The Fundamentals To Conquer Instagram Reels & TikTok
Updated: Feb 1
Why Follow These Fundamentals?
There are three basic fundamentals when it comes to creating a successful reel or TikTok! The three fundamentals that your reel or TikTok should include are: to entertain your audience, to inspire your audience, and to educate your audience. It is a “one size fits all.” It doesn’t matter what industry you are in or what kind of influencer you are or trying to become. Each of your reels or TikTok should include at least one of these fundamentals for success. One question you might be asking is, “Isn’t everyone’s success different?” My answer would be yes and no. When advertising your business through social media platforms you are or should be looking at success as reaching your goals: increased followers, high engagement, and depending on your type of business new clients or an increase in sales. Check back next week, or subscribe, to read for our next blog on, “Measuring Success in an Influencer Driven World”. You will not find a single viral reel or TikTok that does not contain at least one of these elements. Anyone who is correctly utilizing Instagram reels or TikTok is doing this, they might even be doing it unknowingly. If one of your reels or Tik Toks does not entertain, inspire, or educate your audience, then it will most likely not have the high engagement you were expecting.
Entertain
This is the most common and obvious fundamental of the three. Why did you just binge watch the new season of Breaking Bad? Why did you watch an hour of Instagram reels or TikTok videos right before bed? You were being entertained by the content that it was providing you. Entertainment is such a huge part of our culture. It is an escape for us. With that being said, you must entertain with your Instagram Reels and / or TikTok videos! It seems so obvious, but you might not be doing it! How do you know if your videos are entertaining? The first step would be to watch your own reel or TikTok, unbiasedly, and ask yourself, “Would I be entertained if this popped up on my feed?”
For example, most people believe that their dog is cute or “entertaining”, so they decide to post a reel of their dog. They then realize that the video got 100-200 likes and 90% of the likes were their friends. They used the trending sound. They used the correct hashtags. Why didn’t they go viral? Or better yet, why didn’t more of their viewers like the video. They got 1,000 views. My question to that person would be, “In your definition, what makes a video entertaining?” According to the Oxford Dictionary, the definition of entertaining is “the action of providing or being provided with amusement or enjoyment.” Is the quality of your video clear and easy to read or see? Is your video engaging? Does it make your audience laugh or feel joy? Most of us would say yes to all these questions. To answer these questions honestly, you have to really and honestly ask yourself: are you asking your audience a question or making them feel a part of your life, did you put time and effort into the quality of the video, does the sound align with the video, is the video blurry, my dog brings me joy and makes me laugh but will this make others feel the same?
How Do I Create a More Entertaining Dynamic To My Reels?
Maybe you aren’t the funniest person in the world or the most entertaining, there’s still steps you can take to make your current content more entertaining. First, create original creative content! If you read our previous blog, there was a portion where I told you to research similar creators in your industry and model after them. I stand by that statement, but also stand by the statement that you must create original creative content. Even if you model a reel or TikTok after one of your favorite creators, you can still make it your own! Don’t copy word for word. Let’s say you’re a real estate agent on Instagram, and you don’t know what to make a reel about. Find a reel that has performed well for someone else in that industry and recreate it with your own spin, your own hook, and your own style.
The second way to make your reel more entertaining is to include on-screen text or captions. Over 80% of videos on Facebook and Instagram are watched without sound! So much time is spent while your audience is at work or at a social event where they can’t listen to your video, but they can still scroll and read! Besides that, it adds a certain dynamic to your videos that captures and retains the audience's attention. Humans are so easily distracted and easily bored. It is imperative that you capture their attention and once you do, you have to retain it to get them to even make it through a 10 second video! The on-screen text gives our eyes something to look at and follow along with.
Inspire
The next fundamental is inspiration. Not only do we love to be entertained, but we love to be inspired! Gary Vee, Grant Cardone, and so many other business minds and influencers’ strategies are to inspire their audience. After watching one of their reels or videos, they want you to feel like you can 10x any aspect of your life or that you can become the next big guru. Inspiration is also more than motivating someone to take action, but inspiration can be expressed through art or through someone else’s achievements or success.
I can’t tell you the best way to inspire your audience because I don’t know who your audience is. The best advice I can give is to do a deep dive on your audience. Who are the biggest influencers in your niche? What videos have inspired you? Who do you follow? What problem is your business solving for them? Every business solves some type of problem for their customer or client. Inspire your customers with the solution or encouragement that leads to the solution of their problem. Within that, you will find what inspires your target audience. Start incorporating that into your reels and TikTok. Once you do and you start seeing engagement, be sure to respond to comments and messages you receive. It’s so important to engage and make that connection with your audience. They want to feel like you see them and that they know you even if they only know the Instagram or TikTok version of you. People want to feel a part of something. Let them be a part of your journey and engage with them.
Educate
Last but not least, educating your audience is the final fundamental in a successful TikTok or Instagram reel. Whatever your niche is, whether you are a real estate agent, productivity guru, or _______ (fill in the blank), then you are claiming to know more than the average person on that particular topic. If someone is following you, then there is a good chance that they have at least a general interest in who you are or what you do. Give them tips, tricks, and hacks on how to become more productive or how to grow on (fill in the blank for your particular niche).
On the flip side, maybe your goal is to sell certain products or services. Create content that educates your audience on what your product will do for them and how it works. When someone is educated on a product or service and feels that they understand what you are offering, understands why they need it, and why it will benefit them; then the conversion rate of making that sale is much higher.
Integrating The Fundamentals
You do not need to implement all three fundamentals on every reel to be successful at Instagram reels or TikTok, but you must use the entertainment fundamentals no matter what other fundamentals you choose to pair it with. Entertainment is the only fundamental I believe you could do solely and grow and create exposure. We’ve all seen the viral posts of a dog or cat doing something cute, or someone doing the blink challenge. Obviously, those do not inspire or educate, but they entertain us. Entertainment gives people a place to go when they’re bored or are looking to lift their mood or just looking to escape.
Once you pair entertainment with inspiration and/or education, then I think that is where you will really start to see social media growth. Combining these fundamentals helps create a stronger emotional bond with your audience. Incorporating these fundamentals together will give you more loyal and engaged followers.
Whatever your plan is with reels or TikTok, make sure to entertain, inspire, and educate. Once you master these fundamentals, you will witness tremendous growth!