If you’re keen to level up your Instagram game, you’re in for a treat. Our Head of Social Media, Emma Woythaler, recently hosted a REEL-y informative and engaging Instagram Reels Crash Course webinar.
Our wedding pros have already been putting their new social skills to work to achieve great social engagement, so we wanted to share what we learned with you.
Meet Emma
Emma is the highly entertaining and talented Head of Social Media here at Easy Weddings. You may have caught her once or twice (or 50 times) on Easy Weddings socials, chatting live with industry experts, taking over Instagram Stories, or filling your feeds with some hilariously clever Reels.
If you haven’t, you’re seriously missing out on some quality content. Head to the Easy Weddings and Wedding Supplier Network Instagram accounts and give us a follow right now!
Following on from Emma’s previous article How to Instagram like a pro for your wedding business, she recently ran a Reels masterclass, which was our most popular webinar to date. This article explains what she covered.
Why Reels?
Reels are pivotal to any successful wedding business’ Instagram content strategy. That’s because Instagram is competing with TikTok (and now YouTube Shorts) for its video content.
The platform has officially become a video-first platform. As a result, video content will generally outperform photos, with Reels now Instagram’s top content type. Users will be rewarded by almost always getting more reach and engagement on a Reel than on a regular post.
The basics
Here’s what you need to know when it comes to creating Reels:
Content planning
Before you even go into the Instagram app, the following things will help set you up for success. Aside from your phone (of course) the following things are a must have :
- Established content pillars
- Trends research
- A Reels plan
- Pre-recorded footage (if applicable)
- Good lighting
- High-quality content (no pixels, no filter, etc.)
- A stand/tripod/ring light to prop your phone
Set yourself a goal of 1-2 reels per week to start off, but share more often once you get the hang of it.
Aim to do a bulk content creation session once a month. Save each video as a draft to post throughout the month. Pro tip: if you’re creating multiple Reels showing yourself on the same day, remember to change outfits so your audience will never know!
Write all your ideas down by using a planner, phone notes, or some way to match your idea to your selected audio.
In the below video, Emma walks us through how to make a Reel (and explains WTF all those buttons are for!)
Some different types of Reels you might like to create include videos with your face, just your product or venue (aka without face), a montage of photos only, or mix it up with a combination of yourself and some photos or videos of other cool stuff.
Emma explains how to create these four types of Reels in the below ‘how-to’ video.
How to find trending audio
A great way to help your video get noticed is to add trending audio. If you’re in planning mode, you can search for the audio you want and save it for later. Here’s how:
- Go to your Reels feed
- Research what’s trending
- Tap the audio you’d like to use – try to look for high-usage audio if possible
- Save for later
- Write down your idea (so you don’t forget when you go to publish your Reel!)
If you’re having trouble finding popular songs, you may need to change your business category to “Entrepreneur”. We’re not sure why this is, but it should do the trick!
Reposting, Resharing, Repurposing
Make the most out of Instagram Reels by Reposting, Resharing or Repurposing. This might be something you previously shared, or by another creator (with attribution of course).
Reposting
Found a Reel from a different creator/business you love and think is relatable to your business or audience? Use igram.io to download that Reel in high quality and repost it from your Instagram
Don’t forget to tag the original creator/poster both in the Reel and in the caption with wording such as: “repost by @XXX” or “video by @XXX”
Remixing
Remixing is the art of reinventing content like Instagram collaborations, reaction videos, or recreating videos. It has the potential for increased reach and engagement.
You might choose your remix to play either beside or after the original video.
Just ensure “Remixing” is enabled on your Reels to allow others to collaborate with you as well.
Repurposing
Rather than trying to become a pro at all social platforms, Emma recommends sticking to just one to focus on – for example Instagram. From there, you can repurpose your own content on other video-sharing platforms like TikTok & YouTube Shorts without the stress of creating brand-new content.
Repurposing allows you to increase reach and engagement from different platforms with cold audiences.
A handy tool to download your published Instagram Reel is igram.io. This app allows you to repurpose your Reel to share on TikTok and YouTube Shorts.
Be mindful that the max duration for a video on TikTok is 3 minutes, while it’s only 60 seconds for YouTube Shorts (recently increased from a super short length of 15 seconds).
Emma’s top 8 tips for Instagram Reels
- Try to create Reels in-app as much as possible
- Use text and stickers (e.g. Closed Captions) from within the app
- Use trends as inspiration
- Create some suspense
- Use hooks
- Time your image transitions with the changes in the music tempo, beat drop or sound effect
- Post consistently
- Allow sharing to Facebook
Content ideas
Get started with a few of these easy prompts:
- Behind-the-scenes videos
- Tips for your niche
- Humour/relatable
- Tips for suppliers – grow your network!
- Real weddings
- Before and afters
- With us vs. without us
- Inspirational content
Final thoughts for creating Reels
Keep it simple – there’s no need to over-complicate it!
The anxiety and overwhelm that may come with creating Reels lessens with time and practice. Take it from Emma – you will get better with practice.
Sometimes Reels you think will perform great will flop; other times Reels you thought were average do really well. Bit it’s okay for Reels to underperform – learn from insights and keep creating
Above all, being yourself is what works best. Your audience (and future customers) will want to know who they are engaging with, so always present your authentic self to your socials.
Useful resources
Follow these pros on Instagram for endless inspiration:
- @thesocialimpact.co
- @latermedia
- @thesocialista_
- @sydniclairestudio
- @thesocialbritify
- @brock11johnson
- @pinksparrowsocial
- @theknot
- @weddingpeace
- @loverly
- @she_saidyes
- @marthastewartweddings
- @betchesbrides
- @easyweddings – of course!
Catch up on our library of Professional Development webinars, here.
