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Instagram Reels for Business

by Tavia

Hello everyone!

Today I’m going to teach you how to use Instagram Reels for Business by giving you the full package of tips and techniques on how to use Reels efficiently. Instagram released the new reels feature last month in 50 countries so if it’s not available yet for you don’t worry. Instagram introduces new features gradually so it takes a bit of time before they are available worldwide.

How to use reels for business

By sharing with you everything about Instagram Reels you’ll learn to use them efficiently so you can boost your engagement, visibility and why not your business overall. If you are on Instagram just for fun you’ll find this article packed with information that may be useful for you when you’ll start a business.

 

Instagram Reels for Business

What are Instagram Reels?

A new way to create and discover short, multi clips videos on Instagram. If you are familiar with TikTok and love using the app then you’ll be excited to try Instagram Reels. You can create 15 seconds videos that you can pair them with different effects, audio, stickers, text, emojis, you name it. You can be as creative as you want and share your fun videos with your followers.

You can experiment with Instagram Reels in any way you want but if your Instagram account is related to your business then you should approach them differently. Your clients wouldn’t want to see your personal, day to day life or family so keep that private. Depending on the purpose of your Instagram account, you need to use reels differently.

How It Works!

Instagram Reels will help you connect with your audience on a more personal level and since we are talking business here this means planning content carefully and choosing your videos wisely. I’m addressing beauty bloggers, Youtubers, food bloggers, travel vloggers and even finances blogs. Anyone can use Reels and personalize them according to their niche.

Reels are meant to be fun, authentic, quick, informative, captivating and engaging. It’s a new feature that will allow you to create not-so perfect videos in a way that you can get closer to your audience. New followers will get to know you as a content creator or your business through your reels. This is so important to build trust, create a community as well as attracting new clients.

Brands want to know how to use Reels strategically with intent to help to grow their engagement, their connection with followers and more important, how to drive business. So if you are a brand or a content creator who’s passion is also business then keep on reading.

CREATING REELS

Select Reels at the bottom of the Instagram camera and you’ll see a variety of tools on the left side of your screen to help you create a reel. What I like to do is always add Audio first (from the IG music library) to kinda of get the video vibe going . You can also use your own original audio by simply recording a reel with it. Other people will be able to create reels with your audio by selecting “Use Audio” from your reel. If you are a musician, a creator who has an IG page related to music or your business if about music then using your own audio on reels is a great way to get engagement and new followers when other people will use your audio.

You can later add effects, timer, speed and event text. Depending on what your reel is about you can skip the text but for some is a crucial step. Reels can be recorded in a series of clips (one at a time), all at once, or using video uploads from your gallery.

Reels Components

 

SHARING REELS

There are two ways you can share reels. On explore or on your feed. I tried them both and I prefer the first option. You can share reels with your followers by posting them on your feed and get visibility. Why do I prefer to share my reels on explore? Because I get the chance to be seen and discovered by the wider Instagram community. This is so important if you have a business or you are content creator like me who’s business is her passion and does it full time. I want to be on the explore page so I can be discovered by new people and attract new followers just like you as a business will want to attract new clients.

If you have a Private Account then your reels will follow your privacy settings and most likely be seen only by your followers. If you are not on Instagram for business then this is the best option.

Whether you have a public or private account, you can share your reel to your Story, close friends, or in a direct message. If you do so, your reel will behave like a regular Story — it will not be shared to Reels in Explore, it will not appear on your profile, and it will disappear after 24 hours.

How to use Reels for Business

The most important tip is to be first to market. Don’t wait for the weeks to go by before you try out this feature. Instagram Reels are here so you start using them and take advantage of this feature. If you are a business looking to use reels the time is now so start creating your first reel.

My Reels Videos on Instagram

Use reels to truly engage with your audience because engagement is one of the 3 most important components of your Instagram strategy to grow your business. What are the other two? I shared them in my How to Grow Your Instagram article where I talked about knowing and working the Instagram algorithm. Engagement is more important than followers so start interacting with your audience / clients and built trust. Your followers will get to see your brand’s human side through reels, no matter if you are a personal brand, content creator or selling products or services. Reels is for everyone, you just need to create and customize them according to your niche.

