We took up a challenge to do 30 reels in 30 days. Within the past month, we have watched our Instagram Audience reach increase by 72%.

Reels are a 15, 30 or 60-second clip with music on Instagram, and you’ve likely heard them being compared to TikTok’s. Many people use them to share jokes, dances, outfits and ‘how to’ snippets - and now businesses are using them in their Marketing Strategies.

Reels are a fun and engaging way to create video content that you can share on your feeds, stories. They show up on Instagram explore and also your reels tab on a users profile.

So let’s take a reely close look at what Reels are, how you create them, and some tips for how you can use them within your small business.

How to create a reel

You can find the reels tab on the top of your home page, with the big plus sign, and scroll across the bottom area until you reach reels. Or on your profile page, the same big plus sign at the top of your page - but a dropdown menu will show up where you can choose reels.

Tap on reels and then:-

Choose the length you want the reel to be. You can choose between 15, 30 or 60 seconds. (Your reel doesn’t have to be exactly this long but if you feel it might be between 15-30seconds, choose 30seconds and record the length you desire).
Choose the speed of which you want the video to playback at.
Choose the music you want to use. This can be from the music suggested or from your saved audio. (This can also be done AFTER recording the video, but adding the music first is great if you are mimicking audio)
Click on the icon at the bottom of the screen with the play symbol inside of it to start recording.

Once recorded you can choose to trim parts of the video (used when using transitions between shots), you can add text and filters/effects.

Other cool features include countdown mode if you are using handsfree or mimicking some audio and need to get into position, adding your voiceovers into a reel,

After this - you’ve made all your edits and you’re happy with it, tap on the arrow indicating next/right, and this is where you would write your caption about the reel you have created. You can also tag people here and crop the profile image if you’re adding it to your Instagram grid.

NOTE: In your Instagram reels section, the image is the same size as an Instagram story, however, if you share it to your Instagram grid, it reduces in size to the square tile size. So by cropping the image - you will be able to make the image look how you want it to look on your grid. Handy if you’re following a particular feed layout.

Using instagram reels for your business

Reels are a great way to build your community, engagement and extend your audience reach. It’s a fun and creative way to share information with your audience.

If you’re going to use reels for your business, you should consider your marketing strategy. Some common ways businesses use reels is by creating content that is authentic, educational, or to showcase the products.

Authentic Content

In a world we show our products or services in their best light - reels are a great way to be authentic and show the less picture-perfect side, which is a great way to really connect with your audience, strengthen your community and build genuine relationships with them. There is something about seeing what is truly going on behind the scenes that have us appreciating what a business offers us.

For example, You could show what a day in your shoes looks like. Mine includes a coffee, running around like a maniac for my family and home, and in between doing all the housework - I’m doing my virtual assistant work (which is actually done from bed at night time a lot as my children are asleep)

Another example could be what you have done during your day off, or a journey you may be on, or something inspirational that you felt resonated with you and may help others.

Educational Content

Posting educational content is an amazing way to connect with your audience and also reach a new audience. It allows you to look like an expert within your industry - which could lead to you becoming the go-to person within your community.

Educational content will vary depending on if you are a product or service-based business.
As a service-based business - our reels would include ‘how to’ tutorials. some tips, tricks and hacks for apps we use, or different ways we might create content.

Showcasing your products and services

Reels are a huge opportunity to drive awareness and sales for your products and services.

Reels are also shoppable too, which means just like you can tag a product in a post, you can do so in reels. So if you’re showcasing a particular product, your audience can now tap on the product to be taken directly to your store to purchase the time.
A great way to showcase your products could be done by either showing off a new item, showing them how they are made, packaging your products, unboxing products, or how to use them.

Using and Saving Reels Music

What we have found is reel music can differ between accounts. The big difference is the variety of music readily available between a personal Instagram account versus a business Instagram account - But have no fear! There’s a trick.

When you’re watching reels and come across some audio you really like and want to use now, or know you will want to use -click on the reel music title shown at the bottom of the reel and you can either choose to:-

use the audio
save audio

When you choose to use the audio it will take you to create a reel straight away. Great if you already know what you want to do, or if you’d like to recreate the reel you just saw.
If you save the audio - when you create a reel, you will find it in your saved audio section.

Reels Algorithm

You will come across a variety of reels - and as long as they’re public, you’ll see them from any account. The reels algorithm is likely influenced by who you follow, the content you interact with, and where you’re located.

To ensure your Reels are seen by others, the algorithm tends to favour reels that:

are entertaining and funny
are inspiring
use creative texts, tools, filters and camera effects.
trending music and audio

Instagram has also confirmed that videos made in other apps, and containing their logo watermarks i.e. TikTok, will be made less discoverable.

OUR PERSONAL TIPS AND TRICKS

the most important thing about making reels is to HAVE FUN! Be your authentic self. They don’t have to be perfect, you don’t have to dance or even show your face. But have fun.
Practise. The more you create, the easier they become and the more comfortable you are with making them. Maybe try “a reel a day for 10days” to start with.
Find some apps to help you be creative. We use a few apps (that don’t leave watermarks on videos and graphics) to help create reels and reels cover photos - if there is a particular way we want filters, effects or transitions to look. Some apps we use are Canva and Inshot.
Recreate reels that have resonated with you. There is nothing wrong with this, especially if it comes across as something you would do and say too, or if it somehow ties with your business brand that your customers will resonate and engage with too.

We recently shared a tutorial with a recent blog feature, so he could post a reel. He followed our tutorial and his reel received over 6000 views in less than 2hours! That’s some huge reach.
If you’re keen to embrace Instagram reels and want to know how you can use them for your business marketing - feel free to touch base and book a consultation so we can go over how we can help you, just like we helped a recent blog feature.

Let’s Get Reel