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Reels can help drive growth and engagement, as our social media expert – the head of strategy at Social Trinity and a TTG 30 Under 30 member – explains
Are you scrolling through Instagram and Facebook, and seeing these videos that take up your whole screen everywhere? These addictive 9:16 short videos in your feed are Reels.
And if you’re wondering about their inescapable omnipresence, it’s all thanks to TikTok, the pandemic’s entertainment superstar that managed to rack up one billion users in half the time of the next fastest-growing platform, Facebook.
TikTok turned the world of social media on its head with its Interest Graph algorithm, a matchmaking formula pushing content to users based on their interests.
Here’s the kicker for Facebook and Instagram. They pioneered the Social Graph algorithm, pushing content to users based on their social connection, like friends, family and who they follow.
TikTok quite literally changed how and what content users want to consume. And, when a platform is swallowing up a large share of users and their time, other platforms mimic how they’ve done it to steal back and retain users.
Introducing TikTok copycat Reels, Instagram and Facebook paired that with a shift in their algorithm to a Social Graph and Interest Graph hybrid, and now an average of 30% of what you see in your feed is interest-driven.
Their chief executive, Mark Zuckerberg, said that Reels “have driven a more than 24% increase in time spent”, they get double the engagement of other post formats and users are resharing them two billion-plus times daily, double from six months ago.
Yet businesses still aren’t making the most of this format – video content accounts for 27% of (Facebook and Instagram) posts, which amounts to only a 2% rise in 12 months despite the fact users can’t seem to get enough.
To get your followers’ eyes on your brand and connect with more people in your target audience, you need to post content your audience engages with and maximise the opportunity with the feature the platforms want to promote, which, in this case, is Reels. This is the sweet spot where platforms will get behind it and further your reach, helping you to engage more users.
Familiarise yourself with Reels:
Engage with content your audience would, and let the algorithm do the legwork by serving you more audience-aligned content. How do you want your target audience to discover your content? Use these keywords in the search function, select Reels and dive into the top ones, noting their content styles, trends, music and sounds. Find correlations between these because this is what your target audience is engaging with.
Top tips for content creation:
A good place to start:
An easy win for a travel business on Reels is “The Reveal”, which sparks curiosity and the fear of missing out. At first, the camera faces down and we see someone walking on the beach with the caption “I can’t believe this place is real”. We build suspense… after four seconds the camera rises and reveals a beautiful view. By not revealing the name of the location, we prompt our audience to comment, which drives engagement further, and when you respond to them, it builds a social connection – feeding into both the Interest Graph and the Social Graph.
