How to do a 30 Days Reels Challenge with Success
Short form video is the new wave and if you are a content creator, influencer, or online business owner this trend will continue well on into the future.
When IG first introduced IG reels it was received with a lot of mixed reviews and emotions but now well into a couple of years, started in 2020, now IG reels is one of the most popular form of content on Instagram now with much anticipation of new features being presented in the future.
After much reluctance a lot of people have jumped on board including a lot of small businesses that used to never show their face, me included! Short form video can be quite scary for those that are shy, reluctant to show their face, get nervous talking to a camera, or people who feel it may be outside the scope of there abilities.
These are all of the feelings I had as well so I decided to challenge myself. I challenged myself to make 30 reels in 30 days. Let me share what I learned during those 30 days and you may find yourself wanting to challenge yourself too.
There are three main things that I want to focus on.
5 Steps I took to make creating reels in 30 days easier
Is going viral that important and what I feel is most important
Why faceless reels work and how to use them to your advantage
Let’s get into it!
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5 Steps I took to make creating reels in 30 days easier
1.Have a Planning Strategy
Planning ahead, of course, we all know that it's super important. When you are working a nine to five, like like myself, I work as a hotel manager, so that means I'm basically on call 24 hours a day. When it comes to planning ahead, I had to really take time out to really focus on what I was going to create for these reels to be successful for my business.
My Planning Strategy
One day, I focused on just planning
Took 20 minutes, to scroll through the reels page
Searched for common top trends that kept recurring through out my reels page.
Searched for reels that may work in my niche from followers and competitors.
Saved all audios that stuck out to me.
After those 20 minutes I stop and look back over the reels to pick ones that I know I can definitely do for the next week.
After looking through the reels I then start to look at what I have coming up for the week such as blog posts, launches, and promotion. I focus on how I can do it in a way that shares value, benefits my audience but also tells them what they can do next.
“ A call to action is important in anything you share online. You need to let them know whether to comment below, head to a blog post, purchase your new product, or join your membership”
2.Finding Content Ideas and Inspiration
It's so important to focus on your audience, it’s the only way you're gonna get the people that you actually want to buy from you, keep learning from you, and tell other people about you. What will benefit there lives a little better. As I reviewed my reels each week I looked at my analytics. I noticed the the click through rates, comments, and view count. This helped me see what videos were working and what wasn’t.
I also noticed the comments that was being left on the reels to see how it was received. Alot of those comments helped me come up with new ideas based on what they were struggling with. I wanted to think about what I could teach them that would benefit my people.
One thing that people really loved was faceless reels tips. So I really want to showcase that and how peope could use stock videos, stock photos, and voiceovers to showcase your expertise, your business, but do it in a way that is comfortable for you right now.
3.Have a Creation Day
Finding that time to actually create was imperative to my success because I had to work around my schedule, as hectic as it can be. I also had to work around my energy level. I had to focus on being fully there in the moment with high energy and alloted time laid out to get my reels done.
My creation day strategy
Since I already knew the reels I wanted to create because I've saved them and picked the ones that will best benefit my audience. I take out my clothes so it will be easy for me to change and I keep my make up neutral and soft.
“I have several tops that match my brand that I keep at the front of my closet so I can pick and choose from them every time. I usually have maybe two to three shirts, maybe a blazer or a dress that really helps me be able to throw items quickly. I keep on the same simple jewelry. That reduces my stress and overwhelm when creating these reels. Having my make up already done either before work or soon after work makes the creation process much easier and faster.”
4.Creating the Reel
Some of my reels had me in the video doing a lip sync and some of the reels I would do voice over as I share tips through graphics. This made me feel a lot more confident showing up each week especially when some weeks my energy was low, my mental health was being affected, and I couldn’t find the time to get my reels done.
Faceless reels saved me during my 30 day challenge being able to copy and paste tips into a graphic and either do a voice over or have a popular song playing in the background saved me tons of time and stress. These faceless reels may not have preformed the best views wise but it did allow me to show up and share my expertise building up that like, know, and trust with my audience. I highly recommend if you are nervous getting on camera for a reel to do faceless reels and get your expertise out there no matter what.
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“We can get busy at times and those allotted times may get pushed back due to unforeseen circumstances. Prepare for those chances by allotting at least a few days to get those reels done. ”
5.Use templates for your cover
Creating cohesiveness on your feed is great to build up your brand awareness and recognition. What helped me and so many others is creating a consistent template of IG reels covers and slides to continuously use so you don’t have to create from scratch. I really focused on just using the same template from the membership and just used it over and over so that I can build up my brand recognition. That made finishing the reel creation process so much simpler, instead of having to do everything from scratch.
Is going viral that important and what I feel is most important
Not everyone is going to go viral. And that's okay. I feel like a lot of people feel like they need to go viral to get X amount of followers and then you’ll make money. But, reels should really not be about that. It should be about giving value to your audience, building that like, know, and trust factor, and getting the right people to want to benefit from your expertise and message.
“Keep going, keep pushing, keep showing up, sharing your value and expertise and the right people will come. ”
Did I experience growth?
I didn’t get a ton of new followers or a lot of views. Still, I did see amazing engagement in my comments section, click-through performance increased, I had more direct messages, and people were joining my membership from Instagram. I got more invitations to be on summits and in podcasts and although it was outside of my comfort zone I took it as a sign that I was doing something right. So it was definitely a relief to see that the challenge showed great progress for my business and my niche.
All it took was for me to get outside of my comfort zone and show my face showing my personality, giving them what they needed. You don’t have to have to be perfect at showing up on reels. You have to start. Messy action is the best action! Show your personality and no matter who you are, the right people will flock to you.
Why faceless reels work and how to use them to your advantage
I also saw the encouragement that people got from looking at my IG reels, getting ideas, and taking messy action by using my faceless reels templates to start showing up. It’s getting them one step closer to stepping outside of their comfort zone and giving it their all.
Faceless Reels Ideas from She Bold Stock Members
These are 2 different ways to share your expertise.
Use stock video and overlay text
Use my faceless reels graphics to share your expertise
As you continue putting out faceless reels and saving different types of reels you’ll begin to get more confident in wanting to show yourself on camera. Little by little, share your voice over your tips graphic. Getting your face out there just a tiny bit more by adding your face at the beginning or at the end of your tips graphics. I'm telling you is going to really bring your bring your business to a new level. Short form video is the way of the future and it’s not going in where.
It's important to not stay stuck where you are in your comfort zone. If you want to succeed you have to push harder and embrace the uncomfortable feeling of doing something you’ve never done before
Final Recap
That was my experience doing 30 reels in 30 days showing up and sharing my knowledge and sharing how I can be a solution for my audience. I didnt need a viral moment to make impact, I showed up and shared what would benefit my audience, I prepared in advance, and I created my reels with confidence knowing that I did the prep work and I focused on my audience.
So tell me in the comments have you every tried IG reels, why or why not?
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