What the Hell is Instagram Reels?

Social Media has evolved from the simple platform for meeting people into what it is today. These social media platforms undergo changes as fast as possible to integrate new, exciting, engaging features. In particular, Instagram has something new called reels. Now, you’re probably thinking that sooner or later EVERY platform will have something like this in the future, but that’s beside the point. Instagram reels are pretty useful and interesting, capable of having your target audience hooked to the content you produce. So, what the hell are Instagram reels?

What Are You?!

Instagram Reels enable users to upload micro-videos on the platform, the same kind of videos that brought TikTok to popularity. However, micro-videos don’t exactly fit in with how Instagram is organized. It is best known for the aesthetic of a user’s feed as well as IGTV videos, which are comparably longer than micro-videos.

With that, they decided to launch this separate feature to accommodate 15-30 second videos that users can find and explore with ease. In contrast to IGTV videos that can range from tutorials to interviews, Instagram Reels are short clips meant for users to view and scroll through rather quickly. So, yeah, kinda like TikTok.

Reels can be uploaded to a user’s feed if they wanted to, but Instagram also revamped the app with a tab now present in user profiles as well as the bottom navigation bar for accessing Reels. Tapping the Reel icon takes a user to see the most popular and most recent Reels. Also, the Reels that are shown aren’t just from the accounts you follow, but from other accounts, too.

Shootin’ ’em Reels

Like you would when you are creating a new post, story, or live video, press the plus sign. Scroll through the options to find and select Reels. Once you’re there, you can upload a previously recorded video or shoot one on the spot by pressing the record button. Before this, you must decide on recording either a 15-second video or a 30-second video. You can opt to use a countdown to help you compose yourself when you shoot clips alone. In between takes, you can stop the recording and switch camera angles, reorganize your scene, or focus on a different subject; whatever suits your purposes.

Editing and re-recording is also an option. You can trim parts of your recording or delete and completely re-record them. Additionally, you can use the Align button before recording the next part of your clip so the focus remains the same. You could even speed up or slow down your clip’s playback. Use some background music, a few video effects, and once you’re satisfied with what you’ve made, check the preview, add a good caption, then go publish. Yippee!

Using Instagram Reels for Business

What Instagram Reels is presenting you is a creative method to promote your brand, product, or service. Here are some ideas for you to try to do to make the best out of this new feature:

Engaging Content

You won’t always have to have a sales pitch when you use social media to reach out to your followers. Sometimes, all you need is to create fun, engaging content. You’d want to build a good relationship between you and your followers, and using reels is one of the best ways to do this. A short about your company, your product, or the services you offer with the right mix of music and a compelling message might just do the trick!

Pick with Their Brains

Users stick around when their minds are put to work. Keep them busy by having snippets of educational content that you have up on IGTV. Also, you can use reels to explain certain topics that are relevant to your brand. Quick tutorials are one of the surefire ways to generate high engagement rates, so you may want to create these, too. A variety of videos must be present in your Instagram Reels, and including tutorials in your arsenal would definitely help your brand.

What’s New

Whether you have a new lineup of products to launch or a new service now available, use Reels to showcase them. Not like the way a typical ad goes, but rather in a way that would urge them enough to make a purchase. With Instagram Reels, you can go straight to the point and get them excited about buying your latest release or taking advantage of your newest offer.

Go Behind-the-Scenes via Instagram Reels

It is important for your followers to know that they’re interacting with actual people, not with machines. Humanize your account by posting behind-the-scenes reels. These could include the process of how your products are made, shots of the office and the employees, or even your social media team. You could have someone randomly interview your employees about the things they do. Maybe you’d prefer to make a quick short that covers how you create what you sell. Either way, both would be excellent approaches to behind-the-scenes reels.

General Reposti. You are a Bold One.

If you’ve already got a TikTok thing going on, then you could repurpose these videos and repost them as reels. This is a great way of saving time and resources since you won’t have to exhaust both of those twice to create content for different platforms. Sure, your videos from TikTok would end up with the logo, but that’s okay. It’s actually a good, subtle way of telling your followers that “Hey, we’re on TikTok, too.”

Extra! Extra!

Special offers, sales, and discounts can also find a place in your Reels gallery. Just don’t overcomplicate things when making Reels for these. It’d actually be better to take the casual, engaging approach over the loud, distracting method. Remember, you’re trying to compress the most amount of relevant information AND keeping your followers interested, not making an ad that most people would probably skip through.

Up your social media marketing game by using Instagram Reels. Make short, engaging, and memorable videos today to grow your Instagram followers!