How to Make Instagram Reels (11 Tips to Get Max Reach)

Want to cash in on your followers' Instagram Reels addiction?

Studies show that videos on Instagram earn an average of TWICE as many comments as images alone.

In other words, Reels are engagement machines!

But how do you harness the power of Reels to grow your brand online? Many people struggle to figure out exactly how to craft the perfect Reel that earns engagement and followers.

This post will show you how to do just that — without driving yourself crazy by attempting to figure it out through trial and error.

Feel free to skip to the juicy sections:

• 11 Tips to make Instagram Reels like the pros
• How to post Instagram Reels
• How to optimize your Reels strategy with Post Planner
• Frequently asked questions

Pro tip #1: Educate your audience

Many social media marketers talk about engagement so much that they forget to mention one of marketing’s core principles:

Education!

Educated prospects are far more engaged and more likely to complete a purchase.

So if your content marketing isn't educating — you're making a BIG (and costly) mistake.

Entertainment is one of the cornerstones of Instagram, but people aren’t always in the mood for mindless entertainment. More often than not, people want to engage with material that is meaningful and helpful to them.

That’s why creating Reels is the optimal way to command your audience’s attention and spread your message as wide as possible (thanks to their quick and digestible format).

Use Reels like the one above to create tutorials and give tips within your industry or audience!

Pro tip #2: Showcase your brand’s values and personality

Social media marketing relies on personal connection and communication with prospects much more than hard selling!

In other words, if you use Reels to craft an authentic voice for your brand that truly resonates with your target audience, you’ll be much more likely to find success!

The most successful social media marketers show customers that their values are similar.

Instead of focusing on selling, this form of marketing involves inviting your audience to join an exclusive club.

Your audience WANTS to become part of a group that reflects who they are as an individual.

A carefully planned and crafted Instagram Reel can be one of the most effective tools for showcasing your brand’s value and personality, which can build trust (and drive sales!).

So don't be afraid to get creative AND relatable like this CrossFit gym that showed its members dancing together.

Pro tip #3: Highlight your product or service

We’ve spent the last 2 sections talking about AVOIDING the hard sell, but there’s a time and a place for everything!

Why should people buy your product or use your service?

What is it that your brand offers that others don’t?

Use Reels to highlight the differences between your products and the competition!

It's the perfect opportunity to make creative videos and capitalize on the attention and interest of your audience.

When you use Reels to push your business, make sure you also deliver a strong CTA! Tell people EXACTLY what their next steps are, whether it’s:

• Going to your website
• Signing up for a free offer (like the Reel shown above)
• Checking out a new product
• Commenting for a chance to win a prize in an Instagram competition

Pro tip #4: Do your research

We’ve covered some of the fundamentals of a Reels strategy, but before you take out your video camera and start shooting Reels, you need to do some preparation.

This is where research comes in. You need to know:

• What type of Reels your target audience is watching
• What Reels content gets the most engagement in your niche
• What topics your audience is interested in
• What resources you have at your disposal to film great Reels (more on this later)

If you know your target demographic, the first step is to watch a few (or a few more) Reels popular among this demographic.

Once you’ve seen what works with your ideal customers, check out what your competition is doing with Reels.

There are 2 things you could learn from this:

• If your main competitors are using Reels, you could see what they're doing right or wrong and use the information to create a better strategy.
• If your main competitors aren’t using Reels yet, you have this entire marketing channel to yourself (at least for a while, so take advantage of the opportunity).

Now, take what you learned and move into the next step of planning your perfect Reel.

Pro tip #5: Create storyboards

Reels aren’t Stories.

So they aren’t meant to have the same spontaneous feel to them.

They’re supposed to be polished, meaningful, and purposeful. Unfortunately, none of those qualities come about by accident – they require planning!

Don’t shy away from storyboarding your Reel ideas before you begin shooting.

Begin by setting a clear objective for your clip and mapping out how you'll achieve it shot by shot.

Don’t get carried away, though — you only have 90 seconds at your disposal.

