producing massive content, but we will talk about content and other aspects a bit later. 

For now, let us discuss one more aspect of SEO for Instagram and how it is equally if not more important than finding your niche. 

Instagram SEO #2: Research Keywords

Once you found your niche, as they say on the net. It is time for the most important task of all Instagram SEO tips. 

This is not a secret yet, not enough people talk about it. Perhaps, not a lot of people even know it. Either way, what I am about to tell you will truly change the way your Instagram optimization will work.

It is to do your keyword research. Yes, this simple task is powerful. 

What does it actually mean for someone not aware of Instagram SEO at all? It means to search for words that others are also looking for. 

How to know what words other people are looking for? This is why doing research is necessary. 

If it was another platform, this would have been much easier. Because of the existence of many tools to assist you with it.

There is no such tool on Instagram, but we have the human intelligence to help us with it. 

Well, in fact, there are a bunch of tools that help your hashtags be sort of keywords.

One such tool we offer for totally free is called the Instagram hashtag generator, make sure to use it as much as possible and benefit from using them. 

How to do keyword research on Instagram 

This is in a nutshell finding the most searched words on Instagram and utilizing them in an advantageous way. To search Instagram, these are the following you need to do.

  1. You need to type a word or selected term in the Instagram search bar. 
  2. Then wait for the auto-suggested hashtags. 
  3. Copy the first three for Instagram SEO 
  4. You can also modify your search a little bit and put a hashtag in the beginning of the search term to access only the hashtag related search results. 
  5. You need to choose the one which has the least number of followers. 

Why, you wonder?

Because the more followers the more content is available on that topic.  

It is not always the case, and you can investigate the hashtag and see if this holds true but we will discuss this later or some other time. 

That is why it is always better to stick to just the hashtags that you think you have the chance of showing up high. 

The ones you have higher chances of, especially if you are a beginner, are those with the least number of followers. 

Now that we know about doing keyword research for your posts.  

What else do you think should have the keywords?

The answer is basically anything and everything, but let us discuss those in more detail in the upcoming chapter.

Quick Tip 💡: If these instructions sound like a lot, let yourself be lazy and get the tools to do the job for you. Check out our Instagram Hashtag Generator to get the top 30 popular keywords relevant to your niche and profile. You could get keywords without a second thought.

Keywords in Instagram bio

Keywords we have discovered are an important topic for Instagram SEO. They are also important to drive the right traffic to your profile. 

Simply by including keywords on your bio and writing your username appropriately on a certain keyword, you could easily be discovered when someone looks for that word.

Do you remember how we used the Instagram auto-suggest to get ideas for hashtags and keywords in our posts? 

Now, in the same way, other people might be looking for products and services. 

And the same way some profiles show up. When you were looking for those keywords, your profile could be the one showing up on that search. 

How do you do that?

Well, simple! You include keywords in your bio. You should also consider changing your username to a keyword. Instead of keeping your name.

Consider changing it to movie suggestions, or movie reviews if you are in the movie review niche. 

You should need to come up with the name by using some sort of keyword tool of your choice.

Keywords in caption/description 

Keywords are so important for Instagram SEO that you even need to include them in the captions of your posts. 

Description area is great for increasing discoverability, and engagement. Increasing engagement is also another topic for another time.

However, since we are talking about SEO for Instagram, reel SEO advanced Instagram search, discoverability is part of that topic. So we will discuss that now.

How and why will keywords help with discoverability in captions?

In the same way, it would help your profile show up on search queries. Keywords will help your posts show up on search queries if they fulfill that query's purpose. 

To fulfill the query's purpose, you need to know what the purpose is or what type of query you are fixing up your post for!

Keyword research or tools are there to help you achieve just that. Or, you can use the Instagram autosuggest as explained in the chapter above.

Regardless of how you find your keywords, you must include them in each post. If of course, you want to use Instagram SEO currently and increase your traffic.

Basically, wherever you can write something, use keywords, captions, descriptions, bios, whatever. This is the idea here. 

Instagram SEO #3: Alt Text on Instagram  

This is the part of Instagram SEO that is just so important that doing this right will take you to the search results of the platform. 

What does it mean and how do you add alt texts to your photos? 

Alt text means alternative text, that will be shown when your picture will not load, which is important for accessibility. Or from the SEO point of view, it is what you tell the Instagram search engine what your picture is about. 

It was not important years ago before they implemented having alt texts on pictures. However, it hasn’t been too long since this option came about and it is truly an important SEO tip for Instagram creators. 

Follow these steps to add alt text to your photos on Instagram: 

  1. Click on the plus icon, go to post.
  2. Choose a photo and hit next two times until you are just about to post. 
  3. Look at the very bottom to the advanced settings. 
  4. At the bottom of the menu, choose write alt text option.
  5. Then write the most logical explanation of the post. 

In case you forgot or want to change the alt text later on. 

  1. Look for the three dots, and choose edit.
  2. When you click on edit, on the right bottom side of the picture.
  3. You will see an option that says, Edit alt text.
  4. Click on that and change it to whatever you want.

