Instagram reels are just another tool to invite a user to your product or service. Short videos make content palatable for the fast-paced user interface of social media. Algorithms on Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest are beginning to favor these short videos. Whether the goal is to increase engagement, showcase your product/service in a new fashion, or simply go viral, reels can only help.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Instagram Reel History
Three Dimensions of Quality Reels
– Content
– Sounds
– Consistency
Creating a Reel
Instagram Reel History
Whether you are a small or large business, Instagram reels are a great way to increase your reach and create content in a way that viewers are loving right now. This idea of short videos started with an app called Vine. Each video was six seconds long. The concept of quick, to-the-point videos went viral. Many apps have tried to capitalize on this idea; for example, the app called Musically gained popularity utilizing this idea, but added the idea of sounds as it was mostly used for lip-singing. A while later, “Tik Tok” emerged and combined the concept of Vine’s short videos and Musically’s ability to add music/sounds over videos. Tik Tok has gone viral and has over 1 billion monthly active users. To keep with this trend, Instagram created Reels, which follow this idea of a short video with music/sound.
Three Dimensions of Quality Reels
– CONTENT
Your audience craves honesty and openness. It makes them feel like they are part of the team and that there are people behind the product or service. Introduce your team, your process, or a funny moment shared. Along with the idea of sharing, viewers love to follow a storyline. Creating a short series for the viewers to keep up with is a great starter.
Here’s a quick side note about scheduling reels: as much as having a schedule is helpful, you need to be flexible. Sometimes a random post will go viral, so for a short time, you might want to follow that choice of content and slowly make your way back to your own scheduled content.
– SOUNDS
Understanding sounds is extremely important. Functionally, sounds are hashtags. The same way a “hashtag” can trend, a “sound” can trend. Trending sounds are a huge part of reach, and, if used appropriately, are a great way to boost your views. However, be mindful that choosing a sound that is suitable for the video and your product/service is always better than randomly selecting a trending sound that does not match.
– Consistency
Like any other form of media outreach, consistency is a crucial part of growing an audience. Some find that picking a day to produce their reels for the whole month is a way to consistently have content ready. This is a great first step. However this could put you at a disadvantage. With trends being popular one week and not the next, it can be better to make reels throughout the month. Choose whichever schedule works best, but be consistent.
CREATING A REEL
Creating an Istagram reel is super simple, once you get the hang of the interface. Breaking it down into five simple steps might help the process:
1) Know the content you want to capture or have already captured.
2) Pick a sound that works for your content.
3) Edit the photos or videos to match the sound.
4) Pick the “Edit Cover” and add a caption.
5) Hit “share”.
Watching a video might make it easier to understand, so follow along as I create a simple and funny post about the team at Root & Roam.