Reels on Instagram- a fun mystery that leads to much frustration sometimes. "I put so much work into this video. Why does it only has 100 views??" or "I literally took this bad quality video in 1 minute and it got 10k views!"
The algorithm on Instagram changes constantly and it is hard sometimes to keep track. Therefore, I checked and tried out 7 tips on how to get your reel to go viral! If you follow all these tips your next video will get many more views! I promise :-)
1. Push Reels to Your Feed!
If you don't want every reel visible on your feed, you can still get maximum distribution of your reel by sharing to profile grid and then removing it afterwards, it will still appear on your followers feed.
This will give you a higher chance of getting seen on the Explore page as your follower’s views will crank up the views, likes, comments and shares numbers which are vital to the algorithm deciding the placement of a post on Explore.
2. The Hook
As people scroll endlessly through hundreds of videos per day, you need to start your videos with something to hook people in! Many content creators forget that Instagram measures the time people spend looking at your videos, IGTV, reels etc. as well as the interactions (comments, saves, shares and so on).
You probably ask yourself now: "But how do I achieve that?". Here's my tip for you: create a virtual hook. The hook refers to the part of a video that will spark interest in viewers, where you’ve done or said something that looks/sounds shocking or exciting.
For example use phrases like "This is how I accomplished X" or "Wait until the end to see the crazy transformation/ plot twist/ his reaction".
3. Keep sizing in mind! Makes a huge difference!.
This is literally the holy grail when it comes to creating good content on Instagram. Whenever people scroll through their explore feed they only wanna spend a few seconds on reading your text.
It is important to know that the format for Reels is different to the feed. This means when people view your Reels in the feed, they will see only 4:5 size of the 9:16 full screen Reels format. So if you have spread the text overlay outside of the 4:5 zone (the core meat of the content) people will not be able to see this on their feed as it’ll be cut off until they open it full screen.
4. Enable Interactions
At the end comments, likes, saves, shares are the goal with anything you post. It’s how your account grows and how you attract new followers.
For example, you could ask a question in the beginning or share some tips so people can talk about it or share their experience with it.
Don’t just ask them in the caption, also add a text layer at the end with the question so you can really get them involved. The simple way is to ask for a double tap, but start getting more creative and start generating valuable comments on your reel. If you can get people writing several words in the comments, the Instagram algorithm will also reward this. It literally tracks everything. They even know that emoji replies are all too common and don’t provide value or conversations; so they’re not considered good comments.
Let’s be creative and try to interact more rather than just sharing outfits or products!
5. Add Text in the Middle and Beginning
Instragram Reels are shown in the feeds without sound when a user is scrolling. That’s why on IGTV it’s becoming more common to add headlines and subtitles to get people to put the sound on.
My tip: You need to add text directly in the middle area that sums up the value or purpose of the video! The goal is by adding a text and placing it in the middle, you are sending information to the viewer what the video is about, so they turn the sound on and watch it right away.
A good way to use overlays on Reels is to tell a story with text and video/images. Wherein every scene you sum up the value in text. This will help the viewer absorb the information and there’s a higher chance they will stay to the end — and even watch it again. Use my " 7 reel tip guideline" on Instagram for example.
6. Use ### baby!
I know I know- It’s hard to get traffic through hashtags noawadays.
Hooowever, on Reels it’s a different story right now! Since there’s not many content creators using the function as often as they are posting on the feed; there’s much less competition amongst the hashtags so the results are pretty good. It's probably going to change in the future but for know it's a wonderful extra to grow and increase your reach. This means there’s a good chance right now that you can begin trending on some pretty big hashtags used on your Reels post.
The hashtags still need to be relevant and carefully chosen though so they’re appropriate for the type of Reels you’re posting. If you’re a fashion influencer and share a Reel of your outfit choices; using the hashtag #realestate or #cat are not going to help you at all.
Try to look through what’s trending right now and where you fit in to those categories and see how many interactions they’re getting. If you get around the same amount of interactions on your Reel, then you’ve got a good chance of reaching the top post of the hashtags and go viral!
7. Last but not least: Create a COVER!
Whenever anyone scrolls your feed or your Reels feed you want to get them to watch and like it, right?
By adding a nice cover that sums up the value of the post, with an image and headline, it will motivate people to tap your post to view. Check out my cover for example.
Use Canca or other apps to create cool and creative covers. Find your color scheme, font and look a little more into branding.
If someone is scrolling through the home feed or hashtag pages and your Reels come up with a nice cover, there’s a much higher chance they will click on it.
If you follow all of these steps your next Instagram Reels have a much higher chance to go viral! Good luck and have fun creating new reels!
Let me know if you have more questions or want more tips. Bis bald!
Feel free to check out my related reel on Instagram: Katyironman