7 Key Features to Create a Viral Reels

Reels is one of the biggest news on Instagram this year. Given the rise of TikTok and its endless possibilities for creating videos, montages and sequences, the owners of the world's most popular photography social network decided to launch Reels in response Thanks to it, users can create fun short films that combine music, text, photos and video.

The main step to get a good audience with Reels is to know well all the features it offers.Making the most of its capabilities will allow you to compete with other users in the race towards virality and, in some way, please the Instagram algorithm so that it highlights your content for on top of the rest.

The duration of your Reels matters to be more creative

Keep in mind that a Reel is a short video. As in TikTok, the maximum duration does not exceed one minute. Specifically, in the case of Instagram, you have the possibility to choose between 15 or 30 seconds This apparent limitation has turned out to be an advantage. Thanks to the time limit set in Reels, users need to be more creative when it comes to conveying information.

To change the total duration of a Reel do the following:

1. Go to the Reels creation area.
2. Locates a circular icon with a number inside it. It's located on the left side of the screen.
3. Click on it. With each press you will see its value change, from 15 to 30 or from 30 to 15, indicative of the total duration of the Reel.

Follow the musical trends (or create your own audios)

Reels need a soundtrack. If this format was designed to compete with TikTok, a social network especially focused on music and dance, it's logical that Instagram also has a song selector. As usual, thanks to music you have more possibilities to connect with your audience and, therefore, enjoy greater virality.

Add your music as follows:

1. In the Reel creation area, tap on the icon represented by the musical note.
2. Write, in the text field, the song you want to add as a soundtrack.
3. Choose the desired snippet and tap Done.

Highlight with fast motion and slow motion

Thanks to recording by short fragments, Instagram allows you to combine videos recorded in fast motion with others that have been captured in slow motion. Fortunately, this option is available even if your device does not support slow or fast motion natively.

You can open the recording speed selector by clicking on the central button of the side menu.Then you just have to choose the preferred recording speed. Taking the 1X value as a reference, all those speeds with a dot in front, .3X or .5X, correspond to slow motion. On the other hand, values ​​greater than 1X, that is, 2X or 3X, correspond to fast motion.

Call the attention of others with the most amazing effects

The effects available on Reels try to match the full variety offered on TikTok. Clearly, it must be an arduous task for the developers of Instagram to try to catch up with the Chinese social network in this aspect, since the range of effects offered by it is overwhelming.

Reels effects are available by tapping on the smiley icon, located in the left options menu.There are many hidden features in the filters that, only with practice and time, it is possible to discover. It is necessary to clarify that many of them are more similar to classic filters than to true special effects.

Take better shots with the timer

The timer function will be very useful, especially if you are recording in complete solitude. Thanks to it, you can program the start of the capture and, thus, take the right position or place in front of the camera. Using this feature is recommended, especially when doing some challenges or choreographies.

Following the guidelines that we specify you can easily set a timer:

1. Go to the recording section and touch the chronometer icon.
2. Hover over the timeline to set a recording limit and use the Countdown button to activate the timer. You can choose between 3 and 10 seconds.
3. To confirm, touch the button Set timer.
4. If you really want to reset this option, use the bottom button Reset Timer.

Create more complete videos with material from your library

To create a Reels it is not necessary to record at a specific moment. Rather, you can use videos that have been captured before. This will allow you to add external resources to your creations, use your own material that you have stored on your device or take full advantage of your device's camera thanks to the manufacturer's camera application.

Selecting a clip from your phone's local storage is very easy. You only need to click on the button that you will find in the lower left corner of the screen, represented by the icon of a photograph and the symbol + A browser will open which will display all supported media files, ready to be added.

Make it viral by taking care of all the details

So far we've talked about interesting options that you can use before and during recording. But what about post-editing? Well, Instagram allows you to touch up your creations after finishing the capture.

Here's a list of everything you can do to improve the virality of your Reel after you've recorded it:

• Add tags You have available all the tags that are already used in Instagram Stories. Many of them will allow you to improve the virality of your Reel. For example, add a location, a hashtag, questions, polls, or even music. If your Reel is a challenge, you can nominate others with the Challenge tag.
• Save your Reel in the phone memory. Ideal for having a backup or sharing it through other apps.
• Add Text. After creating your Reel you can display phrases or floating words.
• Add freehand drawings.