This one tip will boost your reels views
You know I’m always banging on about looking at your insights?
I know it’s annoying, BUT this reason - this exact reason, is why it can make such a huge difference… and it’s all about observation.
Over the last 12 months Instagram has completely changed the way it pushes out content, so you know what we’ve got to do? Move with it.
For starters:
Photos are now being given the time of day
Reels are reaching non-followers a lot slower than they used to
There are 17202 trillion trending sounds on our feeds (sort of a joke, but… haha)
And we can now see our watch time on our video content
2021/2022 vs 2023
Back in 2021 and early 2022, Instagram rewarded anybody who used a good trending sound early on with A LOT of reach (as long as you were using them right and adding value to your audience).
Towards the end of last year, this started to tail out.
Why? There are SO MANY trending sounds now. Back in the day, 1 in every 7-10 sounds used to be trending and now, honestly - it feels like 1 in ever 2 or 3 which is wild. (Are they even a trend at this point? I’d beg to differ haha)
Sounds are also sticking around for longer
Where sounds used to trend for 1-2 weeks at a time (unless they were HUGE) - some now trend for three months at a time (I know. I just cannot)
So with the shift we’ve seen with sounds, it’s time for us to dig a bit deeper and see what IS making the difference. And watch time - seeing how far somebody is getting into your reel, is a huge one and one that’ll make a huge difference to the reach of your reels.
How do you see your reel’s watch time?
Just below each reel you’ll see “view Insights” in blue and on this insights page, you’ll see your watch time.
There are three areas on post’s insights I’d like you to look at:
The duration of the reel
The cumulative watch time
The average watch time
Why?
Instagram is looking at your watch time in two different ways:
The view-through rate (how far your audience has got into your reel, on average). For example, you can see here that one of my reels had an average watch time of 4 seconds and a duration of 6 seconds.
But what’s classed as successful depends on both the reach of the reel and how long the reel is. (If your reel is longer it’s not judged as harshly. If you’d like us to look through your reels together, you can find out more here)
Cumulative watch time is a whole other blog post in itself (I have a lot to say) but do check to see what your cumulative watch time is too.
So if you’re now thinking: “Laura, how do I increase my watch time?” - here’s where I’d start:
Think about how long your Reel *needs* to be to get the point across
I’d start by splitting your reel into three parts - think about the beginning, the middle and the end. Is the middle boring? Too long? Are you guiding people through what you’re trying to say?
From that you can suss out how long your reel should be: does your reel actually need to be 50 seconds, or could it be 25 seconds? As you can imagine, it’s much harder to hold people’s attention the longer your reel gets, so it’s worth thinking about how you could deliver that information to increase your watch time.
Now as a little “PS” here, sometimes your reel just needs to be longer and that’s OK. Say, if you want to talk directly to your audience about a problem they have, that you can solve… that type of reel could be longer because you’ve already earned their trust - they know that watching your video is a good use of their time.
But if you’re trying to reach new faces and grow your audience, keep your content short and sweet.
Long story short (you know I like to chat!)
The aim of this blog post isn’t to scare you into creating shorter reels, but to consider HOW LONG the reel should be to deliver your message.
High watch time %, a higher chance of getting reach behind your reel. I’d love to know how you get on with this!
If you have any questions about your reels specifically, chat to me on a call and we’ll run through your reels together.