Instagram reels are one of the fastest-growing forms of content. In today’s world, people are becoming more and more interested in short and precise forms of content. According to Instagram for business over 45% of accounts on Instagram interact with one reel at least once a week. That’s billions of users that can turn into prospects for your eCommerce brand.
In this article, we will go through all you need to know to get up and running Instagram reels for your eCommerce business.
Table of contents:
Instagram reels are short, fun, and entertaining videos that can be up to one minute. They can be used to creatively engage with your audience in an easy fun way. Instagram reels can be one short video, or a few short clips uploaded together with a smooth transition. They come with Audio and effects options for you to utilize, similar to Instagram stories. However, unlike stories they don't disappear in 24 hours, and they can be accessed by everyone not only your followers, which makes them a very powerful content format.
As we explained earlier, reels can be found by anyone not just your followers. They show in Feeds, the reels tab, on Explore page, and on your business profile. This is excellent reach offered to your brand that should not be wasted.
Not only large exposure but also high-quality engagement. Reels have great engagement rates compared to other forms of content. People can spend hours watching reels. Instagram reels can be shared, liked, and even saved to be watched again later.
Now, this is the cool part! Instagram has a strong algorithm, so your reels are not just watched by a large number of people and can have great engagement, but they are watched by the RIGHT audience for your brand. Instagram algorithm analyzes users' interests and preferences and what they search for and then pushes your reel to "suggested reels" on the feed and to the "Explore" page. This is so powerful in growing your followers and eventually your paying customers!
You can use your mobile camera and start creating reels directly within Instagram app. No tech experience or extra software or equipment is needed. This gives huge freedom in movement to shoot from different locations and with different people. It also makes it a fun and enjoyable experience and even your customers can do it. We will cover this in more detail in the next section of this article.
Let's get down to business! As we previously mentioned: Instagram reels are a form of content, so what applies, when it comes to content types, applies to reels as well. This means reels can be used for creating branding, educational, informative, engagement, and promotional content. We will dig through each content type and how to maximize using Instagram reels to win both followers and paying customers.
Use Instagram reels to tell your brand story in a friendly and conversational way. Introduce your team members, film a short video with the brand founder, show what a day in the work looks like, share what is behind the scenes, film how your products are made, or share reviews and testimonials from your happy customers.
Branding content represents who you are, so take your time to choose the brand tone and do your best to find creative ways in creating the videos, so you stick in people's minds and steal their hearts!
Reels examples:
According to Shiprocket, "Educational content is about educating people about your brand, without making it about your products"
Create short reels about the industry you are in to help people solve their problems and refer to your products in a smart and sleek way. For example, if your store sells clothes, create reels about cool trendy outfits ideas for winter 2023, or styling tips and mix them with your products. If you sell healthy food, create reels about healthy recipes and health topics. If you have yoga mats and yoga equipment online store, share reels about the different yoga poses. You get the idea!
Reels examples:
You can use Instagram reels to generate informative content about your products. for example, how to use a product, products that can go together, tips and tricks for using the products, and the different ways one product can be used. The great thing about informative content is that it doesn't only benefit your existing customers, but it also attracts the attention of new prospects seeing your products in action. Don't forget to use "product tags" when creating the reel so they know the exact name of the product and can easily view it!
Reels examples:
Engage with your audience using reels by answering their FAQs, asking for their opinion about the new products they wish you offer, requesting reviews about your products and their shopping experience on the online store, or simply enjoy some chatting with your community about their interests or what they love most about your brand. You can also ask your customers to create reels of them using your products and to share the reels with you to be posted on your brand's Instagram account later.
Reels examples:
Use reels for new product launches and for showing your offers and announcing upcoming promotions. You can also hire an influencer to promote your product and share it in a reel form. Avoid hard selling and try to create promotional content in a creative and catchy way.
Reels examples:
1- Stick to 60 seconds. Reels that are longer than 60 seconds can't be boosted as paid ads.
2- Use caption, effects, product tags, and audio options to enhance the reel look.
3- Always remember to use all types of content when creating reels, don't stick to one type only and overwhelm your audience with it.
4- The shorter, the better! 15-second reels are more likely to achieve your objective than longer ones.
5- Check the reel analytics to better understand what works best for your audience and do more of it!
6- Republish what worked really well and re-purpose its content in other channels.
If a reel performed really great, you can boost the reel as a paid ad. You can also use reels for manual ad placement but make sure the screen size and duration match reels requirements. Once you have reels ads, you can automate the process of publishing the ads to the right audience using a marketing automation tool like Convertedin. Put your ads on the autopilot and watch your ROIs skyrocket.
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