Instagram Reels is an innovative and new way of creating cool, engaging, and fun-filled content from Instagram stories.
What Is Instagram Reels?
Instagram has gradually updated its features from time and again to give the users something interesting to stick to this social platform. Gone are those days when Instagram was limited to the traditional features of photo sharing, commenting, and liking. Ever since its inception, it has updated the social platform with advanced features.
Instagram has closely monitored its competitors’ strategies and brought changes to its platform from time to time to give users the best features of all times. To boost this statement with an example, Instagram’s Sinstories is one popular feature that has been taken from Snapchat.
Ever since Instagram implemented this feature on its platform, Instagram Stories gained massive traction within a few days. The feature went so popular that it was adopted even by Facebook and YouTube. It is to note that this feature on YouTube is in the Beta version.
Now, Instagram has once again come with a feature known as Reels for its Instagram Stories. The concept of Reels is taken from TikTok. Reels enable users to ideate and create creative and engaging video content with the help of pre-installed music database and user-generated media.
How to Get Instagram Reels
You need to swipe and scroll to the right side of the Instagram App and there you will find Reels amid the Super-Zoom and Boomerang modes within the Instagram stories. There you go! Start recording your video clip with or without music according to your requirement. Also, you can use the audio from the reels of other users. To create your first reel, follow these simple steps:
- First of all, you need to record the video. You can record it with or without audio according to your needs.
- You need to select a popular song or borrow respective audio from some other user’s video in case you are recording the video without any audio. (Some respective popular audios have their specific pages, wherein it gives you the space to find another type of content that are made with same audio file)
- If you opt to use a famous song, you can directly choose the music from the huge collection of mainstream and Indian Music label database.
- Once you choose the preferred music, you can proceed by uploading the visual in the form of images or video clips.
- After that, start editing your videos with the help of Instagram in-built editing tools such as transition overlays and time-synced captions.
- Finally, share the content with your stories and enjoy
How to Access Instagram Reels
Instagram Reels is a new mode one can find in the Camera menu of Instagram stories. The menu can be located either in the default create mode and normal mode, or it will be positioned on the bottom menu that is next to the “Story” section. To access Instagram Reels, one simply needs to click on the Instagram Stories camera and search for the Reels Icon.
Where Do Your Reels Go?
Reels are the latest feature for Instagram Stories, wherein its purpose is to allow users to create entertaining crisp video content with cool music. The idea behind Reels is similar to TikTok as it provides a platform for users to create 15 second short videos with or without using music.
One can explore and make full use of the Reels’ massive collection of music databases to create short video content based on jokes, memes, and many more.
It is to note that the Instagram Reels feature is not available for all users as it will be rolled for every Instagram user at some time from now.
Instagram users from Brazil were the first to experience and access the Reels Feature.As of now, it is not clear about the complete roll out of the Instagram Reels feature and what its structure is going to be like in the coming times.
Instagram Reels vs. TikTok
Introduction of Instagram Reels: Instagram Reels is the latest feature of this platform that will allow users to create 15-second video clips for entertainment and education purposes.
As this feature resonates with the concept of TikTok, everyone has started comparing this Instagram Reels feature with TikTok. As users were able to create short video clips with music and share with the public, Instagram Reels will do the same thing for content creators.
In Instagram Reels, content publishers can choose the favorite music from the large media collection database or record their respective audio track or borrow someone else’s audio for creating short video clips.
Instagram Reels also has a useful video countdown timer feature and gives the option to manage the video speed just like in TikTok. The Instagram Reels can be sent directly to particular users, shared on Instagram Stories, and can also be added to the new Reels section of a user’s profile.
On the one hand, where TikTok is the platform for creating short and crisp video content, Instagram is the photo and video sharing platform. While you can add long videos on Instagram, TikTok has the limitation as it allows users to publish short video content. Further, Instagram allows its users to upload Instagram stories of 24 hours duration.
In One Corner, There’s TikTok, and in the Other Corner, There’s Reels
In case you compare and find the Instagram Reels and TikTok features to be similar, then it is quite normal. It can be said that the Instagram Reels feature is virtually a response to the growing popularity of TikTok that it earned in the past year.
According to the reports published by Adweek, TikTok garnered the most number of downloads in Q1 2020 that is the highest by any app ever in a Quarter. It is also interesting to note that the target audience of TikTok is changing and expanding over time.
The TikTok platform that was once used by the Gen-Z users is now seeing a surge in Millennial’s usage. This has made the TikTok a lucrative medium for advertisers as well.
Going by the Comscore data, the percentage of US-Based TikTok users aged between 25-34 increased from 22.4 percent to 27.4 percent while the percentage dipped from 41.1 percent to 35.3 percent in the case of US-based TikTok users aged between 18 years of age to 24 years of age!.
Therefore, it is not a surprise that Instagram is trying to leverage this opportunity and build similar features to reach the audience in countries like Brazil, where TikTok is not so popular.
This is not the first time that Facebook, the flagship company of Instagram, attempted to launch an alternative of TikTok. Lasso, the short form and standalone app was previously launched by Facebook but didn’t scale in the market and failed to perform.
Nevertheless, Reels is expected to perform better among the masses as it is primarily positioned in the popular Instagram App. As Instagram already enjoys a large user base of 1 billion active users, Reels may gain popularity over time.
The way Instagram launched the Stories feature way back in 2003; it shows the platform’s ability to launched tried and tested features.
Best Instagram Reels Features in 2020
- Large collection of soundtracks available
- We have an ability to select any part of a song
- Lot of Filters are available
- Users can save reels to photo library
- Users can share reels on Facebook Platform
- Users can Feature a reels
- Users can create Amazing slow-motion videos
- Funny Stickers are available
- We have a full control of Comments
- Users can protect their personal reels
- Users can hide reels from certain people
- Users can also use their own original audio by simply recording a Reel
- Users can add AR Effect to make your Reel interesting
- User can Adjust the Instagram Reels Video Recording Speed
- User can Set a Timer for Instagram Reels
- User can add Text, Emoji, and Cool Sticker for Instagram Reels
- User can monitor Who Liked and Commented on particular Instagram Reels
- Option to speed up or slow down particular part of the video or audio
- Multiple 15 seconds Reels can also be recorded at once
- Reels reviewed, deleted, and re-recorded
- Reels come with a ‘Use Audio’ option.Let others use your original audio.
- Users can simply share it within Insta Stories
In Conclusion
Reels are the best way to curb the competition and create an entry barrier for its competitor TikTok. Reels will also prove to be a boon for Instagram users who use the platform for centralized content marketing activities. However, Reels is not expected to bring in or affect your communication strategy as it is not seen as a major game-changer, at-least until now. Meanwhile, it is clear that the Instagram Reels feature is going to creative and fun for all users. Moreover, this feature can also be leveraged by brands to strengthen their content marketing strategies.
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