How to Make Reels on Instagram and Leverage Them in 2023

The rise of short videos has changed the world of social media and digital marketing. People are creating and consuming videos more than ever, and social media platforms have included new features to meet this trend.

Videos are so popular that TikTok overcame Google and became the most popular website in 2021.

To keep up with this trend, Instagram also moved from its original photo-focused social media platform to include and prioritize videos with a new feature called Instagram Reels.

So if you want to boost your video marketing strategy, knowing how to make Reels on Instagram is something that can’t be left behind.

Let’s look at how you can make Instagram Reels.

How to Make Reels on Instagram?

Here are the detailed steps on how to make Reels on Instagram

Step 1: Storyboard Your Content

Before recording your Instagram Reels, create a storyboard to map your content and define your video’s topic and tone. A script saves you time and helps you set your content’s tone to meet your audience’s preferences.

Define the Topic

The first thing is to define the topic that most makes sense to your brand.

For example, are you making a video on wellness, food, business, or fashion? Is it an educational, fun, or inspiring story?

Showcase Your Brand Identity

Also, remember that your Instagram Reels must be cohesive with your brand identity and your posts on social media platforms.

You can use illustrations to represent your brand in a way that resonates with people. Always ensure that the colors and fonts used are consistent across all elements of your brand identity too. This will help create an instantly recognizable style that people will know belongs to you.

A great example of showcasing brand identity is Dunkin. They have dominated with their colorful themes, which anybody will recognize.

So think of the colors, fonts, and visuals, such as mini infographics, before shooting to make your video convey the right message to your target audience.

Use Appropriate Hashtags

Choosing your hashtags is another critical step to boost engagement and to have an overview of your content before creating it.

If you have developed social media branding, you probably have brand hashtags relevant to your products, so try to include as many as you can in your Instagram Reels to reach the right audience for your content.

Below is a striking example: Swiggy collaborated with an influencer to promote their new quiz on “How India Swiggy’d in 2022.”

Take a look at the hashtags they used.

Keep Target Audience and Buyer Persona in Mind

When storyboarding your Instagram Reels, think about your target audience and buyer persona. This will help you to create the kind of content that speaks to your customers and connect to them.

See this infographic below as an example of a persona to help you to define what personality traits to consider when planning your Instagram Reels.

Once you have defined your persona, topic, kind of video, and aesthetics, spend some time browsing the app to find trends, music, filters, and visuals you can use after recording your Instagram Reels.

Then start storyboarding and breaking down your screenplay to understand how your Reels will look before shooting.

Step 2: Shoot

Instagram gives two options to create Reels: recording a video or uploading photos, visuals, and video from your camera roll.

Before shooting, check if there are any updates, as they can affect the features available.

You can create Reels on your Instagram home screen, directly from your Reels tab, or using the Instagram Stories camera.

Hands-free

Instagram provides the Countdown and Timer feature, also called hands-free, so you can create Reels even if you don’t have a team or a friend to record videos for you.

You can use this feature in four steps:

• Tap the clock icon
• Define how long you want your Reel to be
  
• Set the countdown – 3 to 10s
• Tap “Set Timer” and be ready to record
  

Step 3: Edit

Now it is time to preview your recording and add voiceover, music, effects visuals, and text to your Reel to make your content shine.
You can use the following features to jazz up your videos and impress your audience:

Make Seamless Transitions With the Align Tool

The align feature makes it easier to align video clips and build smooth transitions.

Tap the align tool after recording your first clip, and an image from your video will appear so that you can align your next shot to the previous one before recording.

Step 4: Schedule Your Reels

You don’t need to share your content immediately after creating it.
In fact, the best way to achieve a consistent posting, which is critical to boosting engagement, is to create a content calendar.

Creating multiple Reels and scheduling your posts allows you to keep a consistent strategy and share content at the most convenient times.

If your followers engage more with your content outside work hours, for example, you can schedule your posts to increase the reach of your content.

To improve your productivity and boost your Instagram Reels engagement with consistent posting, you can create multiple videos and use SocialPilot’s scheduling tool.

It allows you to schedule your posts and edit and share optimized content with ease. Doubling as a marketing tool, you get access to detailed analytics that gives you a more comprehensive understanding of your audience and how well your brand is doing.

Step 5: Share

Time for the easiest step: to share your creation.
Tap “Next,” choose a cover image and add an attractive caption.

6 Ways to Leverage Instagram Reels

There are many ways to leverage Instagram Reels.
Leveraging your Instagram Reels is good for more visibility. With it, you can:

• Gain engagement and reach through collaborations with famous brands and influencers
• Start or join trends
• Use Slo-mo to your Reels to make it cooler
• Educate your audience through storytelling or answering their questions
• Share something exciting about your business and some fun BTS stuff

Below are six useful ways to leverage Instagram Reels.

1. Inspire Your Audience

Inspiring your audience is always a great way to build a meaningful connection that will last long. You can inspire your audience through your journey of overcoming something, your routine to maintain a healthy life, or any personal journey you have experienced.

This way, the audience will connect with you emotionally, which increases their loyalty to the creator. Many creators make Reels on motivation, life advice, and fitness to inspire their audience for the betterment of their life.

David Goggins is an excellent example of that. He is an American ultramarathon runner and retired navy seal. He inspires people through his journey to improve their physique and mental health for a better life.

2. Showcase the Services You Provide

Showcasing your services through Reels is more informative to your audience. It creates a huge impact on them, and it increases the chances of new potential customers. It also increases your authenticity to the audience, which helps build trust.

Mainstreet Market Place is acing that. They provide a resale platform for sneakers. By making Reels and showcasing their services, their brand name is now more famous than ever, and they are the most trusted and preferred platform by the people.

3. Humor Them

Humor is the best and wittiest leverage. What is more engaging than making them laugh out loud?

Humoring your audience through funny Reels attracts more organic reach as they will reshare it more on their other socials. It has been seen that funny Reels tend to go viral quickly.

Khaby Lame has leveraged humor in the best way possible. Through his funny videos, he went viral and has become a brand. You can see the view and comment count on his Reel below.

4. Create Trends for the Community

Creating trends or following trends is always a good idea to get more engagement, and what better way than Instagram Reels for that?

Take Cadbury, for example.

In 2021, they started a trend to drop purple hearts in the comment section to make the internet safer for everyone. The trend became an instant hit, and people began partaking in it too.

5. Share Updates Through Reels

Reels can be an excellent and fun way to share updates about new products or developments, a brand launch or a new partnership, an award, and more.

Nike leveraged it better around the time when the metaverse was launched. Take a look at the collaboration of Nike and RTFKT for ‘Cryptokicks IRL,’ which they announced through Instagram Reel.

6. Educate Your Audience

Instagram Reels can be a great way to educate your audience through storytelling, answering their questions, or letting them know answers to various topics. This improves your relationship with the audience and drives more engagement.

Both creators and brands can leverage Instagram Reels by answering questions to educate the audience about their area of expertise or services.

Author Seema Anand is the best example of it. She educates her audience about women’s independence, sexual health, and mythology through storytelling, answering the audience’s questions, and breaking the myths about sexual stigmas.

Final Thoughts

If you are looking to get ahead in the ever-evolving world of social media, it’s important that you know how to make Reels on Instagram. Work on storyboarding your content ideas well for Reels because well thought and prepared content always delivers top-notch results.

Reels focus on short and engaging videos, helping amplify a brand’s visibility and foster a more personal connection with the customer base.

Using different ways to leverage Instagram Reels, brands can create an immersive experience that has proven extremely effective in driving engagement and increasing loyalty among their followers.