Pro tip #6: Make genuinely valuable content

Now that you have your plan, it’s time to create your Reel.

This is where many businesses start to go wrong. They try to create content for likes and views instead of content that'll provide their audience with VALUE.

Meaningless content might blow up occasionally, but valuable content provides natural, sustainable growth.

Here are 7 ideas to educate and provide value to your audience:

• Try to use Reels to show your users creative ways to use your products
• Create a quick how-to guide
• Give away free tips that'll help your audience
• Show results that your customers have gotten from using your product or service
• Give your take on recent events in your industry
• Turn a successful blog post into a short video
• Repurpose long-form video content into a short Reel

The sky is the limit! Just make sure that every Reel is providing your audience with value.

Pro tip #7: Create high-quality content

Similar to the concept of high-value content is high-quality content.

Think of it this way: How likely are you to stick around on someone’s channel if their videos look like they were shot on a 10-year-old iPhone in someone’s garage?

Even if they offer value, you probably won’t stick around long enough to find out.

In other words, the foundation of a successful Instagram Reels strategy lies in creating high-quality content that captivates your audience.

It might be showcasing your talents, sharing useful tips, a product promotion, or just a crazy video like the one shown below.

No matter what, focus on delivering visually appealing, engaging, and relevant content to your audience.

Invest in good lighting, clear audio, and compelling visuals to make your Reels stand out amidst the sea of content on Instagram.

Pro tip #8: Post Reels at the right times

Timing is crucial when it comes to maximizing the reach and engagement of your Instagram Reels.

There’s only one problem: Every “expert” has a different opinion about when you should be posting to get maximum engagement.

And they all come up with different answers because they’re each basing their answers on DIFFERENT audiences!

The only way to determine the best time to post your Reels is to analyze your audience's behavior and identify when they're most active on the platform.

Use Instagram Insights (if you have a business account) or third-party analytics tools like Post Planner to determine the optimal posting times for your content.

By scheduling your Reels to go live during these peak hours, you can increase the likelihood of reaching a larger audience AND generating more engagement.

Pro tip #9: Cultivate a relationship with your followers

We discussed showcasing your brand’s personality earlier, but it’s just as important to recognize your followers’ personalities.

By that, I simply mean that social media is called SOCIAL for a reason. People follow accounts that make them feel seen and understood!

In other words, building a solid rapport with your followers is essential for long-term success on Instagram.

Try the following strategies to engage with your audience and develop a relationship with them:

• Responding to comments
• Asking questions
• Encouraging them to interact with your Reels through Likes, shares, and comments
• Posting content that they ask for
• Using user-generated content (UGC)

Show genuine interest in their feedback and preferences, and tailor your content accordingly.

Pro tip #10: Collaborate with others in your niche

Collaboration is a powerful strategy for expanding your reach and attracting new followers on Instagram.

Collaboration gives you a great source of content, and it’s also interesting for audiences to see how various creators interact with one another online (which means more engagement).

Instagram Reels allow you to “Remix” another creator’s video, which means you can add your content side-by-side with theirs.

You can use this feature to partner with other influencers, content creators, or brands in your niche to co-create compelling Reels that resonate with your audiences.

To create a Remix, just click the 3 dots on any Reel the creator has made available for remixing, then click “Remix.”

Pro tip #11: Don’t overdo it with Reels

While Instagram Reels can be a valuable addition to your content strategy, balancing your Instagram content strategy is essential.

For example, a content strategy that focuses only on Reels can bore your followers, decreasing engagement.

Focus on quality over quantity and only create Reels that genuinely add value to your audience's experience on the platform. If your post for the day doesn’t lend itself to the Reel format, don’t force it! Just post it as some other type of content.

Additionally, be strategic in your approach, spacing out your Reels and mixing them with other forms of content like images, carousels, and stories. The more varied your content, the more likely your followers will engage with you.

How to post Instagram Reels

Now that you know WHAT to post, let’s talk about HOW to post your Reels from within the Instagram app.

1. In your iOS or Android Instagram app, tap the + button to create a new post. Then click “Reels” to switch the posting mode.

