Reels
Reels are Instagram's short vertical videos (9:16 format), built for entertainment and discovery. They're the format with the greatest potential reach among people who don't yet follow you, making them ideal for getting found by a new audience.
A Reel is a full-screen vertical video you post on Instagram: it lasts a few seconds, loops, and almost always has audio. The real difference from a normal post isn't the length, it's where it ends up. Not just in the feed of people who already follow you, but also in the Reels tab and Explore, in front of people who don't know you yet.
And that's exactly why it matters, especially if you run a physical business. Your pool of customers is the neighbourhood or the city: a Reel that does well can get you discovered by someone who lives three streets away and had never come in before. That happens much more rarely with a static photo, because distribution stays largely tied to people who already follow you.
The mechanism, simplified, works like this: the platform shows the video to a small first group of people and watches what they do. If they watch it to the end, rewatch it, save it or send it to a friend, it gets shown to a bigger group. The first seconds carry so much weight exactly for this reason: they decide whether the rest of the video ever gets seen.
The good news is you don't need equipment. A phone held vertically, a window for light, and your trade in front of the camera: the beautician setting up the treatment room, the pizza maker stretching the dough, the hairdresser finishing a blow-dry. The things you find boring because you do them every day are exactly what others enjoy watching.
That said, a Reel doesn't cover everything. It's good for getting discovered, while explaining something properly — prices, how a treatment works, the week's menu — works better as a carousel, which people browse at their own pace and save. The combination that holds up over time for a small business is this: short videos bring new faces to the profile, more in-depth content convinces them to message you or book.
How to put it into practice
Open with the action
Cut the preamble and start with the movement: hands in the dough, colour going onto hair, the shutter going up. Introduce yourself after, if it's really needed. The first seconds decide whether people stay or scroll.
Write the title on the video
Put a large sentence in the first frames, something like 'why your colour fades in two weeks'. Many people watch without sound: if they can't tell the topic by reading, they scroll on without a second thought.
One video, one message
At the start, aim for short videos, ten to fifteen seconds, about a single idea. A short video watched twice works better than a long one abandoned halfway. Everything else you wanted to say becomes the next Reel.
Close by saying what to do
Always end with a concrete instruction, written or spoken: where you are, how to book, what to write in DM. Without that line the video just gets liked, and it brings nobody into the shop.
Common mistakes
Opening with an animated logo or 'hi everyone': you burn exactly the seconds where people are deciding whether to stay or scroll.
Reuploading a video shot horizontally for Facebook: in the Reels vertical format it stays small with black bars top and bottom, and instantly reads as recycled content.
Posting three Reels in one week, then vanishing for a month and concluding the format doesn't work for your industry.
Looking only at views, ignoring saves, shares and messages received, which say far more about who might actually become a customer.
Frequently asked questions
How many Reels should I post per week?+
Better a few, consistently, than many all at once. Two or three a week, kept up over time, are worth more than ten in seven days followed by silence. Pick a pace you can keep up even during your busiest weeks, not the pace of your best days.
Do I have to show my face?+
No. You can film just hands, the product, the shop getting ready in the morning. That said, in neighbourhood businesses the owner's face helps a lot: people also choose based on who they expect to find behind the counter.
Can I use famous songs?+
If you pick the audio from Instagram's built-in library, you stay within what the platform allows. Keep in mind that some commercial tracks don't show up for business accounts, precisely for licensing reasons: if you can't find it, pick an alternative audio from what's available.
Want to put this into practice without thinking about it?
Try Carosell free