TikTok, over the past few years, has seen explosive growth, and it shows no signs of slowing down. But there’s another big player in the game of short-form videos — Instagram Reels. Since the day Instagram launched Reels in 2020 as a new feature, the game has changed; User’s videos now go from zero to million views on a single reel while having few followers!!
Instagram always finds a way to connect people while feeding upon TikTok by releasing new Reels updates regularly, and in order to do so, it announced several new updates for Reels.
1st update:
At the beginning of the reel’s launch, it was a 15-second multi-clip video with limited audio, effects, and creative tools in 2020. And then the videos kept getting longer till they reached 90 seconds, which is one of the newest updates.
Instagram’s been testing this new feature with selected users over the last few months, and now it’s giving everyone more time to create interesting content. But TikTok then expanded the length of its videos back in July (3 minutes) and then again in February (10 minutes), given its enduring popularity.
2nd update:
On another creative front, it also added a range of stickers to Reel clips. They bring some of our favorite Stories stickers to Reels, with the poll, quiz, and emoji slider stickers. This will probably be a great way to connect and engage with people through reels.
3rd update:
The favorite of them all, Instagram also added a new audio import option that enables users to upload their own audio directly within the creation process, while also adding a new ‘Sound Sync’ option that enables syncing video clips automatically to the beat of a chosen music track.
4th update:
And finally to the Templates. Instagram’s latest update for reels is Templates, which eases and quicks creating reels using the same structure as a reel we’ve watched.
The appeal of a short-form video is that it’s quick and non-committal, which is now consumed by everyone worldwide. As more people spend more time consuming that type of content, it changes their general approach to content. More users are getting more used to those clips-which means that promotions need to follow the same trends if we want to maximize our own brand appeal.
Instagram reels can increase reach and engagement organically, which is best for saving more money than spending a lot on ads.