What do you do when you want to kill some time watching short videos and high-quality images while having access to the chat at the same time? You naturally turn to Instagram. This is the best social media platform that combines all of these features into one. But just a few years ago, Instagram used to be just about connecting through images and following your favourite content creator and celebrities through images. But this all changed with the introduction of Instagram reels.
Would you believe it if we said that it has been a decade since Instagram reels were first launched? Although at first glance, Instagram reels may seem like just another platform to watch short clips. However, this addition to what was originally just another-viewing social media platform brought a major change. It gave its content creators some pretty good benefits.
What are the Benefits of Instagram Reels?
The most obvious benefit of Instagram reels is the ability to share videos. Through Instagram reels, content creators could share 15-second video content to keep their audience engaged and add variety to their content. And the benefits do not stop here.
So what are these benefits that make Instagram reels so great?
1) Get on the Explore Page
Explore page is a section on Instagram that shows you content based on your interaction and heart’s history – and this is the hidden secret behind the success of the Instagram reels. On average the engagement rate is roughly around 1 to 3 per cent depending on the industry. However, with the Instagram explore page, this is raised by a significant amount. When people are done scrolling past the pages they follow, they go to explore and view contents that they may like but do not follow.
With over 200 million visits per day on the explore section, the chances that your reels will get noticed on the explore page are rather high.
With this feature, if you can create engaging content, then you will get a bit of a boost in your visibility which is a great form of content marketing.
2) Better Engagements
Adding new features to an existing popular platform is always a big gamble. There are numerous this attempt going the wrong way. But Instagram reel is a good example of an application and platform that rose in popularity and users with its addition of new Instagram reels.
The reels enabled its content creators to hook their viewers more with short-form video content marketing. This form of content is quick, attractive, and holds more content than the conventional form of content on Instagram marketing and digital marketing. Creators love these features for better engagement and user love reels for an alternative form of quick content. They get to enjoy bite-sized videos from their favourite creators without leaving the platform.
3) Short Video Content
As we mentioned earlier, Instagram reels opened up a platform for short video content. This form of content then opened up both the users and visitors to an entire realm of possibilities. Now at this time, the popular source of video content was Youtube – which preferred long videos. For those who didn’t have enough time for 15-minute long videos, Instagram reels became the best option.
It is fair to say that Instagram reels were the best form of short video before TikTok, Snapchat, and YouTube Shorts. If you want to read the entire war between Instagram reels vs TikTok vs YouTube Shorts, then we have an entire article dedicated to this with the title “Rise of Short Video and Reels“. Feel free to check it out.
Now back to the main topic, the point with short video content is that it opened a door to an entirely new genre of visitors and creators in Instagram marketing and digital marketing meta. Regardless of if you are a visitor or creator, it has something for you.
4) Filters and Features
There is only so much you can do with images and indeed Instagram images do have limitations. While you can indeed use filters and image editors, you get to do much more with Instagram reels. With the video format, you can have more freedom while posting reels including short animations, additional filters, music, and best of them all – Augmented reality.
The last part i.e, Augmented Reality (AR) enables you to combine both the virtual world along with the real world and enrich your content for the best experience.
5) Hashtag Page
The primary function of a hashtag is to group contents into similar tags. Think of hashtags as keywords for social media. When visitors search for content on the search bar, then what they see first are the contents with the relevant hashtags.
With Instagram reels, you get a separate page for hashtags. This is great news for both the content creators and viewers. Content creators get an opportunity to get better engagement by posting reels and users get an easy method to find their desired content on Instagram. This, combined with short-form video content is a great combination to increase visibility and easy viewing.
6) Save Time on Contents
For Instagram feeds, you need to click an image, edit it, and then upload it. On the other hand, you can simply shoot the videos on the go with a few filters on and directly upload them in a short video format. While this may not seem like much, it is a great form of content for travel vlogs, post behindthescenes content and other similar forms of content creators.
As a viewer, you get to enjoy genuine unedited content. The viewers get short-form videos which is a great way to save time as well.
7) Build Brand Personality
Pictures speak a thousand words and a video speaks a thousand pictures. With Instagram reels, a content creator can set up a unique brand personality through a combination of imagery, video, music, and animations. This cannot be done with mere images. They have big restrictions when it comes to setting up band personality – at least when it comes to sounds and moving images.
If you, as an Instagram influencer or business manager do this well, then you will get an edge over your competitors who do not do this.
For those who are thinking “what about Instagram stories” you should note that Instagram stories were only launched in 2016, more than half a decade after the reels. By 2016, the allowed duration for Instagram reels had increased as well.
What are the Benefits of Instagram Reels for Business?
This is a simple one as everything that we have talked about so far regarding the benefits of Instagram Reels can also be applied to business. To point them out, some of the benefits of Instagram reels for business are:
- Better Engagement
- Increased Lead Generation
- Increased Reach
- Customer Data
- Better Conversion Rates
- Multi-function Content
- Brand Promotion
- Building Brand Personality
In addition to this, depending on the Instagram Marketing Campaign from the company, there can be additional business-specific benefits as well.
Conclusion
Naturally, the benefits of Instagram that we have listed here do not include every benefit. However, we have covered the general gist of all the benefits. They essentially boil down to Instagram reels enabling short-form video content with an additional section for hashtags. This in addition enables better engagement and better exposure.
We hope you found this interesting. And as always, thank you for reading till the end.
FAQ
Q: What are the advantages of Instagram reels?
A: Some of the best advantages of Instagram reels are:
- Better engagement rates
- Better Digital Marketing
- Additional Filters and Features
- Easy Content
- More Content Reach
Q: Are Instagram reels good for growth?
A: Both Instagram reels and Instagram feeds are great for business as they are among the best form of digital marketing.
Q: Are Instagram Reels worth it?
A: Yes they are but you need to combine it with other forms of digital marketing.