By now, you’ve probably heard of Instagram Reels. But if you haven’t, here’s the rundown: Instagram Reels are short, three to 30-second multi-clip videos with audio, effects, and creative tools.
Just like most things on Instagram, Reels have become an incredibly valuable free marketing tool for businesses big and small. They help showcase your brand’s values and personality as well as educate and entertain your audience.
So, if you want to learn how to tap into that marketing potential, we’ve got a quick rundown for you.
How to Create and Publish Instagram Reels
Creating a reel is fairly simple. Here are a few steps to follow:
- Open Instagram and navigate to the Stories screen. Scroll across to Reels at the bottom of the screen.
- Use the four creative tools to craft your Reel: music (search and add music over your video), speed (speed up or slow down your video clips), effects (add filters to your video), and timer (decide how long your video will run for).
- Tap and hold the record button. If you decide to set a timer, you’ll see a countdown before the recording begins.
- Press the record button to end the clip when you are ready. Tap it again to start recording a new clip. After recording one clip, you will see the Align button underneath the timer. This allows you to line up objects from the previous clip to create seamless transitions.
- When you have finished recording, you can enhance your Reel with drawings, text, and stickers.
- Tap the > button in the bottom right-hand corner to publish your Reel.
Now that you know how to create a reel, the next big question is what to create.
What to Feature in Your Instagram Reel
The possibilities are virtually endless when it comes to Reels–it all comes down to your creativity.
That being said, there are a few simple things you can do with your Reels, including:
- Being Conversational, Humorous, and Heartfelt: You can use Reels to be conversational by simply sharing your thoughts or opinions or answering frequently asked questions about yourself, your products, or your business. You can also opt to be funny or to offer heartfelt and passionate opinions about things that align with your brand values. People love personal connections, so giving them this visibility into your world is a great way to generate organic affinity with your business.
- Giving a “Behind the Scenes” Look at Your Business: Your Reels should feel casual and personal. You can use them to give a “BTS” look at your business, whether it’s touring your office, interviewing your coworkers, or giving a rundown on how things work in your company.
- Doing Product Demonstrations or Highlights: If you can showcase your products or services in 30 seconds, this is a great way to do it. Here’s the key, though: people are getting tired of seeing ads on their feed, so when you showcase your products or services, make it feel organic. Try not to make it a salesy video. Instead, focus on your excitement about the product or service rather than a push to convert.
- Jumping On Current Trends: Instagram Reels are chalk full of ever-changing trends that you can capitalize on. The best way to keep up with them all? Scroll through Reels now and again to see what others are doing. Feel free to emulate it and make it your own–or try to create your own trend! Pro tip: Instagram has incorporated Reels into your feed, so you can find them by simply scrolling down far enough.
- Collaborating with Others: Are there influencers or other professionals in your business that you can collaborate with to create a Reel or series of Reels? This could be something like a simple dialogue or a series of tips that will be relevant and bring value to your audience. It also offers the opportunity for cross-pollination of networks–in other words, gaining visibility to each other’s networks in order to get more eyeballs on your products or services.
Instagram Reels are a fun and engaging way to drive brand awareness and create organic connections with your followers and target audience. By putting in some time to learn how to use them, you can equip your small business with another powerful–and free–marketing tool.
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