Hot Tips & Tricks for REELS!
If you haven’t done one yet — what are you waiting for?
At this point, it feels like we are mere slaves to the almighty ALGORITHM, creating content to appease it and try to get decent stats/hits/numbers/views. If you’ve been on Instagram lately at all (and now Facebook too), you’ve no doubt been inundated with reels in your explore tab and feed. There’s no denying it at this point—if you want to grow your brand or account—you have to be making reels.
I admit at first, I was hesitant too. I’m no videographer and it’s a little outside my wheelhouse. But the allure of more followers and engagement on Instagram is too hard to ignore, in fact, making reels consistently is the main recommendation of growing an account right now and getting in front of people you would otherwise not reach.
Don’t sweat it, it’s easier than you might think and you can teach an old dog new tricks. Ready to reel in the views?
Templates: A Real Game-changer
You’ve probably noticed on Instagram, occasionally (they’re not on all reels) a reel will go by with a little camera icon and “Use template” text above the creator of the reel. If you click this, then all you have to do is upload photos or video into the little boxes that are already cut/timed out to the music or audio. Replace each of the clips with your own—easy peasy!
Or, just save or click on an audio track or song you like and you’ll see a “Use audio” button on the middle bottom of the screen. Then you can film or take as many photos as you want to fit with the audio. This is huge because trending audio is a key factor in helping to explode your reach. Instagram rewards reels with popular audio and serves them up to bigger audiences. Be sure to include relevant hashtags in both the caption and in the comments; you can use up to 30 for each post and it really helps the algorithm find and share your content.
Take this example: I recently took over the Instagram account for the dog I nanny (I know, I know). His account is pretty small, only about 300 followers (@walterthefrenchieboi if you’re curious). I had been seeing several different versions of the “Inna minute, I’mma need a …” audio floating around, some with cute pets sleeping.
Thinking it looked easy enough for me to try, I clicked on the audio clip I wanted and saw that it was popular enough with 18K+ reels already using it. So I used the audio and did one simple video shot of Walter sleeping with the audio track background (“Inna minute, Imma need a half an hour just to lay here and take a nap”). Threw on a saved filter and posted, with relevant tags of course.
Bear in mind, Walter only has a handful of posts total (under 20) and pretty modest engagement. After half an hour, I checked back on the reel to see how it was performing. It had 150+ likes and 5,200+ views in thirty minutes! This was unlike any engagement his account had ever gotten before and so quickly, I’m now officially a reel convert. Proof is in the pudding.
Get on the Trend: Using Music, Songs, and Audio
Once you start really looking at the content you’re viewing, you’ll find loads of inspiration. Instagram stories are also a good place to find trending music, both by watching your friend’s and other brand’s stories and by creating your own. When you open a new story, take a photo or video, and add the “Music” icon—take a second to browse what’s currently hot. You can then utilize it in a reel.
Keep an eye on the explore page. Instagram has also made it easy with the reel icon in the center bottom middle of the app. By clicking this, you can view random trending reels, or by searching a specific term or hashtag, you can also view the top results in reel format. Say you want to see what other realtors are doing and get some ideas. Type in a phrase or hashtag into the search bar, then click on the “Reels” section on the top far right of the result page.
Recommendation: @preview.app and thepreviewapp.com are both great sources for Instagram tips, tricks, and trending audio—even for entrepreneurs and businesses. They regularly post blogs and Instagram content recapping all the trends.
Get Creative: You don’t have to be a professional to make reels work for you
Like always, when creating reels—original content is key. Fortunately, you don’t have to reinvent the wheel either, the main thing is adding your own unique twist.
You don’t even have to get in front of the camera! For example, you can take a B-roll video (something very simple with no people, think the sky, nature, water, etc) and add text with trending music or audio, and bam! Instant reel. Original is always best of course, but if you need to, you can find royalty-free stock videos online.
Video is not mandatory—you can time static photos to catchy popular audio for equally pleasing effect. Templates are a huge help for this as you don’t have to worry about timing the cuts, it’s already done for you. Another super hot tip: LIVE PHOTOS. I have made an entire video reel out of live photos. When making a reel in Instagram, if the photo is live, it automatically goes into the reel as a video that you can edit and trim.
Other easy reels ideas: Do a workspace tour, finger snap transition, start and finish/before and after, stop motion, day in the life, etc. Turn your life into a short video set with snappy beats. You can do it, I believe in you.
Recommendation: I have been following @latermedia for years—I strongly suggest you sign up for their newsletter for hot tips straight to your inbox, or at least visit their website for insight, resources, ideas, inspiration and so much more: later.com
Quick Take Top Tips
Always share the reel you make in your story too, some people won’t see it as a post onlyInclude as many relevant hashtags as possible (30 max) in both caption and commentsDon’t just copy, add your own unique spin and style Keep an eye out at all times when you’re on the ‘Gram—look for the “Use template” icon, save reels you like for inspiration, and click on music and effects to save for later use Add on screen text and captions whenever possible—video is often watched without sound by many
Finally, as with anything else in marketing—be consistent, and share educational, informative content that provides value to your audience. Time to go get reeling!
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DasFort Media is here to help make your life easier so you can focus on what you do best. Need to get something off your plate? Want to talk reels? Reach out today!