How To Grow Your Instagram Following Using Reels

By Katie Mueller

@dietitiandigital

Want to know how you can grow your Instagram account to get more followers, leads and engagement?

The brand new feature called 'reels' is now live on the platform world wide and it's being pushed big time in terms of organic reach.

You may have noticed that the reach of feed posts has dropped since the month of August and that is all thanks to the launch of Reels, which went live on August 5.

So how can you take advantage of the attention reels is getting to grow on Instagram and consequently grow your business? 

I have 4 tips to share with you today but before we get into that I want to address the one thing that is going to determine how successful of a strategy reels are for you...

Don't overthink it!

This is so important when it comes to any content creation however because reels is a video form of content, I know that you may be freaking out a little at the idea of putting yourself out there on video to the big wide social media world :-) 

That's ok, I totally get it. 

BUT... when you let go of fear and self doubt you can have a lot of fun with reels and be growing your business at the same time!

If you're thinking that reels could be a good strategy for you, I suggest jumping over to the reels feed in your Instagram profile and checking out what others are doing. Get a feel for how it works and some ideas for how you can be creative and put exciting and interesting content together for your audience.

Getting familiar with reels and what's working for others is a great confidence boost!

Then, when you're ready to post your first (or next) reel keep these 4 tips in mind to help it get discovered and make the most of the organic reach 

TIP #1 CONSISTENT CONTENT

Many people will be discovering your page for the first time by seeing your reel. When they click over to view your profile you don't want there to be any surprises. Keep consistent with your messaging and style of content from your feed to reels.

This also makes it easier for you when it comes to content to create for reels as you can (and should) re purpose content from your feed and turn it into a short, sharp and entertaining reel clip.

TIP #2 USE HASHTAGS

To help your reels get discovered, use hashtags just like you would in feed posts. When you get to the final stage of posting your reel, you will see that you can add a caption and at the bottom, add your hashtags.

Choose mostly hashtags that are 100k-500k in size, that way they are big enough to get exposure but not too big that your content gets lost in the crowd. 

TIP #3 USE TEXT IN VIDEO

Unlike Tik Tok, Instagram is not typically a 'sound on' platform so a lot of your audience may be watching reels with the sound off. So that your reel can still be viewed and understood without sound, add text captions to your videos that share your message and main points. 

You can add this to reels just like in stories.

TIP #4 DOWNLOAD INSHOT FOR EDITING & MUSIC

You may have noticed that the option to add music to your reel is not available in a business account :-( this is because of copyright laws. If you do have the function available, it will likely disappear very soon. 

There is a way that you can still add free music that isn't bound by copyright, to your reels for your business account. 

To do this you will need to download an app called InShot. Once you have this app, you can upload your reel video, edit, add text and music to the clip and then save it to your camera roll to upload directly into Instagram reels.

Thank you for joining me on this blog post today! If you found this content helpful and would like my 1:1 coaching to grow your online nutrition business then I invite you to apply for Dietitian Business Academy. Get details and apply here now >> https://www.dietitiandigital.com/dietitian-business-academy

Katie