How to promote my reels on instagram


Everything You Need to Know About Instagram Reels Ads

As the popularity of Instagram Reels continues to grow, so does its potential as a marketing and advertising tool. Fans of the TikTok-inspired format will be excited to know that Instagram Reels ads are now available on the platform.

Instagram launched Reels globally in 2020. They are 15- to 30-second, multi-clip videos that can be viewed in the Reels tab of an Instagram profile and in Explore. They’re a highly engaging content form that could get your business more followers.

Instagram recently launched Instagram Reels ads, meaning your business can now use this format in a new brand new way to reach a targeted audience.

Here, we’ll explain:

  • What Instagram Reels ads are
  • How to set up Instagram Reels ads
  • How to use Reels on Instagram for advertising

What are Instagram Reels ads?

How to set up an Instagram Reels ad

How to boost an Instagram Reel

Instagram Reels ads best practices

Instagram Reels ads examples

Bonus: Get the Instagram advertising cheat sheet for 2022. The free resource includes key audience insights, recommended ad types, and tips for success.

What are Instagram Reels ads?

Instagram Reels ads are a new placement for ads on the platform. In a nutshell, using Instagram Reels ads is yet another way for businesses to advertise on this platform. (And there are plenty — take a look.)

This advertising form launched globally in mid-June 2021 after being tested in a few select countries, including Brazil and Australia.

According to Instagram, “Reels is the best place on Instagram to reach people who don’t follow you and a growing global stage where brands and creators can be discovered by anyone. These ads will help businesses reach greater audiences, allowing people to discover inspiring new content from brands and creators.”

Instagram Reels ads look a lot like Instagram Stories ads. They are full-screen, vertical videos, like this Instagram Reels ad example from Superstore, a Canadian supermarket chain:

And like Instagram Stories ads, Instagram Reels ads show up between regular, non-sponsored Reels that users are viewing.

Also note that Instagram Reels ads:

  • Will loop
  • Allow users to comment, share, save and like

Like all ads, Reels ads show up on Instagram marked as sponsored.

Where will my Instagram Reels ads be displayed?

There are a few different ways Instagram users can be served your Reels ads, including:

  1. In the Reels tab, accessible via the home screen
  2. On the Explore page
  3. In their feed

Instagram Reels ads are displayed in the same parts of the app where users discover organic Reels content. This is a great opportunity for brands to step up their game, get creative and seamlessly capture their audiences’ attention when they’re scrolling through similar content.

How to set up an Instagram Reels ad

Now that you know what this new ad format is, the next step is learning how to set up an Instagram Reels ad. If you already work in Instagram Ads Manager, the process is a breeze.

Step 1: Create the ad

Start by putting the creative together. This means recording your video and making sure it’s the right size. During this stage, you should also write your copy and captions, and decide on hashtags.

Get creative! Organic Reels are usually paired with music or viral sound clips. They’re sometimes (or most of the time) funny or quirky. If it’s right for your brand, find some a popular audio clip that works with the ad so that it fits in with the other, non-sponsored Reels users are viewing.

Step 2: Navigate to Ads Manager

Make sure your company has an Instagram business account. That ensures you’ll have access to Ads Manager. (If you didn’t know, here’s how to connect your business’s Instagram account to Ads Manager.)

Click Create.

Step 3: Choose your advertising goal

What’s your business’s objective of placing an ad on Instagram Reels? There are several options available, but make sure to select an objective that is specific to Reels:

Source: Facebook for Business

Six advertising goal objectives are available for the Reels ad placement:

  1. Brand awareness
  2. Reach
  3. Traffic
  4. App installs
  5. Video views
  6. Conversions

Step 4: Fill out all the ad campaign details

That includes important advertising details like your budget, the schedule and target audience.

Source: Facebook

Step 5: Place the ad

Choose Manual Placements. Then, navigate to the dropdown next to Stories. Choose Instagram Reels for your ad to appear as an Instagram Reels ad.

Bonus: Get the Instagram advertising cheat sheet for 2022. The free resource includes key audience insights, recommended ad types, and tips for success.

Get the free cheat sheet now!

Step 6: Customize your call to action

You decide how to encourage viewers to act. For example, you could customize the CTA on the button with:

  • Shop Now
  • Read More
  • Sign Up
  • Click Here

And that’s it! Your Instagram Reels ad is ready. After it’s been reviewed and approved, the ad will appear publicly.

