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Instagram Reel hacks – Tricks and Hidden Features to Make Your Reel Go Viral

  December 5, 2022
  Vanhishikha Bhargava
  Social Media Marketing
Instagram reel hacks and tips

Learn all about Instagram Reel hacks to get more views and engagement. 

Instagram Reels are the latest trend in social media marketing, and for a good reason: they’re a great way to boost your brand’s visibility and engagement on the platform.

Since their introduction in 2020, Instagram Reels have become the app’s fastest-growing feature and garnered massive popularity with its audience.

Brands have started using Instagram reels as a way to give their content a boost with the Instagram algorithm while promoting their products/services. 

But how do you know if your Reels are going viral? How do you make sure that your audience is seeing your content? And how can you use Reels to boost your brand’s visibility and engagement on the platform?

If you’re wondering how to get more traction from your Instagram Reels, we’ve got the answers!

In this post, we’re going to share the Instagram Reels hacks, tips, tricks, and features that the pros know and love. 

Instagram Reel Hacks: 8 tricks and hidden features to make your Reel go viral 

It’s no secret that Instagram is the perfect place to promote your business and Reels make for the perfect interactive content format. It’s fast, easy, and shows off your work in a way that makes it easy for people to understand what you do. 

But how do you stand out among all the other Reels?

Here are a few Instagram reel hacks and tricks for making your reel stand out and get the views as well as engagement it deserves: 

1. Make your content shareable

Instagram users are always looking for content that they can relate to. When you’re creating an Instagram Reel to share with your network, you want to make sure it’s relatable and therefore, shareable. 

People are more likely to share content that resonates with them. This is because they want their friends and followers to see how cool (or useful) something is, and they want to be included in the conversation. If you can get people excited about your reel, they’ll share it with their networks, which will, in turn, drive more traffic, engagement, and shares.

Here are some tips to make use of this Instagram reel hack: 

  • Create content around the ideas your audience values the most. Make sure it’s interesting! Give people a reason to watch your reel. 
  • Don’t be shy about asking people to share. Many content creators ask outright! Don’t forget to add a call to action at the end of your Reels – encouraging them to like, comment, or share the content!

2. Never miss a trend

If you want more views on your Reel, make sure it’s trending!

Here’s the deal: the Instagram algorithm prioritizes trending content, so anything that has been a top hit for the past few days will be shown at the top of your followers’ feeds and will get more views. Even if it’s not something you normally do, creating a Reel on a trend can actually get you featured in the Explore feed! 

How to find trending topics when running short of ideas to create content? Leverage Instagram social listening. 

Hop on to this tool to discover all the trending topics of the day, choose one related to your industry, and create content around it. You can even start a trend and ask your followers to hop on the bandwagon – but don’t forget to include a unique hashtag for visibility!

Creating Reels around trends is a great way to get noticed by the Instagram algorithm and create a buzz – but don’t just hop on every trend that comes along! 

Make sure you’re creating Reels that comply with your brand identity and ensure that you aren’t jumping on reels that’ll taint your reputation. Hang on with relevant trends that comply with your audiences’ values.

PS. A good social listening tool for Instagram can also help you identify upcoming trends for Reels on the basis of real-time engagement happening on the platform. 

3. Use templates to create viral Instagram reels

One of the most effective ways and Instagram Reel hacks to create viral content is using templates. 

Templates are pre-made videos that you can use as a starting point for your own content. They can help you get a sense of what works, and they can also help you save time and effort in your production process.

For example, an Instagram user created a video for the year in review 2022. Using an audio on the platform and editing the clips to about a few seconds, they created their own template to share a recap. The Instagram reel went viral and today, the template is being used by everyone to share theirs! 

instagram reel hacks - use templates

4. Make vertical videos

When it comes to creating the perfect Instagram Reel, you want to make sure that you’re reaching out to as many viewers as possible – and that means making your content mobile-friendly.

Almost 80% of all social media video viewers browse through their smartphones, so it’s important to optimize your content for mobile. You can do this by creating vertical videos, which are the perfect size for mobile phones and can easily be viewed on Instagram.

Vertical videos have a lot of benefits: they take up less space on your phone, and they’re much easier to watch in portrait mode if you’re holding your phone in your hand.

The ideal Instagram Reels size is 1080 pixels x 1920 pixels, so make sure that’s what you use if you want to take advantage of this new feature!

