Instagram Reels: How Small Businesses Can Reel in More Online Engagement

Instagram Reels has officially launched in over 50 countries, including the United States. Instagram users are already considering Reels to be a serious TikTok competitor, and for good reason. Reels is a lot like TikTok in almost every way. Unlike TikTok, however, Instagram already has a large user base at the release of Reels, currently holding over 1 billion users worldwide. TikTok currently has over 800 million users, but with the looming threat of a TikTok ban in the USA, Reels is shaping up to be a more than capable newcomer. Reels’ value doesn’t just lie with easily consumable entertainment, it can become another way for companies to build engagement and followers—in fact this is already the case for some well-known brands.

Before we get into how businesses can utilize Reels’ many features, let’s discuss how it works. Just like TikTok, Reels allows users to record short clips (15 seconds) with audio, effects, and a multitude of content enhancing tools. Those with private Instagram accounts can share their Reels clips with their followers on their Feed. Instagram already provided users with a large selection of music, filters, and effects for Instagram Stories, but now, these same tools can be used in Reels, along with the ability to slow down or speed up video or audio and to align multiple clips together to form one unique 15-second clip. If you have a public account, you have the opportunity to have your clips featured on the Instagram Explore page, in a specific section dedicated to Reels. Doing this allows your followers or anyone on Instagram, really, to see your clips. Knowing that your Reels have the potential to reach thousands, even millions, of users is particularly exciting for businesses, especially given how difficult it has become to generate engagement and to gain new followers on the platform these days.

There are a lot of tools at your disposal to make a knockout Reels clip. Consumers like short, bite-sized content, which is why TikTok became so popular in such a short period of time. It may seem difficult to use only 15 seconds to promote a product or service to possibly millions of people, but it’s actually all the time you need. Brands like Louis Vuitton, although already well established, have consistently pulled in millions of views on their Reels because of the quality and creativity that go into making their clips. They use almost all of the native features provided by Reels: music, the effects gallery, slow-motion, speeding up video/audio, etc. All of these tools used together perfectly culminate in a stylistic, fresh, and appealing Reels clip that can easily attract a large audience through the Explore page.

The strategies used by Louis Vuitton aren’t just limited to big name brands alone. Small businesses like, say, a local bridal store, can use the tools provided by Instagram to make clips that are on par, if not better, than those of large brands. If you want to boost online engagement, each of your Reels clips should have a creative caption and an invitation for people to “like, share, and follow.” Even captioning a bridal clip with, “Tell us what your favorite dress is in the comments below!” is enough to engage your audience, and even gain new followers.

The Explore page algorithm, which Instagram has recently modified to fit Reels, is very similar to TikTok in the sense that “anyone” can make a video that reaches a large audience at any time. This is why consistent quality is key. A bridal brand could, for example, use some of the Reels effects to introduce their latest collection in a quick, efficient, and creative way.

Now, the biggest obstacle businesses will face is growing their following on an already crowded platform. Yes, the Explore page does make it easier for small businesses and individuals to gain thousands of views on Instagram, but it isn’t always a guarantee. This is a problem that has less to do with Reels and more to do with the general struggles of gaining popularity on social media. That is why consistent quality is vital to bringing in more engagement, you never know when a clip will show up in the Explore pages of thousands of people at once.