Reels: Best Practice
Video content doesn’t always have to be this highly-produced, expensive exercise that blows your marketing budget for the year (of course sleek brand videos are still important - but that’s a topic for another blog post!). It can be something as simple as a 15sec Reel.
And today, we’ll guide you through creating effective Reels content that gets you noticed, grows your audience and enhances your video outputs on Instagram…
BEST PRACTICE REELS:
Make them entertaining and fun: Reels that entertain, delight, grab attention, make people laugh or have an interesting twist perform better than Reels that lack these elements
If “fun” isn’t really in line with your brand personality, creating inspiration is a great alternative: Charities and philanthropic organisations work really well within this area through emotive content
Incorporate fun features that Instagram offers Reel creators, like: music, text, filters, GIFs, filters and effects
Create your Reels in a portrait orientation rather than square or landscape. If you are uploading videos that you’ve captured outside of Reels, use a 3rd party app (or the built in video / image editor on your smartphone) to edit your footage into a portrait layout. We suggest staying away from the “scale” function that is native to Reels: it decreases the quality of the video (further exacerbating an issue that we highlight a bit further down in this blog, so keep reading!)
Use music: you can save audio from other creators’ Reels, but with the proliferation of viral Reels, be original with your music choices because the current songs in circulation have reached over-saturation!
Jump on the viral trends: but do them in a fresh and exciting way: bonus points if your take on the trend showcases your business products / services in an interesting way!
Add value rather than add noise: take the opportunity to inform, educate and inspire!
Get your audience involved: ask them a question and get them to leave their answer in the comments or invite them to remix your Reel
Continued below…
Image Shot & Styled by Shout & Co. for Sustainablah
AVOID CREATING REELS THAT:
Go against Instagram’s community guidelines - the offending Reel will be taken down and your account could be flagged!
Have the TikTok branding on them - rather create a fresh Reel version of your TikTok video
Have the text outside of the guide boxes. You’ll see them appear as you move text around your Reel. Keep your text within this area otherwise it’ll get cut off when published
Are cluttered by text - rather let the music / audio, your actions, caption and a restrained use of text say what you want to say!
TIPS TO CREATING GREAT REELS:
Have a strategy for your video:
What do you want to achieve with your Reel?
How does it build on your overall digital marketing / social media strategy for your brand?
Are you adding value with your Reel?
Is it in keeping with your brand personality?
If you’re anxious about being in front of camera, write pointers / notes for yourself and use a teleprompter app or prompt cards to keep yourself on track! Try not script the Reel though - keep it natural!
Use hashtags: add them to your caption to make your Reels discoverable in the EXPLORE area of Instagram
Add a catchy caption with emojis to hook audiences in
Share your Reel to your stories and feed - this will help boost your reach and engagement
Tag relevant accounts and collaborators to further boost your reach
Be picky with your cover image for your Reel: don’t give too much away, and make it enticing enough that people want to click through to watch it!
Let people know that they need to “watch til the end” because they “need to see what happens!” or “you wouldn’t expect to see this!”. It’s an effective way to encourage your audience to watch all the way to the end
Create your Reel in such a way that it makes people watch it more than 1 time - or on repeat. A quick twist in the final frame or words that flash up on the screen and disappear quickly will achieve this (but use this tactic wisely - audiences can jump quickly from being entertained to being irritated!)
Have a pre-prepared branded end screen that you can attach to the end of your Reel: be it your logo / call-to-action / website etc
Use a tripod to capture your footage hands-free
Post consistently: we recommend at the very least 1 Reel per week
Continued below…
Image Shot & Styled by Shout & Co. for Sustainablah
REEL IDEAS:
Feeling a bit stuck coming up with engaging Reel content? Here are some ideas to get you motivated:
Behind the scenes: show you / your team making, creating, producing, sending out your products
Choose a viral trend and relate it back to your business
Before & Afters: Are you in the business of renovating / interior designing / relocating / eventing / designing / crafting? Show the before, *snap your fingers* and show the end results!
Inform and educate: give your audience value-adding information and relate it back to your products or services:
Tips on how to care for your skin (if skincare if your jam)
Content creation ideas for Reels (if you’re in the business of social media)
How to make a nutritious, balanced salad (if you’re in the nutrition / weight loss game)
Time-lapse of you in flow making your products or delivering your services!
But above all else, consider Reels as a fun way to entertain your audience and you’ll start to see the benefits of all of that effort quite quickly! We always attract a few new followers with every Reel we post, and we have fun coming up with new ideas for our Reels.
If you haven’t yet posted a Reel - go do one now! And then come right back here and tell us all about it!
NEED HELP? WE’RE HERE!
Need help figuring out how Reels can add value to your business’s digital marketing efforts?
Want a Social Media strategy developed for your biz that effectively incorporates Reels?
Looking for inspiration, motivation and encouragement to get started on Reels?
Still not convinced about the importance of Reels?
Book your FREE 30 minute Discovery Call with us and we can talk you through it!
