As one of the most-used social media platforms for over a decade (with an estimated 1 billion active users), Instagram remains one of the most effective tools for digital marketers to captivate diverse audiences and help brands grow. Recently, the worldwide app sensation has adapted to accommodate the latest video-content trend with a new feature, Instagram Reels. Learn more about what Instagram Reels is and how your business should be using it below!
What is Instagram Reels?
Instagram Reels is a brand new app feature that enables users to record up to 30-second multi-clip videos with audio, effects, and new creative tools. Similar to Instagram Stories, Instagram Reels can be shared within a user’s Feed for only their followers to watch, or for a much larger audience if an account is public. Instagram Reels may only be posted within an Instagram feed or Stories on the mobile app, and users can browse them via a simple audio or hashtag search, or by visiting the Explore tab.
How to Market with Instagram Reels
While this new feature is great for users, brands also have a lot to be excited about. Instagram Reels allows you to expand your Instagram strategy and test out more creative or experimental ways to connect with your audience in ways that the app’s other features cannot. Below are some ways to leverage Instagram Reels and improve your outreach:
Educate Them
If you are already using Instagram to market a brand or product, Instagram Reels can easily be added to your marketing toolbox. Educational content is a great place to start. Whether it is teaching your audience how to use a product, or addressing frequently asked questions, Instagram Reels offer marketers an opportunity to demonstrate their expertise around how a particular product, service, or industry works. In turn, these quick bites of content generate conversation and encourage engagement with your audience.
Product Reviews & Case Studies
Educational content gives a voice to your product or service, but product reviews give a voice to your customers. Attract new customers by posting user-generated content and reviews that display how others have benefited from your business. These can easily be edited with a wide range of sound or audio overlays and shared to a brand or creator’s Instagram Reels. In terms of a case study, Instagram Reels are a quick and captivating way to explain the results of a study posted to a blog or website that an audience may have otherwise ignored.
Showcase Your Business
What’s a better way to give your audience an authentic look at your brand than to take them behind the scenes? Share how your company came to be, who you are, and what you provide to your audience. Use Instagram Reels to record how new products are tested or what a day in the life at your company looks like. Content can be tailored to your business in a way that develops a deeper connection between your business and your audience.
Recycle Content
Don’t complicate it! While Instagram’s latest feature may come with plenty of editing tools to use on new content, repurposing content can be just as effective. Look to your website, blog, or other social media platforms to give your content a refresh. The more ways you showcase products and services, the more chances you have of driving traffic to your website and other social media platforms.
Instagram Reels is proving to be successful in more ways than one for marketers. As video content has taken the marketing world by storm across social media platforms such as Tik Tok, it comes as no surprise that Instagram was next in adopting this approach to help brands reach a broader audience and diversify marketing efforts.
Do you want help marketing your brand through Instagram Reels? Contact us today!