Source: Facebook for Business

How to boost an Instagram Reel

Sometimes, setting up a Reels ad from scratch isn’t necessary. If one of your organic Reels is doing great, you might want to put some advertising dollars towards helping it do even better, a.k.a. boost it.

You can watch our video on how to promote your Reels on Instagram here:

To boost a Reel, head to your Hootsuite dashboard and follow these steps:

  1. In an Instagram Stream, find the post or Reel you want to boost.
  2. Click the Boost post button below the preview of your post or Reel.
  3. Enter your boost settings.

And that’s it!

Start your free trial. You can cancel anytime.

You can also boost Reels in the Instagram app by heading to your profile and tapping Boost post below the Reel you want to promote.

Instagram Reels ads best practices

Want to know how to get the most out of your Instagram Reels ads? Keep these top tips in mind to create effective, engaging ads. And remember: a great Reels ad is a lot like any other great Reel!

Tip #1: Time the Reel

In other words, make sure you’ve scripted the Reel to fit in the 30 second limit so it won’t get cut off!

Instagram Reels ads, like regular Instagram Reels, are between 15 and 30 seconds in length. If you’ve created a video that’s too long, you risk losing out on sharing your business’s most important message with your potential audience.

Tip #2: Know what your audience finds engaging

Don’t make guesses! Now that Instagram Reels Insights is a thing, you don’t have to.

Instagram Reels insights are metrics that show you how your Reels performed in terms of reach and engagement.

Source: Instagram

Track these numbers to see which style of Reel your current followers engage with most. Then, emulate that style when creating your Instagram Reels ads.

For example, maybe your Reels analytics show that your audience eagerly engages with how-to Reels, and that the same format helps you reach the most people. Making a how-to Instagram Reels ad might be a good way to resonate with your target audience, and encourage viewers to tap your ad’s CTA button.

Tip #3: Add audio and text

Yup, audio is extremely important — especially for Reels. Adding the right audio to your Reels ads will help them blend in with organic Instagram content.

That being said, be inclusive. Some of your target viewers might scroll the app with the sound off, and some might have hearing impairments.

Adding captions to your Reels (Reel ads included) is a great way to ensure that everyone will be able to understand, enjoy and engage with your content.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/CLRwzc9FsYo/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

Tip #4: Get your dimensions right

No one will engage with a blurry ad. Make sure the footage you’re using in your Reel is the ideal aspect ratio and size for full-screen Instagram ads.

The aspect ratio for a Reels is 9:16 and the ideal file size is 1080 pixels by 1920 pixels. Uploading files that don’t fit the bill can result in blurry or awkwardly cropped Reels ads that will just look sloppy and unprofessional.

Tip #5: Get into the Reel spirit

Reels and Reels ads are a great way to show off how fun, creative, thoughtful and even quirky your brand is. So, as much as the purpose of your Reels ads is to generate traffic, views or clicks, make sure to keep it fun. If your content is too pushy and salesy, your audience is likely to swipe to the next Reel without interacting with it.

 

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A post shared by Louis Vuitton (@louisvuitton)


Instagram Reels ads examples

Here are some great examples of Reels ads from big brands that will help you get inspired and kick off your first campaign using this placement.

Netflix

The streaming service uses Reels to promote new Netflix-exclusive shows.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Netflix US (@netflix)

Nespresso

Nespresso uses Reels to highlight its commitment to sustainability and promote an upcoming IGTV series.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Nespresso (@nespresso)

BMW

The luxury car brand uses Reels to promote a new car model.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by BMW (@bmw)

With some inspiration under your belt and the knowledge on how to get started, your business is ready to use Instagram Reels ads to reach your target audience, increase brand awareness and expand your reach on the platform.

Easily schedule and manage Reels alongside all your other content from Hootsuite’s super simple dashboard. Schedule Reels to go live while you’re OOO, post at the best possible time (even if you’re fast asleep), and monitor your reach, likes, shares, and more.

Get Started

Save time and stress less with easy Reels scheduling and performance monitoring from Hootsuite. Trust us, it’s reely easy.

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Everything You Need To Know

Instagram Reels are now available all over the world, so it was a matter of time when the platform would roll out Instagram Reels ads. It means that now you and your brand can leverage this engaging content type and reach new audiences on Instagram.

