Decoding Instagram Reels Marketing: A Short Guide

Table of Contents 

• What Is the Reels Feature on Instagram, and How Did It Come to Be?
• Basic Features of Instagram Reels 
• Equipment Needed to Create Instagram Reels
• Top 3 Benefits of Using Instagram Reels for Marketing
• Key Takeaways 
• Conclusion 
• FAQs

Instagram is a place where youth from all around the world come together. Thus it is a great place for brands and businesses to get followers and customers. However, to do that, they need digital marketers who excel at using Instagram and its features to help them grow. If you are a marketer looking for information on Instagram’s most prominent feature, Reels, you have come to the right place. 

In this blog, we will discuss Instagram Reels marketing in great detail. Moreover, we will decode the trick to get more followers, likes, and user engagement by using Reels. Without further ado, let us dive into short videos and how they became a source for Instagram Reels marketing. 

What Is the Reels Feature on Instagram, and How Did It Come to Be?

Reels are short videos that are usually 60 seconds or less. Instagram Reels is a source of entertainment where people dance, teach, sell, and do a lot of other creative things that could lead them to popularity. With Reels, the creator and influencer economies have received a tremendous boost. Their goal is to achieve more and more followers and likes on their Instagram posts. Reels are said to receive more engagement than regular video content (precisely, 22% more). 

When the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic hit the world, lockdowns were being imposed across the globe. It led people to discover newer ways of entertainment. That was when TikTok rose to popularity with its short-video content, and with it came Instagram Reels. Many believed it was a strategic move by Instagram, with TikTok’s future being bleak in several countries. Therefore, Instagram Reels gave birth to a new way of marketing for digital marketers, and they started coming up with Reels ideas for digital marketing. 

The popularity of TikTok was growing at an astonishing rate, and day by day, new apps were coming into the short video market. Post its launch in 2020 across 50 countries, the Reels feature took a couple of months to actually catch up. What happened post that is history. Instagram launched ads and hired famous personalities to make short videos on their app to make it popular. Today, top brands and influencers receive millions of views on each Reel (talk about virality!)

Basic Features of Instagram Reels

Here’s a shortlist of the key features of Instagram Reels.

• You can add amazing video effects to your Reels.
• You can add music to your Reels and even use the text-to-speech feature.
• You can add text to your Reels.
• You can share your Reels on other platforms, and on Instagram stories too.
• You can edit the layout of your Reels.
• Creators can even collaborate with other creators by using the Reels feature,
• You can change the playback speed of your Reels.

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Equipment Needed to Create Instagram Reels

As a marketer, you need to create high-quality Instagram Reels to attract new customers and followers. To do that, you will need some equipment. Keep in mind that there is no limit to the equipment you can use to create unique videos. However, we will be listing only the most essential equipment, without which it will be hard to make good Reels for Reels or even come up with a sound Instagram Reels strategy. Scroll below to know about the technology needed for Reels marketing.

• A good-quality camera: some options you can choose from are your phone camera, a DSLR, or GoPro. 
• A video editing app: InShot, Adobe Premiere Rush, Clips, and Splice are a few apps you can use to edit videos.
• Camera stand: you will need a study camera stand to hold your camera and provide stability.
• Lights: You will need premium lumen to brighten up your subject for the video. Most Reels creators use ring lights to highlight their faces.
• Shooting kit: If you are quite serious about using Instagram Reels for marketing (and if you have the resources), we recommend buying a shooting set. It helps you create the perfect foundation for your videos. A video shooting kit typically comprises primary and secondary cameras, lens options, different types of lights, mics, storage cards, and batteries.

Top 3 Benefits of Using Instagram Reels for Marketing

In the next section, we discuss why it’s important to craft an Instagram Reels strategy in the digital landscape of today. 

1. It drives likes

Today, almost every marketer’s goal is to come up with Reels ideas for digital marketing. This is because they know it can increase brand awareness. However, in order to accurately use Instagram Reels for marketing, you need to carefully take stock of what type of content your audience likes to consume. Here is an idea for your next Instagram Reels strategy: people like to see funny things, and if you look closely, a large number of Reels that cross the one-million mark are humorous. Package your content in a humorous way and see the results for yourself. 

Moreover, there is something called a trend in Reels. Sometimes people all around the world start making Reels using viral filters or music. That is usually done to get more likes and views. Any marketer would be a fool to miss hopping on the trend train, which is the perfect opportunity to get more engagement on your videos. The only challenge is coming up with an exciting video idea under your niche that correlates to the trend.  

2. It increases followers

After TikTok, Instagram Reels is the most popular source of short videos that people worldwide like to consume. And as people grappled with ideas to keep themselves entertained at home during the lockdown, its popularity shot through the roof. Thanks to that, marketers now have the golden opportunity to rake in new followers for their social media pages. You can do that by creating engaging Reels in your niche. Using Instagram Reels for marketing can be even more fruitful if you use the correct hashtags, keywords, and audio.

Let’s say you are a marketer for a clinic, and you handle their Instagram page. In this case, a good Instagram Reels marketing idea would be to create an informative clip that educates the audience on a trending health-related topic. Moreover, you need to add high-volume hashtags when uploading your Reel on Instagram to reach new users and get new followers. Make sure your Reels are informative and provide your users with some value. 

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3. It boosts user engagement

If you create a Reel on a viral topic that is relevant to your target audience, you are sure to get a lot of engagement. It can even enhance your overall marketing strategy for Instagram. According to an experiment conducted by Hootsuite, the use of Instagram Reels led to a spike in their follower count, the number of accounts the company reached regularly, and the number of likes and comments they received per post.

However, there may be times when your Reels don’t fetch the desired results. This can lead to low user engagement, and there is a chance that your Instagram Reels strategy may go to waste. Don’t be disappointed; all you need to find out is what’s causing it. 

Your followers like your content, which is why they followed you in the first place. So there can be quite a few things that you are doing wrong that leads to low user engagement. The first could be using uninteresting or similar content for all your Reels. The second could be that the followers are not getting your Reels on their feed. To remedy the first problem, you need to create Reels specific to your niche, but make them engaging. You can do so by collaborating with an influencer, weaving viral/trending topics into your video, and using the right hashtags and keywords.

In order to solve the second issue, you need to make sure your followers get to see your content. You can do that by sharing your newly uploaded Reels to your Instagram Stories and other social media platforms. By doing this, you will be able to get your followers’ attention and even retain it. 

Key Takeaways

• Instagram Reels has been growing in popularity ever since it was launched. 
• Instagram is a great place for brands and businesses to get followers and customers.
• Reels are said to receive more engagement than regular video content (precisely, 22% more). 
• Instagram Reels was launched in 2020 across various countries. 
• The feature helps drive likes, user engagement, and followers. 

Conclusion

This blog has included the key aspects related to Instagram Reels a marketer needs to know. If you are a novice in digital marketing, you need to understand how Instagram Reels marketing works, and regularly implement the top Instagram Reels strategies as part of your overall marketing plan.

FAQs