You Need to Stop Making These 5 Reel Mistakes
Jumping into creating Instagram Reels can be intimidating, but don't let the intimidation hold you back. Just avoid making these five common mistakes and you'll be on your way to creating an effective reel that will help grow your account. If you are new to creating video content on Instagram you might be thinking:
I'm not sure how to get started because I don't wanna learn a trendy dance
How am I going to get sales from making Reels?
The amount of time I spend creating reels doesn't create any return
If you can relate to any of those thoughts, leave it to us to give you some direction! We want to see you succeed just as much as you do!
Only Copying Trends
One of the biggest mistakes you can make on Instagram is copying what everyone else is doing. Just because a trend is popular, doesn’t mean it will work for your brand. If your account is full of the same content as everyone else, followers will quickly lose interest. Try to be true to your brand and create content that is authentic to you.
How to Fix It
Be yourself and create content that is unique to your brand. If you see a trend that you think would be a good fit, put your own spin on it!
When it comes to Instagram, don’t be afraid to stand out from the crowd. Being unique is what will help you grow your following and keep people engaged with your content. So, don’t make the mistake of copying trends – be true to your brand and create content that screams your company! Your followers will thank you for it.
Making Reels Without a Goal
Creating content without a goal is one of the biggest mistakes many businesses make.
Have you ever scrolled through your social media and seen a video that catches your eye, just to realize the video has nothing to do with the company.
This strategy is used in hopes of getting viral... but this strategy typically results in low views and no traction. When creating a reel, make sure you have a goal in mind. whether that be increasing brand awareness, driving traffic to your website, or getting more followers. It's okay to create entertaining content, but the majority of the content needs to relate to your company so that the people following your account are interested in what you have to offer. If you're not sure what kind of content to post, check out what your competitors are doing. See what's working for them and put your own spin on it.
Creating engaging content is the key to a successful social media strategy, so make sure you're always thinking about your goals when creating new content. Otherwise, you'll just be wasting your time.
Some ideas for company goals that can be achieved through social media content include:
Generating leads and sales
Increasing brand awareness
Engaging with customers and building relationships
Driving traffic to your website
Creating a community around your brand
Showcasing your products or services
No matter what your goal is, create a tangible goal that you can measure, and make sure your content aligns with that goal. Otherwise, you'll never know if you're successful or not.
Fixating on Views
Another huge mistake we see brands and business owners making is focusing solely on going viral and having a high amount of views. This goal is faulty because it's not the purpose of creating reels. It is far more important to create content tailored to your loyal followers and those who are interested in the content you are creating. If you have quality, consistent content then the views will come over time. Do not strive for views, let them come as a result of your amazing content!
If your reels aren't getting more views than your number of followers, don't worry. This is completely normal. Going viral won't help you in the long run. The goal should be to make content that will improve and provide value to your current community. If you have great content, people will start to share it and your views will gradually increase. Remember, quality over quantity!
As you create more quality and consistent content, Instagram will reward you by sharing your reels with more people. This is because Instagram's algorithm favors content that keeps people engaged on the app. If people are watching and interacting with your reels, Instagram will show it to more people to keep them on the app longer.
So, don't worry about going viral or getting a ton of views right away. Just focus on creating great content and the views will come!
Not Batch Creating Reels
As an entrepreneur, we don't have time to waste. Save yourself time and a headache by creating large batches of content all at once. This will allow you to have content queued up and ready to go. When you're in a hurry or don't have time to create a new reel, you can easily post an older one that is still relevant. This also helps keep your account active even when you're too busy to create something new.
Taking time out of your week to plan all of the reels you want to make and recording them all in one afternoon will decrease tension and improve the quality of your reels. Not batch creating your content can be detrimental to your productivity as an entrepreneur. By having large batches of content, you can easily post something new even when you're too busy to film. This will help keep your account active and reduce stress. So take the time to plan and film all of your content at once.
How to Batch Create Reels
Set a goal
Set a target for yourself before you start making batch reels. How many reels do you want to create a week? What is the maximum number of reels you need to make? If you aim to post three videos each week, that's 12 per month, which is feasible with the right strategy.
Find Inspiration
You may use Instagram's "save video" function to discover new ideas for your own videos. Get inspired by other industry experts in the same field as you. This will give you an idea of the sorts of materials that are popular in your industry. When you click to read more on a reel because it is informative, this indicates that it is a high-quality reel. Take inspiration from these types of videos to create your content.
Schedule a Day
This is probably the easiest step, schedule a day on your calendar labelled "Batch Create Reels Day". If you know beforehand that you have a day without any commitments, this is the perfect day to film! This day is entirely for filming and editing your content so that you can have a large batch of reels ready to go.
Gather the Proper Equipment
To create high-quality videos, you will need some basic equipment. A smartphone is all you need to get started, but some accessories can help improve the quality of your videos.
Tripod - This will help stabilize your camera so that your footage is not shaky. Otherwise propping your phone on a water bottle always seems to do the trick;).
Microphone - External microphones will dramatically improve the audio quality of your videos. If you're recording yourself talking, you want to make sure that your voice is clear and audible.
Lighting - Proper lighting can make a huge difference in the quality of your videos. If you're filming during the day, try to film near a window so that there is natural light. Otherwise, you can buy some inexpensive LED lights to help brighten up the footage.
Clothes- Plan to change out of outfits frequently, so that your followers can't tell that you filmed all of the content in one day.
Overthinking Posting Time and Hashtags
When it comes to creating content for social media, there are some things you just can't control. such as when your followers will be online and what hashtags they will use. Don't waste your time stressing over these things because they won't help you create better content.
Instead, focus on creating the best possible content that you can with the resources you have. The time you post and hashtags you use aren't going to make or break the performance of the reels.
Creating great content is all about understanding your audience and giving them what they want. If you spend all your time trying to control things that you can't, you'll miss out on opportunities to create content that will resonate with your followers.
Now that you know the most common Instagram Reels mistakes, it's time to put what you've learned into practice! Check out our free content calendar download to get started. With this handy tool, you can plan and schedule your Reels ahead of time so you can avoid making any mistakes.
So what are you waiting for? Get started today and start creating amazing Reels that will engage and excite your audience!