Generally speaking, there’s not much difference between Reels ads and all other ad types on Instagram. You just need to make an ad creative, write a copy and set up the targeting criteria. This is what we’ll talk about in this piece.

You can promote both your existing Reels and create new videos just for the advertising, without uploading them on your Instagram page. Currently, you can only do so with Facebook Ads Manager, not on an Instagram native app as you do with regular feed posts.

What Are Instagram Reels Ads

According to Instagram, “Reels ads will appear in the most popular places to access Reels content. This includes the Reels tab, Reels in Explore and Reels in your feed. Once a user taps into a reel from the Reels Tab, Explore or feed, they will enter a viewer that exclusively shows reels that scroll vertically.”

These ads will help businesses reach greater audiences, allowing people to discover inspiring new content from brands and creators.

Reels ads are full screen and vertical, similar to ads in Stories, and will appear in between individual Reels. As with regular Reels content, these ads will loop and can be up to 30 seconds. People can comment, like, view, save and share Reels ads.

Where Will People See My Instagram Reels Ads

There are three different places where Instagram users can view your Reels ads, including:

  1. The Reels tab on home screen
  2. Explore page
  3. Their home feed

Instagram Reels ads are displayed in the same parts of the app where users discover organic Reels content. This is a great opportunity for brands to seamlessly capture their audiences’ attention when they’re scrolling through similar content.

How To Set Up Reels Ads On Instagram

Step 0. Preparation

You need preliminarily connect your Instagram account you want to advertise with your Facebook page (Settings​​→Accounts Centre→Set Up Accounts Centre)

The Instagram profile should be a Business or Creator account.

Also, make sure that you have already made the ad creative if you’re not going to use an existing Instagram post, including music, ad copy, and so on. Make sure that the ad creative for your Reels ads is the right size.

Instagram Reels Dimensions

The aspect ratio for a Reels is 9:16, and the ideal file size is 1080 pixels by 1920 pixels.

Step 1. Facebook Ads Manager


Then, log in to your Facebook profile and find the Ads Manager section. Now you can create your ads.

Start creating your ad unit by pressing the Create button.

Step 2. Advertising Goal

This step is super important.

Now you’re ready to choose your ad goal. Note that not every suggested goal can be reached with Reels ads. To create a Reel ad, you have to limit your choice to these:

  • Traffic
  • Conversions
  • Reach
  • Brand awareness
  • Video Views
  • App Installs

If you choose any other goal, you won’t see Reels in available ad placements.

Step 3. Campaign Details

All the next steps must be familiar to you if you have ever set up Instagram ads with Facebook Ads Manager:

  • Set up the daily budget
  • Schedule the ad date
  • Create your target audience settings

Step 4.

Manual Placements

On the exact same page, after you set up the budget and audience targeting, find Placements and choose Manual placements. Those are places where your ad will be displayed.

If you want to test how your Reels ads will work, you should choose only this placement without mixing it with other placements. Thus you will see how your ads are performing and won’t risk losing money.

After you click on manual placements, find Instagram Reels in the Stories and Reels section. Click on Instagram Reels and uncheck all other options.

Now you need to set up your ad creative: name your ad, choose an Instagram profile that will show the ad if not yet, upload a new video, use an existing post or create a video from scratch. You will also need to add an ad caption text and set the URL tracking.

Preview the ad creative before publishing it. During the preview, you’ll see if there are any flaws in the ad. If you like what you see, you can proceed.

Step 6. Publishing


After all, is set and done, press Publish. Your ad will be sent on review and then be displayed on Instagram Reels to people who meet your targeting criteria.

Instagram Reels Ads: Best Practices

If you want to get the most out of your Instagram Reels ads, we suggest you should keep these tips in mind.

Think Through the Script

As you already know, Reels are rather short videos of 15 to 30 seconds, so you need to make sure you include all the messages you want to say in that video. Don’t make it too long; otherwise, you might lose users’ attention. Try to say what you want to say in the first 10-15 seconds.

Also, consider adding more cuts in the video instead of shooting it with one take.

Leverage Instagram Reels Insights

Before you make your first Reels ad on Instagram, we strongly recommend you make Reels just for your Instagram account first, not for advertising. Upload several different Reels to your profile and see how your followers react.

Besides, Instagram now has Reels Insights, so take a look at them from time to time to know what content your audience likes.

