Today’s episode is for all our party people listening who are begrudgingly DREADING hopping on the Instagram Reels train. If you’ve been dragging your feet every since Adam Moserii the head of Instagram made the announcement last year that Instagram is no longer just a photo-sharing app and that Instagram WILL be pushing reels more, this episode is going to give you SO many practical, tangible strategies and tools you can use to start creating Reels TODAY.

We sat down with our industry friend and powerhouse entrepreneur Jai Long as he interviewed us for his show Make Your Break. And in this interview, we give our TOP 5 strategies you can use to explode your business using Reels on Instagram. 

Now… this episode is a little bit longer, but when I tell you it’s a completely free educational Reels intensive workshop – that’s basically what it is.

We dived DEEP with Jai on not only what you should be doing with your Reels on Instagram, but also HOW to go about it. 

We cover what exact Instagram categories you should be creating content around, what the heck content pillars are and how to utilize those with your Reels, advice to make your Reels more likely to go viral, creative tips for actually making a system to make Reels creation manageable AND fun. 

So grab your pen and notebook, we promise this is an episode you’ll want to take notes on. And probably listen to it multiple times. It’s education happy hour: and today’s cocktail of choice: Instagram Reels.

 

1. Create an Overall Instagram Content Strategy

Reels need to have a niche. Just because an audio or trend is trending doesn’t mean it applies to you. Think outside the box. It needs to be a part of your brand and messaging. Your strategy should not change when it comes to videos, it should be stronger. Make sure you are creating content that is strategically designed to serve your audience with your brand messaging. 

Content categories (different content to focus on): these apply to all niches, any entrepreneurs. 

• Relatable: make people like you, make you human. 
• Educational: informing or teaching your audience. 
• Inspirational: what do you want people to feel when they come to you? 
• Entertaining: you have a huge opportunity to lean into bringing emotion to people. 

Content pillars (your blueprint gets more nitty-gritty): these apply specifically to your business, your brand, and your niche. 

You have to brainstorm within each category what you are willing to share. The pillars are holding up the roof of your brand. What you revert to and reference regularly when creating content specifically with reels. Your reels should fall within that and this will give you clarity on what to create. 

 

2. Short, Catchy, and Valuable

Instagram has given you the ability to make a 60-second reel, just because they give you space to make a 60-second reel doesn’t mean you should. The length of the most viral video is 7 seconds, which doesn’t mean every single one needs to be 7 seconds or less, but strive to make them 15 seconds or less. 

Make sure to hook their attention and then to keep their attention use visual transitions. There are a ton of ways to do that. The reason they are popular is that they catch people’s attention. Also, make sure the text is readable. Length of time that it is on the screen and size. 

Think through making content that is valuable to your ideal customer. Make sure it’s short and catchy but most importantly make sure there is value in what you are creating. 

 

3. Batch Create Them

The more reels that you post consistently the more you will grow. Don’t create an entire reel in one sitting from ideation to posting. Batch create each segment in the reels creation process. 

Pick a time chunk where you are just searching for trending audios. Then take another segment of time, get ready, and then film them by going back to all those trending audio clips that you got. In one period of time go film as many as you possibly can. Another day sit down and edit them or add texts. Then another period captions them and ad cover photos. 

The goal of batch creating is to make it more attainable and helps keep yourself focused on one task at a time. It takes off the pressure of having to create something every day. 

 

4. Your IG Marketing Strategy Needs to be Deeper than Just Reels

Reels are the window display. The reel has the potential to get all these viewers and people to see your stuff, but when they go to your feed that is like walking into the store. Imagine they see a cute dress and then there are empty shelves in the store. When they come to your page there needs to be content that they can sink their teeth into. 

Make sure you have stories going up, highlights, and feed posts. Have carousels that are interacting or giving advice. Use graphics or content of your business. Again going back to tip one, having a strategy makes this so much easier. 

 

5. Stay True to Yourself and Your Brand

Don’t try to “do what everyone else is doing” or “fit a mold”, we assume that that is what you need to do to be successful since they are successful. Not only is that not accurate but also originality is so desperately needed when it comes to short-form videos on social media. People love authenticity. Do not try to push or shove yourself to fit inside a certain mold of the people that you see around you on Instagram. Stop consuming content 24/7 and start creating it. 

 

 

Show notes

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The Instagram Major:  www.theinstagrammajor.com

 

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