Instagram is constantly creating and adding new features for users to experiment with and use to make their page more exciting, and more enticing to follow.
If you don’t adapt with the times as Instagram makes these changes…
You will be left in the dust, and your competitors that do adapt, will surpass you when it comes to growing their Instagram following, engagement on their page, and gaining customers and/or clients through Instagram.
One of the newest features on Instagram, and the most important feature to incorporate into your content strategy right now, is Instagram REELS.
Users are reporting between 200% and 450% growth since incorporating reels into their content strategy on (at least) a weekly basis.
But figuring out a content strategy to utilize reels for growth, and learning how to edit videos to create great reels, has been difficult for many business owners on Instagram.
That’s why in this guide we’ll cover everything you need to know about Instagram™ Reels, so that you can enjoy viral page growth to the tune of 200%, 300%, even 400+%.
What Are Instagram™ Reels?
Instagram™ Reels is a new feature on Instagram that allows you to create fun and engaging video content. It is currently available in the United States and 50 other countries across the World (as of November 2021).
Instagram™ users can record and edit together 15 to 60-second video clips, set them to music if desired, and share them to their Stories, Explore Feed, and the Reels tab on a user’s profile.
This is (most likely) a direct response from Instagram™ on the incredible growth that Tik Tok has experienced early in their lifetime, with a platform built around a very similar video content type to Reels.
Instagram™ and Facebook™ (both of which are now owned and operated by Meta™) have always incentivized the use of their new features by getting new content types more exposure.
So it’s always a good idea to implement new features into your strategy.
On the Reels tab, instead of only seeing Reels from accounts you follow as you scroll, it’s filled with Reels from popular and trending accounts on Instagram™ — just like the For You page on TikTok.
On top of seeing Reels on the new Reels tab, you can also find Reels on the Explore page.
So when you create and post Reels to your page, not only will Instagram™ reach a higher percentage of your own followers than a regular post will, you are also increasing your chances to be seen by accounts that don’t already follow you.
Not to mention, when done well, Reels creates a much more interesting type of content that is more likely to be engaged with, and shared with other users.
So it’s no wonder that Reels is helping pages grow faster than ever before. Not only is Instagram™ giving Reels more visibility than normal posts, but those who see your Reels are more likely to engage with your content, follow your page, and share your content.
How To Create Instagram™ Reels
When creating a Reel, you can either choose to film video clips on the spot or upload a pre-edited video from your camera roll.
You can add text, drawings, emojis, and other overlays to your Reels the same way you can with the stories feature on Instagram™.
You can access and create Reels in three different ways: the Instagram home screen, the Reels tab, or the Instagram Stories camera.
The Reels tab is the middle tab on the bottom of the Instagram™ app on mobile devices. It looks like a little play button inside of a clapperboard.
To access the Reels creation tool from the Reels tab, simply click on the camera icon in the top right corner.
To access through the Instagram home screen, tap the “+” on the top right and scroll to the Reels tab at the bottom of the screen.
Lastly, to create Reels through your Instagram stories menu, simply click on the “Your Story” icon in the top left corner of the home page, and scroll over on the bottom of the page until you land on Reels.
Once you are on the Reels creation page, you’ll see the following icons running down the left-hand side, in order:
Audio (musical note): When you click on the audio icon, you can select the audio you want to play during your Reel. You can select from songs, or original audio created by other Instagram users.
Length (dotted circle with “30” inside): By clicking the timer icon, you can shuffle through and select the length of time that you want your Reel to be. You can make your Reel 15, 30, or 60 seconds.
Speed (1x): Choose the speed at which your Reel will play by shuffling through the options in this icon. This is essentially a “fast-forward” or “time-lapse” feature so that you can turn longer videos into Reels.
Effects (sparkles): Scroll through a number of AR effects that you can add to your video to add some flare to your Reels.
Touch Up (magic marker): Adjust the brightness of your Reels.
Timer (stopwatch): Add a timer before your video starts so you can get set up before recording.
Flash: Add flash if you need the extra lighting.
When recording your video live in the Reels creation tool, you can start and stop recording multiple times during your video by pressing and holding the record button, and releasing when you want to pause.
If you want to trim or delete any of the clips you’ve filmed, tap the back arrow to the right of the record button. Press into the individual clip you want to edit. When you tap into the clip of your choice, either tap the scissors icon to trim or the trash icon to delete.
Once you’re happy with the result, you can use the draw and text tools and select from a number of Instagram Stickers.
If you’re creating a video with a voiceover or dialogue, be sure to add closed captions to your videos. Videos with captions get 2-3x more views, because people at work or in quiet settings will still watch and read along.
When adding text to your videos, keep the text placement in mind. This is because when you share an Instagram Reel to the feed, Instagram crops it to 4:5 dimensions. To avoid important text from being cropped, keep your text closer to the middle of the screen.
