Frequent mistakes to avoid when creating Reels

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Frequent mistakes to avoid when creating Reels

In response to one of their biggest competitors, Meta has launched Reels on Instagram in 2020 and 2021 on Facebook. If you want to increase your reach or grow your follower and engagement rates, then you should follow these tips to avoid making common mistakes when creating Reels on Instagram or Facebook.

1. Don’t use plain text

There are quite a few mistakes when it comes to text that is included in Reels video content. We will address a few of those right here:

1.1. Not including pop-up text: using pop-up text is important, and you should use it in every video. Because when you have a viewer, initially, the sound will be muted. Therefore, you want to make your viewers aware of what your Reel is about, with or without the audio. And the best way to explain or walk through your Reel is to have text or closed captions popping up. If you have a viewer watching your Reel from the start till the last second, you will be able to make your viewer understand what is discussed in the video.

1.2. Misplacing the text: misplacing the text is also one of the common mistakes we have noticed that Reels creators undertake. Often, they edit their Reels outside of their Instagram or Facebook application. And there is not much wrong with that however, when using a tool to edit your Reels outside of Instagram and Facebook, you are missing out on the blue guidelines that assist you in positioning your pop-up text correctly. Those guidelines are of relevance because they will show you where and where not place your text. Frequently when people are editing their Reels outside of Instagram and Facebook, they experience their Text to be cut of on the top, at the bottom or hidden behind the like, comment and send section; This is something you want to avoid.

1.3. Including too much text: when you are creating a Reel, you need to understand the purpose of a Reel, the purpose of a Reel is to create a powerful impact within a few seconds, there is no need to have a long list of text. In the best practices we have seen that the majority of people will scroll to the next video in three seconds. We recommend you keeping your text, short, positive and simple and give them enough time to read your text before it pops-out.

2. Cropping

Reels need to be filmed and uploaded in the 9:16 dimension. This is due to the fact that it is the most frequent dimension which equates to a mobile device vertical screen size. But if a viewer sees the Reel on your feed it is cropped to a 4:5 dimension. With the 4:5 dimension on your feed, the text in your Reels will be cut off due to a the high or to low placement of the text. And what also happens is that people heads are not completely shown. You might be wondering why this if of relevance? Because you only have three seconds to convince the viewer to continue watching your Reel till the end. To do such, you are required to have visible text or a face.

Not being consistent with the topic

It came to our attention that many people who have recently started creating Reels, are not consistent regarding the subject of their Instagram and or Facebook account. Having one subject will improve your knowledge of that subject and that knowledge will lead to a better understanding of your target group, and a better understanding of your target group will lead to a better Reel content creation. The best way to stay to one subject is to have one primary subject and have 4 to 5 subtopics. For example, at Socianis we mainly discuss matters around social media, and our subtopics are, growth, best practices, engagement improvement, etc. Sticking to one subject is beneficial to you because Instagram and Facebook will be able to categorize your account, and they will be able to push your content to the correct people. Your content will be viewed even if you are not implementing topic consistency however, without topic consistency your content will not be viewed by the correct audience.

Not evaluating the Reel

A repeated mistake that Reel creators make is expecting to go viral, there is nothing wrong with going viral, however, not all of us are so lucky in creating specific content at the correct time that will lead to millions of views and engagements. It takes time to build your Instagram and Facebook Reel awareness. We have seen Reels creators create Reels just for the sake to go viral or following where the trend is leading. The biggest threat there lies with the creators not making it relevant to their audience, and that has consequences on their leads, views, and engagement results. Always evaluate your Reel and ask yourself if it is valuable for your current audience and how it will cater to your potential audiences.

Bad video quality

We have seen Reels creators create videos from 4k to 8k, and when they upload their Reel via Instagram, the quality drops. This happens because Instagram has its own video compressor. The Instagram compressor will try to fit your 4k to 8k video into their 1080p, this will lead to a quality drop in your Reel. To avoid a quality drop, we recommend you start creating your video at 1080p, for the best quality.

Remove logos from your videos

We have seen plenty of Reel creators creating a Reel with a logo, creators posted their video on TikTok and downloaded the video and reposted it with the TikTok logo on Instagram. Instagram has clearly stated that videos with logos will not perform great and will not reach their highest potential in achieving high engagement results.

Not including a CTA button

CTA stand for Call To Action, this is in most cases a button that will redirect your audience to your webpage, blog or webshop. With a CTA you can encourage your audience to engage with your content.

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