Reel Talk - The latest news should know about Instagram Reels
Reels can be one of the most effective ways for your brand profile to gain more engagement and followers on Instagram.
You may have heard by now that all your video uploads are now part of your Reels feed. Based on the effectiveness of the short-form TikTok-style trend, Instagram is highlighting the Reels stream to offer users a full-screen experience on all posts. One thing to note is that videos can be up to 15 minutes long. Is this change a good or bad thing? There's been a shift in user behaviour, and according to the platform, users are enjoying Reels much more, making it the fastest-growing content format on Instagram. The best way to know if this is the way to go for your brand profile, monitor your analytics and keep creating based on the latest Reels trends.
Did you know that you can "remix" a reel that belongs to someone else? That means that if your content is in the public reel space, anyone else can use yours in their content. You can remix photos, add your clip after the original content so it plays in sequence, and also remix layouts to utilise green screen or picture-in-picture video commentaries on existing reels. The advantages to this would be to encourage your audience to actively reply, share or build on your content by adding their own two cents. If that idea sounds too risky because your brand needs to be protected, turn this feature off from Creator Studio via Facebook.
Another way to create Reels is to use Instagram's templates. An awesome option you can consider is the Dual camera mode which will enable you to film content from the rear camera whilst capturing your reaction-style content simultaneously from the front camera! Don't forget to hashtag! It's a must to include 3-5 tags to enable the algorithm to get to know your content, who to serve it to and make it easier for users to find you via keyword search terms.
Sharing your Reels to your Instagram feed is a great way to increase views and the chances of your content going viral. If you're concerned about the aesthetic of your Instagram grid, simply upload an Instagram Reel cover image so that it matches the rest of your grid. Bonus tip - when adding captions or overlaying text onto your content, make sure that it is positioned within a 4:5 dimension so that it all fits nicely into your feed. This also ensures a better experience for your audience so that when a user clicks on your Reel in-feed that they can see the text.
If you don't want to be penalised for repurposing content created from third-party apps like TikTok, make sure not to post content with competitor watermarks within the content. Instagram wants the shared on their platform to be original so avoid the temptation of clicking "share to all platforms" at all costs!
Need help creating Instagram Reels content for your brand? Get in touch with us to develop some ideas so you can get started and grow your business through content today!