What Makes A Good Instagram Reel?
Instagram Reels are a massive part of the platform these days. If you’re using Instagram for marketing, you need to get your Reels right. You can use Reels for selling products, making business announcements, or simply just to have fun with your followers.
Whatever your reason and objective, it’s important to make sure that the platform works for your brand.
There are the basics that you should always get right – ensuring you film vertically and putting up video that is high enough quality for the platform. You should also refrain from posting videos that have watermarks from other platforms (i.e.. Copying your videos from TikTok straight over to Instagram). Once you have posted your Reel, it’s also good to post it to your regular feed and your Stories. This will help you gain more traction.
Then there are the tricks that you should know to make sure your videos work well on Instagram:
Use Audio From The Platform
When you upload your Reel videos, there is the option to add audio from the Instagram collection. This is a must if you want to boost your video in the algorithm. It’s also critical if you want there to be no copyright issues with the audio on your video. This doesn’t mean that you can’t use the audio from your video, but the music from the platform will enhance your video’s performance.
Essentially, the audio available on the Reels section of the platform is searchable. Users will find a song they like and look to see what videos are available on it. The algorithm will also serve your video up to people who have watched similar videos on their feeds.
Add In Text To Enhance The Video
On the flip side, a lot of people will watch Reels without the sound on. They may be in public or at work so can’t turn on the sound. If you don’t have text or captions for your video, these viewers will not be able to fully engage with what you’re presenting.
Just make sure that the text doesn’t overwhelm the whole video or take over the visuals. You still want what you filmed to be the main attraction.
Make Sure You Brand Each Video
When scrolling through their Feed, most people don’t actually look at a video’s creator. This means that you can’t rely on your videos to get you brand recognition without some kind of branding or watermark on the video itself. It’s always a good idea to include your logo somewhere on the video. You can go subtle with a small logo in a corner or off to one side.
Alternatively, you can punch your logo at the beginning and end of the video so that people know it comes from you. Just make sure that it fits with your video, your target audience and the style of content you make.
Make Use Of Filters And Effects
As with the audio from the platform, Instagram Reels offers a vast library of filters and effects. These can help boost your video’s quality and get you shown in people’s feeds if they like to watch specific types of videos. It’s always best to ensure that at least some of your content looks like it was made in Reels and specifically for the platform rather than being produced in a studio by an ad agency.
When you use the filters and effects, you’ll be telling your audience that your content is the same as their content and that it’s being created by a regular human being, not by a brand with no personality.