How to Go Viral with Reels on Instagram

Record and edit 30-second multi-clip videos with music, effects, and new creative tools. As simple as making a reel, it is different if you want it to go viral. If people find the reel entertaining and share it with friends and family, it may only become famous.

Instagram Reels are short videos well-suited to share entertaining, motivating, educational, and inspiring content on the app. They are a newer way of sharing content on Instagram. They are similar to posts but can be up to 30 seconds long and include music, effects, and other creative elements. You can include trendy hashtags at the end of the post for higher visibility.

Reels might be an effective way for your profile to increase followers and engagement. Here are some ways to make your reels go viral.

While there is no way to ensure that an Instagram Reel will become viral, we have a few suggestions for making viral reels. If you’re having trouble obtaining more views on your Reels, consider these strategies for making reels go viral.

What is a reel on Instagram?

Users can record or post video clips for up to 60 seconds using Instagram’s A Reel function, which they can edit, sound-dub, or embellish before sharing on the platform. Users can display personalities, promote brands, or have fun with these small video clips. Reels are accessed on account profiles by clicking on their tab or sharing on the Instagram Feeds, Stories, or Explore tabs.

Features that make an outstanding Instagram reel

The Reel camera and editor on mobile phones include the following functionalities in addition to allowing users to capture videos with sound or audio overlays:

Editing tools

Editing tools like transitions and augmented reality effects can speed up or slow down movies. All editing programs listed below have a standard free version, and many also offer “Premium” or “Pro” upgrades that grant access to more extensive functionality.

Audio attribution

Add user-uploaded audio to videos and give proper credit where due (while the app provides adequate recognition to the original account). One of Instagram’s best recommendations for getting your Instagram Reel noticed by more users is to use music from the Instagram music library or produce your original audio.

Duets

Join your Reel to a Reel made by another account for simultaneous conversation. Once you’ve located the Reel you want to duet with, choose “Remix a Reel” from the circle settings. For side-by-side interaction, add your Reel to one created from another account. Select the “Remix a Reel” circle setting after locating the Reel you want to duet with.

Instagram Shareability

Reels can be shared openly with the public on the Reels tab, Explore pages, or secretly with friends on your Stories or profile. Users can share a post through direct conversations with friends or to their Instagram Story by tapping the “paper plane” button. A shareable post can be anything published on Instagram, including your own, such as a funny meme, a breaking news story, or a pair of adorable boots that someone wants to show their buddy.

The Instagram Reels Algorithm: What You Need to Know

Reels sort out by Instagram’s algorithm, like most other content on the platform. This approach incorporates post engagement, length, topic, and other factors.

It would help if you remembered that there is no hack to get your content ranked higher in users’ feeds. While some Instagram users might try to increase engagement through strategies like competitions and freebies, these methods may only sometimes be successful in the long run.

But you may make your Reel material more appealing to the Reels algorithm by keeping the following in mind:

Short, snappy, and social media-relevant content should be produced.

So that Instagram can count on you to consistently generate Reel material and post frequently.

Instead of just following trends, be innovative with your content and help set them.

Make your videos better by editing them with Instagram’s capabilities.

Include specialized Instagram hashtags pertinent to your business’s offerings, clientele, and audience.

Therefore, you may become a Reel enthusiast with some imagination and production direction.

When is the ideal moment to Instagram post reels?

It’s simple to target your consumers when they’re online and active by knowing when to publish on Instagram Reels. Getting their attention while they’re scrolling increases engagement and your brand’s reach.

Everyone has a different optimum post time, which is the problem. On Monday through Thursday, between the hours of 9 a.m. and noon, is when Hootsuite recommends posting on Instagram. However, your audience can skew later or early on weekends or browse more.

For more information about the best time to publish a post, click “Best Time to Publish.” A valuable tool for identifying the ideal times is the heat map.

Examining what has historically worked well for you is another technique to determine when to post Reels. Go to Analytics in the Hootsuite dashboard to analyze the effectiveness of your current campaigns. You’ll discover comprehensive statistics there, such as:

Reach
Plays
Likes
Comments
Shares
Saves
Engagement rate

Create Exceptional Content

Instagram is a very visual platform, and your content must be eye-catching and of excellent quality for people to stop scrolling. So, the simplest method to go viral on Instagram Reels is to create fantastic videos that engage the audience, and reel content should tempt them enough to view them on loop and also share them.

Define your Reel’s content. Instagram’s algorithm selects which posts are shown to which users based on machine learning technology. Who sees your Reel will be influenced by the niche in which it fits. As a result, the larger the public interest, the more likely it will become viral.

