As you may or may not have noticed, Instagram recently launched its newest feature, Reels. The video editing tools, however, seem awfully familiar to another app that's stolen the spotlight these days. With its ability to add sounds and effects to your short video clips, Instagram Reels is incredibly reminiscent of TikTok's entire platform, just housed within the current Instagram app. But are Instagram Reels a trend to jump on the bandwagon for, or should marketers put their time and effort elsewhere? In this post, we'll discuss what brands and marketers should know about Instagram Reels and its potential to increase reach and engagement on the platform.
Instagram Reels Positives and Marketing Potential
In general, the entire point of Instagram Reels is to give users more options when editing videos for their feed or stories. The tools, including the ability to select songs or other audio clips for entertainment or comedic purposes is a key add for Instagram. As trending video challenges continue to pop up on TikTok almost daily, the potential to capture those trends within the Instagram app is now possible with Reels. For a brand or business that already has a strong presence on Instagram, it may be beneficial to use Reels to get in on the action, instead of trying to move your audience to TikTok by starting a new account there. At the same time, the ability to create videos with fresh editing styles may present some brands with the opportunity to grow their following on Instagram with eye-catching, or even viral, content.
The Drawbacks of Instagram Reels
Since its launch, however, Instagram Reels has received its fair share of criticism from industry professionals and IG users alike. For one thing, some have noted that the video editing tools in Reels are a bit clunky and hard to find within the Instagram app. The tools are not as innovative and streamlined as those available in TikTok, such as automatic clip trimming. On Reels, the video uploading and editing process is much more manual and comes with more friction than TikTok's platform. For essentially being a clone of TikTok, Reels seems like the less desirable option of the two in terms of user experience.
For brands and marketers, however, perhaps the most challenging aspect of Instagram Reels is getting eyes on your content. Because Reels was built into the existing Instagram app, there is little designation to set Reels apart from other types of posts. Someone scrolling through their regular feed is given little indication when a Reel comes up, other than the sound label under the username on the post. Reels are mainly showcased in the Explore tab, which is also full of images, regular videos, IGTV videos, and more. Reels play just like regular stories in the Story player as well. Instead of building a separate tab for users that want to see Reels, like IGTV for instance, the feature is hidden among the rest of the posts on the app.
So what does this tell us? It may not be your best plan of action to funnel all of your resources specifically to Reels just because it's a shiny, new thing. An Instagram content strategy with some variety is probably your best bet, at least until we start to see some improvements come to the Reels tool. However, as TikTok continues to cause controversy, we may see Reels becoming a viable alternative for edited videos in time, so it's important for marketers to stay updated as time goes on.
