In the next post of this series, we will go through some helpful tips about when you should post on Instagram Reels to boost engagement for your account.
Keep reading!
Boost Engagement with Instagram Reels
1. Find Your Unique Offering
To attract a large audience, you need to find what makes you special. Why should anybody watch your Instagram Reels? This goes beyond skills or physical traits. In fact, physical characteristics and skills are really just complementary to your unique offering.
Sounds a little “out there,” right? Just ask your friends and family what they like most about you and you’ll have plenty to go with. What’s most important is that you be yourself. Don’t try to produce the exact same content in the exact same way as everyone else.
Rachel Brathen (@yoga_girl) is a great example of someone who has built an enormous following on Instagram by simply being herself. She uses Instagram Stories to promote her many endeavors and share her love of yoga. If you follow her for any amount of time, you’ll learn about her sweetheart of a daughter, Lea Luna, her husband, Dennis, and their idyllic life on the island of Aruba that Rachel loves deeply. But, you’ll also see a side of her life that most influencers don’t share like her struggles with sometimes saying the right thing in the wrong way, and how she can never get the lizards to leave her garden alone.
Rachel sets herself apart from other fitness and yoga influencers with her willingness to be imperfect and human.
2. Produce More Content
You probably just groaned a little. This tip is obvious, but if you’re a creator you already know how hard it is to constantly come up with fun, creative ideas. The good news is that you don’t always have to come up with groundbreaking or hilarious content. Instagram Reels can also be used as a vlog.
This might mean just sharing a quick update that doesn’t require video editing tools instead of spending hours planning and piecing together that perfect transition.
3. Collaborate With Other Instagrammers
Cross-promotion is an excellent way to share your brand with a larger audience on Instagram. And, it’s really easy to do. Just reach out to a brand or influencer whose target audience overlaps yours and ask if they want to collaborate on a post or series of posts. You’ll be sharing access to your audience with this person, so make sure it’s someone your audience would enjoy (trust, they’ll be thinking the same when considering your proposition).
Cross-promotion is mutually beneficial and will help you and your co-conspirator increase your reach and get new followers. Here’s how to find influencers on Instagram.
4. Create and Participate in Challenges
Challenges are big favorites on TikTok and there’s no reason to think that they won’t have a large appeal on Instagram Reels, too. They’re a great way to get new followers and a really easy way to get your brand in front of a large audience if you’re participating in a trending challenge.
5. Use Hashtags
Twitter really nailed it with the hashtag thing. Across social media platforms, creators include hashtags to make it easier for users to find their content. But you can’t just pick any old hashtag and expect it to magically draw in viewers. Find and use hashtags that are relevant to your content. If the hashtag you choose isn’t relevant, you’ll end up lumped in with content that’s nothing like what you’re doing and nothing like what your audience is expecting.
In other words, you’ll either be seen as spamming an unrelated hashtag for exposure (a turnoff) or nobody will find your content.
Finding hashtags isn’t hard. Just tap on the magnifying glass icon at the bottom of the Instagram screen to get started.
Next, type in your keyword in the search bar:
Now, tap Tags and you’ll be taken to a screen showing all of the hashtags in use on Instagram related to your keyword. You’ll even be able to see how popular the hashtag is:
Chances are, you’ll end up with quite a list. Instead of including every single hashtag in your caption, choose the hashtags with the most views and that are the most relevant to your search term.
You can add hashtags to Instagram Reels in the caption. It’s same like what you would do with a post or Instagram Story. In case you’re stuck on choosing the right hashtags, let’s check out this article on the best Instagram hashtags.
6. Repurpose Existing Content
You’ve probably put a lot of time, effort, and creative energy into all of the content you’ve created. So why not use it to its fullest potential? Repurposing content is the best way to share something fresh with your audience without needing to create entirely new content every time.
Repurposed content could be as simple as a “throwback” or “flashback” post. However, if you create content for other platforms, you should really consider editing that content for Instagram Reels. For example, if you already use TikTok, you can use that content on Instagram Reels. Or maybe you create YouTube content. Simply edit that content down to an appropriate length and suddenly you have brand new Instagram Reels content without having to make something brand new.
Conclusion
Finding the best times to post on Instagram Reels will not only make it easier to connect with your existing followers but also get more followers on Instagram. As we mentioned, you’ll first need to find out where your audience is located before working with the time zones in those geographic locations to find the best time to post (when your audience is most likely to be active on the platform).
But you don’t just want to post content without getting a return. To grow your following, you’ll need to produce more high-quality content to get more attention. By applying the tips we’ve outlined in this article, you’ll be able to attract and retain an engaged audience on Instagram Reels.