Instagram Reels

Instagram Reels are a feature that allows to share short, fullscreen videos on Instagram. The videos can be anywhere between 15 and 90 seconds long, and come with extensive editing tools and customization options.

Instagram Reels are, essentially, Meta's way to bite into the success of TikTok and take some of its niche. As such, you can find many similarities between the Instagram Reels and TikTok.

Why Instagram Reels are important

There are a few main reasons a business should consider using Instagram Reels to enrich their social media presence:

• Be favored by the algorithm — with the sudden explosion of popularity TikTok received in 2020, Instagram had to adapt and release their own version of the same bite-sized video content platform. Because to that, Instagram's algorithm currently favors Reels over static posts or stories. Therefore, regularly producing Reels has a higher chance to land your brand's page on Instagram's Explore section, giving you more visibility and thus allowing more people to enter your marketing funnel;
• Get more engagement — as Reels are favored by the algorithm, more users interact with them, driving more engagement;
• Storytelling opportunities — one of the main advantages of social media presence for businesses is the ability to "humanize" themselves, building trust and loyalty. Reels are a great avenue to tell your brand's story by showing people behind the scenes. Putting a face to the name improves a brand's likeability and makes the customers feel more connected;
• Nev avenue for analytics — taking a peek at your Reels' performance can highlight the higher-level picture of how your brand's social media presence is holding up.

Instagram Reels best practices

Just a few suggestions for extracting the most out of your Reels:

• Appeal to the algorithm — it is your best friend when it comes to getting people to see your content. Therefore, it is paramount to stay on top of content developments — use trending sounds and music clips, add relevant hashtags, and jump onto content trends be it a how-to guide or another dance challenge;
• Monitor Reels from other creators — this is your best shot at seeing what kind of content gets pushed to users' Explore tabs and picking up cues and ideas for your own Reels;
• Make Reels more entertaining or informative than salesy — the simple truth is, nobody opens their social media apps to see ads. As such, make sure to create content that is entertainment or education first, marketing and sales second;
• Keep posting — much like with Instagram stories or the main feed, consistently putting out content is something you should be doing to increase your visibility. The all-mighty algorithm shows clear preference for fresher content, too.

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