The Digital Life

WITH GRACE JACKSON @ SAFFIRE

THE SCOOP ON INSTAGRAM REELS: BEST PRACTICES & FUN CONTENT IDEAS

If Instagram Reels aren’t on your radar, they should be. With their wide reach and entertaining format, Reels can generate buzz around any event and grow your social media following. What are “Reels” exactly, and are they worth the effort? We’ve gathered some basic principles and fun content ideas to help you and your team create awesome Instagram Reels today!

What are Instagram Reels?

Instagram Reels was born shortly after the mobile video app TikTok became a wildly popular app downloaded by millions of users worldwide. Similar to TikTok, Reels allows you to create fun and engaging content in the form of 3-30 second videos. Using a compilation of video clips, you can very easily edit together a short-form video that entertains and engages their audiences.

The beauty of the Reels feature is the suite of tools it offers to cut and edit video clips with music, text, filters, and other special effects. Anyone with a smartphone and an ounce of creativity can create engaging video content to help bring events and brands to life!

Why use Instagram Reels?

Reels can be a great way to get “real” with your audience! Reels let them in on the behind-the-scenes moments, they capture unique experiences only your event offers, and they show your followers you’re in on the latest trends. The best part is you don’t have to spend a lot of money on production.

Perhaps most importantly, Instagram (and many other social media platforms) will continue to favor video content – especially video that sparks engagement, saves, and shares. The more your video content is entertaining and shareable, the further it will reach new viewers.

Bottom line: Reels can turn new viewers into followers, and followers into loyal customers!

Best Practices for Instagram Reels

• Compile enough clips to have some movement every 2-3 seconds.

• Set your Reels to trending songs or audio clips

• Make sure to include text in each clip so people can quickly follow along as they watch. People don’t read long captions!

• Add titles to your Reels cover shot so when someone navigates to your Reels tab, it’s easy for them to choose a Reel they want to watch.

Fun and Engaging Instagram Reels Ideas for Events

1. Highlight a Popular Concession Stand or Vendor. Maybe it’s a popular food vendor or an activity like face painting at your event that people love; take shots of the process from start to finish and create a Reel to get people excited! Take a look at this Reel from Alameda County Fair: www. instagram.com/reel/CMm0CG5BVLl/

2. Showcase Bucket List Items: Think of a list of 4-5 things people should do to make the most of their time at your event, venue, or destination spot. Take a look at this Instagram Reel posted by Destination Dripping Springs that shows how they would spend a day in Dripping Springs, TX. For an event, this could translate into something like 1) Eat a funnel cake 2) Ride the Ferris Wheel 3) Visit the Petting Zoo 4) End your day at a Concert. Just be sure to make some of the items unique to your event! View Reel here: www.instagram.com/reel/CMcnAICF5gB/

3. Announcements: Got new merchandise or products? Take a few quick shots, pair it with a trending song and a few descriptive subtitles, and voila! Here’s an example from Pendleton Round Up’s Reels page where they announce new merch. View Reel here: www.instagram. com/reel/CPRAQpGpuBy/

4. Repurpose Content: Take your old stories and posts and repurpose them into a 15-30 second reel that highlights your event! Madera County Fair compiled photos and videos to announce their 2021 fair. View Reel here: www.instagram.com/ reel/CQR0hwsp7CZ/

5. Employee or Team Culture Highlight: Showcase your organizational culture and who makes up your team! Does your team have a great sense of humor? Are there fun perks or funny quirks to your team culture? Take a look at this Reel the Wisconsin State Fair made to announce their job fair: www.instagram.com/reel/ CPoVygRHMqg/

6. Insider Tour of the Grounds or Venue: Whether it’s opening day of your event, or you’re doing a walkthrough of the grounds before the event begins, give your audience a taste of what they can experience at your event! We love this Reel from Florida State Fair: www.instagram.com/ reel/CN-tX50j_dz/

Reels are a great way to entertain and engage your followers. They can generate buzz around your event and turn new viewers into followers. The feature has been out for almost a year, but we’re still not seeing too many events and festivals taking advantage of this awesome tool.

We hope this column will inspire you to try Instagram Reels, we are positive it will pay off!

Grace Jackson is the Marketing Coordinator at Saffire. Saffire empowers hundreds of clients with beautiful, unique and engaging websites, and integrated SaffireTix ticketing, including online, advance and box office sales, all with amazing real-time reporting. Saffire’s Spark content management system puts live editing power in clients’ hands by making content and tickets easy to update with unlimited help when needed. Social media, email and text marketing are also included to fuel client success. To learn more about SaffireTix, visit www.saffire.com.

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