Coming soon.
You’re tired of hearing “REELS this…” and “REELS that…” making you feel forced to create reels to keep up on Instagram.
We get it. You’re not alone.
TikTok has changed the game for short-form content. The content posted on TikTok stretches far beyond sketches and dialogues as opposed to the content on similar platforms like Vine and Musical.ly, which are now dead.. As TikTok really spiked in popularity in 2019-2020, Instagram likely figured that TikTok was no longer just a small player in the game of SoMe platforms, but was now a threat. Thus, meet Instagram reels, which were launched all over the world from late 2019 to late 2020.
The algorithm changes frequently, and currently heavily favor reels. Frequent tweaks and changes of course still happen to squeeze as much of our attention as possible, but a constant is that reels is being favored and pushed heavily.
If anything, since Meta keep favoring reels over other content (on a broader scale), there’s gotta be something to it, right?
Where does this leave us then?
Seems that reels are still the thing to do, right?
Well, yes – and no.
Reels are effective. There’s no doubt about that.
There is a reason it’s what everyone talks about and why TikTok is so popular.
However, with that being said – it is absolutely still possible to grow WITHOUT reels.
Reels haven’t changed the fact that certain central metrics matter for all posts.
Engagement
The core engagement metrics for individual posts are likes, comments, shares and saves. These are the metrics that are directly measured for each individual post. Metrics such as followers gained, DMs received and profile visits are very relevant metrics too. However, these can be influenced by factors such as the users’ familiarity with your account, which means they are influenced by factors beyond one individual post. Therefore we’ll focus on the first 4 core metrics we mentioned:
- Likes – help and is not without importance, but is what matters least when it comes to engagement.
- Comments – build connections, show testimonials, and start discussions. You can quickly like and scroll past a post in no time, but taking the time to consume and interpret the content takes time which shows the algorithm that it managed to show you content that resonated enough with you to spend that extra time to write a comment.
- Shares – expands the exposure of your post, which may lead to further engagement. That’s not only relevant for you, but also for the algorithm as this one post now may lead to even more people spending more time on the platform. Shares also make it clear to the algorithm that it managed to show a post that you liked so much / reasonated so much with that you want others to see (& engage with) the post – and that you’re willing to essentially ‘post the post to your acc’ because the quality of the content is high.
- Saves – show the algorithm that you liked the post so much that you’re willing to consume it again. After all, we save the post to go back to it in the future and consume it more than once.
Retention
We’ve already mentioned several times in this article “… show the algorithm that it managed to show a post you liked so much…”. Why? Simple. Instagram wants to keep you on the platform as possible. That’s done by having an algorithm that tailors your feed to what exactly is tailored to your interests, with few ‘test posts’ here and there to test your interest on other niches.
This goes back to the engagement metrics as the time you spend on the posts matters a lot too. That is however long you watch of a video or reel, but also however long you spend on a still image post.
This means that even if you don’t engage with the post by liking, commenting, sharing, or saving, if you spend a lot of time on the post, that’s noticed by the algorithm and can matter just as much as engaging with the post.
Now that we’ve got the fundamentals down, let’s dive into optimizing your non-reel still-image posts to still grow without creating reels.
Make carousel posts
- Firstly, this increases retention – that is, if you manage to get the user hooked. This means that the first image of the carousel is of especially high importance as it’s what will to a great extend determine whether the use will scroll through the carousel or not. This image is also what will be visible in the grid on your account, so that should be taken into consideration too.
- you’ve now got up to 10 shots to get someone to engage with the post
- be creative → i.e opens up for the opportunity to visually tell a story, to make graphics ‘holding the user in the hand’ as you explain something as they scroll through the carousel – and much more
- to increase retention we obviously want them to scroll to the end, so make teasers – make it a no-brainer for them to scroll to the next image because you’ve purposely left some information out that the user will only be able to see if they scroll → TEASER is important, grab their attention, but leave them hanging just a little
Keep it text-based
- increases retention
- practice copywriting to be able to appeal emotionally and logically at your will → storytelling and emotional appeal is often best to build a connection, rapport and a community as relatability can spark that interest to engage, and then slowly become familiar with your brand, and in turn, become an engaged follower/member of community
Make each slide of the carousel share-worthy
- everyone should be willing to have it on their story → this means keeping it gender-neutral, somewhat white-label (generally minimising branding in regards to logo, PFP etc.), simplistic layout
- minimising branding does not mean making it completely white label → a great example is @vizualizevalue → the style is the branding → other example is @thedankoe → keeping it simple and just small PFP and @ to brand the post
- make it relatable → people will only share the post if it really reasontaes with them, adds value and/or is insightful
Call-To-Action (CTA)
Whether it be to engage with the post, to DM you, check another account out, check out a product, go to your link in bio ; ALWAYS have at the very least a call-to-action at the end (if not also throughout the carousel & in the caption). if you have an offer (service or product), bots (i.e ManyChat or Tidio) can be setup to auto-send something based on certain actions.
