Instagram Reels and Your Brand
Instagram Reels is a relatively new Instagram feature. They offer a way to build your community and grow your reach on Instagram. Reels make it easy to build relationships with your customer base and strengthen the community you’re trying to build.
They are also a fun and engaging way to share viral (and creative!) snippets with your audience. Users create 15-second video clips set to music and share to their Stories, Explore Feed, and the new Reels tab on a user’s profile.
You can find the Reels feed on the Instagram Explore Page. Instead of only seeing Reels from accounts you follow as you scroll, you will see Reels from popular and trending accounts on Instagram.
While the Reels algorithm isn’t known, it is likely influenced by who you already follow, what content you interact with, and where you’re located.
How to Create Reels
Select Reels at the bottom of the Instagram camera. You’ll see a variety of creative editing tools on the left side of your screen to help create your reel, including:
- Search for a song from the Instagram music library. You can also use your own original audio by simply recording a reel with it. When you share a reel with original audio, your audio will be attributed to you.
- An effect gallery, created both by Instagram and creators all over the world, lets you record clips with different effects.
- Use the timer to record any of your clips hands-free. Once you press record, you’ll see a 3-2-1 countdown, before recording begins for the amount of time you selected.
- You can speed up or slow down part of the video or audio you selected. This can help you stay on a beat or make slow motion videos.
Product and Branded Content Tags for Reels
Product tags, which are also available for Instagram posts and Stories, make Reels posts shoppable. Posts with product tags, from businesses and creators, can now be promoted as ads as well.
In addition to product tags, Instagram has also added branded content tags to Reels and Live. These tags are intended to improve transparency for sponsored posts.
What’s Next: Instagram Reels on Facebook?
Speculation is that Instagram Reels will soon appear in Facebook news feeds. The option to share Reels across platforms advances Facebook’s vision of interoperability between its family of apps.
