Instagram Live Video has been announced!

Wait, What? Instagram Live Video?

Yes, that’s right, the monster that is Live broadcasting on social media, has yet another head! Last week Instagram announced it was launching ”live video on Instagram Stories”.

From a user perspective, the addition to the app seems relatively simple. When a user has the camera open, along the bottom next to ‘Normal’ and ‘Boomerang’, we will now see ‘Live’. By hitting this button, users can broadcast for up to an hour. The live videos stay on your Instagram Story for a 24 hour period  and after that, they are removed from the platform.

Another feature of Instagram live video, is that anyone broadcasting will have a ‘Live’ tag under their name in the stories bar. This will no doubt drive curiosity and push engagement levels, similar to what we see with Facebook Live video. Users can interact with the live broadcasting, with the ability to both like and comment ‘as much as you want’.

But the most interesting feature, is one that seems to have taken inspiration from Periscope. Users will now be able to find new live stories on the explore section of the app. This means you will be able to see exciting live stories being broadcast, the very second they are happening and navigate through them with ease. This is great for finding and discovering new content and also for broadcasters who can start snowballing the number of views they’re getting.

What Does Instagram Live Video Mean for Business?

I predict that businesses will utilise Instagram live video very quickly. After the huge success seen with Facebook Live, any brand with an Instagram audience will see the huge opportunities available.

Uses for brands will include Q and As, broadcasting special events, interviews, showcasing new products and providing exclusive behind the scenes experiences for followers. Live broadcasting on social media will only continue to grow and with Instagram live video now in the arsenal for marketers, it’s yet another avenue to build branding and engage with our audiences.

With over 300 million daily users, brands are using Instagram more and more.  With brands like Harley Davidson reaching 1.3 Million users in 3 weeks and driving over 8,000 visitors to their site, there is strong evidence that Instagram advertising can and does work.  Marketers need to ensure the content is visually stunning, tells a story, is on brand and has a clear call-to-action. This applies to all types of Instagram content, including your new fancy Instagram live video!

Instagram vs Snapchat

We know that Instagram beats Snapchat in sheer numbers; 500 Million users vs 100 Million users, that’s a pretty big difference. Nike’s most popular Snapchat story racked up an impressive 66,000 views. In contrast, Nike’s first ever Instagram story racked up 800,000 views. Quantity isn’t everything of course but those are some pretty large numbers to compete with. Snap Inc are going to have to do something pretty incredible to recover the ground they’re losing. Some brands have been relatively reserved, when it comes to taking up Snapchat within their marketing and social media strategies. Instagram on the other hand, is the home to a shed load of brands. This new feature, along with Instagram stories as a whole, may tip the balance and see brands ignoring Snapchat even more. That said, Snapchat is still relatively young, as is its user base. It would be silly to completely write Snap Inc off and it will be interesting to see what developments they implement to keep up with Instagram.

Instagram vs Periscope

Periscope is also a relatively popular app but with this new additional of feature of finding and exploring live broadcasts, I think Instagram has kinda of blown it out of the water. Which is a bit harsh seeing as it has essentially taken the premise directly from Periscope. Periscope still has huge benefits; its easy Twitter integration being one of them. It’ll be interesting to see if this has any significant effect on Periscope or whether the audiences are so far apart, it just doesn’t make a difference.

Conclusion

Instagram live video is a fantastic addition to Instagram and I think we will see brands using this feature a lot in the near future. Live broadcasting across social media is going to be huge in 2017 and if you don’t have a live broadcast strategy, get one!

Find out how to not cock up Facebook Live with this handy guide.