- an example could be if you have a CTA saying “DM me ‘promo’ and I’ll send you a discount code for 15% off” or “Comment ‘Send it please’ to get my X free resource”
- this can contribute to massive boosts in engagement, thus show the algorithm that users want to engage with your account = your content being boosted
Be consistent with the niche/category your content falls into
- make it easy for the algorithm to identify what your content is about. This will make it easy for the algorithm to categorise your account, which in turn will make sure that the algorithm pushes your content to your target audience
- besides just keeping the content within the topic, again, make it very easy for the algorithm to ‘put you in a box’ by using relevant keywords for that niche → keywords in captions, bio, hashtags and in the images
Analyze, experiment, analyze, experiment….
You’ll likely never find the perfect recipe for what works right now. Partially because there are so many different nuances and factors to always take into consideration, and partially because of the frequent changes in the algorithm that we’ll all have to tailor our content to please. And even if you’ve found something that consistently works, which is very possible, you’re likely someone with a big and loyal fanbase that love you as much as your content. If that’s you, you’ll likely get little value from this article.
This article, however, is for those who do not already have that fanbase, but is seeking to grow an audience to build that community. And to do so, you’ll need to take the algorithm into consideration as you’re very dependent on how much it pushes your content. This means diving into your analytics and experimenting to figure out what to focus on.
Analysing and studing your ‘competitors’ is highly relevant too. Which constants can you identify in their successful posts? Get inspiration from what works for others and give the content your own twist. This process also means experimenting with EVERYTHING (subject, message, font, background, varieties, branding, format, length, wording, tone, imagery, color palette etc.) → analyze as you experiment → optimize by cutting out what your experimenting has shown does not work → further analyse → experiment → repeat
Bonus tips:
Optimize your account
- keyword in username and/or name
- more and more use IG as a search engine, so make sure your account is visible when people search within your niche
- You want to make it enjoyable for both your followers and those who are new to your account to consume your content. Do so by making it frictionless, somewhat soothing and not overwhelming to look through your account and your individual posts. Keeping a clean & aesthetic grid is the first step do to so.
Engage with similar accounts & hashtags on a regular basis
- as you network with others, collab and use the collab feature to leverage each others’ audiences
- be human when you engage → don’t act as a bot, i.e searching for a hashtag and liking every single picture or commenting ‘fire-emoji’ on every picture → this goes back to what was mentioned earlier regarding comments → ‘How do you want people to engage with your content?’ ; actually engaging by writing relevant comments that build community and connections → so engage as you’d like others to engage with your account
Make sure to frequently post on your story
- the content posted here should generally be what takes up the least of your time to get posted. Share others’ posts, share your thoughts in the moment, share the process of whatever you’re working on
- don’t worry too much about the
- if you keep your story updated at all times it shows the algorithm that you’re consistently contributing by being actively posting which will increase your chances of your content being pushed more
- in addition, you’re more likely to increase your followers’ familiarity with your account if you make sure to as often as possible have a story for them waiting at the top of their screen as the hop on instagram. This may not have a measureable effect, but will all in all help out your account in the long run as you’re building a connection with your followers – that is of course, if you’re posting quality content.
As mentioned at first, reels are being pushed a lot by the algorithm, so if you really are dedicated to growing, posting reels would be ideal.
Posting reels does not necessarily mean creating unique content that’s not repurposed beyond a reel though. You can very well ‘just’ repurpose your still-image posts to reels with some simple editing – add some background music, use a trendy track, maybe add a voice-over.
Be creative and experiment, but the message, at last, is that there are still plenty of opportunities to grow without posting reels – and even if you decide to post reels, it does not have to take a lot of extra work to repurpose the content you’ve already posted as still-image posts.