How To Attract Customers Using Instagram Reels
Hey girl, You’re going to love this. Today we’re getting real with Instagram Reels!
We’re asking; What are Reels? Why use Reels? How do I make Reels? And do I “reelly” have to put myself in front of a camera?
Instagram has embraced our love of all things video with 15-30 second Instagram Reels. Yay!
And savvy businesses are getting on board with amazing results.
I want to help you get your head around this growth opportunity so you can grab it and run with it!
So, what are Instagram Reels?
They are nothing more than short videos 15-30 second long. Each frame includes overlays of text and fun design elements to entertain and educate your audience all the while demonstrating your particular personality!
Why use Reels?
Like I said before, done right this is a fantastic growth opportunity both for your IG account and your brand. Simply by creating fun video content you can increase your following, get seen, get heard, and best of all get found by your dream customer!
How do I make reels?
The short answer is ‘make a video’. By creating dynamic content that offers value, is short and easy to understand, you can use the Instagram platform to actually speak to your target market. In this blog we are going to unpack that process step by step.
Do I “reely” have to film myself?
Happy days for the introverts – You do not have to film yourself! In fact, unless you are a complete natural in front of the camera and can do it all in one take, it’s quicker and more effective not to. The rest of this blog is jam packed with tips and tricks on how to be visible in IG Reels without needing to head to film school. Phew!
The Easiest Way to Create a Reel
As business owners, creating engaging content that attracts our ideal audience and customer is key. Building a connection with our audience is so important but not all of us get excited about jumping around and dancing at the camera. So, I was really keen to develop a way to create engaging Instagram Reels without the need to perform on camera.
Plus being on camera can take a long time to get right. For super busy working women, with many other things to do, there has to be another way to draw positive attention to your brand.
So, I developed IG Reels & Video Templates as a way to help you create authentic videos that attract your ideal audience. They take about 10 minutes to put together, once you know what you’re doing – no filming required.
The angle I use is problem-solving. When you use Instagram Reels to help people solve their problem, there is no need to feature your face. Plus, people automatically see the benefit of your products and services and are more likely to buy into your brand.
Of course, this can be done without using templates. All it takes is a series of short 3-5 second video clips and voice over with text overlay and there are plenty of “How to” tutorials out there for that. There are great tools too like Canva where you can try your hand at video design. But when you have no idea where to start and you want to jump into it fast, a template is the perfect solution.
Content Ideas for Reels
Without the stress of working out how to make the reel, you can get excited about all the creative ways you can use IG Reels to benefit your business.
Check out these content ideas for some inspiration.
Tips and Tricks
Make an IG Reel that gives tips or tricks in one area of your industry that will benefit your audience. Keep them short and easy to read in 1-2 seconds. Your ideal customers will begin to like, know and trust you.
Click HERE to see an example on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/p/CHy8ctwjo5J/
- Step Formula
Build connection by solving a problem for your audience. Add steps or actions your audience can take to achieve their desired outcome.
- FAQ
Answer your most frequently asked questions. This speaks to doubts and helps your audience establish trust as you remove all obstacles in their way.
- Reviews
Share feedback from real customers as reviews or testimonials. Make sure you include the outcome the audience is trying to achieve. This kind of social proof builds trust, establishes connection and builds your brand’s reputation.
Click HERE to see an example on Instagram. https://www.instagram.com/p/CIO7iX7j7N6/
CREATE YOUR REEL USING CANVA
To create a reel with that professional graphic designer look, I recommend you use these pre-designed IG reel and video templates that are created in Canva. They are a super quick way to produce stunning, on brand videos.
A template will literally help you get your reel up and live within 10 minutes. What better way to stand out on Instagram?
Instagam Reels & video
TEMPLATEs
63+ video templates designed to educate your audience, build trust and establish yourself as a leader.
100% Customizable In Canva.
Get Instant Access Below.
