Instagram launched IGTV in June 2018 as a standalone app and Instagram experience for longer-form vertical video. The idea was ambitious: make mobile-first video feel more like turning on television, with creator channels built for the way people actually hold their phones.

For SMBs, IGTV was less about rushing into a new app and more about recognizing where social content was heading. Vertical video, creator-led storytelling and mobile-native formats were becoming central to how brands earned attention.

Video strategy needed a mobile mindset

A business did not need studio production to learn from IGTV. It needed useful ideas that could hold attention on a phone: demonstrations, answers, process videos, customer stories, tutorials and behind-the-scenes clips.

Burns’ advice was to focus on usefulness before polish. “A helpful vertical video can do more for trust than a perfect graphic. SMBs should show the work, show the people and answer questions customers actually ask.”

What SMBs should have tested

• Service walkthroughs: Explain what happens before, during and after a job.
• Product demos: Show scale, use cases and results clearly.
• Founder videos: Let customers hear from the person behind the business.
• Repurposing: Turn blog and FAQ ideas into short video segments.

Brand Fuel Digital’s View

IGTV did not become the final form of social video, but it pushed marketers toward vertical, creator-style storytelling. SMBs should treat that lesson as permanent.

Sources: Instagram announcement introducing IGTV and TechCrunch coverage of the IGTV launch.