PipeflowWhat Reels are
Reels are short videos in portrait format on Instagram. They have their own area in the app and can also be shown to people who do not follow you yet. You can add music, text overlays and simple effects right in the app.
How long a Reel can be and what features are available has changed several times already. You can see the current options in the app itself. For small businesses, short is usually better anyway.
Is it worth it for your business?
Reels can help you reach new people, as Instagram shows them not only to your followers. Whether that happens for you, though, nobody can promise. Some Reels get seen a lot, many others hardly at all.
A Reel is especially worthwhile when movement shows something a photo cannot: how a technique works, how a room changes, how a cake is made. If your topic can be told well in a picture, a photo or text post is often just as good and much quicker to make.
To be honest: Reels take more time than a photo with text. Filming, selecting, editing, adding text. So think about whether you regularly have the time before you set out to make several Reels every week.
Simple ideas with your phone
You need no studio and no editing software. These ideas work with your phone and the Instagram app:
- A technique in time lapse or slow motion: the hairdresser blow drying, the joiner at the workbench, the baker shaping bread rolls.
- Before and after: a few seconds of the starting point, then the result. That works in the trades, cleaning, gardening or beauty.
- A quick tip: you speak to the camera and answer a common customer question.
- Walkthrough: a short walk through the workshop, the restaurant or the shop in the morning, before things get going.
- Showing something new: the new product on the shelf, the new machine, the seasonal dish.
- Introducing the team: each person says a sentence about what they do in the business. Only those who want to, of course.
How to film without a professional
A few basic rules make the biggest difference:
- Portrait format: hold the phone upright, Reels are shown in portrait format.
- Keep it steady: rest the phone on something or use a simple tripod. Shaky footage soon looks restless.
- Light: daylight from the front or the side. Filming towards the window makes faces dark.
- Sound: if you speak, get close to the phone and find a quiet spot. Machine noise or music behind you makes you hard to follow.
- Text overlay: many people watch videos without sound. A short overlay or captions help the message get across anyway.
- Music: use music that the app offers for your account. With business accounts, the selection can be restricted.
Common mistakes with Reels
These mistakes cost time and bring little. Most of them are easy to avoid:
- Too long a start: logo, greeting, slow zoom. Show the key thing right at the beginning.
- Too much at once: one Reel, one idea. Better two short videos than one overloaded one.
- No link to your business: a funny trend that has nothing to do with your work may bring views, but rarely customers.
- Other people's music or content: only use what the app offers you or what you made yourself.
- People without consent: in video too, anyone who can be recognised should have agreed.
Thinking of Reels and feed posts together
Reels do not replace classic posts. Anyone who visits your profile sees a grid of photos, graphics and videos there. For many prospective customers, this grid is the first impression: what do you do, what does your work look like, are you active?
For most small businesses a mix therefore makes sense: regular feed posts with photo and text as a reliable base, and Reels when a topic can be shown well in motion and you have time for it. That way your visibility does not hinge on whether you manage a video every week.
A practical approach: when you are taking photos for a feed post anyway, also film a few seconds. When the chance comes, that becomes a Reel, without you needing a separate slot for it.
How to tell whether it is working
In the statistics of your professional account you can see, among other things, how often your Reels were viewed and how people reacted. Do not compare a single Reel with a single photo, but look over several weeks at what brings you more enquiries, messages or new followers.
If Reels hardly change anything for you but take a lot of time, it is perfectly fine to make them less often. A reliable series of good photo posts is worth more to a small business than one Reel a month that costs you half a day each time.