Add Text and Music

Many users watch Instagram Reels and stories with sounds off, so make sure you add text to your videos if you want to say something with the content. But don’t let the text disappear too quickly, and don’t add too many sentences in one take. By adding captions, you make sure you let all viewers engage with your video.

This might seem contradictory to you, but although many people watch Reels without sounds, it doesn’t mean you don’t have to add music to your videos.

Audio is extremely important for Reels. If you add the right track to your Reel ad, it will help the video to blend with non-sponsored content and attract users’ attention. And if you use soundtracks that are trendy at the moment, that’s a bull’s eye!

Stay on Top Of Reels Trends

Watch Reels of different creators and brands on Instagram to see which trends people currently engage with. Keep your Reels funny and don’t make them too salesey; otherwise, the viewers will simply swipe them up without any engagement.

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How to promote video on Instagram: the power of Stories and IGTV

Content

  1. Benefits of using video on Instagram
  2. 6 life hacks to create a video that sells on Instagram
  3. Video formats for Instagram Stories
  4. Ways to promote video on Instagram Stories06
  5. Benefits of the IGTV format on Instagram
  6. Promoting IGTV video on Instagram

The question of how to promote a video on Instagram can be called one of the most popular, especially after the advent of IGTV. The social network, which was originally built only on photos, now allows you to use video for promotion. And after the introduction of IGTV, the time limit disappeared, so you should definitely use this tool.

Another attractive feature of Instagram videos is that the first 15 seconds are actually shown for free. This means that you have enough time to “hook” the user and even stimulate him to search for your video and review it. How to do this - we will tell further.

Benefits of using video on Instagram

Many Instagram users wonder if they need a video in their account. It is more costly both in terms of time and effort than a photo, especially if the task is to shoot with high quality. However, there is a very significant reason why the video should not be ignored.

Instagram launched an algorithm that changed the principle of displaying publications. It lies in the fact that all your posts are seen only by subscribers who interact with you in some way, for example, comment on them or leave likes, and also linger on one of them for some time. This is one of the best ways to promote videos on Instagram.

Now let's approach the question from the other side. You, of course, have noticed that in stores you can most often see a flashing sign. This is due to the fact that people are more attracted to moving rather than static objects, and advertisers actively apply this rule in practice.

Therefore, the conclusion is obvious : if your post contains a video instead of a photo, the engagement of subscribers will become higher. You can also use useful features such as Stories and live streaming - these are excellent promotion channels that work for the account owner.

The main advantage of Stories today is that Instagram has not extended the ranking algorithm to the service. All stories are arranged in chronological order, and therefore, subscribers are interested in them more often.

6 life hacks for creating a sales video on Instagram

  1. Fast and slow . Simple tricks - speeding up and slowing down - make the video very effective. If the process of packing goods is filmed on it for half an hour, then subscribers are unlikely to watch it. But if you speed up the video, then it will fit in five seconds and will look funny.
  2. Boomerang . An application that allows you to make stories with a twist. However, do not resort to it too often and use options with funny faces and movements less often - they have become boring. Find an unconventional move.
  3. Less is more . Good directors use this rule. Watch your video again and ruthlessly remove the excess, leaving only the most interesting and exciting.
  4. Help programs . It is enough to install one application designed for video processing on your phone and study it properly. For iPhone, iPad, Android (including tablets), iMovie or WeVideo is recommended. If you are not considering publishing videos on a professional basis, then there is no need to spend time on serious PC programs.
  5. Remind ! If you posted a story, support it with a post. If you plan to go live, notify subscribers with a message where you indicate the time of the release.

Video formats for Instagram Stories

It's not always obvious whether you can promote your Instagram video with other posts on the web. It would seem that stories are not the most interesting way to promote an account. This video is only 15 seconds long and disappears 24 hours after being posted. However, the fragility is the main advantage of this type of publications.

And most importantly, they are always relevant, they demonstrate literally momentary moments of your life, and therefore, they evoke more emotions in the audience.

You can make videos like this for stories It is always interesting who founded the brand, created the project, and personal acquaintance always increases loyalty.

