How to Use Instagram Reels To Promote Your Products
01/02/2021 | Share:
Instagram Reels is a valuable new video content format that, as an ecommerce business, you should be taking advantage of. Read on to find out how…
What are Instagram Reels?
For those not familiar with Instagram Reels, they’re one of Instagram’s newest content formats. Like videos in Instagram stories, they take up the entire screen with your content but they’re different in that they can be discovered in the explore feed or posted to your own Instagram feed.
You can add hashtags, add music and edit your videos much more than stories. You can take advantage of speed controls, new filters, multiple transitions, and AR effects. People are able to like, comment, share and save your Reels. At the time of writing, Reels can be up to 30 seconds long.
Why you should be using Reels
- As we mentioned before, they take up the whole screen. That means 100% of the attention is on your content.
- Reels can be twice as long as a story.
- Reels are a relatively new feature for Instagram and they don’t want it to flop, so naturally, they’re going to prioritise this form of content in the algorithm.
- Because they’re new, not everyone is used to them yet. Either they don’t know what to post or video is just not their thing. Either way, that means for a limited time, there is less competition for you. But be quick, as 81% of businesses are already using video in some form for their marketing.
- At the time of writing, there is a Reels button at the centre-bottom of the app. It’s where the new post button used to be and will be just above the home button on most phones. They’ve placed it there so it is easy to find/hard to ignore.
- You’re able to repurpose your content from stories and IGTV and get more exposure.
- According to Wordstream, 92% of users watching video on mobile will share it with others.
How can you use Reels for ecommerce?
There are plenty of ways you can use Instagram Reels to support the promotion of your product. Think about using Reels for the following uses:
Showcase your products
As an ecommerce business, the easiest and obvious thing to do would be to tease or show off your products. A simple but effective example of this would be from e-commerce fashion brand ASOS: https://www.instagram.com/reel/CJ3tM9WBtfA
When showcasing your product, ask yourself:
- What does your product do?
- How does it help people?
- How can I make it entertaining, inspirational or educational?
Tag your products
If you’ve got an Instagram shop, be sure to tag any of your products that appear so that people can find and purchase them quickly.
Tips and Tutorials
If your product needs some guidance or tips you can use reels to do this too. For example, if you’re selling a t-shirt, you could showcase 5 different outfits that go with it. This Reel from ASOS shows how to achieve a certain look using a hair styling product on their website: https://www.instagram.com/reel/CJqrhqZhNfa
Don’t forget, like the example above, you can edit out or shorten content that you don’t need such as long or repetitive actions (like brushing the hair) and work these edits into the style of the video.
Work with influencers
The Reels don’t necessarily have to be created by your account. Many brands work with influencers by sending them their products to try, promote and recommend. Here’s an example of MyProtein reposting a Reel made by an influencer. Notice it contains their own products within the Reel: https://www.instagram.com/reel/CJyoHw7no3Y
If you work with influencers on your content, why not work with them to create a Reel? The results may surprise you!
Behind the scenes
As with Instagram Stories, you can also promote behind the scenes content. Maybe you can produce a video that shows how your product is made or what work is like for your employees?
Take inspiration from others
Why not search for inspiration from some of your favourite brands? After some experimentation with the Reels features yourself, you may find even better ways of making Reels work for you and your business.
