Kseniya I. Content Marketing Expert

Instagram Reels as a perfect way to reach new audiences

The article will be useful for those who do not understand how and why this content format works, as well as for bloggers, brands and experts who want to start making viral videos.

How to shoot Reels for them to start working

Reels are not a magic pill, you have to get in the habit of making videos. There are 2 factors that determine the success of Reels:

Constancy. Reels are exactly the same content format that needs to be published constantly, like stories. Many mistakenly believe that Reels work as a target. But it is not. We managed to gain 20 thousand subscribers to our client not in a day - throughout the year we posted a couple of videos a week in order to achieve a powerful result. Below we will talk about what else helped us gain followers.

Knowing your target audience. How often and what to post? Depends on what your audience needs. Lifestyle bloggers can also make 2 Reels a day, but it is desirable that there is a gap between them, for example, uploading videos in the morning and evening. For an expert, the frequency of posting a video depends on the amount of information he/she gives. If you appear 5 days a week in stories, one Reel in 2 days will be enough.

Content strategy for Reels

Your blog is a landing page with product reviews and case studies. The goal of Reels is to draw attention to your blog or tell the most important thing about your services and products.

There are 3 strategies:

Make Reels only for a wide audience, publish videos that are understandable to everyone, including non-target audiences.

Use Reels only as expert content, such videos convert well and immerse users in context, but they are only aimed at an already existing target audience.

Alternating the first 2 strategies is the best option.

Thinking through the content strategy, you need to decide on the goals, topics and formats.

Video for a wide audience

This is how we call a video that solves several problems:

Helps to understand the problem. A beautician writes a review on a cream that will help cure acne. If such a video comes across to me, the non-target audience of an expert, I don’t understand what it is about, because I have no idea about the problem. In a video for a wide audience, you need to identify the problem.

Sells a product idea. We explain why our product is needed and what tasks it solves, not forgetting to point out the problem.

Raises eternal topics on which people have different opinions such as relationships, sex, money, religion, animals, etc.

Mistakes of creating videos

There are several formats of expert videos and all of them work well, if you do not make common mistakes.

1. Selections. A simple format where an expert, for example, recommends books or films.

The main mistake: recommendations are not related.

How to fix it: A collection is several recommendations united by one topic. The viewer must understand how they are connected. Designate a theme and use a video sequence, parts of which do not contrast with each other.

2. Instructional video. Description of the process, tutorial, analysis of mistakes. You can submit it in free form and make remixes, comment on the already published videos of other users, demonstrating your expertise.

The main mistake: the use of professional terms.

How to fix it: The video should be engaging and understandable to the non-target audience. Do without hard-to-read and highly specialized words.

3. Review. A video in which you simply convey a certain idea, share an expert opinion.

The main mistake: the same as with the training videos it is the use of complex terms.

How to fix it: speak in simple language, more vital.

4. Storytelling. Material that tells about your path or about the way to solve a problem.

The main mistakes: the lack of a title and the abundance of abstract words.

How to fix it: think over the structure of storytelling according to the plan: problem-climax-solution-conclusion.

5. Trend. Video that users repeat.

The main mistake: trying to adapt to every trend.

How to Fix: This video is a reminder of you. Try to use topics that you already talk about on the blog.

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