  • Tell about the promotion that is taking place today, or publish promo code . In this case, the short existence of the format is a significant advantage, because in a day the stories will be deleted. As a result, subscribers will wait for their release in order to receive up-to-date and even “hot” information.
  • Demonstrate the new product . Here you can introduce it to subscribers even before you officially introduce it on your website and social networks.
  • Show how product is created. The audience is captivated by involvement in the process, so the majority watches with interest the working moments of the production of goods of a brand that attracts their attention.
  • Conduct mini-interviews, flash polls . You can publish video reviews of your visitors - receive them yourself or ask them to send customers after receiving a service or purchase.
    • Announce events, including contests and sweepstakes . By the way, here you can also take advantage of the short duration of stories - give them hints that disappear after 24 hours.
    • Arrange mini-series from stories. For example, launch one day in the life of different employees in them, let them demonstrate how they work on a project or create a product, show it with different eyes. This creates an emotional connection with subscribers.

    Of course, the ideas don't stop there! Instagram offers a huge number of opportunities for inspiration, which will help you create useful and effective content.

    Ways to promote videos on Stories on Instagram

    To promote your videos on Instagram, you must meet several conditions.

    • Likes received

    Likes left under the video mean that people liked it and can be recommended by another user. Therefore, be sure to call for likes on your videos.

    • Comments left

    Try to get your videos commented. To do this, at the end of the video, you can ask a question, preferably a provocative one, so that visitors want to say something about it. Engagement in your publications is the higher, the greater the desire to leave a like or comment from a subscriber. Thanks to this, the ER indicator increases, the interaction with the video increases.

    • Publication frequency

    If you set yourself the goal of posting one video a day, then in a month you will be surprised at what results you have achieved compared to the original ones. If you are wondering how to promote videos on Instagram for free, then this is one of the best ways.

    • Audience attention

    Only the audience gives publication statistics, and you can keep it only with interesting content. If the video contains, simply put, stupidity with ridiculous voice-overs or captions, it is unlikely that anyone will pay attention to it and wait for the next video. The same if the plot is boring, gray.

    You want to watch a good video to the end to find out how it all ends. Shooting just for the sake of filming, because everyone does it, is not necessary - it is not serious and unattractive.

    Think about the topic, develop a strategy and write down at least a dozen stories based on it, but do everything with high quality, think about how useful and effective your videos are, whether you would watch them yourself if someone else created them.

    • Hashtaging

    Don't forget to put them in the description! Instagram indexes them and displays them in the top and finds videos by tags that have views, likes, comments.

    It gets to the top according to the same algorithms as any other publications, but with its own content. And this is a good motivation for your subscribers to share your videos. To do this, IGTV offers to click on the bird under the video. Most often, people share blogger posts based on hype or humor, and it is this content that is most popular with subscribers.

    • Instagram TV promotion in stories

    You can talk about what video you posted on IGTV, then it will get more of your followers and give it a chance to go to the top. Post any photo to stories, swipe it up and you will see a bracket.

    Previously only available to users with 10,000 subscribers, this tool is now available to everyone. This is a great way to send a visitor to your page from stories directly to your site - no matter how many followers you have, 1000 or 200. In the bracket that opens, you can take a video from your Instagram TV and embed it in your story. And already through it people will get on IGTV.

    • Active Links

    Please note that all links in the description of your video are active. This means that when posting a video on IGTV, you can say: “Click the link in the description” and your subscribers will go to an external resource. Instagram seamlessly transfers people to other applications, in addition, it now interacts with YouTube and some videos can send each other to these platforms and back.

    In addition, the link to your video on Instagram TV can be copied and posted on any other resource, forum or chat, inviting friends to watch, like and write a comment. This is another way to bring it to the top. The link is completely normal, direct, and you can follow it to your video both from your phone and from your computer.

    Advantages of the IGTV format on Instagram

    Instagram TV is a relatively new platform like YouTube. In fact, an additional application built into the social network.

    Its feature is the publication of both horizontal and vertical videos. On PC, you can view them in full size. The main difference from stories is that the video is given not 15 seconds, but much more. You can upload up to 15 minutes of video from your phone and up to 60 minutes from your computer. In some way, this is not an analogue, but a competitor to YouTube.

    Strengths of Instagram TV :

    1. Since the social network actively promotes this feature, the posts in the news feed occupy as many as four cells, unlike the usual post, which is allocated only one, and the video is located in the first positions.
    2. You can only watch 60 seconds of the video in the news feed, then you need to go to IGTV to continue watching . This is done in one click. In the video itself, Instagram TV promotes other videos on the same or similar topic.
    3. According to hashtags, the video is displayed in the first places . You can check: type any tag in the Instagram search engine, and the videos from IGTV will be in the top.
    4. The system allows you to upload a preview - that is, a picture on the cover of video . A successful preview increases the chances of watching the video and, accordingly, the coverage of the page as a whole.
    5. Instagram makes links clickable . Any ad placed in the description of the video will be active, and this in turn increases the possibility of your subscribers clicking on it.
    6. If you want to share your video from Instagram TV to stories, the application will automatically and quite beautifully squeeze it out for 15 seconds . This “summary” gives the user a chance to be interested in the full version and go to your TV channel, and this also increases coverage.

