How to use Instagram Reels to promote your business
Oh, Instagram Reels either you love them, or you're already sick of hearing me talk about them so much. If you've been following content from Creatorly Media or on my own YouTube channel for any time at all, then you'll definitely be familiar with my love for Instagram Reels. In case you need a bit of extra background, Instagram Reels was introduced in August of 2020, at least where I live here in Canada, as a direct competitor to TikTok - and let's just be honest, it's just a total TikTok rip off. Since its release, Reels has slowly been adding more and more features that make it more similar to TikTok, and even though Instagram officially claims that they are not prioritizing Reels in their algorithms, it's pretty clear from observations that Reels often outperform most other kinds of content.
To define Reels more exactly, Reels are short-form videos, 15 seconds to 30 seconds long - though even as I write this, Instagram is currently rolling out 1-minute reels as well. These videos are different from the 15-second story clips that we're used to - even though you can create them from the same starting point within the app. They are different because of the places that you can view them in the app - what Instagram calls "surfaces" or what you might think of as the different tabs within Instagram. I know this might sound techy and boring but stay with me because this is exactly what makes Reels so special!
Reels live in a few different places, for one they can live in the feed. The main Instagram feed where your followers see your content, and you can also post photos with captions - this is just one place people can find your Reels content. Reels also live in the Reels feed - that sneaky new button that got added to the bottom centre of your screen where the new post button used to be? That's the Reels feed - and it is entirely different from your regular feed for one key reason: that feed is not determined by who you follow, but rather by what you're interested in.
The Reels feed - very similar to the TikTok for you page though in my opinion, with a worse algorithm, is a powerful tool for discoverability, and this is why Reels are so essential for a good Instagram growth strategy right now. Instagram shows users Reels based on their interests, allowing them to discover new content, which then of course means, this gives creators a new opportunity to find new followers.
Reels can also be viewed in Stories when shared there. This is a third "surface" or space on Instagram where your Reels can give you extra mileage and fill out your content calendar.
Overall, Reels are a powerful tool not only for entertaining your current audience and showing them a fun, more relatable side to yourself, they are also a powerful tool for discoverability. This is why in this blog post, I want to go into detail with you about how to use Instagram Reels to grow your business - TikTok and Reels are such personality-based platforms, they're often used by regular people sharing funny or interesting moments, so how can they be utilized by a brand or a business? It may seem impossible but I promise you it's definitely in reach for you and your business and I'm going to tell you how.
How to approach Reels as a business account
Let's get into it - while there are honestly countless ways you can utilize Reels in order to grow on Instagram and promote your business, today I'm going to take you through three main categories of content that you can produce for Reels: entertainment, education, and promotion.
And before we get into these categories, let's address the two main ways that business owners can approach creating reels, or using Reels in their content strategy. Reels are a bit different from other forms of Instagram content, in that the typical Reels content kind of requires a human subject. If you're a business owner that's used to posting stock photos, or strictly using carousel graphics, then you might be struggling to figure out how to approach making Reels. Here are the two approaches I recommend:
Use an ‘internal influencer’ - decide on a face for your brand - this can either be you or someone on your team.
Use community-generated content. Focus on compiling content from other creators, and supplementing that with screen recordings, animated videos, and stock footage in order to fill in the gaps with your custom content.
Some examples of effective Reels strategies for business
Let's talk about a couple of different examples of accounts that use these different approaches so you can see how they play out in practice. It's not hard to come across examples of the first version - choosing a face for your brand or what I've referred to as an "internal influencer"- this is essentially using your own presence to influence on behalf of your brand, rather than, or in addition to, outsourcing to typical influencers to talk about your products or services. To me, The Washington Post on TikTok was the first major example of a company doing this well, but more recently many brands are using this approach, and the trope of "X company hired me to make TikToks" is pretty common on the For You Page. This is the most flexible option because it allows you to create Reels just as if you were any other person or personal brand. However, this doesn't always make sense for every brand or situation.
The alternative, as I mentioned is going the compilation route, and supplementing that with your own faceless content when necessary. For some more in-depth tips on making Reels that you don't have to be on camera for, check out this video I made over on my personal channel:
An account that does this really well in my opinion is the @girlboss account on Instagram - they have grown a ton over the past 6 months or so by primarily using a strategy of tweet graphics and Reels - a strategy that I'm attempting to implement on the Creatorly Media account right now, go follow it to see how it all plays out. But, @girlboss uses TikToks and Reels created by other people and they select ones that are either informative or relatable to their audience - their brand is all about community and so it makes sense for them to feature content presumably from the community. This is a bit less flexible than the internal influencer model because you can only work with what you find, but the upside is that if you come across a viral TikTok that would probably work well for your audience, it's already proven itself to be top-performing content which means that it will likely perform well for you too.
Honestly, for both of these methods, chances are they will take a lot of time and effort to do well. I think often people see the compilation route as a shortcut, when in reality, finding high-quality, relatable content for your audience takes a lot of time and research as well. Even though it doesn’t seem like it, sometimes just making them for yourself can be faster.
The Three Types of Reels for Businesses
Now that we've covered these two general approaches to Reels content creation or curation - let's talk about those three main categories of Reels that I mentioned that are most effective for growing your account and promoting your business.
Entertainment
At the end of the day, all of your Reels should have an entertainment factor. However, in this category, the primary aim of the content is to connect with your audience or to create reliability. That feeling of “oh my gosh, that’s me!” is exactly what causes users to share videos to their friends or hit the follow button.
Education
This is the category where you can really shine, especially if you are a coach or a service provider. Share your expertise, and establish yourself as an authority in your field by sharing some of your secrets. I often come across people who are concerned about “giving it all away” and I actually made a video exactly about this concern a little while back. So if you’re not sure how much information to give away for free, and how much to charge for, then check out this helpful perspective:
3. Promotion
Finally, we have Promotion - your chance to truly sell yourself. When you’re developing promotional Reels, you can consider using this basic structure: identify a relatable problem; offer a solution; provide urgency.
To learn more about these three strategies more in-depth, listen to the full podcast episode below!
Whether you decide to go the internal influencer route, or use community-generated content, those three categories of Reels will help you create a strategy that will not only grow your account, but also grow your sales.
If you want more resources on Reels, here a few videos on my personal Youtube channel from a couple months back that I think you will find helpful: