If you’re a social media manager who isn’t using Reels yet, we’ve got one question for you…
Why not?
Reels are a big deal on the platform right now and could be helping you to attract new clients and boost your monthly income.
In this blog, we’ll explain why you should be using Reels as part of your own content strategy and tell you what’s working for us.
Fall in love with Reels
Confession time. When Instagram launched Reels back in August 2020, we didn’t invest much time in it either.
Of course, we had a play – as we do with all new features – but, if we’re honest, it took us a while to really find our groove.
But thank goodness we did!
As we slowly fell in love with Reels we began to attract a whole new audience of engaged followers and saw a big spike in our website traffic.
The benefits of using Instagram Reels for business
In June 2021, Instagram announced it would be prioritising video content on the platform making Reels more important than ever.
What’s more, Reels is the most accessible feature on the app. Reels have their own feed, can be posted to the grid and Stories, have a hashtag feed and appear on the Explore page.
Here’s why you should be using them:
Attract new followers
Unlike the rest of your content on Instagram, Reels are shown to people who don’t currently follow you on the platform.
This means they offer a great opportunity to be discovered by new audiences and attract new clients to your business.
Make sure you include relevant hashtags, call out your audience in the first few seconds and put a short explanatory title on your cover if you use one. These simple steps will help you be seen by more of the right people.
Offer Reels as a service
If you offer Instagram as a service to clients, it’s essential you’re using Reels.
Reels are such a huge part of the platform, it would be impossible to create an effective strategy for a client without them.
Plus, how can you genuinely promote yourself as the go-to Instagram person in your niche if you can’t use every platform’s feature?
Training and workshops
We know producing Reels for clients can be tough. But being able to teach small business owners how to use them themselves isn’t!
This is a great way to add a new revenue stream to your income.
A live portfolio
Your own Reels can act as a brilliant portfolio for prospective clients. When you experiment with different styles you can use them to show clients what’s possible and what might work for them.
Test ideas on your own accounts – rather than on your client accounts – and save them into Guides that can be shared to your grid, Stories, newsletters and other social media platforms.
6 (MORE) reasons to get on board with Reels
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- They’re quick and easy to create
- They add personality and depth to your account
- Your content will be seen by a much wider audience
- They have a longer shelf life than other content on the platform
- They generate a lot of engagement
- They help drive traffic to your website
No more excuses
When it comes to NOT producing Reels, we’ve heard every excuse under the sun.
We get it – you don’t want to point, dance or spend hours on fancy costume changes. You don’t have to!
There are lots of quick and effective ways to create Reels. We love lip-syncing but if you want, you can just talk and share a tip.
The most important thing is to show your face. Remember people buy from people so you need to get comfortable putting yourself out there.
Yes, you might feel awkward to start with, but it gets easier with practice. Set up a private test account where you can play around with worrying.
The more Reels you make, the more confident and less self-critical you’ll become.
What’s working for us
We love creating lip-sync Reels. They’re easy and fun to create and go down well with our audience.
We always get great reach and engagement when we use trending music or audio – the key here is speed. Once people have seen or heard the same track too many times they’ll scroll past.
We like to create visual interest in our Reels by changing scenes or angles, you might want to try this too once you get more confident.
We’ve tested a number of posting frequencies and found that posting four times a day gets us amazing engagement and new followers. We now post at least one Reel a day.
Remember, this is just what works for us. As always, it’s important to test what works for you and your clients.
