Quick Summary
- Harness the power of targeting the right audience, trending music, captivating visuals, engaging text overlays, collaborations, and compelling thumbnails to create viral reels
- Understand the algorithm of the Instagram Reels and how it determines the visibility and reach of your content.
- Explore the option to boost your Reel using Instagram’s paid feature, enhancing its visibility and reach to an even wider audience.
Table of Contents
It’s no secret that Instagram has become a popular platform for businesses and creators to showcase their content. Instagram Reels share a huge chunk of this space at 2.35 Billion monthly active users. Reels are a great way to share short, engaging videos with your audience. If you want your reels to go viral, there are a few things you can do to increase your chances.
In this article, we’ll share simple tips on how to make your reel viral and grow your followers. In this blog post, we will discuss 10 tips on how to make your reels viral. We will cover topics such as choosing the right content, using trending hashtags, and creating an eye-catching thumbnail.
Top 8 Strategies to Make Your Reel Viral
If you want your Instagram reel to go viral, you must be creative, strategic, and understand your target audience. To help you achieve this, here are some practical tips on how to make your reel viral:
- Target the Right Set of Audience
- Use Trending Music and Hashtags
- Reels Should be Visually Appealing
- Add Text Overlays and Captions
- Collaborate with Other Creators and Brands
- Leverage User-Generated Content
- Experiment with Different Formats and Styles
- Choose An Eye-catchy Thumbnail
1. Target the Right Set of Audience
To make your reel go viral, it’s important to identify your target audience and create content that resonates with them. You should analyze your target audience’s interests, demographics, and behaviour on Instagram to understand what type of content they engage with.
2. Use Trending Music and Hashtags
Using trendy music and hashtags in your reel can be effective when learning how to make your reel viral. This can increase their visibility and reach, and help you tap into current trends and conversations. When you use these, your content can be discovered by a wider audience, and your reel can appear in the “explore” section of Instagram. You can also use relevant hashtags to attract followers who are interested in your niche.
3. Reels Should be Visually Appealing
Want to learn how to make your reel viral? Use visually appealing content! Instagram is a visual platform, so it’s important to use high-quality images and videos with the correct aspect ratio, bright colors, and visually striking elements to grab your audience’s attention. You can also use filters, effects, and editing tools to make your reel look even better.
4. Add Text Overlays and Captions
Including text overlays and captions in your reel can be useful to communicate your message and increase engagement. When adding captions, try to keep them brief and catchy, so viewers can quickly read and comprehend them. Also, consider adding text overlays to emphasize essential details or to create a sense of humor or suspense in your reel.
5. Collaborate with Other Creators and Brands
Collaborating with other creators and brands can help expand your audience. You can team up with influencers or brands that share your interests to create a reel that is beneficial to both parties.
6. Leverage User-Generated Content
User-generated content (UGC) can be a powerful tool for making your reel go viral. Encourage your followers to create and share their content using your branded hashtag or by tagging you in their posts. By featuring UGC in your Reel, you can create a sense of community and encourage your followers to engage with your content.
Also, read: 9 Simple Steps to Get Your First 1000 Followers on Instagram
7. Experiment with Different Formats and Styles
Keep trying different formats and styles to see what your audience likes the most. Experiment with various camera angles, editing techniques, and music styles to create a unique and captivating reel.
Following these tips can increase your chances of making your Instagram reel go viral, getting more followers, and making a trending reel on Instagram.
8. Choose An Eye-catchy Thumbnail
The thumbnail is the first thing people see when they come across your reel, so it is important to make it eye-catching and relevant to the content of your reel. A good thumbnail should use a high-quality image or video, make sure the image or video is clear and concise, and use bright colors and contrasting text.
However, this approach does not work similarly for all creators. This is why you must experiment with different thumbnail designs until you find one that works best for you.
How Does the Instagram Reels Algorithm Work?
The algorithm considers various factors when deciding how visible a reel is on a user’s feed. Some of these are:
1. Number of Views and Engagement
If your reel receives a good number of views within a few hours of posting it, Instagram might push it on the Explore page, where it can attract even more views and engagement.
Moreover, a reel with high engagement (likes, comments, shares, and saves) signals to the algorithm that the content is relevant and valuable to users and is more likely to appear on their feeds.
2. Relevance
The algorithm examines the relevance of your reel to your target audience’s interests. To increase relevance, ensure your content is tailored to your audience’s interests and use relevant hashtags that accurately describe the content. Instagram allows up to 30 hashtags per post. Once you develop your authority in a particular niche, you can become an influencer on Instagram.
3. Account Activity
The algorithm takes into account the frequency of posting and interactions with followers. If you have an active account with a high level of engagement and frequent posting, your reel is more likely to appear on your followers’ feeds. This is why it is suggested to be consistent.
4. Captions and Hashtags
Using descriptive, funny and interesting captions that explain your content can make it more valuable.
When you use trending hashtags, your reels are more likely to be seen by people who are interested in those topics. When choosing hashtags, make sure they are relevant to your content and that they are not too popular.
How to Promote Your Reel on Instagram
To make your Instagram reel video go viral, you need to promote them effectively and engage with your audience. Here are some effective promotion strategies on how to make your reel viral:
- Share your Reel on Other Social Media Platforms
- Engage with Your Audience through Comments and DMs
- Encourage Followers to Share and Save Your Reel
- Run Paid Ads and Sponsored Content
1. Share your Reel on Other Social Media Platforms
To make your reel go viral, you should share them on other social media platforms. This can help you to connect with a larger audience and get more views. Instagram allows you to share your reel on Facebook and Twitter. You can also share your reel on other platforms like TikTok and YouTube to reach new followers and increase engagement.