When finished, you can edit the cover photo with a video thumbnail or add a cover from your camera roll. You can also select a totally separate photo to add as the thumbnail if you’d like to stay on-brand or create some sticker shock on your feed and in the explore page.
Now it’s time to share your masterpiece! You can share the Reel to your Stories, Explore Feed, and the new Reels tab on your profile all simultaneously.
Audio For Instagram™ Reels
Music and other audio is a huge part of Reels, just as it is on Tik Tok. The way this new social media trend is developing, you have to be on point with the music and/or audio in order to take full advantage of the virality Reels has to offer.
If your dialogue is a big part of the message behind your Reels, then you probably won’t be adding music to the content, because that would take away from what you are talking about.
But, you have to keep this interesting in order to capture the attention of the viewers on Instagram™.
If you do use music with your reel, you can select music from a huge library available on Instagram™ or use your own audio.
And, Instagram recently added a search feature for users to find specific audio clips and songs, making it easier for users to jump on trends and find specific audio clips.
Take a peek at the other videos using certain audio clips and see what’s out there. It never hurts to take inspiration and jump on a trend! Making reels following the certain trends that seem to pop up every day is a quick way to get in front of new users, rack up video views, and increase engagement with your content.
Insights For Instagram™ Reels
If you have a business account on Instagram™you can view your insights to see how your content is performing, and you can use those insights to make decisions about what type of content to focus on, and so on.
If you don’t have a business account, I’d recommend changing your account to a business account purely for this feature.
With your business account, you can access insights to your individual reels, in order to see how many people you’ve reached with specific videos, and what that equates to in terms of engagement.
This will allow you to figure out exactly which reels perform the best for you and your business, so that you can spend time creating more content that performs well and grows your page.
In order to view insights for specific reels, visit the Reels tab on your profile page and open a Reel.
From here, tap the three dot icon in the bottom right-hand corner of the screen, and select “Insights.”
You can see metrics including Plays, Accounts Reached, Likes, Comments, Saves, and Shares for any given Reel.
The Algorithm And Reels
Instagram™ and parent-company Facebook™(now Meta™) have always kept their algorithm technology somewhat of a mystery. When it comes to exactly how the algorithm works for organic (non-paid) strategies, they don’t generally give too much insight.
But recently, Instagram™released information about the Reels algorithm stating that it will favor Reels that:
- Are entertaining and fun (i.e. delights people, grabs their attention, makes them laugh, or has a fun surprise or twist)
- Are inspiring (i.e. starts a trend that others can easily participate in)
- Use creative tools like text, filter, or camera effects
- Uses vertical video
- Use music from the Instagram music library and/or original audio you create or find on Reels
- Are experimental! Try something new, be yourself, and see what works for you
And conversely, Instagram™ advises that brands and creators should NOT post Reels that:
- Are blurry due to low-resolution
- Are uploaded with a border around them
- Have the majority of the image covered by text
- Do not meet Instagram’s Community Guidelines
- Instagram™ has confirmed that content that’s visibly recycled from other apps (containing logos or watermarks) will be less discoverable on the Reels tab.
Although, on that last bullet, there are a number of Reels on Instagram™ that are reposted from Tik Tok™, that seem to get plenty of exposure despite having the watermark.
As is the nature of algorithms and code, the Reels algorithm will improve over time, meaning the above guidelines will be more heavily enforced overtime, and new “rules” will arise as well.
Keep an eye on your insights, as well as statements from Instagram™to continue to stay ahead of the curve with your content strategy.
Instagram™ Reels Strategy For Your Business
By now you should have read the Command Traffic guide “How To Sell Your Products On Instagram™ Without Ads”. If you have, you know that your goal with your Instagram strategy has 2 major keys:
- Build with the RIGHT audience
- Drive traffic from your page to your offers
Too many Instagram™ users care too much about the number of followers they have, and the number of likes and comments, and not enough about the type of people that are following them, and WHY they get engagement.
You want to create and post content that intrigues potential customers for your business, so that you grow a following of potential customers, not just random Instagram™ users.
While hopping on trends and creating potential viral videos can be a good strategy to grow your reach, you won’t want to rely fully on that as your content strategy.
If you only make “trendy” videos that have nothing to do with your business, you’ll end up with an eclectic group of followers that will be hard to convert into customers.
I recommend sprinkling in the “trendy” and/or comedic videos in order to give yourself the opportunity for virality, but to focus the majority of your content on practical business-building techniques.
Below are 3 “types” of content that can help you attract potential customers and grow a following of the RIGHT audience.
- Authentic Content
Instagram Reels is designed to be fast, fun, and packed full of effects so it can be easy to create authentic content that is still captivating for your audience.
