How to make your Instagram Reels go viral
Virality: the hottest talk of the town.
Having an Instagram Reel go viral is one of the best ways to gain exposure for your brand, become socially relevant, and exponentially increase your business revenue, but it’s oh-so elusive, even for the best of creators.
A viral piece of content is created when social media strategy, content quality, and lucky timing, come into alignment. While there’s no sure way to guarantee success (and that’s why you should always rely on a strong strategy as a safety net), here are a few tips and tricks that might help you increase the chances.
First off, what are Instagram Reels?
Instagram Reels are entertaining or educational short-form videos that are captivating and easy to share. The Instagram Reels function launched in 2020 and since then, has been the best way to discover (or create) new trends, collaborate with other creators, and exchange ideas across the platform.
These videos are so engaging that they typically perform very well within the Instagram algorithm. They're also new, and trying to compete with TikTok, so they are heavily pushing them by prioritizing Reels in the feed - so it's a good time to jump on the Reels bandwagon (it won't be like this forever.)
So, as a small business owner, how do you leverage this function to boost your business?
Here are a few key points for you to follow to increase your chances of making your Instagram Reels go viral.
Get your Instagram Reels basics down
The optimal size of an Instagram Reel is 1080 pixels by 1920 pixels.
Use high-quality video with a vertical orientation.
Remove any watermarks if you’re repurposing from other platforms (eg. TikTok). You can use an app like Hitpaw for this.
Publish your reels to your Instagram Feed and share them to your Instagram Stories to increase distribution.
Create content that stays within the community guidelines!
Optional, if you're a perfectionist over your feed design like us: Create an engaging and beautiful cover.
So, how do you create a Reel worthy enough to go viral?
Use trending audio + themes
Instagram goes through trends, favoring specific music or audio.
You'll notice as soon as you start to scroll through Reels, you'll often hear the same audio over and over. Come back a week later and you'll hear a different audio over and over - last weeks audio is out and a new one is trending - things move fast!
Now, don't ask us how the algorithm works, or how these audios get chosen to be the next big thing. But, if you jump on a trending audio at the peak of it's trendiness, you'll often find your Reel doing much better than if you weren't riding the trend wave. Instagram is actively pushing posts that use this particular audio.
This doesn't mean you have to use trending audio to have a viral Reel, in fact we've had some Reels really blow up with non-trending audio, but this is a great place to start.
How to find trending audio:
The best way to find these trends are to spend time scrolling Reels, watching and listening for trends - it will become clear pretty quickly which audios and types of Reels are trending.
Right now, Instagram Reels trends actually usually originate on TikTok. If you're an active user on TikTok, you'll notice that Instagram Reels are usually a couple weeks behind but often go through all of the same trends. This is because TikTok still has a hold of this short-form video social marketing, and Instagram is just "keeping up" - but the difference between TikTok and Reels is a whole different post! If you're not a TikTok user, then it might be worth heading over to TikTok just to see what's trending, as it's likely going to be trending on Instagram in a week or two, and this might just put you ahead of the game!
We love this article of trending TikTok's by Later, they update it every week! And yes, we use these ideas for our Reels.
Save the audio and come back to it later if you want to, but if you're trying to jump on the audio trend, you'll want to get to it asap!
Instagram now does a great job of recommending music that you (or your audience) might be interested in. When you click the '+' button to create an Instagram Reel and select the music icon, you'll see that they now give recommendations according to the vibe that you might be looking for or according to songs that you've used previously. While these songs may not be the trendiest on the platform, they're likely to resonate with your existing audience if they have similar preferences!
Discoverability and search-ability
Use appropriate keywords for increased reach and engagement. Instagram now searches captions, words+CC's in graphics and hashtags to figure out exactly what your post is about, so it can deliver it to the right people. Make sure to include keywords in these areas so your post goes far and wide to the right audiences!
Publish your Instagram Reels at peak viewing times. Again, we love this resource by Later on when the best times are to post.
Keep your audience engaged
Start your video off with an attention-grabbing hook. The first few seconds of a video are the most important and will establish the tone for the rest of the video.
When in doubt, keep the video short. We strive for content between 5-20 seconds unless it discusses heavier topics or tutorials. Often, shorter Reels do better because people naturally watch the whole Reel through before skipping.
Use text in the beginning and middle to tell a story or provide value. The majority of Instagram users scroll with their sound off, so adding text is crucial in conveying your message and keeping your followers engaged.
Include a Call-to-Action to encourage your audience to interact! We’ve definitely noticed an increase in engagement when we ask for it.
Make it funny or fun! While we post a lot of tutorial based content on Reels (because we love giving value) generally our most popular and viral Reels have been our funny ones.
Stay on-brand and focus on your specific niche
Jump on trends, but make them relevant to your audience and brand!
Getting specific with the content that your Reels cover will help the Instagram algorithm push it out to those who are genuinely interested.
Having an opinion on niche-specific problems sets you apart from other competitors who are generic and roundabout. Transparently adding value or commentary on something that audience members in your niche experience makes you relatable (and your content shareable!).
Post Reels consistently and monitor your analytics to optimize content
Instagram’s algorithm is constantly changing so one of the most important components to going viral is to keep tabs on what’s working. Experiment with your content and don’t be afraid to try new ideas. That might just be what sets you apart!
Content strategy is an important part of making your Instagram Reels go viral and I hope that these tips will help you start off in the right direction! For more tips and tricks on how to leverage Instagram for your business, check out these articles:
How To Promote Your Website on Instagram
The Ins and Outs of Instagram Highlights
8 Tips for Social Media Marketing
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