Instagram Reels are currently one of the most popular social media formats. Once again, Instagram recognized that a rival platform was gaining popularity through an innovative content format (previously, Snapchat’s Stories; now, TikTok) and stepped up their game to offer a similar feature that their users would love.
While Instagram has always been an advantageous platform for businesses and marketers, Reels open up new doors. The format is extremely engaging, and it provides incredible reach and discoverability benefits that can assist brands in rapidly growing their audiences.
There are numerous benefits to utilizing Instagram Reels for business. We’ll cover everything you need to know about the format in this post, including how to create exceptional Reels that will help you connect with your target audience.
What are Instagram Reels and how do they work?
Instagram Reels are vertical video clips that are typically comprised of audio clips and visual effects.
Consider them a hybrid of Stories and in-feed Posts. They follow the same format and tone as Stories. However, similarly to feed posts, Reels can include full-length captions that users can expand. Individuals can also interact with Reels by liking, sharing, and commenting.
Users can easily follow an account if they enjoy the content. A Follow button is located directly beneath the brand name, above the caption. As demonstrated in the preceding example, product tags can also be added to Reels.
As with IGTV (RIP), Reels are technically a “separate” type of content that exists in its own tab while also appearing in users’ feeds, as illustrated below. When displayed in-feed, Reels are cropped to the standard vertical post format, but users can access the full Reels view by clicking the Watch Reels CTA in the bottom corner of the video.
Instagram anticipated the feature would be so popular that it added a Reels tab to the app’s main interface. When users click this, they are taken to a feed of Reels that have been personalized for them based on their interactions with the platform’s content. They can scroll vertically to view additional content (typically from accounts they do not follow) — which can become quite addictive.