Don’t forget to add a call to action
It’s so important to make sure your audience knows exactly what you want them to do next. On the last slide of your video add your call to action. Our IG Reels & Video Templates include a clear call to action on the final slide to help drive more sales and leads into your business.
Create a Cool Cover for Your Reel
A “cover” is the thumbnail picture that comes up on your feed. This is what people will choose to click on or not. And since we want clicks, it’s a good idea to upload one that you have designed otherwise Instagram selects one randomly. Make sure you design a cover that uses your brand colors, fonts, images etc. This will fit beautifully with your feed and entice people to tap to view. The other aim of a cover is to sum up the value of the post so not only your image but your message for that Reel is clear from the cover.
Make sure to design your cover so it views correctly in the feed.
In the image above I have created guides to show you what is visible on your feed. Almost a quarter is lost at both the top and bottom of the design. Do not place elements in these areas. Anything outside the guides will not be seen when published to your Instagram Grid and Post Feed.
Our IG reels and video templates include a cover photo template. It is designed in the same style as the video, it’s been designed to work perfectly in your feed.
GOING VIRAL WITH YOUR REELS
Reels are easy and exciting to consume they suit our faster-paced lives and shorter attention spans. Plus, they are discoverable for weeks based on popularity and accessible from everyone’s home page. Also, if you intend to go viral, they far outperform stories, highlights and posts.
Pro Tip – Don’t forget to push Reels to your Feed
When it comes to “sharing” your Reel it is possible to push your video to both your followers and the Reels feed by selecting “Also share to Feed.” As your followers view, like, comment and share, you increase your chances of being seen on the “Explore” page (all done by algorithm).
So, if you’re keen to increase your visibility. Right now, Instagram is keen to push Reels. In fact, users who upload reels will be prioritized over those who only post still content. By using the Reels feature you will automatically reach more people who are not your followers as well as more who are.
Comparatively less people are sharing reels and Instagram is pushing reels to people’s feeds as often as it pushes advertisements. Today when I was scrolling through Instagram, I noticed that 3 out of 20 posts were Reels and the same number were sponsored content. That means 6 out of 20 posts are reels or ads and only 14 are ordinary posts.
So, if you want to be pushed automatically by Instagram and gain the visibility you need Reels.
Pro Tip – Start Videos with a hook.
People need to know in less than a second whether they are interested in, or excited by your content. So, spark their interest with something that looks or sounds shocking/exciting or interesting.
Instagram also measures the time people spend looking at your content video as well as the number of comments, likes and shares, so you want to create something that will hook viewers in then keep them on the hook.
One way to hook people is by sharing incredible results. When followed by the steps you take to get there it makes a very watchable Reel for your niche.
Pro Tip – Add text to the first frame and more text in the middle.
Typically, the audience won’t hear sound on Reels unless they turn it on, that’s why adding text at the beginning to explain what the video is about and text in the middle to sum up the purpose of the video is important.
Both these texts will speak to the audience and if they are interested, they will turn on the sound to discover more.
Pro Tip – Place important text and images directly in the middle.
Sizing for Reels on Instagram is different to sizing for your regular feed. Keep in mind that when people open your Reel in full screen, the edges of frames will be lost. Stay within a 4:5 ratio sized area in the middle as you create, and you will not lose anything when the reel is expanded.
Pro Tip – Encourage and Enable Interactions.
Your IG account grows as people interact with it; this is the social part of social media. So, ask questions on your Reel and ask more in the comments. Ask for a double-tap and be as creative as you can to engage people with your content. More than one-word comments are rewarded by the IG algorithm, whereas, emojis are not. Try to think of ways to get people into the conversation.
Pro-Tip – #HASHTAG Hashtags!
Hashtags are more successful on Reels than they have been lately on regular posts since they are calculated differently. You can get yourself trending on some big hashtags simply by using 25-30 hashtags on a Reels Post.
Do some research, see what is trending and see if you can fit into any of those hashtags authentically.
Choose a variety of large medium and small hashtags so you can reach a wide range of audiences scrolling through the tags.