This offers a great opportunity to show the “human” side of your business, to build more genuine relationships with your (potential) customers, and to strengthen the sense of community for your brand.
One way to create captivating authentic content is you can show the “behind the scenes” of your business.
Give a glimpse into the blood, sweat, and tears that you put into your business. Whether that’s content about hand-making products, difficulties in overseeing production, working directly with client’s and overcoming their hurdles with them, managing marketing campaigns, attending business events, or anything else that portrays the hard work and dedication that you put into making your business a success.
Another way is to allow your personality to shine through and give people a chance to relate to you. You can showcase your lifestyle, family, home, friends, pets, skills, what you do for fun, etc.
Followers that relate to you and “like” you are the next best thing behind followers that are interested in your products and/or services, because it’s easier to create buyers out of people you have some type of rapport with.
Plus, as mentioned in the “algorithm” section, Instagram will reward you for creating authentic content, and share you more often in the Reels and Explore tabs.
- Educational Content
Posting educational content is always a good idea to incorporate into your social media strategy. Give your followers (and users that come across your Reels) tips, tricks, hacks, etc. having to do with your business.
This is especially important for coaches, consultants, and other service providers, because you can position yourself as an expert on a specific topic, and become a trusted source amongst your followers. This is key for turning followers into clients for your service based business.
For instance, if you’re a personal trainer growing your client base through Instagram, making Reels about creative workout routines and dieting tips will help you gain exposure with an audience that might be interested in your services.
But no matter what your business is, educational content is a great way to capture the attention of potential customers, because it gives you a unique (and non-”spammy”) way to talk about your business.
Depending on what your business is, you might have to get creative about what you teach in your Reels.
For instance, if you make and sell T-Shirts, you’re probably not going to make educational content about how to make a T-Shirt… But, you might have a cause that you’re passionate about and that your company donates to, and you can educate people about that topic. Or maybe you can give tips about how you create your designs, the benefits of the material you use, what to wear to look stylish with your shirts, etc.
Educational content is great because it captivates the audience that you want to be in front of as a business. By garnering interest from the right audience you will give yourself a much better opportunity to create buyers out of your followers.
- Showcase Your Products
Since you’re utilizing Instagram™ to grow your business and gain customers, the more interest you can garner for your products, the better.
You want to capitalize on any and every opportunity to showcase your products, and Reels gives you a great opportunity to do so.
First of all, Instagram™ Reels are shoppable, which means you can tag your products in your Reels so people can click directly to said product in your Instagram™ shop.
This gives viewers an efficient way to view and buy products that you highlight in your reels.
Another benefit to highlighting your products in your Reels, is it helps to garner an audience of potential customers.
As mentioned previously, the more focused or “niched” your audience is, the easier it will be to sell to them. And by highlighting your products in your Reels, the followers gained will be more likely to be interested in those products.
Note: When I say showcase your products, I don’t just mean take a quick video of products and post them as an alternative to typical ”product shots”.
The more creative you can be with your Reels, the better this strategy will work.
One of the most effective ways to showcase your products is to do so within your “educational content”.
This can be as simple as “how to” videos educating on how to use your products…
Or if you sell info products teaching specific skills and/or strategies, your Reels can give away small “bites” of information to give people an idea of what else they could learn if they buy your material.
Depending on what you sell, you might have to get more creative.
For instance, if you have an apparel brand, maybe you can showcase your products with “styling tips” like: “5 totally different looks you can create with this 1 piece.”
Or if you’re in the food and beverage industry, you could create Reels where you make different recipes that include your products, and highlight how your products make those recipes better.
You can also showcase your products a little more subtly, with more of a “product placement” approach.
Just including your products in your Reels can at least call some attention to them i.e. wearing one of your own shirts while following a certain trend you’ve seen on Reels.
As you can see, there are a ton of different ways you can incorporate Reels into your strategy to help grow an audience of potential customers, and create some buzz around your products.
If you’re still unsure of what you should do to reap the benefits that Instagram™ Reels has to offer, scroll around the Reels tab to see what your competitors and other businesses are doing to help spark some ideas.
Conclusion
You might have heard the saying “content is King” in regards to Instagram™ and overall social media marketing strategies.
Well, if content is King, then outreach (or what we call the Reverse-Discovery system) is the tax.
And without taxes, the King won’t have the funds to make necessary improvements.
If you haven’t already, read through “How to Sell Your Products On Instagram™ Without Ads” to learn how you can implement effective outreach strategies to help the content you create make a real difference for your business.
It’s the combination of a great content strategy and outreach to bring more people to the page that is going to help you grow your following, and convert customers from Instagram™.
And right now, Reels is the most important content type on Instagram™ for all of the reasons already mentioned.
If you’re not posting Reels to your page, you’re missing a massive opportunity to grow your reach, build your following, and create customers for your business.