6 Ways to Get More Engagement on Your Instagram Reels

Instagram Reels is a great way to connect with your audience, scale your brand, and grow your following. In fact, studies have actually shown that Reels generate 67% more engagement than standard Instagram videos. But with so much content being shared on the platform, it can be tough to stand out from the crowd. So if you want to get more engagement on your Instagram Reels, you need to know how to optimize and enhance your content. That’s why we put together a list of our best tips. 

6 Ways to Get More Engagement on Your Instagram Reels 

1. Post interesting and engaging Reels

This may seem like a no-brainer, but it's worth repeating: if you want people to engage with your content, it needs to be… well, engaging. Share videos that are relevant to your target audience’s interests, questions, or pain points. The more interesting and valuable your content is, the more your audience will engage.

2. Use relevant hashtags

Hashtags are a great way to get your content seen by more people. When you use relevant hashtags, your videos will show up in the search results for those hashtags, which means more people will have the chance to see them.

3. Make sure your Instagram Reels are native

The only way you’re going to truly optimize the reach and engagement of your Instagram Reels is by making sure that they were created/edited natively in the Instagram platform… or look like they were 🤫 

Instagram made it clear a while ago that they’re no longer pushing out Reels to the Explore page (which is the best way to get discovered by people who don’t currently follow you) if they include a watermark from another platform. NOW, this doesn’t mean you can’t repurpose TikTok content for Instagram. You just have to get creative and remove that pesky watermark. We’ve shared four ways to do that here.

4. Collaborate with other creators

Collaborating with other creators is a great way to reach a new audience and get more exposure and engagement for your content. Find creators who are in your niche and who have a similar target audience as you and reach out to them about collaborating on a Reel.

5. Promote your Reels on other social media channels

 Don't just post your Reels on Instagram! Share them on your other social media channels, too. This will help you reach a wider audience, get more eyes on your content, and increase your overall engagement.

6. Add text and subtitles

In order to get maximum engagement on your Instagram Reels, you also want to make sure that your content is appealing to the algorithm. Instagram’s algorithm currently prioritizes content that checks certain boxes, so one of the best ways to make sure your Reels perform optimally is to include text. You can include text on-screen that references what your video is about (and includes your CTA). This text can be added directly through the Instagram Reels editor.

But it’s also important to add subtitles, if you want your video to be more accessible, eye-catching, and favored by Instgram’s algorithm. Luckily, it’s easy to add subtitles with just a couple of clicks when you use Zubtitle’s state-of-the-art software. For more information on adding text/subtitles to your Instagram Reel (and a full walkthrough of both), check out this blog post. 

What strategies do you use to get more engagement on your Instagram Reels? Tell us in the comments! 

And don’t forget — if you want to add captions to your Instagram Reels with Zubtitle, you can sign up for a free account today and start creating!

If you want to learn more about getting more engagement on your Instagram Reels, check out these videos (and our Instagram):