SOCIAL
Meta Shares New Reels Creation Tips, Based on Successful Creators
Looking to add Reels into your Facebook and Instagram marketing strategy for the upcoming holiday season?
Latching onto the broader short-video trend, Reels is now Meta’s fastest-growing content surface, and has quickly become a valuable means to help boost exposure and reach for many creators and brands.
If you can get it right.
Like all social media options, there is an opportunity for big exposure, but boring, overly promotional or highly scripted Reels generally don’t do as well, and it takes a level of creative nous and understanding to ensure that your Reels content resonates with your target user communities.
So how can you maximize your Reels approach?
This week, Meta has published a new set of Reels tips, based on advice from creators @coconutandbliss, @gourmetemperor, @Olinhli, and @BradBoy‘s, who have all generated significant results from their reels efforts.
Meta has summarized their key tips into a listing of 8 key points:
Some of these notes are fairly generic, but they could help to give you some additional guidance for your Reels efforts.
Among the key pointers – summarizing your longer videos into shorter clips:
“We use reels as highlight clips of popular videos to promote our page and our content.” – @Bradboy
This is a relatively low effort way to create Reels clips, and Meta has added new editing tools to Creator Studio for just this purpose. It could be an easy way to try out Reels, while also promoting your longer video assets.
“To earn love and support from the audience, each and every of my videos needs to bring in a story that is relatable. If they feel connected, they stick around.” – @Olinhli.
Understanding what works for your audience, and what they want to see from your business, is key to creating resonant content, and Reels could provide a new opportunity to establish stronger relationships with your audience through engaging, personal content.
Research your audience and their related interests, get a feel for how they use your products, then iterate on that.
“I pull out one or two seconds of each scene when I edit, and then I join them together. This eliminates repetitive or unnecessary shots.” – @gourmetemperor
The rapid pace of Reels means that you need to lean into more snappy edits, and this tip could help to streamline your content flow, by eliminating unnecessary repetition.
It’s somewhat similar to Stephen King’s editing advice:
“In the spring of my senior year at Lisbon High – 1966, this would have been – I got a scribbled comment that changed the way I rewrote my fiction once and forever. Jotted below the machine-generated signature of the editor was this mot: “Not bad, but PUFFY. You need to revise for length. Formula: 2nd Draft = 1st Draft – 10%. Good luck.”
Distilling your content down to its essence can make it more compelling, which is even more true in short-form video content.
Another key tip relates to consistency, with one creator noting that they post Reels around five times a week. You may not need, or want to post that much, but it could give you some idea of how often others are posting to help build an audience.
These are some handy notes, which could help you formulate your own Reels strategy – and with short-form video consumption continuing to rise, it’s worth considering, at the least, as part of your end of year push.
You can read Meta’s full Reels advice post here.
SOCIAL
Snapchat Explores New Messaging Retention Feature: A Game-Changer or Risky Move?
In a recent announcement, Snapchat revealed a groundbreaking update that challenges its traditional design ethos. The platform is experimenting with an option that allows users to defy the 24-hour auto-delete rule, a feature synonymous with Snapchat’s ephemeral messaging model.
The proposed change aims to introduce a “Never delete” option in messaging retention settings, aligning Snapchat more closely with conventional messaging apps. While this move may blur Snapchat’s distinctive selling point, Snap appears convinced of its necessity.
According to Snap, the decision stems from user feedback and a commitment to innovation based on user needs. The company aims to provide greater flexibility and control over conversations, catering to the preferences of its community.
Currently undergoing trials in select markets, the new feature empowers users to adjust retention settings on a conversation-by-conversation basis. Flexibility remains paramount, with participants able to modify settings within chats and receive in-chat notifications to ensure transparency.
Snapchat underscores that the default auto-delete feature will persist, reinforcing its design philosophy centered on ephemerality. However, with the app gaining traction as a primary messaging platform, the option offers users a means to preserve longer chat histories.
The update marks a pivotal moment for Snapchat, renowned for its disappearing message premise, especially popular among younger demographics. Retaining this focus has been pivotal to Snapchat’s identity, but the shift suggests a broader strategy aimed at diversifying its user base.
This strategy may appeal particularly to older demographics, potentially extending Snapchat’s relevance as users age. By emulating features of conventional messaging platforms, Snapchat seeks to enhance its appeal and broaden its reach.
Yet, the introduction of message retention poses questions about Snapchat’s uniqueness. While addressing user demands, the risk of diluting Snapchat’s distinctiveness looms large.
As Snapchat ventures into uncharted territory, the outcome of this experiment remains uncertain. Will message retention propel Snapchat to new heights, or will it compromise the platform’s uniqueness?
Only time will tell.
SOCIAL
Catering to specific audience boosts your business, says accountant turned coach
While it is tempting to try to appeal to a broad audience, the founder of alcohol-free coaching service Just the Tonic, Sandra Parker, believes the best thing you can do for your business is focus on your niche. Here’s how she did just that.
When running a business, reaching out to as many clients as possible can be tempting. But it also risks making your marketing “too generic,” warns Sandra Parker, the founder of Just The Tonic Coaching.
“From the very start of my business, I knew exactly who I could help and who I couldn’t,” Parker told My Biggest Lessons.
Parker struggled with alcohol dependence as a young professional. Today, her business targets high-achieving individuals who face challenges similar to those she had early in her career.
“I understand their frustrations, I understand their fears, and I understand their coping mechanisms and the stories they’re telling themselves,” Parker said. “Because of that, I’m able to market very effectively, to speak in a language that they understand, and am able to reach them.”Â
“I believe that it’s really important that you know exactly who your customer or your client is, and you target them, and you resist the temptation to make your marketing too generic to try and reach everyone,” she explained.
“If you speak specifically to your target clients, you will reach them, and I believe that’s the way that you’re going to be more successful.
Watch the video for more of Sandra Parker’s biggest lessons.
SOCIAL
Instagram Tests Live-Stream Games to Enhance Engagement
Instagram’s testing out some new options to help spice up your live-streams in the app, with some live broadcasters now able to select a game that they can play with viewers in-stream.
As you can see in these example screens, posted by Ahmed Ghanem, some creators now have the option to play either “This or That”, a question and answer prompt that you can share with your viewers, or “Trivia”, to generate more engagement within your IG live-streams.
That could be a simple way to spark more conversation and interaction, which could then lead into further engagement opportunities from your live audience.
Meta’s been exploring more ways to make live-streaming a bigger consideration for IG creators, with a view to live-streams potentially catching on with more users.
That includes the gradual expansion of its “Stars” live-stream donation program, giving more creators in more regions a means to accept donations from live-stream viewers, while back in December, Instagram also added some new options to make it easier to go live using third-party tools via desktop PCs.
Live streaming has been a major shift in China, where shopping live-streams, in particular, have led to massive opportunities for streaming platforms. They haven’t caught on in the same way in Western regions, but as TikTok and YouTube look to push live-stream adoption, there is still a chance that they will become a much bigger element in future.
Which is why IG is also trying to stay in touch, and add more ways for its creators to engage via streams. Live-stream games is another element within this, which could make this a better community-building, and potentially sales-driving option.
We’ve asked Instagram for more information on this test, and we’ll update this post if/when we hear back.
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