Tik Tok has been taking the world by storm over the past few years with this channel now having over 800 million active users worldwide. It doesn’t then come as a surprise that Instagram would want to get a slice of this action and create their own feature in order to compete. With this in mind, the Instagram Reels feature was born earlier this year. As with any new feature, there are ways that affiliates can leverage Instagram reels in their marketing strategy.
What are Instagram Reels?
Instagram describes its new feature as a great way to create engaging video content. Reels are very similar to Tik Tok videos with just 15-30 clips making up the content. Users can add music and effects to their videos in order to make them stand out. As for the content within the videos, this is entirely up to the users.
In terms of sharing these videos, Instagram users can post to their stories, the explore feed and there is a brand new Reels tab added to their profile.
Getting more exposure
Instagram wants to stay one step ahead of its competitors and so they place a lot of focus on any new features that they create. For this reason, it has become clear that anyone using the Instagram Reels feature will gain a lot more exposure. In the same way that Facebook prioritised live video content in the past, Reels are reaching a larger audience.
Any affiliates hoping to increase their reach on Instagram should focus on Reels until the algorithm changes.
Staying one step ahead
If your content is outdated, you aren’t going to get the traffic that you require. Customers are always looking for the next best thing and so you need to get creative with your strategy. If you have spent any time on Tik Tok, you’ll see just how quickly trends come and go. If you want to stay one step ahead of trends on Instagram, why not use Tik Tok for inspiration?
Research has indicated that trends appearing on Tik Tok are appearing on Reels around one week later. This is the perfect opportunity to leverage this feature and get ahead of your competitors.
Creating informative content
When creating content for social channels such as Instagram, affiliates must remember to keep the product as a secondary focus. These features aren’t designed to be ads but if you leverage them in the right way, you can appeal to your customers without overselling. The best way to leverage Reels is to create informative content and position yourself as an expert.
Creating short ‘5 ways to’ or ‘how to’ videos with your product included can be extremely effective. If you’re lucky, you’ll blow up just like Tik Tok users have over the past year.
It is also worth noting that Instagram has announced that they will be adding shopping features to Reels later this year. It goes without saying that this will be extremely beneficial for affiliates.
Use tools at your disposal
It is not uncommon for affiliate marketing strategies to become a bit repetitive and so we must ensure that we are using any tools at our disposal. With Instagram pushing creators who are using their Reels feature, it goes without saying that this feature is important in any affiliate marketing strategy.
Don’t let your competitors get ahead, incorporate Reels into your latest strategy and you might just end up on the explore page.