Also read: How do Viral Videos help YouTubers to Earn Money?
2. Engage with Your Audience through Comments and DMs
Responding to comments and messages shows your followers that you care about their opinions and want to connect with them. When you engage with your audience, it creates a community around your content and builds trust among your followers. This, in turn, can result in more views and shares of your reel.
3. Encourage Followers to Share and Save Your Reel
To make your reel more popular, include a call-to-action at the end, like asking viewers to share or save it, or offering rewards such as shoutouts or giveaways. This can help you attract more followers who are interested in your content and more likely to share it with others. Saving a reel is also essential because it shows Instagram’s algorithm that your content is worth promoting to a larger audience.
4. Run Paid Ads and Sponsored Content
Using paid ads and sponsored content is a great way to reach a targeted audience and get your reel seen by more people. You can create different types of ads, like carousels, stories, or videos, to help you achieve your goals.
Partnering with influencers or other brands is also a good way to get your reel seen by more people. You can collaborate with influencers who have lots of followers and engagement to increase your reach and build brand awareness. Sponsored content can take the form of paid shoutouts, product reviews, or tutorials.
Boost your Reel
Instagram Reels get more views from a wider audience! Reels offer unparalleled engagement and can rack up views faster than many other features on Instagram.
By leveraging the paid boost feature on Instagram, you can enhance the visibility of your Reels and extend your reach to an even broader audience. Boosted Reels appear across Instagram: in main feeds, Stories, Reels tab, and even on the Explore page.
How to Boost Your Reel (Paid Option)
In July 2022, Instagram rolled out an update about boosting Reels. Now, you can transform your top-performing Reels into paid ads, reaching an even broader audience.
If you’re intrigued by the boost feature and would like to give it a shot to increase the visibility of your Reels, here’s how you can do it:
1. Select the Reel: Begin by choosing the Reel you want to promote. Ensure it’s a captivating piece of content that aligns with your promotional goals and is likely to resonate with your target audience.
2. ‘Boost Reel’: Locate the Reel you wish to boost and tap on the three dots (…) to access the options menu. From there, select “Boost Reel” to initiate the process.
3. Define Your Objective: Instagram will prompt you to specify your promotional objective. Options typically include increasing profile visits, website visits, or views for your Reel. For our purposes, select the “More Views” objective.
4. Audience Targeting: Tailor your audience by selecting specific demographics, locations, interests, and behaviours. This ensures that your promoted Reel reaches users who are most likely to engage with your content.
5. Set Budget and Duration: Determine your budget and the duration of your promotion. You can opt for a daily budget or set a total budget for the entire campaign. Instagram will provide estimated reach and results based on your selections.
6. Review and Launch: Take a moment to review all aspects of your promotion, including audience targeting, budget, duration, and ad content. Once you’re satisfied, click “Boost Post” to launch your campaign.
While this will help you increase impressions and get seen by significantly more users, boosted Reels only perform well if they have great content. Crafting compelling content and targeting the right audience are vital steps in maximizing the impact of your promotion. That’s why creating Reels that will resonate and interest your target audience is exceptionally important.
Which Reels Are Eligible for Boosting?
When it comes to boosting Instagram Reels, some guidelines have to be followed. According to Instagram, for a Reel to be eligible for boosting, it must meet the following criteria:
1. Duration must be less than 60 seconds
2. The format of the reel should be in a 9:16 vertical aspect ratio
3. Cannot be shared on Facebook
4. Must not contain third-party intellectual property, such as copyrighted music or stickers.
Also read: How to Download Instagram Reels
Consistency is the Key
Narratives hold immense power – a compelling story or relatable scenario can deeply resonate with viewers. Additionally, keeping an eye on trends and participating in popular challenges can significantly amplify your reel’s visibility. Collaborations and strategic use of hashtags broaden your reach by tapping into existing online communities.
Lastly, optimizing descriptions and captions for searchability enhances discoverability, making it easier for users to find and engage with your content. While viral success isn’t guaranteed, integrating these straightforward strategies into your creative process heightens your potential for capturing a larger and more engaged audience. With creativity, consistency, and adaptability, your reel could be on its way to viral stardom.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
If you want to know how to make your reel viral, then these promotion strategies may help:
1 Use trending sounds and hashtags relevant to your content.
2 Share your reel on other social media platforms.
3 Collaborate with other creators and tag them in your posts.
4 Encourage engagement on your posts
To reach a wider audience and increase visibility, collaborate with other creators and brands on your Reel. Here are some tips:
1 Find potential collaborators and send them a message or email.
2 Create a plan that suits both your brands.
3 Use relevant hashtags and tags to make it easier to find.
4 Promote the collaboration on your other social media platforms.
5 Interact with your viewers by asking for feedback and answering their comments.
Getting your reel seen by more people on Instagram is affected by several factors. The quality of your content, how relevant and engaging it is, and how many likes and comments it receives all play a role. Using relevant hashtags and captions, sharing on other platforms, and engaging with followers can boost visibility. To improve reach and learn how to make your reel viral, participate in trends and challenges.
To optimize your reel for the Instagram algorithm, start by creating interesting and high-quality content. Use popular hashtags and write captions that make sense. Post your reel at the best times and interact with your audience by replying to comments and messages. Ask your viewers to like, comment, and share your Reel. Work with other creators or brands to reach more people.
Here are some related resources:
To read more related articles, click here.
Got a question on this topic?
