How to use Instagram Reels to market your business

Sahail Ashraf posted on 6 October 2020

Reels is the latest social media darling. It has huge similarities to TikTok, and already has plenty of fans. How can it be used for social media marketing? And is it hard to do?

Reels is the relatively new Instagram platform that allows videos to be made and shared just like TikTok does. It is basically Facebook’s version of TikTok (Facebook owns Instagram). It is fun, and it has made an impact, especially with the recent problems TikTok has had with the US government. But using it for your brand is not necessarily as straightforward as you might think. If you don’t have a clue about how to use Reels, we are going to give you a few pointers on what to do and how. If you’re ready to go with Reels, let’s get started.

Use it for educational content

One thing that will pretty much work with almost any social media platform is educational content. Reels are no different, and if you’re able to create Reels content that shows your audience more about how your product or service can help them reach their own business or personal goals, you are on to a winner. 

Don’t make the content about your product or service. That just annoys people. Instead, focus on what your product or service is there to solve (customer problems) and show how you know what to do and how. The more helpful you are on Reels and the more educational you are, the more likely the content will resonate and build engagement for you.

Use it for case studies

This is pretty much a no-brainer. Your brand probably has a ton of success stories and testimonials from happy customers. Use TikTok to create content around them and then distribute that content. 

These shouldn’t take too long to do, and could even just take as much time as it does to pull up a customer review. With info about the customer, and the comments from the client that testify to your brilliance, it is a great way to build content that is compelling and engaging. 

Keep it simple, and as fun as possible, and you should soon have case study content that is being both viewed and shared.

Use it for that behind the scenes content

Bearing in mind that the most successful brands on any platform are those that really manage to establish a connection with their audience.

Behind the scenes content is awesome for this. No matter what you do, people will be interested in seeing what it is like behind the scenes. Even if you run an ad agency that doesn’t necessarily have any products that you can put in front of the screen, you can still run behind the scenes content, a day in the office for example. 

You’ll be surprised (pleasantly) by the impact of a fun and fast-paced behind the scenes video. It will enable you to show a human side, and make a real connection with the audience.

Your story, too

This is directly linked to the previous point. Essentially, a compelling, if short, story about how your brand came to the position it is at now will be very engaging. 

Take your time over the production of this. Think about how you can best showcase your compelling story and include all the relevant personalities if you can. Again, taking the camera into the office is human and down to earth, and will help to make customers more loyal.

Storyboards

Reels is a little unforgiving, like TikTok, as regards video run times and other factors. The best way to manage this is to create a very basic storyboard. A storyboard allows you to put together the scenes in the video, and really understand how they work. It also helps you keep to time. 

This is not meant to be Hollywood standard. Just a few sketchy images and directions so you know what happens next in a video. This way you will have a tighter final product.

Reels are still quite new. Whether it will beat TikTok or not is still debatable, but it’s new and that makes a difference. Get in now and create high quality content that helps your brand stand out, and you’ll be looking at potentially a truly effective marketing channel.

If you are responsible for social media marketing at your brand, try Locowise, it will help you manage your channels, and monitor ROI.

And we will even give you a week for free.