When Hashtags are relevant and carefully chosen you are much more likely to attract your dream clients and ultimately make sales. Sometimes, going for the smaller ones will make you more visible for longer to the people scrolling through.
Study the Reels that are getting the most views, find out how many interactions they have. If you want to be more visible for longer that number is your goal.
CHALLENGE – DEVELOP A YEAR’S WORTH OF NEW REEL IDEAS FAST!
Here is a quick way to come up with at least 52 Reel ideas. (That’s one per week for a year)
Begin by listing the top 3 related topics in your niche/industry.
Under each of those 3 topics name 10 things you could share, a tutorial, tip or resource list. (That’s 30 ideas right there)
Name 10 common myths, objections, or unknown secrets (using the topics as a springboard).
Find 12 client testimonials or personal wins you can share (4 for each topic)
Now you have a bank of ideas and all you need to do is batch create them and upload one a week to Instagram.
Schedule time to batch it out!
Earlier I suggested you “batch create” Reels. I just want to talk about how I do that for a minute because it’s easy to say, but can be overwhelming to think about doing when you have so much to do. I get it.
Here’s what I do, I put aside time to work on one thing. Then I try to batch out as much as I can in one session. For example, I put aside one day a month to batch out Reels for the next month or two (or three if I’m on fire!).
I do any recording, write content, find or photograph images and create my Reels and covers in Canva using the templates. Then I schedule the upload dates and plan any related content (blogs, Youtube, Instagram Posts, Facebook Posts) and schedule a creation date for that. Finally, I work out when my next “batch” day needs to happen, and I schedule that in my calendar.
It sounds like something we’ve all heard before, but a routine makes things simple. The more you get into a routine with creating content, the less overwhelmed you will be, and the easier it will be to continue.
Motivate yourself and overcome perfectionism with challenges
For female entrepreneurs, perfectionism can set us above the rest, or it can cripple us with procrastination, especially when we are trying something new.
Here are some helpful challenges to get you started on Reels that will satisfy the perfectionist in you and get you moving forward.
- Start Now. Leave whatever it is you would be doing otherwise and complete the challenge – Develop a year’s worth of new Reel ideas FAST!
- Do #1 without the perfect resources. You don’t need the perfect image, you don’t need the perfect words, just get it done.
- Use the templates to create 1 Reel in one sitting. Start to Finish without leaving the room. If you love it, you can post it!
- Create a month’s worth of Reels in one day. Aim to finish 4. If they are terrible you don’t need to post them but follow the process to the end to build up your skills.
- Evaluate the process, and your finished Reels, once you’ve done at least 4 – what did you like, dislike, how can you improve, what will you do next time and what will you never do again? Keep this evaluation where you can find it next time you’re working on Reels. This way you’ll streamline the process.
WHAT NEXT?
If you’re a business, strategically using Instagram, you need to start today using Reels. This is an opportunity that early starters will benefit from most.
Our templates will get you up and running fast, check them out here and if your Instagram Feed is a mess and you need help with color branding you need to read our recent “How to” blog, The fastest and easiest way to choose your brand colors and 7 ways to uplevel your Instagram Game.
You’ve got this, remember perfect is not the goal, getting seen is the goal.
Can’t wait to see your IG Reels, have some fun and tag me @louiselazendic so I can share the love for your biz and encourage others.
Xx Louise.
Instagam Reels & video
TEMPLATEs
63+ templates designed to educate your audience, build trust and establish yourself as a leader.
100% Customizable In Canva.
Get Instant Access Below.
Paloma
Great choice on fonts and colors!
I’ve been looking for resources on how to make reels work for my business and your blog was the only one that had actually readable fonts and colors from google search.
It’s great to have useful information but being able to read it’s AMAZING!
Thank you!
Jourdan
Okay you’ve convinced me it is time to try reels. They have been so intimidating but I appreciate how you’ve broken it down. The tips are really helpful!!! I will make my list on Monday!