With millions of creators uploading to Instagram Reels daily, coming up with creative ideas is daunting. Thankfully, you don’t have to start from scratch when preparing your Instagram Reels.

The most important thing is developing informative and entertaining content with Personalization. You can take any old concept and make it fresh and entertaining by adding Personal touch and creativity.

The Hook

It is the section of a video that will pique the interest of viewers when you’ve done or said something surprising or thrilling, for example.

Because consumers watch hundreds of Reels every day, you must start your videos with something that will draw them in. Within a few seconds, they need to know if a video is interesting/exciting/shocking enough for them to watch the entire thing.

Instagram tracks the amount of time people spend looking at your content and their interactions with it. So you want users to stay for the duration of every video you broadcast, whether it’s Reels, IGTV, feed videos, or anything.

Structure your videos such that the hook comes first, followed by the story.

Build Momentum By Sharing.

The period after posting a Reel is essential for its development, so do whatever you can to catch the momentum it needs to go viral. The more people who watch your Reel, the more people will see it, so be sure to: Share your Reels on your Stories and feed to gain traction from your existing following.

Share your Reel on other social media platforms and Get viewers to your Instagram profile. Encourage as many people as you can to share your Reel.

Posting during an hour when your audience is usually responsive and more likely to watch is also very effective.

Tag everyone who is relevant. If you’re going to feature a brand, be sure you tag them. Tag your favorite meme account if you’re going to submit a comedy reel. The more audience knows about it, the better it is.

Look For The Latest Trends in Reels and Add Personalization to Them.

If you’re trying to go popular on Instagram Reels by catching on the latest trend, keep a check on the points below.

Do your homework: you’ll need to watch a lot of Reels and get to know your target audience well to determine which Reels trends will connect the most with them.

Understand the trend: Re-creating a trend is great, but if your video misses the essence of the content, it will not become viral.

Don’t forget to give some Personalization to it. No one wants to watch the same Reel repeatedly. Also, keep in mind that your audience follows you because they enjoy your content. Make your version of the trend that best fits your profile.

Consider Trending and Relevant Audio for Your Reel.

If Instagram understands that a particular audience is interested in a trend, its algorithm will deliver more of those videos to that audience. The number of times people put a specific track on their movies is one way the platform may detect this.

If a sound or music is utilized repeatedly on numerous Reels, it will be recommended. If you use one of these well-known songs, you have a greater chance of garnering new fans and viewers and, as a consequence, going viral.

Another great piece of advice is to select audio that relates to the video’s subject.

Ensure Consistency in Your Content Creation

Instagram has emphasized that the success of your Reels is determined by how consistently and frequently you publish. We understand: that no one has time to create 4 to 7 Reels every week. Instead, commit to uploading at least one Reel every week and ensure consistency if you post more.

Consider generating Reels in bulk to save time in the long term. Don’t quit once you’ve gone viral – it’s the ideal moment to capitalize on your newfound popularity and publish again to ride the wave of success.

Take Note of Your Stats and Profile

When it comes to your Reels, the stats on your account are crucial. Please keep track of when your audience is most engaged and which Reels acquire the most traction based on the time and day they are posted.

It would help if you also used any good Analytics tool to track your hashtag analytics to increase the likelihood of your Reel showing in a hashtag search. If you have a high-Rank Ratio for a single hashtag, you should utilize that hashtag on your Reel to increase your chances of ranking.

Hashtags

Because hashtags are getting so overused in-feed content, your other stuff is becoming to drown in them. Nowadays, getting traffic with hashtags is difficult.

However, it’s a different story on Reels right now. Because there aren’t as many content creators utilizing the feature as frequently as they are putting to the feed, there’s less rivalry among the hashtags. Therefore the results are decent.

This implies there’s a strong possibility you’ll start trending on some huge hashtags associated with your Reels post. However, the hashtags must be relevant and properly selected to suit the sort of Reels you’re posting.

Make use of all 30 hashtags. A limit of 30 hashtags per Reel exists, similar to Instagram posts, and you should utilize them all to increase your reach and chances of your Reel becoming viral.

Make a hashtag ladder: Include hashtags with low, medium, and high competitiveness concerning your Instagram engagement numbers.

Drive Reels to Your Feed

Use the “Also share to feed” button when sharing your Reel. This will distribute the information to your followers on your standard Profile feed and Reels feed too.

This increases your chances of being visible on the Explore page since your followers’ views will increase the number of views, likes, comments, and shares, all of which are important to the algorithm determining where a post appears on Explore.

