Pro tips to work Instagram Reels into your strategy
Instagram Reels has only been around for a few days but people and brands are being quick to jump into it.
The beauty of adopting a new tool early is that there is not a lot of competition.
Right now, when you’re scrolling you only see Instagram Reels every so often. But soon enough there will be a lot of them, so less people will stop to see yours.
So here are a few pro tips to start using Instagram Reels in your business right away.
Pro tips to work Instagram Reels into your strategy
1. Stick to your same content pillars
The first thing people think as they see Reels (or any new tool) is what content they should create for their business on it.
Here’s the answer: the same type of content you create in your posts, stories, lives or 1:1 conversations with others about your business. Reels are just a different format.
So just because fashion bloggers and jumping up and down and magically changing outfits, that doesn’t mean that you need to do that as a business owner.
You can still use Instagram Reels to:
showcase a product or service
give solutions to your audience’s pain points or challenges
show your business behind the scenes
introduce yourself or the team
teach something
share inspiration or support
And the list goes on.
2. Replace some of your feed posts with a Reel
I don’t know about you guys but when it comes to Instagram, I am all for optimizing my content and my time. When you share Instagram Reels to your feed, you get a lot more views than if you don’t.
It also makes it that you have content on your feed and in the scroll, which means you don’t need a post that day!
And in case you needed more convincing, you’re probably replacing a static post with video content, which gets more engagement.
3. Add a well designed cover to your Reels and share them to your feed for more engagement
Reels have been a big hit with Instagram users, so if someone sees a piece of content from you, they would rather watch your Reels (it’s no surprise videos do so well on Instagram).
So what you want them to do when they look at your Instagram grid, is to be able to easily see which ones are Reels, so you can get more engagement (and hopefully clicks on your link in bio too, if your Reels is pushing for newsletter signups or sales).
We have great Canva templates for Reels covers that you can check it out.
Once you buy them, you can customize them for your brand and always have a great looking presentation for your Reel!
If you’re new to buying Canva templates, check out this blog post to learn how it works!
4. Share all your Reels to Stories
Just like with posts and IGTV videos, I recommend sharing your Reels to stories using the share button (the little paper airplane under your Reel) to get more people to see it. You can share it when you post it, or if you have enough stories that day, share on a day when you don’t have too many (and save yourself from creating one more story!).
5. Use other people’s original audio for your Reels to get more views
Using other people’s original audios in Reels makes more people find your videos, and if they like it, they may check out your account.
Here’s how: people who click someone’s original audios will see all videos that used that audio. And when you like an audio and want to use it in your own Reels, you tend to watch other videos that have used it.
To use someone’s audio:
go to the explorer page on Instagram
scroll through random Reels to find those with original audio to find one you want to use
click on the bottom left where it says original audio
select use audio
Unlike TikTok Reels doesn’t allow you to save audios you want to use later, so here’s a hack for that:
start recording any video on your Reel with the audio you want to save,
click the arrow forward like you’re ready to post
instead of posting it, save to drafts
when you go to your Reels tab you can select your draft, click edit and delete that placeholder clip to record your Reel with the audio you saved.
6. Create your own original audios
Talk to the camera, record music that is playing in your house, do something fun with your team. Creating your own audios makes it easy for you to create Reels if you don’t have the music option and make it that people can use your own original audio, which leads to more exposure for your Reels and account.
You can even create an interactive original audio for people to use like I did in this Reel below (and I invite you all to use it!).
7. Pre-produce your Reels if you need to
Here’s what you may not know: some of the coolest and best edited TikToks are created outside the app and then uploaded.
You can do this too if you have an idea that is hard to pull off in the app. My favorite app is video editing app for this is Splice.
Pro tip: if you do this, you can add text or stickers in Reels so it feels like it was produced in the app, which in my opinion helps keep it more authentic.
8. Reuse your TikToks
Thought the girl who keeps telling you to reuse your own posts would say no to reusing your TikToks on Reels?
“Hell no, to the no no no..” (if you’re on TikTok you know it!)
There is a lot of debates on whether people should post their TikToks on Reels and here is what I think:
When you add TikToks to Reels just because you have them, it’s not a good idea. But if the content is good and will up your Instagram game, then heck yea!
However Instagram announced recently that it would limit reach of Reels with their competitors logos or watermarks (AKA TikTok).
So here’s a little hack for you: save your TikToks without the water mark and upload them to Reels.
Here’s how to save your TikToks without the watermark:
If you want to go the extra mile, you can recreate your TikTok text on Reels so the content looks more native - just write on top of the existing text with the Reels fonts. Boom! Problem solved.
And again, don’t forget your covers, so you can express your own brand in your Reels tab!
Hugs,
Manu