2. Select the video you want to post from your phone (you can also record Reels natively on Instagram, but we highly recommend recording and editing them FIRST!)

3. Trim your video (this step probably won’t be necessary if you’ve edited your clip in another app).

4. Edit your video to add music, captions, AR effects, and other desired elements.

5. Write your caption and post your Reel!

Again, make sure that all your Reels are high quality! You should never post something without asking yourself, “Will my followers benefit from watching this video?”

If the answer is “YES!” go ahead and click post!

How to optimize your Reels strategy with Post Planner

You’re probably starting to realize how beneficial Reels can be for your business, but also how much work they can be.

After deciding what to post, you still have to:

• Create a high-quality video
• Find the right time to post
• Create a post
• Interact with your followers in the comments
• Rinse and repeat multiple times per week!

And all that while managing all the other aspects of your social media presence!

That’s where Post Planner comes into play.

Post Planner allows you to optimize your Instagram (and other social channels) strategy by automating almost every part of the process.

Let’s discuss how to use Post Planner to take your Reels strategy to the next level.

Create and optimize your posting schedule

Optimizing your posting schedule is the first step to saving TONS of time with Post Planner.

To do this, go to the Posting Plan tab and input the days and times when you want to post to your social channels.

Post Planner populates your calendar to show you exactly when you’ve chosen to post content and what type of content will be posted at each time.

Here’s the best part: Post Planner will AUTOMATICALLY post content at the appropriate times. All you have to do is queue your posts, then forget about them!

In other words, once you create and schedule that Reel, you can forget about it!

Schedule your social posts in advance

But how do you schedule those posts in advance?

There are 2 ways to do this in Post Planner.

First, you can find curated content in the Content tab. Post Planner organizes content from around the web into Content Streams, which you can then use as sources of content or inspiration.

In the screenshot above, I filtered content by videos to ensure I was only getting recommendations I could post as Reels.

The second way you can schedule your posts from Post Planner is by creating them yourself and then just using Post Planner as a scheduler.

Just click “Create Post” and upload your beautiful Reel for Post Planner to automatically post at the perfect time!

Use the History tab to improve your strategy

After using Post Planner for a while, you’ll have a lot of posting analytics to draw from to improve your posting strategy.

To use this data, head to the History tab and scroll through to see the post analytics from your previous content.

Use this data to make strategic adjustments to your future posts. Consider the following:

• What post times get the most engagement?
• What types of content do your followers respond to most?
• Are there any types of content or posting times that DIDN’T do well?

Use these questions to guide your review process and help you improve your performance on Instagram!

Recycle your best Reels

As you scroll through your posting history, you may see that some of your Reels performed WAY better than your other posts.

Why?

There’s often no way to know for sure, but there is a way to CASH IN on it–recycle them!

Simply adding those high-performance posts back into your posting plan can help you get that same level of engagement again, and it also saves you the time of having to create a brand new post!

Post Planner makes this easy. From the History tab, click the 3 dots next to your best posts, then click “Re-queue.”

Post Planner will automatically add those posts back into your content plan wherever they fit best.

FAQ

What is a Reel on Instagram?

A Reel is just a video post on Instagram! Instagram limits these videos to 90 seconds and offers some creative options, such as Remixes, AR filters, and others, but a Reel is just Instagram’s word for a short video post.

What is the difference between Instagram posts and Reels?

An Instagram Reel is a type of post that includes video. These types of posts get shown in the Reels feed to a larger audience than just your followers. Regular Instagram posts can be in various formats but are mainly seen by your followers.

How do you get Reels on Instagram?

All Instagram accounts come with Reels automatically enabled. All you have to do is follow the steps above to create and post your first Reel!

Take advantage of Instagram Reels NOW!

Social media is just continuing to grow, and businesses who want to survive online have to take advantage of ALL possible posting channels and formats –ESPECIALLY formats with as much potential as Reels have.

If you follow the steps above, you should quickly see results from your Instagram Reels strategy.

Have you made a viral TikTok or Reel? Tell us about it in the comments below!