How to Use Instagram Reels in Your Marketing Strategy

Instagram Reels is here, and you’re probably feeling the pressure to create something.

The question is, what do you create?

Reels is a new Instagram feature that’s a play off TikTok. Short videos, access to use music, and effects are what make Reels different from an IGTV or Instagram story, and very similar to its renegading arch-nemesis.

With Reels native to the Instagram platform, this means attention doesn’t have to move across apps anymore—it can all stay on the Instagram app. And that has every marketer asking themselves… how do I use it to get traffic and sales?

We’ll show you how.

Buttttt before we dive into that, we want to give you a friendly reminder that your Reels content doesn’t have to be brand new. You can use existing content on your blog, podcast, and social channels and just tune that content to work well on Reels. Marketing is all about efficiency and we want to make sure managing Reels doesn’t become a full-time job for you—it’s just another platform to showcase your products and services.

Here are 4 ways to use Instagram Reels to get traffic and conversions on your products and services.

#1: Educational Content

Educational content doesn’t require chalk and a chalkboard. We’re not talking about lecturing your followers like your Biology 101 teacher did in college. We’re talking about educating them on your products… without making it about your products.

For example, if you’re an agency owner looking to use Instagram Reels to bring in more clients you want to use your existing content to create Reels for your customer avatar of business owners. These business owners need help with marketing (that’s why they’re going to hire you) which means they’d love to see Reels that…help them with marketing.

Let’s say your agency specializes in Facebook and Instagram ads. Your Reels content will talk about:

How to use Facebook ads for beginnersThe ad creative options to use in your adsCopywriting strategiesUsing user-generated content in your adsEtc.

Posting educational content is going to showcase your expertise in the Facebook ads space. Pair that content with lead magnets or an awesome newsletter and you’ll be able to move Instagram Reel viewers to your website and get them to become subscribers.

#2: Product Reviews/Case Studies

Your educational content will showcase your expertise around your product or service—your product reviews/case studies will show your happy customers.

If you’re selling a physical or digital one-time product, then you’ll post product reviewsIf you’re selling a service, then you’ll post case studies

Instagram Reels is going to give you the opportunity to get really creative around how you show your reviews and case studies. You can use the effects, music, and countdown timer features to create native-looking reviews and case studies that entertain your followers.

For product reviews, you can use user-generated content as your product review (you can upload videos and photos as a Reel and take your own).

For your case studies, you can grab a past case study published to your blog or used in your sales process, take the headers from each section, and use those as text on your own video where you explain how you got those results. This text helps visual learners understand what you’re talking about while you discuss the details verbally.

*We’re halfway through this article and we wanted to remind you that you do not need to create brand new content to publish on Reels—you can use your existing content and turn it into Reels-friendly posts*

#3: Behind-The-Scenes Content

Behind-the-scenes content builds the relationship between you and your customer avatar. Since you’re doing this to a larger audience, you’re building that relationship at scale.

For example, if you own an ecommerce fashion company you can use Instagram Reels to show the behind-the-scenes of you choosing your fabric and getting the samples delivered for approval. These Reels can act as a bridge between brand and customer, making you more human and giving your customer avatar someone to relate to behind the scenes.

If you own a marketing agency, your Instagram Reels can be used to show the day-to-day life of a marketer. This gives you the opportunity to showcase your expertise and working style so your customer avatar can feel like they know, like, and trust you. We all know what comes after that… the sale.

#4: Your Company Story

Let’s be honest—when is the last time you found a new product or someone selling a service, went to their website, clicked on their About Page, and thought, “WOW! That was amazing.”

Yeah… it’s been a pretty long time for us too.

Instagram Reels has the potential to make that bland brand story into a super interesting one. Instead of going to an About Page on a website and reading through a brand story, a prospect can watch a dynamic story on Reels. This story can include music and old photos, case studies, and where you are today because of everything you experienced while getting here.

This wouldn’t be regular content that you post, but having an Instagram Reels that shows who you are and why selling these products or services goes back to the reason we post BTS content.

It’s personable, it’s relatable, and it builds relationships.

And there you have it—here’s what you can create on Instagram Reels to showcase your expertise in your field, show-off your products and services, and get followers interested in who you are.

Like every other marketing strategy, the key is to test and check. Test new content and check the metrics to see how well your audience liked it. Improve and repeat. And then do it all over again.