    IGTV video promotion on Instagram

    • First minute

    On Instagram, you can watch only 60 seconds of video, and then you need to go to the Instagram TV channel for further viewing. This means that the first minute of the video should be as exciting and noticeable as possible. To make this fragment spectacular, use the "open loop" technique.

    It is important that both the picture and the sound are of high quality. If your video is of interest to page visitors, they will wait for the next story.

    • Call to click on a link

    You can add active links to the description and encourage clicking on them at the end of the video. Tell us where they are, how to find the description of the video, what exactly needs to be done, and other details, because Instagram TV is still a new product that the audience has not yet fully explored. This will help you reach your users as much as possible.

    • Content quality

    Many people think that it is enough to get views and likes to reach the top. There is no difficulty how to promote a video on Instagram for a fee using promotions. However, only those who are interested will be bookmarked by real users.

    And only high-quality videos with a unique plot can be like that. You also need to choose a topic that is currently relevant. To find out what's trending right now, you can look at what's currently in the top video and explore the hashtag catalog.

    • Interactive communication

    Users must be actively interacted with. You have to reply to the comments they leave. You can involve them in communication by conducting surveys and sweepstakes. If subscribers react to your content vividly, this is beneficial in video promotion.

    • Prime time publication

    To determine the peak time when your post will be seen by the most people, you need to analyze account statistics that will show at what time the activity of visitors increases and on what days and hours the number of views and subscriptions increases.

    • Use of hashtags and geotagging

    Hashtags are the main tool for finding publications on topics of interest. However, you can also promote videos using tags, which are not relevant, but are very popular.

    You can select high-frequency hashtags using special services:

    • Tagsets . Does not require registration. Searches for hashtags and gives out 30 pieces, that is, the maximum allowable in a publication. Collections are saved through the hashtag manager or clipboard. You can create a top of the most popular tags. There is a version in English and there is in Russian.
    • TopHashtag . Offers a whole catalog with tags on different topics. A selection of relevant ones can be obtained using the "Hashtag Generator". There are also top tags grouped by topic.
    • InstaTag . There is a large catalog of hashtags in Russian and English for better audience coverage. You can find a selection of tags that reflect user actions, that is, likes, subscriptions and reposts. Minus - there is no hashtag generator, but there is a collection of emoji.

    These are free services. There are also paid ones, such as HashMaster, Hashtagify, etc.

    Geotags only affect the correct formation of the issue, promotion to the top does not depend on it. But they still need to be set if your task is to attract an audience to the video.

    • Content and design

    What the user sees at the first glance at the cover plays a big role in views. It is necessary that it attracts attention, which means that its design must be approached very seriously. You can select an interesting frame from the video, put something using the menu, or add a photo through the "Gallery" - it will be the first frame that precedes the video. However, this is not always enough.

    To make the cover spectacular, you can resort to services that are designed to design videos directly on Instagram:

    • InShot . A service with many features. In addition to video, it can be used to make stories and photos. Clips can be cropped, cropped, change their speed, vary the saturation and color balance. There are databases of filters and backgrounds, you can choose music for the video. The service also offers a library of GIFs - they can be inserted into videos.
    • Motion Ninja . The app is designed for Android smartphones. Shareware - basic functions are not charged. With it, you can edit the video, add stickers, gifs, backgrounds, music to it. Large library of sound effects.
    • Interactive communication

    Video promotion is facilitated by interactive. The simplest example is prediction. You start a video where the plot is looped. If you click on "stop", it will stop and show the prediction to the user. Be sure to ask to share the results in the comments under the video. Another good move is the video for attentiveness.

    You can, for example, ask subscribers to find an item, as is often done in stories. This is also possible in video. To attract more attention, promise a prize to the one who completed the task.

    But all these recommendations are good and effective when they are used in combination. There is no need to choose one method and follow it when promoting a video on Instagram. Even if you have great and exciting content, you lose a lot of views with a small number of followers or bad hashtags.

