Where do I start?

It's a good idea to consume a little Reels content to get familiar with the format, and determine what works well. There is a ton of great content now, so you don't have to reinvent the wheel here, just pay attention to what is performing well in your niche.

In the main Instagram screen, find the Reels button bottom middle and bring up the Reels feed. Start flipping through them and stop when you see any that have multiple thousands of likes or views. Why do you think they have performed so well? There are several reasons.

They usually have a 'hook', (a short and interesting start), a catchy tune, or they educate in some way, or entertain, or have a great aesthetic.

You can do this too!

As you're scrolling, save your favorites by tapping the three little dots on the bottom right side of the Reel and tapping save. Also find the audio by tapping on the little moving ticker on the bottom left of the Reel. This will take you to the audio screen where you can save the sound. Go ahead and save your favorite sounds as you browse, and this will save you time with content creation.

Now let's make a Reel:

There's a couple of ways of doing this: Either recording video clips on your phone, and editing with software (takes longer), or filming right in the App. The advantage of filming on your camera is that you own the high res content. If you film in App, it's faster and convenient, but the quality of the video is compressed, and if you log out of Instagram you will lose your drafts! I do both, but I have lost many drafts, so I usually film snippets on my phone camera, and then upload the clips.

There's a great feature that Instagram offers now on Reels. When you find a Reel you like and see the 'Use Template' tab, tap on it, and you can upload clips to emulate all the hard work that the creator put in to this content! Side note: Please like and follow other creators :)

Let's say you are a landscape painter. Film five to ten three second clips of your painting process. A couple of closeups of brushstrokes, one closeup of your paint, one of your palette, one of your surroundings, one of you working if you're comfortable on camera, then the last one panning out to see the finished work.

From the main Instagram dashboard, tap the + icon and choose Reel, when you are in the screen, tap the small square icon down the bottom left to upload your clips, or you can film directly in App by using the record button on the screen.

Once you have your clips uploaded tap 'next, then save draft on the bottom left.

Then go back to your draft and continue editing. From this screen you can reorder your clips. Pro tip: Always put a very eye catching and short clip first. We all have a short attention span, and you only have a second to catch people, seriously! You can also edit the length of your clips, and now you can add transitions as well. Make sure your clips are as short as they can be without detracting from the vibe of the video. Once you're done with this, choose an audio by tapping the music icon at the top of the screen. If you have any saved, bonus!

You can also film a Reel by starting with an audio and uploading clips after. Find an audio you like and tap 'use audio' and it will guide you through making the video. this is great if you want your video to really gel with the timing of the music.

Note here though, that it's estimated that about 60 to 80% of Instagram users actually watch with the sound turned off!

Once you've done all this, and you have written a few sentences as a description, from the Reels editing screen, go ahead and download your video with the download icon top left. This will prompt you to "Save without audio?". Hit save and you'll now have a copy on your Camera roll in case anything goes wrong (strongly recommended!)

You're now ready to post, so go ahead and hit 'share'. Whoop!