Discover the secrets to creating viral Instagram Reels! Boost your engagement and reach with these tips and tricks for captivating content.
If you’ve been paying attention to Instagram recently you’ll have noticed Reels are taking over your feed. While Instagram was founded on the idea of sharing pictures with friends and family, these short videos are becoming the most popular post styles. As a brand, you should be utilizing the popularity of Instagram Reels to help boost your engagement, reach, and profile views. Here are some tips to make sure followers stop their scroll.
Shot List
Planning is one of the best things you can do when creating a reel. I recommend creating a general shot list first. This will provide a guideline that can be used for all clients. After you have your general shot list created, you should go into depth and plan shots specific to your client or event. For example, if you’re making a reel for a restaurant you may want to show food being dipped into their famous dipping sauce, but if your client is a boutique you may show a piece of decor specific to them. Unfortunately, nothing ever goes completely to plan so it’s important to always have backup ideas while getting content; writing all your ideas down will help keep you clear-headed in the moment and allow you to get the best possible shots.
Trending Sounds & Music
One of the first things people will notice about your reel is the sound attached to it. If the music isn’t enticing to them they’ll likely scroll past. As with everything I talk about in regards to engagement, it goes back to your target audience. The audio should intrigue them and also make sense to them. If your target audience doesn’t know a song or understand a trending sound it won’t perform well. Luckily, Instagram makes it pretty easy to save and find sounds to use.
Money Shot
The goal with any post, especially Reels, is to stop the scroll and have followers interact with your post. Most people’s attention span is about 3 seconds so you have to put your best shot first in order to peak followers interest. The money shot is different depending on the client, event, occasion, etc so make sure the first shot is not only intriguing but also makes sense with the context. A money shot can be a picture if it’s an amazing picture, but I recommend starting with a video because videos tend to do a better job of catching followers eyes and getting them sucked into the Reel.
Experiment
The great thing about Reels is there aren’t any set formats or rules. This gives you the creative freedom to play around with different types of reels to see what creates the best engagement numbers. Whether this is a storybook-style video, using fancy transitions, or stop motion figure out what works best for the brand and go from there. I recommend looking for similar brand accounts or accounts that inspire you. There are great ideas all over social media that you should be taking advantage of.
Thumbnail
One of the most important aspects of your Reel is the thumbnail. The thumbnail is the picture that shows up on your grid when the reel isn’t playing. When people are scrolling through your Instagram account, the thumbnail is what is going to pique their interest and encourage them to view the reel. The thumbnail should be the most visually appealing photo and it should also connect back to the reel. For example, if you’re showing off brunch specials in a reel a good thumbnail would be syrup being poured over french toast. Not only is this image visually appealing, but it makes people want to learn more about the delicious-looking french toast.
Another tip for thumbnails is to add text to the picture. Titling your Reel can also help create buzz because people will be drawn to the keywords and want to watch the reel. If you add text to your Reel remember to keep it in the bottom third and centered so that the text will show up without being cut off by the Instagram grid.
While there really is no secret formula to creating viral Instagram Reels, testing out these different methods will help you see positive results. It's important to stick with it and keep testing new methods until you find what works for you! Establishing a well-defined Social Media Content Strategy is a great first step to help you create content that resonates and connects to your target audience. Get started using our Social Media Content Strategy and Branding Template: CLICK HERE.
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