It’s hard to believe that the likes of TikTok and Instagram Reels have been big parts of the social media landscape for around 5 years now - in some respects, we couldn’t imagine social media without this type of short-form content, while in others, it still feels like many of us are getting to grips with the functionality!

Instagram Reels, TikTok and video content marketing can still be so daunting and feel so alien to many. But, lots of businesses know it’s a key part of their marketing strategy and something they should be focusing on more. 

If your audience is spending time on these platforms, then creating short-form videos for your business can be one of the best ways to increase your engagement and have your content seen.

To help you get stuck in with short-form content, here are some of our top tips for creating Instagram Reels! You may be pleased to know that many of these tips apply to TikTok, YouTube Shorts and Facebook too. 

Join in with trends

Trending content on Reels comes and goes quite quickly; often blowing up for a couple of weeks but soon becoming old news. So, it’s important to join in with a trend before it's past its best!

Take a few minutes to scroll through the Reels tab to get inspired and see what’s popular. Is there anything that seems to appear frequently - a particular audio clip? A funny trend?
Scroll through the videos to get an idea of what the trend is, and see how you can put your own spin or take on it.

We find this blog by Later which is updated weekly and filled with the top Instagram Reels trends really handy for keeping up to date with trending songs and reels: https://later.com/blog/instagram-reels-trends/

Be original

Now, this one might seem contradictory after our last point. But, while making use of popular sounds and trending topics is important, it’s also key to be original! 

Creating original content as well as following trends allows you to build a stronger brand identity, stand out from the crowd, and potentially create more lasting or helpful content that isn't just reliant on fleeting trends. Coming up with your own video ideas can help you to attract people that are interested in what you and your business have to offer, not just the latest viral trend. 

And you always have to remember, every trend started somewhere!

Consistency is key

It’s important to be consistent with your Reels, keeping them within your niche and in line with your style and posting. 

Make sure your content remains on brand, sector suitable, and with your audience in mind. It’s also key to remain consistent with your branding style, as this all helps to increase your brand awareness, trust, and recognisability. 

Plus, people often mistake consistency for frequency; we don’t mean you have to post every day. Just aim to create and stick to a posting schedule - that could be once a week or once a day, as examples.

Quality

The quality of your video is a huge success factor when it comes to Reels. In fact, Instagram’s algorithm deprioritises low-quality video content, as well as content that is clearly recycled from other apps, like TikTok! So, it’s best practice to create Reels content on Instagram rather than TikTok (and vice versa).

When it comes to the quality of your video content, there are some quick wins for you:

• Make sure you’re filming with your phone portrait! Reels are designed to be vertical, so don’t use landscape videos in your content
• Make sure your lens is clean for a crisp capture. Before recording, wipe your phone’s camera lens with a soft cloth to get rid of any dust
• If your hands are shaky, try a mobile tripod or prop your phone up somewhere safely so you can go hands free and avoid giving viewers motion sickness! 

In addition, here are two tips to help to improve the quality of your uploads to Instagram:

Shoot in 4K

• Head into your phone’s settings, go to camera, and make sure your videos are set to record at 4K

Turn on ‘High quality-uploads’

• Go to your Instagram settings within the app, head to media quality, and toggle on ‘Upload at highest quality’ 

Be mindful of the safe zone

In order to keep the quality of your Reel at its highest, you must consider the ‘Safe Zone’! Now, don’t panic, this isn’t something from a sci-fi movie, but simply the space of the video that is visible to the user. Once uploaded to Reels, Instagram adds your caption to the bottom of the video as well as buttons for users to interact with your content on the right-hand side of the video. This means that any content in this space is likely to be hidden.

Another notable thing to mention is that Reels are shared in the main feed too, yet the default view is not your entire video, but rather just a portion of your video. Keep the focus of your video in the centre of your screen as much as you can! 

Use captions

Using closed captions in your videos helps to make your content much more accessible by assisting those viewers who have hearing loss and/or associated disabilities and impairments to understand your content. But, it’s not just those with impairments or disabilities that benefit from closed captions - did you know 50% of people surveyed by Verizon Media and Publicis Media said captions are crucial because they typically watch videos with the sound off?

So, it’s super important to add closed captions to your Reels, especially if you talk in them or have a voiceover. Otherwise, the key messages and the content of your video may be lost to so many users. Plus, with closed captions, your Reels become more searchable. Users can search for keywords that appear in the closed captions rather than being limited to hashtags or post captions!

It’s also important to make sure your closed captions are visible no matter where in the app users watch your video (as mentioned in our previous point) whether that be in Reels or the feed. You can do this by positioning them centrally or away from the edges of the frame. 

Add hashtags

Like most content on Instagram, it’s important to use hashtags to help your content get found! Adding around 5 hashtags to your Reel is great, as not only does it help your content be found, it also helps the algorithm understand your content and push it out to those users who may be interested. 

Include a clear CTA

The best way to drive traffic from Reels or get users to take an action after watching is by including a clear call-to-action (CTA) that encourages people to do something. This could be with an on-screen caption, via a verbal direction, or included in your video caption (or all of these). It might seem obvious for people to go and look for a link in your profile bio, but with people’s short attention span and the high volume of content they’re consuming, users need a clear and engaging call to action to tell them what to do and to stop them from simply scrolling to the next video.

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Taking note of these tips and actioning them in your Instagram content can help you to develop an effective short-form video strategy that appeals to your audience. The more you can create engaging Instagram Reels for your business the more likely you are to have your content seen, engaged with, and shared.

Fancy some more? We know it’s a little while ago, but Jess and Scarlett delved deep into the world of short form video, Instagram Reels and TikTok with Chris Howell and Issy Roughan of Howell Media on their podcast, Looks Like We Made It, in 2022. We explored all sorts of aspects of short form video content, including the power of Instagram Reels, why you should be using short form content, and its importance when it comes to connecting with your audience. You can listen to the podcast below! 👇