If you’ve been reading these blogs, following my socials or listening to Build Your Tribe, you know I’m always talking about Instagram Reels. They are the IG feature for growing your brand/following. Today, I’d like to share with you the 4 must-haves for EVERY Reel. Or, if you will, my formula for successful Instagram Reels.
The first: All Reels should be shared to your feed.
Now, right before you post a Reel you have the option to share it only to Reels or, also, share to your feed. There’s seriously no valid reason or argument to only share it to your Reels!
When you share your video ONLY to the Reels section, you’ll get significantly less:
- views
- reach
- engagement
Why would you intentionally do something that has been proven over and over again to have negative effects?
The second: All Reels need to be related to your niche.
As in, whatever your account is focused on.
See, if you post a Reel that isn’t related to your niche, one of two things is going to happen.
1) It’s not going to do well because your audience isn’t there for it.
“Wait, these are rock climbing tips? I follow this person for financial advice!”
Simply put, rarely will they find it relatable, it’s not going to make sense to them, and — most importantly — they’re not going to engage with it.
2) If the Reel does well (even goes viral), people are finding your account for the wrong reasons. And when that happens, they might follow you but won’t be part of you ideal audience.
So, they’ll never turn into a customer and, eventually, they’ll probably unfollow you.
The third: Never delete a Reel.
Even if it doesn’t do well at first, that doesn’t mean much.
Oftentimes, Reels can go viral days, weeks or even months later!
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen a Reel start picking up views long after they were originally posted.
Not to mention, perhaps you have a Reel that didn’t get a lot of engagement, but it really made an impact on one of your followers. Maybe that was the Reel they needed to finally commit to start working with you.
Anyway, swallow the ego and leave the Reel be.
For the asterisk on when it is okay to delete your Reel, plus:
- Why you should use trending audios and text overlays
- How long your Reels should be
- Why you should include a Call To Action (CTA) with your Reel and where it should be
Then, check out this episode of Build Your Tribe:
And don’t forget to subscribe to BYT for weekly shows dedicated to ensuring you crush all things social media!