How to Use Instagram Reels to Grow Your Small Business

Feeling like social media is just another thing on your never-ending to-do list? 

I hear you! 

But what if I told you that Instagram Reels could be the easiest (and most fun) way to boost your small business marketing, connect with more customers, and drive real results? 

In this episode, I’m breaking down exactly how to use Instagram Reels to build brand awareness, increase social media engagement, and grow your business, without spending hours filming or needing fancy equipment.

Here’s what you’ll learn in this episode:

• Why Instagram Reels get 22% more engagement than regular posts (and how to use that to your advantage).
• The 3 key ingredients of a great Reel that stops the scroll and gets views.
• Easy Instagram marketing ideas you can use right now to attract more customers, even if you’re new to Reels.
• How to batch-create content so you’re not stressing about posting every day.
• The biggest mistakes small businesses make with Reels and how to avoid them.

If you’re ready to turn your social media strategy into a real growth tool, this episode is for you! 

Let’s make social media growth happen!

 

With all my support, Chey

Need help creating a strategy? Book a $97 Social Media Audit, and my team will give you tailored tips to maximize your results.

 

Links and Resources: 👉 Ready to make social media work for you? Book your audit here: https://thecleymans.thrivecart.com/social-media-audit/

👉 Follow me for more social media tips:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cleymansocial.media/
•           https://www.instagram.com/cheyannecleyman
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cheyannecleyman/

👉 Have a question or want to chat? Contact me here: [e-mail]

 

Subscribe & Review Love this episode? Don’t forget to hit subscribe and leave a review on Apple Podcasts! Your feedback helps us reach more small business owners who need these tips.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
If you've ever felt like socialmedia is just so time sucking,

(00:03):
or you're worried that you don'thave the resources to compete
with bigger brands, well, you'rein the right place. Today we're
focusing on Instagram reels.Why? Because they're simply one
of the most powerful tools thatsmall businesses like yours can
use to connect with youraudience, showcase your
personality and drive realresults.

(00:30):
Welcome to Social Media forsmall businesses. Are you ready
to turn social media into apowerful marketing funnel that
drives growth, connectsauthentically with your audience
and boost sales. I'm CheyenneClayman, social media strategist
and agency owner, here to helpyou transform your social media
into a tool for measurableresults. Each episode, you'll

(00:53):
get actionable strategies, reallife examples and proven
techniques to grow your brandand make an impact. So grab a
notebook and pen. It's time tomake social media work for you.
So I have a new stat for you.Did you know that Instagram

(01:16):
reels are getting 22% moreengagement than regular post,
imagine what that could mean foryour small business. What that
equates to is more eyes, moreclicks and more customers
walking through your door. Intoday's episode, we're diving
right in. We are going to figureout exactly how you can master

(01:37):
Instagram reels without spendinghours creating videos if you're
ready to take your social mediagame to the next level and have
your social media work for youwhile this one's for you, let's
do it. If you've ever felt likesocial media is just so time
sucking, or you're worried thatyou don't have the resources to
compete with bigger brands,well, you're in the right place.

(02:00):
Today, we're focusing onInstagram reels. Why? Because
they're simply one of the mostpowerful tools that small
businesses like yours can use toconnect with your audience,
showcase your personality anddrive real results. And the best
part, you don't need to be atech wizard or have a huge
budget to make them work foryou. Welcome back to Social

(02:22):
Media Marketing for SmallBusinesses. I'm your host,
Cheyenne Clayman, and I'm hereto help you grow your business
through practical, relatable andactionable social media
strategies. So stick around,because I'm not just sharing why
reels matter. I'm also going towalk you through what makes a
real stand out and give youthree. That's right, not just

(02:43):
one, three specific types ofreels you can create right now
to attract more customers. Plus,I'll show you how my company
claim and social media can helptake the stress out of managing
your content strategy. So let'sstart first and foremost, why
does Instagram reels matter forsmall businesses. I mean, isn't
this for just a bunch of youknow, board moms at home making

