Ultimate Guide Instagram Reels

I know, I know – there’s another social media platform to learn about?!

 

If you are just getting the hang of Facebook and maybe Instagram, it might feel like there is a constant stream of new social media platforms to consider.

 

Twitter? TikTok? Clubhouse?

 

How do you keep up!?

 

Well, first please recognize that you don’t have to. You do not have to learn every single new social media platform for yourself or your community

 

Instead, try to dive deep with the platforms your community or target demographic uses most frequently. If that happens to be Reels, you’re in the right place.

 

You’re also in the right place if you just want to get a handle on what Instagram Reels is all about. Just keep a tight grip on the fact that you do not need to know every single thing about every new platform.

 

Are you holding on? Great, let’s get started.

Click here for the video version of this blog post!

 

  1. What are Instagram Reels?

Reels is a feature on Instagram where you record and share videos under 30 seconds, typically set to music, used for humor, education, or sharing a message widely. You can edit these videos within Instagram Reels to include text, graphics, visual effects, and more.

 

Reels was announced in August 2020, making it a relatively new aspect of an incredibly popular platform.

 

2. So this is Instagram?

Yes, but reels don’t automatically show up on your regular Instagram feed. There is a separate section on your Instagram profile for your reels and you can search specifically for reels rather than looking at regular video or photo posts in your feed. 

 

Here’s the caveat though: some people share their reels to their feed.Which means any reel they share to their feed does live on their personal profile and may show up in your daily scroll. 

 

You will likely recognize these reels because there will be a play button that shows up on the bottom right or top left of the image and the sizing of the video won’t look quite right.

 

Why? 

Reels are vertical videos. The size of these videos does not fit naturally in the feed, so parts of the video may be cut off until you click it. Once you click it, you will be in the reels section of that person’s Instagram account.

 

3. Okay, so this is like TikTok then?

Reels are very similar to TikTok, yes. 

 

They are both short-form videos which focus on music and humor and have a discoverability unlike most platforms we’ve seen of late… very TikTok like in that way.

 

Here’s one of our past blog posts on TikTok 101 for Churches you may find helpful. We also created this downloadable PDF guide, 5 Things You Need to Know about TiktTok.

Discoverability? 

Every social media platform has an algorithm to figure out. 

TikTok’s algorithm makes it much easier to go viral than any platform we’ve seen before. This happens because on your main TikTok feed you will see not only TikTok videos of the people you follow, but also any and all videos that TikTok thinks you may like.

 

Reels has copied this set up. 

 

So should you choose to scroll through Reels, you will not only see the reels of the people you follow, but any and all Instagram thinks you may enjoy.

 

This gives accounts the ability to reach far beyond what has been typical of Instagram in the past, even with proper use of hashtags.

 

4. How is this different from TikTok?

Well, it’s all on Instagram… which, according to Hootsuite , has over a billion users use every month.

 

So you are essentially taking one of the top social media platforms and adding in this new feature that mimics one of the most explosive new platforms, TikTok…

 

Personally, I think it has the power to overthrow TikTok. 

 

But don’t tell TikTok I said that.

 

5. As a church leader, how can I use Instagram Reels?

Great question.

 

As we said initially, it all comes down to why you are on Instagram in the first place.

 

Are you trying to reach young people – young people, their friends, and beyond? 

 

Are you building your personal pastoral brand?

 

Are you trying to get your community’s message of hope, healing, and life to more and more people?

 

Each of these will have a different use, but here are a few main ways you can use Reels:

 

Humor

Humor plays a foundational role in Instagram Reels.

 

Even if the message within your reel has an informative or motivational value to it, people want to be entertained. This is most often done by utilizing music and jumping on various trends.

 

A trend is often a repeated song, action, or challenge that you then put your own spin on. For example, here’s how we put our spin on a popular sound. 

 

Education

Teaching others is a big way we at Digi utilize TikTok and Reels and it’s a great way for your church to reach more and more people with the love of Jesus online.

 

When you’re teaching, keep in mind that your viewers likely have short attention spans. You may need a solid hook at the beginning or frequently changing scenes to convince them not to swipe right past your video. We also recommend using the text feature to add closed captioning to give your videos a wider accessibility. 

 

Here’s a reel we created to teach church leaders like you how to think of their next post.

 

Sharing a Message

Sometimes your message is not a lesson and is not a joke, but it’s something you want to share far and wide. Reels is a great spot for this content too – whether it’s for your community’s Instagram or your own personal gram. Here’s a reel we created to encourage folks that digital ministry is possible (and necessary!) for them. 

 

6. What are some best practices?

Looping

One way for your content to have more reach is for it to have more views. A sneaky way to ensure viewers stay on your video longer is to make sure the last frame of your video lines up with your first frame. This will cause viewers not to realize your video has started over, potentially encouraging them to watch through multiple times. Instagram will see that your video tends to get multiple views and will want to share it to even more people! 

 

Hashtags

Don’t forget about hashtags on your Instagram reels. You can post these just like you do in your Instagram feed images. Often users either put them in the caption (limit it to just a few if you do this in Reels) or in the first comment (a great practice!). 

 

We especially encourage this with Reels as it is still such a new platform and it is easy to be one of the most popular people posting on your hashtag. One of the most popular reels for each hashtag always gets a special spot in the results page of that hashtag, along with all of the top performing feed posts.

 

Hook

As we said earlier, consider carefully what the first line of your video sounds like. Is it an awkward silence followed by “hi everyone… this is my first reel…” or is it a question that makes people want to keep watching? 

 

It makes a difference.

Repost Your TikTok Videos

It may not be a best practice, but if it saves you time and energy and doesn’t hurt your reach, it’s certainly a good one! Any videos you make or have already made for TikTok can be downloaded and shared as a reel. 

 

The only catch is that you need to keep them under 30 seconds for Reels whereas those videos can be potentially up to a minute long on TikTok.

 

It’s time to try it!

The nitty gritty for how to record, edit, and post is constantly in flux and can vary by user.

 

The best way to figure out what options are available to you is to just upload a video (look for the ‘+’ on your Instagram account and select “Reel”) and start trying out the features that are provided to you.

 

Remember your audience, remember that you don’t have to do it all, and remember to have some fun doing it – that’s part of what Reels is all about!