Everything you need to know about Instagram Reels

Instagram reels is a new way to create 15-second videos.

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Yes, it is similar to TikTok. No, it doesn’t have all the TikTok features yet. But let’s get into all the details 🎉

What is Instagram Reels?

Instagram Reels is a feature inside Instagram that lets you create 15-second videos with music.

After Brazil, France and Germany, this feature was launched in India on 8th July 2020.

What are the features available in Reels 🎥

1. You can create a 15-second video.
2. You cut the video recording into bits and stitch them all together along with clip adjustments before sharing it.
3. You can use music from Instagram’s music library, add your own or use someone’s sound to create your reel.
4. You can share your reel on your Instagram feed, Stories or to the Reels discovery feed.
5. You can adjust the speed of your video.
6. You can use Instagram filters to be creative.

Top reels are shown in the discovery tab, this is where the best reels have a chance to go viral. This is similar to #foryou page of TikTok.

Why Reels 🤔

It’s all about business. TikTok’s popularity is undeniable. In the beginning, TikTok attracted a lot of gen Z users but in the last one year, the number of millennials has risen. This makes it a good market for advertisers.

With TikTok’s ban in India, with its growing popularity in other regions, Facebook earlier launched Lasso. It was a standalone app to compete with TikTok but it failed to gain any momentum. So, Facebook did what they do the best. Leveraged their current user base.

With over a billion users daily active users and 500 million daily active Stories users, Instagram is the perfect place to launch ‘Reels’ as a feature.

How to create a video with Instagram Reels 💃

First, go to Instagram and open the Stories camera. Then spot Reels. It is right next to Story.

Now, you will see four options

• Audio
• Speed
• Effects
• Timer

With audio, you can add music from the library.

You can choose the speed from the speed option.

You can scroll across to apply effects or AR filters just the way you do on your normal stories. And similarly, you can also tap and “Browse effects”.

With the timer, you can choose the time for which you wish to shoot and then stitch the 15-second video.

Before posting your Instagram reel

1. Add a cover image. You can choose to pick one from the video but you can also make a custom image.
2. Add captions and hashtags. You cannot edit your captions or hashtags once it is posted.

How is Reels not TikTok

Yes, reels is a great feature but there are somethings that you cannot do with reels.

1. Reels is still a feature within Instagram and at the moment has limited abilities.
2. TikTok’s beauty mode made a world of difference to the creators.
3. Unlike your IGTV preview, the reels land up in the Reels section on your grid.

If you want Reels to be a part of your digital strategy, it will be a small part of your overall Instagram strategy as you will still be on the same network, just trying to use more creator tools to attract more audience and retain the one you already have.

Future of reels?

It’s a great story feature and if Facebook decides to bring it to Facebook and Whatsapp, one can only imagine how many of us will then have tools for creation 😲

But before that, as Instagram always does, we can expect more refined features within this feature as it rolls out globally.

Reels might be a tiny feature but looks like it has the power to bring in massive change.

What are your thoughts on reels? Share it in the comment section 👇

Sam is ready for some lights, camera, reel.