Once thought of as a mere extension of the Stories feature, learning how to leverage Instagram Reels for business is now a must for social media marketing.
Just ten short years ago, mastering Instagram was as simple as slapping a filter on a photo, posting it with a semi witty caption with a few hashtags. Today, the leading social media platform is almost unrecognisable, thanks to upgrades such as Stories, IGTV, and the newest addition, Reels.
While most people have a love-hate relationship with Instagram, digital marketers and business owners alike often struggle to gain organic traction on the platform – especially when the algorithms are constantly changing.
With short form video now considered to be one of the most effective social media marketing tools available to small business owners, approaching Instagram Reels with a commercial mindset is often easier said than done – so where do you start?
Five Ways To Leverage Instagram Reels For Business
As a general rule, short form video is a format that is between fifteen seconds long and ten minutes long. While Instagram Stories and Snapchat once dominated this space, newer features like Instagram Reels and even TikTok are helping to bridge the gap between ultra short ‘stories’ that disappear within twenty-four hours, and longer types of videos that are more appropriate for platforms like YouTube or IGTV.
Rumoured as a tool to help combat the rapid rise of TikTok, Instagram Reels were first introduced in late 2020 as a way for the social media giant to add their own spin on the worldwide short form video frenzy. Now available in fifteen, thirty or sixty second upload sizes, Instagram Reels encourage users to add short, engaging videos with the option to add customised text or music as well.
Unlike Stories, Instagram Reels remain on the user’s profile, where the aim of the game is to rack up as many views, likes and comments in an attempt to go viral and get seen in the feed suggestions. In fact, it’s for this reason that a growing number of businesses are choosing to create videos or Instagram Reels as opposed to a more traditional image post, particularly as the data has shown that they tend to receive much higher levels of engagement.
If you’re new to the world of Instagram Reels and would like to jump on the short form video bandwagon, it can be overwhelming and difficult to focus on where to start. For a few tried and true methods, consider creating a Reel that focuses on one of the following.
Do Some Research – When people click on the Reels tab, they’re expecting content that’s funny, entertaining, and interesting – and that’s what the algorithm aims to deliver. While these ranking factors are indeed highly subjective, comb through your social media analytics to see what types of posts have done well for you in the past, and focus on those themes to start with.
See What’s Trending – If you’re lacking inspiration, sometimes the easiest way to make waves online is to see what everyone else is doing. From challenges to filters and even specific audio remixes, pay attention to current trends that you may see a number of fellow Instagram users doing, as there’s a high chance that you can steal a bit of the high traffic flowing through them.
How-To Guides – Instagram Reels are designed to live on your profile’s feed forever, and as a form of evergreen content, it’s important to remember that when done well, they can be the gift that keeps on giving. As such, use these facts to highlight and promote your products or services, and add value to a viewer by showing them how it works.
Cover Some FAQs – Similar to the theory behind posting ‘how-to guides’, Reels provide an informal opportunity to interact with your audience. Try not to be too pushy when it comes to product or service sales, and instead try to solve consumer problems before they get a chance to arise, such as posting videos that cover frequently asked questions.
Humanise Your Brand – As we all know, social media is a highly competitive arena, and standing out from the crowd is often easier said than done – especially if you’re using these types of platforms for a commercial purpose. Instead of being all about work, don’t be afraid to show your face on Instagram Reels and introduce the people behind the brand.
Needless to say, video marketing is rapidly becoming a key staple for any successful content marketing strategy, and it doesn’t require loads of expensive gear or training to get started. However, if you have a vision for what your brand’s visuals look like on screen but lack the confidence to bring it to life, it’s easy to feel deflated.
If you’re one of the many small business owners who lack the time, energy or experience necessary to master content marketing, the good news is that it’s never been more affordable to offload this task to the experts – but where do you find them?
The Key To Good Marketing Is Great Content
Here at Content Hive, producing top quality digital content is exactly what we do best. We have itemised a list of digital content services, and allocated credits next to each of these. This means that each month, you can use your credits with us to produce digital content such as blog articles, social media posts, videos and even animated Instagram stories. By using this model, we believe that it enables us to produce high quality content with faster delivery times.
If you aren’t quite sure where to start on your digital marketing journey and would like to speak to a professional, why not book in a free discovery call with us at Content Hive today to discuss how we can get your brand buzzing online.
