Instagram Reels is a new way to build your community and grow your reach on Instagram by sharing fun, engaging, relatable bite-sized and creative snippets with your audience.
Whether it will knock TikTok off its current top spot remains to be seen, but a handful of brands and businesses are already using Reels to successfully grow their business (and actually go viral doing so!).
Sephora France and Louis Vuitton, plus a handful of influencers like Junesixtyfive, have already mastered the Instagram Reels game. Here are some easy ways brands and creators can make waves on this new feature.
1: CREATE AUTHENTIC CONTENT THAT RESONATES WITH YOUR AUDIENCE
Seems like a no-brainer, right? But don’t get caught up in the over-used ‘authentic’ here. It doesn’t have to be worthy in its messaging or have high production values.
Instagram Reels are designed to be fast and fun and there are lots of special effects to use that make creating captivating and authentic content on it seriously easy. It offers a great opportunity for businesses to show a more human, less picture-perfect side — which can be great for building genuine relationships and strengthening community.
In a ‘TikTok For Brands Workshop’ run by Later, Chriselle Lim (Rich Mom on TikTok) explained that many of her Instagram followers didn’t even know she was funny until they saw her on TikTok.
You don’t have to save your personality for other channels, now you can showcase it across your whole content ecosystem.
In the process, you’ll reach a whole new audience as your Reels feature on users’ Explore pages enticing them to tap the follow button.
2: SHARE EDUCATIONAL CONTENT
One of the golden rules of compelling content — add value and educate.
Give your followers your top five perfect photo tips, show them how to style one pair of jeans three ways, explain the top three benefits of life insurance, keep it simple and clear.
Paris-based food studio, thesocialfood, only have a few Instagram Reels but they’ve already found their niche: sharing ideas for how to use their products. In this Reel, they spotlight their artisanal hot sauce by using it in a quick recipe.
They also included the recipe in the caption and several hashtags like #hotsauce and #reelsfood.
3: SHOWCASE PRODUCTS
Instagram Reels is a huge opportunity for brands and businesses looking to drive awareness and sales from the platform.
Since Reels are pushed out on the Reels Explore Page, users who don’t follow you will see your content and, while the Instagram Reels algorithm is still a bit of a mystery, it’s a good idea to use hashtags and descriptive captions to let Instagram know what you’re talking about.
HOT TIP: Repurpose video content from other platforms like Instagram Stories or TikTok for your Instagram Reels! Build it into your Hub content plan.
WHAT WILL INSTAGRAM REELS MEAN FOR BRANDS AND BUSINESSES?
When Instagram launched Stories in 2016, there were 150 million users. Now, it has over 500 million daily users.
It’s a good idea to jump on Instagram Reels early while competition is still low, especially since Instagram could be giving extra prominence to get the feature off the ground.
This is only the beginning! Influencers and brands are already starting to use Reels as a way to promote products and, similar to TikTok, it’s likely brands will jump on the opportunity to partner with influencers to create branded Instagram Reels (more about that here).
As more people use Reels and offer feedback, we can expect to see a number of Instagram Stories’ features released for Reels, like shoppable stickers, swipe-up links and advertising options. It could even borrow Snapchat's shoefie AR tech.
Not only will it be a space for brands and businesses to share creative content, but it could also be an additional e-commerce stream.
Whatever your brand or business, there’s a creative opportunity waiting for you.
Need help with your social media content? Let’s chat.