Instagram Reels: What you need to know

Instagram has introduced Reels which they call ‘a new way to create and discover short, entertaining video on Instagram’ and which lots of other people call ‘Instagram’s TikTok’.

Whatever the case, it’s a new tool in the influencer toolbox. Should you be using it? Let’s take a look.

What is Instagram Reels?

You create and edit 15-second multi-clip videos that you can share on your Feed or with anyone via a new space in Explore.

It’s got many of the same features popularised on TikTok such as the ability to:

Create video with your own audio that other users can then use
Add effects from colours and tints to sparkles, full-on glam makeup, and more
Do slow-motion or speeded-up filming
Reversing clips
Do multi-clip narrative stories

It’s also missing some TikTok features, including:

The ability to share your content with Friends Only
The Duet function

We also had the problem that when we updated Instagram, suddenly Reels weren’t playing audio. It turns out there is a weird but easy fix to no audio on Reels.

Should you use Reels?

One thing we know about all platforms: they love to promote their new functionalities and they love to promote the people using them.

For many people, the decision whether to use Reel versus using TikTok or doing any of these short video formats is down to a lot of personal decisions: how they want to build their brand or following, how much time they have, what type of engagement and content they’re looking to make.

For those who have built up a following on Instagram, Reels may be a good option to keep everything in one place. Instagram is testing a Reels button on the main navigation page so watch out for that.

For others, the ease and popularity of TikTok make the grade.

Here’s a video that shows how to use it from the folks at Later.