Whether or not you’ve already discovered Instagram Reels, here is the ultimate guide on how they can benefit your business. They are a great way to engage with your online audience. They have taken a centre stage with Instagram’s most recent upgrades.

What are Instagram Reels?

Instagram Reels are a brand new way to create fun and engaging video content. They are 15-30 second clips allowing you to also play music in the background. You will find the reels tab in the centre of the new Instagram navigation bar.

You can share these reels to stories and on your profile grid. Or if you want to view other user’s reels, you can find them in your explore tab or within the reels button on their profile. You will see the reels symbol in the bottom corner of a clip so you will know the difference between a generic video and a reel.

As you scroll through your feed, you may notice some reels have a ‘featured’ label above the caption. Featured reels are chosen by Instagram themself to help users discover original content that is unique and entertaining.

How to create an Instagram Reel?

There are 3 different ways to create an Instagram reel. Either though the home screen, reels tab or through the Instagram stories tab. 

To create a reel through the reels tab, all you need to do is click on the camera in the top right corner. When on your home page, you should have a ‘+’ in the top panel bar. Click on it and select ‘Reel’ to start creating your short clip. Or finally, to access reels through the stories tab, scroll through the options at the very bottom of your screen until you see ‘reels’. You should see the option amongst ‘story’, ‘post’ and ‘live’.

Creating your Reel…

Once you’re through to the next page, you can start creating your reel. You should see a selection of options down the left hand side of your screen. This is where you can choose your audio to play alongside the short clip. Simply click on ‘audio’ and you can search for the sound track that you want. Other options you may see here are speed, effects and timer. The speed refers to how long you want your reel to be; 15 or 30 seconds. The effects allow you to put a filter on your reel; very similar to the effects option you’re given when posting a story. The timer allows you to set a countdown before the recording starts. You can choose between a 3 – 10 second countdown. This gives you the opportunity to get into position before you start recording your reel.

When creating an Instagram reel, you can either choose to film the video clips there and then, by holding down the reels symbol in the centre of your lower screen. Or you can upload them from your camera roll. Once you’ve selected your video clips and are happy with the ordering of them, you can choose from the usual Instagram draw and text tools to edit and personalise the reel. You can even select one of Instagram stickers or gifs.

When you’ve finished, you can edit the cover photo of your reel using a video thumbnail. Or you can choose a cover photo from your camera roll. Now you are ready to share your masterpiece! Simply click ‘share’ at the bottom of the screen.

If you’d prefer to come back to it later on, you can save the reel in your ‘drafts’ and either continue editing or share at a later date. You will find your drafts in the reels tab on your profile.

How to use Reels for your business

Reels are a fantastic way to build a community and grow your reach on Instagram. Not only are they fun and engaging, it’s a chance for you to get creative! Reels may still be new to the scene, but they are proving to be a platform that both brands and influencers can take advantage of. We can guarantee that you only need to using this new feature for a few weeks before you start to see a rise in engagement.

So if you’ve already set up your business on Instagram, it is definitely worth giving Instagram reels a go. Just take a look at TikTok and how quickly its popularity grew in just a few weeks.

The algorithm for Instagram reels has been completely figured out yet due to being a new feature on the app, however many are suggesting it is similar to TikTok’s ‘For you’ page. It’s influenced by who you follow, what content you interact with and your location.

So here are some easy ways you can apply Instagram Reels to your marketing strategy…

Create Authentic Content

As previously mentioned, reels are a fantastic and fun way to engage with your audience. They are packed full of special effects that help create a captivating video. Reels are a great opportunity for companies to show a more authentic side to them. Great for building trusting relationships and strengthen the company’s community. Instagram reels even have the opportunity to reach a whole new audience. If new audiences enjoy what they see, they are likely to click the ‘follow’ button straight away.

Share Educational Content

A great way to initiate engagement is to post educational content. For example, give your followers your top 3 recipes or show them how to get the perfect photo. There are so many ways you can create educational reels. To boost any engagement, you can add a selection of hashtags in your caption, such as #favouriterecipes or #pictureperfect.

Showcase Products through Reels

Another fantastic way to use Instagram Reels is to showcase your products to drive more awareness and sales. You can be as creative as you want, and you never know… users may purchase your products straight from the reel. If a user is interested in what they see, they have the option to ‘view products’ to learn more about the product displayed in the video.

Because reels can be discovered on the explore tab, this means that users who don’t even follow you can come across your reels and learn more about your business/products.

Get involved with Instagram Reels today…

Now is the perfect time to jump on Instagram Reels, whilst the competition is still fairly low. Follow our guide and you’ll be on a roll with creating exciting and engaging content for your business. If you have any further questions, or simply want assistance with managing your Instagram, or any social media, speak to our digital marketing team today.