6 Top Tips For Creating Engaging & Professional Instagram Reels
Instagram Reels is still an untapped resource when it comes to video marketing. While TikTok reigns supreme thanks to its rapid global expansion, Instagram Reels offers content creators a new way to attract and grow an organic online audience. As ongoing travel restrictions continue to increase the amount of time we all spend on social media, if you’re hoping to take advantage of such a captured audience right now, video marketing should be at the top of your content strategy plan. Unlike static images and lengthy YouTube videos, Instagram Reels supports our growing thirst for fresh, fast entertainment that can be accessed with just one swipe.
In this article, we’re going to reveal 6 top tips for creating more engaging, unique, and professional videos for Instagram that won’t call for a huge amount of time, energy, or resource. So, if you want to seize this video marketing opportunity, make yourself a cup of coffee, and let’s get into it!
1: Use Video Templates
Publishing videos to Instagram gives you the chance to promote your brand, tag a product or service and drive relevant traffic to your website or blog, but creating videos for Instagram Reels can feel a little daunting at first. The good news is, there are ways to make the editing and publishing process fast and convenient.
Video templates are a must-have tool for any content creator or video editor and considerably cuts down the time and effort it takes to produce and edit Instagram Reels. The best video template site we’ve found is InVideo, which has over 1 million users around the world. InVideo offers simple-to-use and edit templates for video creation. Simply choose from thousands of customizable Instagram video templates and follow their simple step-by-step guides to produce high-quality Instagram Reels every time.
2: Create Instagram Reels To Entertain & Educate
Once you’ve got the hang of creating and editing using video templates, it’s time to move onto your content strategy. To publish videos that your target audience will connect with and enjoy, you’ll need to add value to your viewers. One way to do this is by educating your audience. Consider posting tips, advice, life hacks, and answering FAQs. Alternatively, entertain and delight your followers by sharing videos that trigger an emotional response. Sharing a video of puppies will almost always melt viewers’ hearts and encourage them to share it with their friends and family, whereas Reels of adrenalin junkies will excite your audience and simultaneously trigger fear and intrigue.
Red Bull France is a prime example of how Instagram Reels can effectively entertain viewers while boosting an account’s performance and key stats. This account is one of the most popular for video content on Instagram, and they enjoy over 2.4 million views on Instagram Reels. So, before you start filming your next video for social media, first consider who your target audience is, what their key interests are, and what would they really enjoy watching on Instagram?
3: Reward Viewers
Another way to grow your Instagram Reel audience is to start rewarding your viewers and loyal followers. This can be achieved by engaging with them directly, following them back, thanking certain viewers during an Instagram Reel video, or offering exclusive content, offers, and discounts. It will eventually build hype about your brand and encourage more followers to watch your videos or risk missing out on certain opportunities, discounts, and competitions. Sephora actually does this really well, by showing their audience how to use promo codes when shopping online to access a free bag of goodies or save money at the check-out.
4: Introduce Video Props
To give yourself the upper hand and position your brand way ahead of competitors online, combine video props with video marketing. By producing authentic, realistic videos for Instagram, you will blur the lines between reality and fiction. Video props can help you become more creative in what you choose to film and share online and ensure your content is believable and professional. This is particularly important if you specialize in video production, content creation, or photography. From breakaway bottles designed to give the illusion of a realistic fight, to prop guns and prop money to make a nightclub, gangster, or perhaps a casino theme really come alive on screen. Video props will help take your Instagram Reels to the next level.
Plus, social media videos are now starting to become our main source of entertainment online, mainly thanks to the popularity of TikTok. In fact, many actors, musicians, and creatives are now using these platforms to promote themselves and create professional video content to grow a following and become influential, cutting out the middle man, so to speak. From acting challenges to music videos, video props are a must-have item if you want to maximize your Instagram Reel potential. At Prop Movie Money, we have provided movie prop money for Hollywood and the entertainment industry. Our prop money has been used in Narcos, Ozark, Breaking Bad, and even in the upcoming Fast & Furious 9 movie.
5: Offer Exclusive Footage & Behind The Scenes Content
Along with exclusive discount codes and giveaways, consider offering your viewers a sneak peek behind the scenes at your business, and especially when you’re creating new content for your Instagram page. This content marketing technique helps to nurture and develop genuine relationships with your followers, and behind-the-scenes Instagram Reels will make your brand or business seem more relatable too.
Introduce your team, record interviews with interesting characters, show a ‘day in the life of’ video and position your business as transparent. Pulling back the curtain on what goes into your content strategy through Instagram Reels will also demonstrate how much time, energy, and effort you and your team invest into growing your profile, which your audience will really appreciate knowing.
6: Launch an Instagram Reel Challenge
There’s nothing quite like a viral challenge to shine a light on a particular social media account. So, get your creative thinking caps on and design an Instagram Reel challenge that will engage your unique target audience and help you grow your viewers and followers online. If you’re struggling for an idea, consider piggy-backing off another viral challenge, but give it a new twist. A social media challenge not only calls for instant engagement but can also rapidly increase your organic reach and grow your audience online. The key is to keep things simple and highly relevant to your viewers. Make sure to include a key marketing message and ask everyone to tag your brand when responding to the challenge.