If you don’t have a clue on how to start or what to show on your reels, let me give you a few examples of what you can do.

EXAMPLES

If you have a handcraft business where you create jewels, paintings, pieces of furniture, you name it then you can take your audience behind the scenes. Show them how you create the products, take your followers behind the process as they love this type of content. Show them how is made!

If  you are selling services teaching your audience through reels is a great way to use this feature. You can create a quick reel teaching something, educating your audience or explaining how your services work. Brake it up into little steps on your reel, just like creating a presentation on Power Point.

If you work in fashion, you are a fashion designer or fashion blogger then you can showcase your product in a fun and engaging way. Show your audience different ways on how to showcase an outfit, your collection, how to accessorize and so on. Make them fun and not over-polished, just show your human side and be playful.

If you are beauty content creator. Use reels to create quick tutorials, more like a tease for your audience who will crave more and will want to see your full tutorial on Youtube or IGTV. New followers will be attracted by your reels and visit your main platform to see more of that content. This is how you can get new Youtube subscribers, blog readers and clients on your website.

Make sure to avoid these 10 Instagram Mistakes! I recently posted a reel with my makeup look where I showcase the products I used along with swatches. Another idea will be to use reels to preview a review, so show the products, add text, include first impressions and also post live swatches. You can make people want to read your review even before you start writing it. Tease them with a good reel which shows just a piece of the entire cake which will be your review.

My most viewed reels, apart from beauty of course, are the ones created by travel vloggers, hotels and anything travel related. They often don’t use text, just the right audio and beautiful landscapes are enough to make me day dream. But this shouldn’t be all. As much as I enjoy watching this reels, if your business is in this sector, adding text to your reels may very much appreciated by your audience.

You can let your followers know where the videos were taken by adding text directly on the reel and not only as a description. Presenting hotels and resorts by including quick videos of the rooms, restaurants, lounge, swimming pool or view during the sunrise will be much appreciated it by the guests or future clients.

Moving on to food bloggers as a last example. You can use reels to take us behind the scenes and show us your kitchen. Segment the entire 15 seconds reel in 3-5 seconds videos where you show us how did you made that cake look so delicious. Tease us so we will visit your blog to find out the recipe and tips you have on how to cook that cake even if you are a beginner.

I hope you got the idea on how to use reels for business, without the excuse that your niche is not suitable to appear on reels. It’s all about your creativity, imagination and sense of business!

Tips for the Creator Process

I think planning reels in advance is very important. You shouldn’t just post reels without planing in advance. Yes, I mean the topic, videos, content and text. You can be spontaneous when it comes to the other tools like audio, effects, speed, timer, emojis and GIFs.

Think about the reel as a story composed of 3 parts if you wish. You can definitely break it down in 4 parts or more… is up to you. So just like every story yours will have a beginning, a middle and an end. This means that you should post the videos in a chronological way. You can skip this rule if your reel doesn’t tell a story!

For example you can include in the first 5 seconds the ingredients you are going to use for your soup recipe. In the middle part you will give us a sneak peek of the cooking process and finish with the final product where you are working on the final touches. Perhaps you are just sprinkling some parsley or adding sour cream.

Before starting on your reel make sure to think or even note down the 3 points of your story and elaborate on ideas and content that you want to include. You need to take your audience from beginning to end through your story while connecting the A, B and C dots. It’s OK to get on reels and get some inspiration from other businesses or content creators as long as the content is your own and not copying someone else’s work.

If you like what other content creators post, save those reels, think about how you can make them better and customized to your own business. Think about what made you like that reel, what inspired you and what made you stop the scroll.

Make sure to keep your reels authentic and not overly polishes because this is why TikTok became so famous. Instagram wanted a piece of that so they create reels where you can get a bit more personal with your audience. Especially if you are a content creator, blogger, Youtuber the more human you are the better. Don’t work to hard to make it look perfect.

There are lots of tutorials on Youtube on how to add text to Instagram reels in case you don’t know how to do that. By adding text to your story you can help your audience enjoy it more and share information in the meantime. Once your reel is ready don’t forget the following steps which means to add a description and hashtags.

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1 comment

Beauty Trend Blog July 8, 2021 - 12:50 am

great post! thank you for sharing

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