Video content offers unbeatable marketing power, and Instagram Reels are no exception!
Creating clever, engaging Reels can help you drive traffic to your Instagram profile and reach a wider audience with your content. This could help you leverage Instagram Reels for ongoing growth to scale your business.
Finding the right Reels ideas can feel like a challenge. What should you do when you’re running low on inspiration? Plann has the answers you’re searching for.
Here are ten creative Instagram Reels ideas that will work for any industry or niche!
1. Show Behind the Scenes
Authenticity is increasingly important in building trust and creating a strong sense of community in the digital space. Offering a glimpse behind the scenes (BTS) can help you keep it real and connect with your target audience.
Best of all, these kinds of Reels don’t have to be overly curated. Whether you’re preparing orders, designing new products, or simply strolling through your workspace, you can turn your daily tasks into fresh, simple content for your Instagram feed.
The key is to craft BTS Reels that are optimized for the in feed ratio of Instagram content (suiting both a 9:16 ratio as well as capturing attention in your grid’s 1:1 ratio).
2. Promote a New Product
Selling something new? Product promotion is the perfect Instagram Reels idea for any industry! You can use Reels to share the details of your latest offering, along with the value it provides and the consumer pain points it addresses.
Give your audience a reason to consider buying from your business. Shout your offer from the rooftops, and let your Instagram Reel be a one-stop shop for important information on what makes your products so amazing.
Hot tip: make sure you’ve got your Instagram Shop set up so you can add shoppable product tags to your next promotional Reel. This will make it super easy for audiences to go from product discovery to purchase in just a few taps.
3. Offer Educational Value
Educational content can be incredibly successful in generating traffic and building trust on the ‘gram. From relevant tutorials to interesting facts, there are many ways to tell the world what you know and provide a little extra insight into your niche or industry.
You could bust five common myths or misconceptions in your industry, repurpose a recent blog into a punchy Reel or share a how-to demo video of your latest product release.
Whatever your brand stands for, don’t be afraid to share your expertise. Create Instagram Reels that teach your audience something new. You can even link the learning back to any paid educational materials you provide or the products or services you sell.
4. Share a Customer Review
Many brands rely on Instagram Reels as a destination for consumer reviews, and you can too. Short video clips from your consumers can act as great social proof, or you can use trending sounds to overlay a written testimonial and transform it into video content.
This is a great way to incorporate a little user-generated content (UGC) as part of your marketing strategy. Give your customers a voice, and give newer followers a chance to discover more about what makes your brand popular with other shoppers.
5. Answer Common Questions
Do you often receive questions about your brand or the products or services you provide? You can use these as inspiration for content creation! Take the opportunity to produce an Instagram Reel that answers these FAQs.
A Reel like this can be an excellent resource, saving you time and providing customers with the information they need. This could even be a content piece worth pinning to the top of your Instagram account so that it’s easy for your new followers to find and refer to.
6. Create a Joke or Meme
Everyone loves to laugh! If you notice a funny audio track or meme gaining traction in your niche, try creating your own Reel response. Offer your audience entertainment value while tying your comedy in with the overarching tone of your brand.
This strategy is especially useful if your brand usually communicates in a colloquial way or if you have a witty brand persona. Have a laugh while drawing attention to the value your brand can bring or the problems your products and services can solve. Win-win!
7. Launch a Contest or Giveaway
Freebies are always a hit on social media! If you have something to give away, you can use an Instagram Reel to advertise a competition. Give your audience a chance to win a top-rated product or popular service offering.
Running an Instagram contest can have many benefits. You can use this to boost your reach and maximize engagement, encouraging new users to follow your account and comment on your posts. This can mean incredible things for the growth of your brand and account on Instagram!
8. Collaborate with Another Brand
Collaborations are great opportunities to build your community, allowing you to broaden your audience and build your network. Reels are a fantastic place to start. You’ll instantly double your audience, with viewers finding your content across your own account and someone else’s.
Approach brands in your industry who aren’t direct competitors and whose audiences you think will enjoy the content you produce. Look for opportunities to create content alongside others in your niche, and work together to capture Reels that work for you both.
9. Film a Timelapse
A timelapse video can help you show an overview of a long period of time as a short video. You can even add voiceover or a trending audio track! From preparing products to working on business admin, there are so many things you could capture.
Use your Reels captions and editing features to add value to your content. Create content that communicates clearly. Simple timelapse videos can even be used to loop content for a seamless transition back to the beginning, encouraging viewers to watch again and again.
10. Compile Photos as Video
Out of energy for filming but keen to create a new Reel? Repurpose your Instagram photos! You can compile a selection of photos from your camera roll and set them to music so that they appear as a fun, fast-paced slideshow.
This can be an easy way to come up with a new content piece, even when ideas are running low. You can also use photo compilations to share a wide variety of content pieces all at once, combining product images with day-in-the-life posts and even a selfie or two.
Ready to level up your social media strategy?
Looking for an all-in-one content creation suite that allows you to manage your social media channels effortlessly – including Instagram Reels? From mapping out your strategy and designing your graphics to saving plug-and-play hashtag sets, you’ll find everything you need inside Plann.
Go on, and redeem your 7-day free trial of Plann Plus. If you don’t like it, keep using Plann for free!