Remember Instagram automatically assigns alt texts to every single pic uploaded to the platform. 

It is better you have some control over the matter, and use it to your advantage.

Instagram SEO #4: Post Differently

Use all the features Instagram presents to increase your chances of having better Instagram optimization. 

That means posting Stories, Reels, Boomerang and live videos, carousel posts, etc. Because not only will they help you with offering a variety of products to your audience which in and of itself is a good thing. 

But also help you increase engagement while improving your discoverability for different kinds of people/users.  For example, some people might watch Stories only, every day. 

If you have been posting Stories, then, you definitely have captured that audience as well. Perhaps, some people like the videos you make and want to watch those and follow you. 

In fact, even Instagram as a platform wants you to use the various options they provide. They want their audience to have a good time on the app. 

So, they care more about your followers than what you do, that is why helping the platform, you might end up helping yourself in the long run.

To Wrap Up 

Instagram SEO is actually a broad topic and can be talked about on and on. Especially with new features coming out every year or quicker. 

SEO for Instagram has become really important and being up to date with that as well. 

However, if you follow the tips and tricks in our post, you will see considerable success. 

Because doing the correct keyword research and including it everywhere, plus the alt texts will already make you go viral if you target the right audience.

That massive content, I told you we will talk about later, is also a part of your strategy (a bonus tip for you from InstaViral 😊). 

It simply means producing content on all fronts Instagram allows: Stories, Reels, video, and photo posts. 

Producing massive amounts of quality content will keep the followers coming back and checking with you to account for more. 

Start implementing these tips and get your Instagram SEO in order. 

Instagram DM Desktop: Direct Messaging For Dummies

Instagram DM desktop is a search done by many people who don’t actually know that you can do it without any applications or whatsoever. 

However, regardless of the possibility to do it with browsers, people came up with certain desktop apps that facilitate this very search. 

In this piece, we will try to answer Instagram DM desktop questions and give some apps and teach you how to write dm on desktops without any apps as well. 

Also, we will answer some of the frequently asked questions such as “How do I download Instagram DMs on my computer”, Can you DM on desktop Instagram and so on.

Instagram Messages Desktop 

Instagram DM desktop apps could be quite time-consuming to download and use. This is why, you can just open any browser you have on your PC or Laptop then access instagram.com, where it will give you the possibility to write DM and more.  

On the right top side, there is a small circular picture of yourself. You will see a few other icons to the left of that picture, including the one that will look like a paper airplane.

to DM on desktop find a paper airplane icon

When you click on the icon, you will have two options: one to speak to and with people on your primary list and the general list. You add people to either of these lists yourself.  

This is why identifying if you are going to be talking to people often is important to sort correctly. 

In any case, whether you want to talk to a person regularly or not. All you need to do to DM someone on the Instagram desktop is just go to the site, and message that person, simple as that.

So the steps in numbers: 

  1. Logging in to your account;
  2. Look for that paper plane icon;
  3. Then look for a general or primary tab;
  4. Once you choose one of them, you will have the list of people to DM.

Now, let us answer some of the questions the internet has been asking about. 

Frequently Asked Questions 🤔

Can you DM on desktop Instagram?

Yes, you can. Easily, by opening the instagram.com webpage, and finding an icon that looks like a paper airplane, and clicking on it to access the messages panel. 

That you can DM the people whom you have talked to or been in contact with. To DM people whom you just follow, or just dropped a follow.

You need to click on the message button as shown below.

Tap the message box to DM on Instagram

How do I download Instagram DMs on my computer?

To download DMs or any other information from Instagram is quite simple. You just need to go to the settings (how to find it is shown below).

Download Instagram DM - find the Settings icon on your profile

Then, click on the Privacy and Security button.

Select the privacy and security button

Scroll down below until you see an area where it says download your data.

Under Data Download you can request download

You can choose to download your data in two types of files such as HTML, or JSON. When you click on that download request, Instagram will give you the option to choose, and ask for your email to send the data.

Once you enter your email, the next step will be to enter your password from Instagram.

Enter Instagram password to verify DM

When you click on it, you will have a window like this show up: 

The final step to download all Instagram DMs

How do you open DMs on Instagram in the browser?

To open DMs on Instagram in the browser, you need to first open the browser, then go to instagram.com to find the icon that looks like a paper airplane. 

Then all you have to do is to choose which DM to open or to read, that is it.

Why can't I see my Instagram DMs on computer?

To check your DMs on Instagram, you need to do the following steps.

It is pretty simple to do it if you are doing it on the browser. 

  1. First go to the Instagram home page, which you can access by typing instagram.com.
  1. Then log in or if you are already logged in it will directly go to your Feed.
  1. Hover over to the area where you see that airplane and click on it. 
  1. Then you have full access to all the messages. 

To Wrap 

To see your messages or to send them, there is no need to download an Instagram DM desktop app. 

Because you can do that with any browser on your computer. Follow the steps shown in this piece to do that quickly and assuredly.