Because Instagram prioritizes Reels material at present, people who utilize the feature will be given more real space than those who solely use the feed to publish stuff. This implies you’ll be able to reach more folks who aren’t already following you.

Short and Crisp

Instagram reels allow people to post their reels for up to 30 seconds. But to get your reel to go viral, we recommend you make the duration 25 seconds shorter. As a result, the content you create for the reel should be within the time limit. If you cannot create videos with that duration, then the content is not for Instagram reels. Longer content can easily bore people. That does not mean it is not a good idea; you can post it in your Instagram feed. Ensure the content you post for your Instagram reel is short, captivating, and compelling.

Click Here to view a good example of creating a short and crisp reel.

High-quality video

You may be wondering why this advice seems to be repeated a lot. But trust us when we say high-quality video content may quickly draw viewers. Let’s face it: You go to Instagram to find interesting content, not to watch low-quality videos. If you use Instagram, you might know that successful reels often have well-edited videos.

Make sure you have decent lighting and high-resolution video if you are filming it on the phone. The most crucial thing is ensuring your internet connection is strong while uploading the reel. Instagram will lower the video quality if your internet connection is unstable.

Click Here to view a good example of a high-quality video and editing reel.

Call to Action

If you have heard of this term, it simply means to prompt your audience or viewers to act. Marketers frequently use calls to action to boost conversion rates. A call to action (CTA) at the end of the video, such as “let me know what you think about the video” or “tag someone who did it to you,” will help you make your reel go viral.

A CTA will nudge readers to participate in the discussion in the comments section. If you do less, people will be more encouraged. CTA is a potent tool for content promotion. Instagram will recommend your reels to a large audience if you can garner more comments.

Click Here to view a good example of CTA reels.

Adding captions

Captions are self-explanatory. You can draw the viewer’s attention without sound or background music for that particular reel. Some influencers choose not to use subtitles because they believe viewers won’t have the patience to read them. It’s true: the first two or three seconds of every Instagram clip you publish influence whether users will watch it in its entirety.

However, using the proper keywords or creating attractive, two-line captions will pique people’s interest and motivate them to interact. Instead of using a hashtag, users can search for a certain caption in the video captioning. This will improve your reel’s searchability. And as we all know, your video will go viral, and Instagram will suggest your reels to other users.

Click Here to view a good example of how to use the caption on your reel.

Era of Transitions

Transition reels are highly favored since they are so cool and engaging. Transition reels will help you stand out on Instagram. You will receive more views based on how smooth your transition is. Your ability to edit your reel well will determine how seamless your transitions are. You must perfect your timing and alignment abilities. In contrast to other methods of making your videos go viral, a transition reel will effortlessly keep your attention on your reels.

Traits That Make a Video Go Viral

Because enough wide range of content goes viral on Instagram Reels, we can’t pinpoint one factor that causes it to become viral. On the other hand, Viral Reels all seem to have the following traits.

Value addition: Give your audience something of value, such as vacation ideas, iPhone camera techniques, or cooking hacks.
Inspiring: Telling a tale about a journey, a change, or an aspirational path.
Relatable: Your content shall be something that your audience can relate to. Reels become relatable when you incorporate well-timed and relevant audio that viewers will want to listen to again or utilize for themselves.
Time and Quality: Take advantage of a trend at the correct time, and The video, editing, lighting, and sound are all of the highest quality.

FAQs

How do you Make a Reel go Viral on Instagram?

To go viral on Instagram by reels, one must make reels on a specific niche and use attention-grabbing viral elements.

How to Fetch More Views on IG Reels?

Captions or texts can help fetch more views as people watch those reels repeatedly.

Do Hashtags Work on Reels?

Hashtags are as effective in reels as on any feed posts or stories to increase the reach, and one can use them either in the caption or in the comment section.

What Makes a Reel Popular?

To popularize your reels, you should use trending music or music that suits your theme, which will help you attract more viewers.

Conclusion

Because Reels are one of Instagram’s newest features, you will be rewarded for publishing them. If one can go viral on Instagram Reels, they’ll be setting the stage for a significant boost in engagement and growth. Going viral on Reels means that your material reaches more audiences than it would otherwise.

The views considered viral is totally dependent on your current metrics. As a result, virality is proportional to your present reach. If a Reel has three times or more views than usual, you’re on the correct route to being viral. However, time is equally important.

If your Reel catches pace in just an hour of being posted, you can expect it’ll go viral. But, if it continues to struggle for engagement after that point, it is incapable of taking off.

About The Author

Aloukik Rathore