How to succeed with Instagram Reels in 2022

Instagram is no longer a photo-sharing platform. According to Adam Mosseri, the head of Instagram, the platform will lean into entertainment and video. This is clearly due to the success of TikTok and YouTube.

It’s apparent that Instagram’s algorithm is now pushing Reels a lot more than photos. We have seen roughly a 500% increase in our views on our reels compared to our normal videos on Instagram posted in the same period. We have been extremely happy with the organic reach with these reels and continue to create them while they work.

What does this mean for businesses and brands? It means you should focus a lot more of your current marketing efforts on this medium. We’ve found that creating short, insightful and valuable content that’s around 30 seconds works best.

Reels are amazing because you can come up with a quick idea and get your point across without drawing it out in a 10-minute YouTube video. You can also repurpose reels to post on TikTok and YouTube shorts.

So how can you stand out?

We think that three things are important when creating reels: Short, Valuable and entertaining. How do you do this?

We like to come up with an idea that we think our audience will resonate with and will add value to them. An example of this would be an Instagram Reel discussing the effectiveness of Instagram Reels (wow, meta).

We want to keep these short and concise, this means around 30 seconds and with very quick cuts. Keeping audiences watching that have such short attention spans is hard.

We like to incorporate a lot of B-Roll or motion graphics so there’s always something going on. Using these tactics helps to keep our audience’s attention.

How we can help

We offer monthly content retainers for our clients that want to stay consistent with their digital marketing. Depending on the package, we work with our clients for either a half-day, full-day or multiple days to create a certain amount of photos, videos and vertical videos (Instagram Reels, Tiktoks, and YouTube Shorts). We also do one-off projects for anyone looking to do video production in the Winnipeg, Manitoba area. If you’re curious about any of these services feel free to reach out for a quick discovery call by contacting us today.