    Use every opportunity to get your video to the top positions of the Instagram feed. Don't forget about interacting with the audience that promotes your videos.

    How to promote reels on Instagram: the main rules and features

    The article says:

    1. Instagram reels features
    2. Benefits of promoting with reels on Instagram
    3. 11 rules for promoting reels on Instagram
    4. 8 ideas for cool reels to promote
    5. Evaluation of the effectiveness of promoting reels on Instagram
    6. Take the test and find out which field suits you:
      IT, design or marketing.

      Free from Geekbrains

    Not every business is interested in how to promote reels on Instagram. Meanwhile, this way to tell about the brand is not inferior in effectiveness to other proven methods. Since this format is only gaining momentum, those companies that will be the first to use it will have a serious advantage over their competitors.

    Promotion reels has its own rules and features that significantly affect the effectiveness. In our article, we will tell you what the advantage of such promotion is and talk about the methods and tools for its implementation.

    Instagram is an organization whose activities are recognized as extremist on the territory of the Russian Federation.

    Features of reels in Instagram

    Instagram has recently added another feature called reels to its functionality. These are short videos that any user of this service can see. So far, the use of rails is only gaining popularity, so there is every chance to get to know their algorithms and features of use better.

    Reels are 9:16 vertical videos, up to 1 minute long, and 600*1067 or 1080*1920 pixels resolution. 4K videos are not supported.

    Features of Instagram reels

    For many Instagram users, reels are just another entertainment feature, but for business accounts, this is a great opportunity to attract new customers and sell their goods or services.

    Benefits of promoting with reels on Instagram

    Usually, reels videos resemble videos from TikTok, where people dance to the music, or make some movements, accompanying it all with funny inscriptions and emoticons. Entertainment content is perhaps the key feature of this service, but thanks to it you can distribute advertising for your business account on Instagram.

    Reels is currently the most effective tool that has a number of advantages. Short videos are better remembered by the audience, and they quickly attract the attention of potential buyers to a particular brand, in comparison with other services for promoting business accounts on Instagram.

    Reels promotion has a lot of advantages. So far, the tool works much more efficiently than other formats and brings results faster.

    Features of reels on Instagram

    Here are a few reasons why reels are suitable for promoting any goods and services:

    • High interest in content and its viral distribution.
    • Increasing coverage.
    • Indirect native advertising.
    • Increase in subscribers.
    • Increase in loyal audience.
    • Clear associations with a particular brand.

    Each video has its own interesting cover, which will look organically with the visual of the entire account. In addition, actual music, photos, images and captions are added to the clip. Reels do not disappear after 24 hours, unlike Stories, and they are seen not only by your followers, but also by other Instagram users, which increases your reach and adds 50% of new subscriptions.

    Instagram's policy is such that the priority for promotion will be those accounts that use all the available functions of the service - these are stories, live broadcasts, long IGTV videos, news feeds and reels. If you do not use such "chips" in promoting your account, then the page rank will drop. Shorter videos have more exposure, and therefore more views and reactions.

    11 rules for promoting reels on Instagram

    As with many other services, there are also certain rules for promoting reels on Instagram. At the moment, the videos receive a certain number of views and free coverage, and then, based on this data, the response of the audience can be traced, as is the case with TikTok. In the future, “flying into the rivers”, as they say now, will be more and more difficult, so the video should be uploaded now.

    If your content has previously appeared in the "recommendations" section (magnifying glass icon), then you can understand how this happened and use the same algorithm to promote reels on Instagram.

    When spinning rils, remember that Instagram is important:

    • Audience activity - which videos are shared more often, which ones are commented, reposted and liked.
    • Interaction with the author of the video and content in general - users show those videos that are interesting to users.
    • Video information available – ie. what kind of music was used, the description of the video, the quality of the video itself and its content.
    • Information about the author of the video - his nickname.

    At the moment, reels are interested in promoting those users who have few subscribers, but this "promotion" is unlikely to last long, so do not miss this opportunity.

