You’ve been told over and over again you have to make Instagram Reels to increase your brand awareness and reach on social media – but where do you start?!

Contrary to popular opinion, making Reels is quite easy. Since they were introduced in 2020, there has been countless updates to the Instagram platform, new editing apps and lots of online resources to help you make Instagram Reels.

Before you dive into the actual filming and editing, you need to understand the principles of Reels, including their purpose, the structure of a good Reel and how to use different tools to get the outcome you want.

When should you post a Reel?

Instagram Reels are considered ‘top of funnel’ content, which is a fancy way of saying that Reels are the often the first type of content new customers/audience will see when they come across your account.

This means that Reels should be used to build awareness of your brand, through storytelling and appealing to their pain points. It’s about connecting to them by showing that you understand their challenges and can relate to them.

The best Reels are entertaining, and luckily you don’t need to dance in front a camera for that! It’s about combining good footage and clever editing to grab people’s attention and leave them wanting more.

Reels should be used consistently throughout your social media plan, however they should be used the most when you’re focused on attracting new customers/clients to your business as you want people to be seeing your content more than usual.

How do you make a good Reel?

There are many components to making a good Reel, here’s my top 10 Reels dos and don’ts:

  1. A Reel should be 30 seconds or less; the optimum time is 15 seconds. Check out this article where Instagram itself has come out and said longer Reels aren’t as effective.

  2. Reels should follow this format: hook -> call to action -> problem -> story -> solution -> call to action. This might seem like a long format for a 30 second Reel, however think of each section as between 3-5 seconds long; and you can combine the elements such as combining the problem + story; or story + solution.

  3. Reels need to be in 9:16 format (1080 pixels wide by 1920 pixels high). If you’re using photos in your Reels, make sure your phone camera settings are set to 9:16 so you don’t have to crop or skew your images in your Reels. Download my social media cheat sheet which has this info and more to help you create better content.

  4. If using your phone to shoot footage, change your video quality settings from 1080p to 4k. This gives you crisper, clearer video footage.

  5. Use an external microphone if you’re recording audio. Your phone microphone isn’t the greatest, and once you use an external mic you’ll notice the difference. You can get affordable wireless mics online, or if you have the extra cash, splash out for a Røde microphone.

  6. Use a 3rd party editing app rather than the Instagram app. You have access to far more tools, and a lot of them have desktop versions which makes life easier. Canva, CapCut, InShot and Videoleap are popular apps (my personal favourite is CapCut).

  7. Work smarter not harder – use existing Reel templates when you’re starting out with making Reels as it gives you an idea of what works well for your brand and audience, and you can slowly learn how to add different effects to your video.

  8. Always add captions! This should be #1 as it’s my biggest pet peeve. If you’re talking in your video, please add captions as not everyone watches Reels with the sound on, or could have hearing difficulties and having no captions makes your content inaccessible.

  9. Although you record your Reels in 4k, you need to export them in 1080p quality as Instagram doesn’t allow for 4k uploads. If you export at 4k, Instagram will automatically compress your Reel, which may affect the final upload so you may as well export it in the right format.

  10. HAVE FUN!!! Reels are meant to be entertaining, and if you’re not having fun creating them, they won’t be entertaining. If you’re afraid of trolls and negative comments, I promise you that with the number of Reels I’ve posted for myself and clients (and that’s a lot!!) the number of positive comments far outweighs the negative comments. When you do start attracting trolls, you know you’ve made it!!

Other things to consider is your tools. Invest in a tripod (Kmart do great ones), a PopSocket pop grip (or similar) so you can hold your phone steady, and a ring light (ideally one that comes with the tripod, or get one attached to your phone).

How to edit your Instagram Reel

The easiest way to start editing Instagram Reels is by using templates. Canva and CapCut have fantastic templates created by experienced content creators, and are free for you to use. Simply add in your video or photos, change the text and export!

Once you’ve mastered that, you can start creating Reels from scratch by:

  1. Creating a B-Roll Reel, which is one piece of faceless footage (such as you walking along the beach, pouring coffee, writing in a notebook) with text over the video. Canva is the best app for creating this type of Reel.
  2. Adding different shots/frames, and syncing it to music.
  3. You can then progress to adding transitions between each shot/frame. If you really want to ramp it up, when you shoot your footage add some movement towards the end of the shot to add extra flair to your transition (check out this Reel if you want some inspiration)
  4. Once you’re confident with your editing skills, start thinking about how you can incorporate manual transitions in your footage – think jumping up and down and changing outfits, clapping your hands and changing locations etc. Check out Mario Prawira’s Instagram account for some next-level transition changes that also share stories effectively.

Want some more hands-on learning? Book yourself in for 1:1 social media training with me which is currently half price if you book before 30 June.

When can I start making Reels?

The simple answer: right now! There’s nothing stopping you from starting to make Reels – only your own self-doubt. My biggest advice to you is to worry less about making your Reel ‘perfect’ and focus more on getting it out there.

Did you know it took me over 2 hours to make my first Reel, and it had terrible lighting, crappy transitions and I missed half the shots I needed?

It took me 3-4 months to really understand how to make them ‘good’ and another year for me to learn all the fancy tricks and hacks! So don’t put so much pressure on yourself to get your Reels right every time, like everything in life, practice makes perfect.