5. Add trending music

The secret to getting more engagement and one of our favorite Instagram Reel hacks?

Adding trending music.

Music is a powerful tool. It can make or break your video, and it can help your brand stand out.

The best way to make your Instagram videos more immersive and engaging is with the right sound – and that’s what you get when you add trending music to your videos.

Instagram is a place for people to express themselves, and music is one of the most powerful ways to do that. Adding trending music to your Instagram reels can potentially increase your engagement, as well as help you stand out from the crowd.

instagram reel strategy - use trending audios

While Instagram now clearly displays the audios that are trending, there is still a considerable amount of browsing you need to do to discover them. This is where having a social listening tool like Radarr can come in handy. 

6. Leverage transition effects

When it comes to Instagram Reels, you have to leverage transition effects. Transition effects will make your Instagram Reels more dynamic and engaging.

Transition effects are a way to add some pizazz and personality to your Instagram Reel. They can be used to highlight certain sections of your reel and make them stand out from the rest. They’re also a great way to create a sense of flow from one section of your reel to the next. 

Try adding a quick fade-in or fade-out after each scene, or try using some more complex transitions like wipes and slides.

use transitions in instagram reels

7. Always edit before posting your Instagram reel

There are so many ways to make your Instagram reel look better, but one of the most important is to edit your video before posting it.

Instagram is a visual platform, and that means that aesthetically pleasing content is king. If you want better results on Instagram, it’s important to edit your videos before uploading them.

Raw, unedited videos fail to look Instagram-worthy. You don’t want your followers looking at a video that looks choppy or blurry—so you need to make sure that your videos are edited to perfection before posting them on Instagram!

All you need is to download the Instagram Reel’s video to your phone, edit it in an app (like Final Cut Pro or Adobe Premiere), and re-upload it! It’s that simple!

​​

8. Stick to community guidelines

Instagram’s community guidelines are there for a reason: to keep the platform clean and safe for everyone. This means that you should stick to them whenever you post on your Instagram account.

By following the guidelines, you can make sure that your content will be seen by more people, which is one of the biggest reasons why you’re on Instagram in the first place.

Violating these rules is the easiest way to get your content banned! This means that if you post any offensive or abusive content, it will be removed from the platform and no one will ever see it again. You should also avoid creating offensive content since Instagram is accessible to all users aged 13 and above.

9. Add engagement stickers to your Reels 

Another smart little Instagram Reel hack that you can leverage is adding stickers to your Reels – this is a new feature or capability added by the platform to make the videos more engaging. So even if someone does not comment on your Reel, the engagement sticker interaction will count as one and earn you brownie points. 

add engagement stickers on instagram reel

10. Add audio to text captions 

Another Instagram Reel hack that we love is the ability to convert audio to text. The feature not just enables you to tap into a whole new set of audience, making your content more available and accessible to those with disabilities, but also ensures your message is crystal clear and understood. 

add text on instagram reels

11. Pick a good Instagram Reel cover 

Another underrated Instagram Reel hack we see people often skip is choosing a good cover for your content. 

While we agree that a cover isn’t visible to those viewing the Reel directly as it plays, it is visible on your feed preview to those who follow you or have stumbled upon your profile through the other content you have been publishing. 

A good Reel cover can guarantee that you capture this user’s attention and nudge them to click on the post and view your Reel! 

add instagram reel covers

Conclusion

So there you have it, folks! 

All the secrets to making your Instagram reel go viral. We hope you’ve enjoyed our little guide and found some new tricks to make your Instagram Reel shine.

With these Instagram reel hacks and tricks, you can create incredible reels that will impress your audience, increase the effectiveness of your marketing efforts and go viral on Instagram. Use them to take your reel to the next level and make it stand out from the crowd. 

Once you’ve mastered these hacks and tricks, you’ll see how easy it is to get people talking about your work—and how powerful that kind of attention can be for your business!

The ability to engage your audience and understand what they want while staying in tune with your brand’s message is key to creating a successful social media strategy. 

Radarr gives you the tools you need to create the best possible content for your brand, whether that’s in the form of an Instagram reel or not. Radarr’s social media listening tool can help brands create viral Instagram reels by monitoring social media sentiment and trends, which can help brands know what content to create that will resonate with their audiences.

Eager to check out how Radarr can transform your Instagram marketing game? 

Book a demo today!

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