    Features of reels on Instagram

    What you need to make your reels appear in recommendations:

    1. Open profile - videos of a private account will be visible only to subscribers, respectively, they will not be able to “fly into” recommendations.
    2. Use hashtags - they can be trendy, branded or divide videos into categories.
    3. Announce your rels in the feed and stories - the user will be able to notice the video in publications on your account or in history, and go to it. This will also increase the views from subscribers and just "running" to the account.
    4. Interesting cover - do not forget about the importance of this item, as a bright and attractive cover will make the user watch the video. You can use the most colorful moment of the video for this, or use a prepared image from the gallery.
    5. Shooting specifically for reels - you can often see how videos from TikTok are added to the rails, but such videos will not be promoted. Rils was originally created as a competitive alternative to TikTok. The best way to promote reels on Instagram is to upload videos without any watermarks, or shoot them through the reels service.
    6. Analysis of your reels included in recommendation – look at the statistics of your videos, which ones Instagram shows most often. Try to create similar content.
    7. Music in reels - at the moment it is impossible to say for sure whether Instagram promotes reels with actual music, but in any case, the presence of such increases the number of reposts. Videos with trending music, users are more likely to share among themselves.
    8. Content for the target audience - if the interests of your subscribers coincide with the interests of their subscribers, then your content can be recommended to both. You need to shoot videos that will meet the expectations of your target audience, otherwise, random non-target users may hide or complain about your content, and this may negatively affect promotion.
    9. Long videos - you can shoot videos in rils with a length of 15 seconds and 60. Give preference to the latter. Any service, such as Instagram, is interested in its users spending more time there. Accordingly, long videos move better.
    10. Track, analyze and follow trends - Initially, when you don't have your own special "chip" or unique delivery, shoot your reels according to trends. Watch what often turns in your recommendations, what ideas are trending on TikTok now and what is popular there. The principle of operation of these two platforms is the same, so what works on TikTok will surely work on reels.
    11. Posting time – each service has its own time at which published videos fall into recommendations. In order to understand at what time reels users are most likely to scroll through the feed, analyze the statistics of each video that you posted at different times.

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    8 ideas for cool reels to promote

    • Before and After

    This type of video promotes reels well and is usually watched to the end. First, users are shown the first option, and then the result of the work done. Weight loss stories are especially popular in this format. However, this idea can also be used in business, for example, if we are talking about a cleaning company: you can show what happened before cleaning and the result after it.

    • Educational content

    The main task of such videos is to be able to provide complete and interesting information in 60 seconds, without slipping into boring and boring “continuation in the next video”. For any entrepreneurs working in the field of information business, this format of rails is suitable.

    • Backstage

    Many users are interested in the inside of a workflow. Open the veil of secrecy to your subscribers, let them into the world of your work. This format is good for photographers and videographers.

    8 ideas for cool reels to promote
    • Humor

    This is something that will always be at the peak of popularity. Whatever, everyone loves to laugh. It will be quite interesting for subscribers to see what interesting and funny situations happened at your work. You can often see videos in the "Types of Clients" format. The main thing is not to get personal and joke within reasonable limits.

    Animals are especially popular in the humorous format. Cats and dogs will never lose their relevance.

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    • Manual or instructions

    A step-by-step instruction or explanation of something is just as good for promoting reels on Instagram. You can demonstrate how to use your product or make a themed video with relevant music.

    • Unboxing and product overview

    Unpacking and evaluation of products and things from a particular store is no less popular. Show the brand from all sides, evaluate its appearance, smell, color, texture, composition, quality, etc.

    • Answers to questions and life hacks

    Life hacks, tips, expert opinion and valuable recommendations have recently become quite popular content on many sites. In your rails videos, you can tell how to use your product, what else your product is suitable for, in addition to basic actions, how to quickly learn to sew, knit, etc.

    • Collections

    Choose topics that will fit with the general content of your blog. For example, if you do nail extensions, post on reels a selection of top nail designs, etc.

    Measuring the effectiveness of promotion of reels on Instagram

    In order to know if your reels promotion on Instagram is successful, you need to track their performance and watch the statistics. Business accounts have access to reels analytics on Instagram. It can be found in the statistics section.

    Reels-specific performance metrics include:

    • Accounts covered are unique users who have viewed your reels video at least once.
    • Views - how many times your video has been viewed. Sometimes, this figure may differ from the accounts covered because some users may view the video multiple times.
    • Likes is a "like" mark that shows how many users liked your video.
    • Comments .
    • Saves is the number of times users have added your video to Favorites.
    • Reposts - how many times your video was shared in stories, or how many times it was sent to another user.

    In the statistics, you can see not only the performance of each individual video reels, but also how this service affects account promotion in general.


    Learn more