On the 5th of August, 2020, Instagram officially launched the all-new ‘Instagram Reels’ feature: an exciting new way to engage with your audience by creating 60-seconds long original informative or entertaining video content. This brand-new feature is also a significant attempt at playing catch-up with the Chinese-owned video app TikTok, Instagram’s intimidating rival and competitor.
“TikTok is an incredibly formidable competitor, probably the most formidable competitor we’ve ever seen. They are very focused, they’re determined, they execute incredibly well.”, said Instagram Chief Adam Mosseri regarding TikTok.
HOW TO CREATE INSTAGRAM REELS
Assuming you already have already logged in to your existing Instagram account, to begin recording:
Tap the camera icon in the top left corner of your Instagram home feed, and at the bottom select ‘Reels’ or swipe to the right of the main feed to get to the Instagram camera
You can start recording your reel by holding and pressing the capture button like you would for an ordinary video or set the timer to record hands-free. The timer tool is found at the left of the screen, next to the other editing options.
You can record the reels all at once, in short intervals, or even upload a pre-recorded video from your gallery thinkvetter.com.
Once you’re done with the recording, you can move on to the fun part- the editing.
INCREASE THE QUALITY OF YOUR VIDEO USING THE MENU OF TOOLS:
Audio tool: using the audio tool, you can select audio of your choice to be featured on your video. You can scroll through the featured tracks or save yourself some extra minutes and use the search bar to look for specific audio. You even can hear a preview of the song by tapping the play button on the right, or if you have a specific part of the song that you would like to include, use the slider at the bottom to select the part of the song you wish to include.
Speed: this tool allows you to increase or decrease the speed of your audio while you are recording.
Effects: Instagram offers a variety of filters from colored filters, animated face filters, filters with questions, and more. Scroll sideways through the bottom menu to explore your options.
Align: when you’re done recording, the align tool appears. With this active tool, you can line up objects or people so that your transitions happen smoothly and without any hassles.
You can change the speed and effects of your clips as you like with each new clip you record. However, if you choose a different song than the one you initially chose after a few clips, it will replace the original song.
THE FINISHING
Now that you are done with the reel, you can select a cover frame of your choice from your gallery for your video by tapping ‘choose from camera roll’ at the bottom.
Once you’re done, ‘the share to reels’ option will appear. You can disable this option by clicking on the blue switch if you only want your video to be shared in the ‘Reels’ section of your page and not news your feed.
Instagram reels is an excellent way to share information about yourself and your business in an interactive and engaging way. Save yourself the extra hours of writing and editing blog posts that your audience may or may not read. Get yourself and your business recognized by the large and diverse Instagram community.