Do you ever find yourself sucked into Instagram reels, and next thing you know 2 hours have passed? That’s because brands keep finding new ways of turning the short-form video content of Instagram Reels into something entertaining for their audience. Even “sponsored” videos can be hard to realize they are promoting a specific product. Brands use Reels to connect with their audience in a fun and sometimes humorous way. With the use of trendy text and audio, Instagram reels has become a phenomenon.
Millie Bobby Brown is the face of @florencebymills an amazing beauty/cosmetic line. They represent clean, vegan, and cruelty-free cosmetic products. She has made numerous Instagram reels to make more people aware of the beauty line. The use of new and old music grabs the attention of viewers, this brand also uses influencers to review and use the products to drive viewers to the online store to snag a new product.
Another brand that uses Instagram reels is @skims on Instagram. This is loungewear and underwear made to be comfortable for women of all sizes. They were able to collaborate with popstar, Charli XCX to help advertise their brand. One of their most viral pieces to wear was the Seamless Sculpt Bodysuit. This bodysuit was able to push the bounds of shapewear and used everyday influencers sharing how they style the clothes and wear them in their everyday lives to get people to purchase the products.
Making an Instagram reel is extremely easy, which is why everyone, or almost everyone, does it. To make one all you need to do is go down to the plus button/create post button, and scroll over to the “reels” section. From here you can upload a previous video or create a new one from the “templates” given. With this feature being so accessible to everyone on Instagram it’s no wonder why brands take advantage of it.
Instagram introduced Reels as a competitor to TikTok. Since then, Meta, Instagram’s parent company, has also introduced Reels on their other brands of Facebook and Threads. X (formerly Twitter) has also introduced a video viewer that looks a lot like Reels. Brands as big as Netflix use videos formatted as “Reels” as a form of communicating with their product users, showcasing their product, collaborating with influencers, and sharing entertaining clips of future products or other stories.
In conclusion, the use of Instagram reels continues to grow every day. Brands tend to gravitate toward the next trendy social platform feature, but Reels may continue to be the format of choice for a long time given the hold it has on people and consuming their viewing time. Instagram reels are a phenomenon, through entertainment, education, and calls to action on purchasing products. There’s nothing Instagram reels cannot do.
Teaching Social Media 