By Jeanne Beirne, CEO and founder of Tabengin Consulting, Atlanta, Georgia

In these days of instant media, who do you get your message out to the masses? Well, social media and the hair restoration and replacement Industry easily go together like peanut butter and jelly.

Why? Because hair restoration and replacement is a visual art form and you are a visual artist who is also selling life-changing products.

I know this because I wear hair and I am a social media strategist.

Video is driving immense growth in social media and that includes Instagram. It may seem overwhelming but let’s just talk about the power of Instagram Reels and how they can help you.

Instagram Reels are informal mini commercials (15-30 seconds) for your business. The best part is that they are free. They can help you grow your following. Reels have a long shelf life so viewers will see them and you can share them to your stories and your feed. Also Reels, like your Instagram feed, expand your reach to new clients and customers.

Reels are similar to TikTok and you can repurpose between the platforms (just remove any watermarks) and the only investment you really have to give is your time.

A Case Study: I have a client, Cura Hair Solutions, that has a Reel that has gone viral. She had less than 1,500 followers on the account prior to the viral Reel. In three weeks, the Reel went from 0 to 1.9 million accounts reached. Cura Hair Solutions has more than 4,500 followers now. This is excellent for a niche industry.

Why did it go viral? A Reel can go viral by itself, but for Cura Hair Solutions, there was the consistent posting of Reels, over 90 reels, for five months prior to it going viral.  Cura Hair Solutions has had many Reels crest over 3,000 views each, which is also amazing for the hair loss replacement industry.

The Reel itself shows a short behind-the-scenes video, it is 14 seconds and set to music.  Both the Cura consultant and the client are just having fun in the video.

What to showcase in a Reel? As an artist, it’s important that you share as much as you can about your art. Behind the scenes, time-lapses, work-in-progress, before and after, a quick tour, finished pieces. The more you can share about your art, and every little detail of it, the better! Just be authentic. You do not need to overthink an Instagram Reel.

How to create your Reel? You can create Reels within Instagram and you can create Reels outside of the app and then upload without using any in-app features. User-ability of these in-app features has generally not been received well by Instagram users.

My Top 5 Tips:

  • Be entertaining and fun (i.e., delights people, grabs their attention, make them laugh, or have a fun surprise or twist)
  • Share inspiring videos (i.e., starts a trend that others can easily participate in, before and afters of clients and their hair)
  • Create videos in Canva, an online design tool, using your static pictures. Yes, you can animate and post as a Reel.
  • Use creative tools like text, filter, or camera effects (TikTok has some fun ones that you can bring over to Reels).
  • Use music from the Instagram music library or original audio you create or find on Reels. Scroll in your Reels tab to identify trending sounds.

 

It is time to dust off your camera and try the video options for your business. Just remember, do not take it too seriously and do have fun. I would love if you tag me @tabenginconsulting in some of your Reels so I can cheer you on!

JEANNE BEIRNE is CEO and founder of Tabengin Consulting. Jeanne has more than 20 years in the corporate world and has created her business to help small and medium businesses with their social media strategic marketing and small business consulting. Tabengin Consulting specializes in social media growth, relationship building, and small business empowerment.