(03:06):
dance videos with their kids? Imean, hello, that's me as well.
But I'm definitely not bored.I'm doing it with a purpose, as
should you be if you're a smallbusiness owner? So let's start
with why? Why are they soimportant? Well, Instagram in
general, is just a hot buttonfor where people go, to one, be

(03:28):
entertained, but two to maketheir buying decisions. And
Instagram's algorithm heavilyfavors video content, especially
reels. So what that basicallymeans is, when you post a reel,
it's more likely to show up toyour ideal customers in their
explore feed and in front ofother potential people you want

(03:48):
following you who don't alreadyfollow you. So think about it.
Reels give you the chance toconnect with your local
customers or ideal customers.You get to showcase your
products and to even tell yourbrand story in a fun visual way,
it's really the virtualhandshake that every business
owner wants to do when someonewould either walk by their store

(04:12):
or walk into their store, andyou get a chance to engage them
and hook them right away. So inorder to do that, we should talk
about what makes a great realwell, let's break it down. It
really comes down to three verysimple ingredients. Any bakers
in the room, when you can cooksomething with just three
ingredients, you know you have awinner. So that's what we've got

(04:33):
today for how to make your realstand out. So if you're taking
notes, here's number one. Thefirst thing is a strong hook.
You've got three seconds to grabattention. Don't just ask me, or
trust me, ask my 16 year old. Itis key to make sure that you
grab someone right away. Sostart with movement. Maybe a

(04:54):
surprising statement, or myfavorite is text on the screen.
Studies show that so manypeople. Will watch social media
with their sound off, so puttingtext out there that they can
read that will capture theirattention is going to draw them
down to what is really importantis the caption below number two
is showcasing your personality.People connect with people,

(05:16):
period. So you want to use yourunique voice to make your reels
authentic, where it is a goodmethod to try to follow the
trends and talk about thingsthat are trending, but put your
own voice on it, and don't tryto be a copycat and just do what
someone else is doing. Numberthree, to make your real stand

(05:37):
out, is a call to action. You'veprobably heard about these
before, and often I'vereferenced them on the podcast
as a CTA, so you always want toend your reel with basically
what it is as a clear next step,whether it's visit your shop or
send me a DM, or click the linkin the bio or check out the
profile, give your audienceclear directions. They know

(06:00):
exactly what you expect of themand where they can keep whether
it's having the fun or learningfrom you or gaining more value.
So now that you know why youshould create a reel and what
makes a great reel, I want togive you guys some ideas for
small businesses, because I knowit can get really overwhelming,
and something that happens a lotto small business owners like

(06:22):
yourself is perhaps, maybe thissounds like you, you get on
Instagram to intentionally gomake a reel and find ideas for
your business, but then you endup getting into this loophole.
Or unfortunately, as many of usdo experience, it's a real
thing. We end up having a littlebit of imposter syndrome, right?
You see competitors in yourfield, or maybe colleagues, and

(06:44):
everyone seems to get it better,and it can be very overwhelming
to know where to start. So threegreat ideas of where to start
for you with your own businessis, first, think about doing a
behind the scenes reel show youraudience how your product is
made, or give them a peek into,say, your daily operations, for
example, if you're a bakery,film a quick clip of the

(07:06):
frosting. You know how you makethe frosting, or frosting a
cake, or maybe pulling freshbread from the oven, pull your
customers into somethingexclusive that they think
they're getting a right behindthe scenes look. It's like
almost when remember back of theday when you'd pop a DVD player
and they would have a behind thescenes section or deleted
scenes. You know how many of youwere obsessed with that? Like I

(07:28):
was why? It's because you feellike you were getting something
that not everyone else gets. Andthat's exactly the same kind of
excitement that you can bring toyour social media. A second
great idea is to provide acustomer testimonial real. So
you can get these in a lot ofdifferent ways. You can ask your
customers, especially ones whohave voice to you, whether it's

(07:48):
in person or perhaps writtensomething to you through a, you
know, a Google review or a Yelpreview or said something on your
social media, ask them to sharetheir experience on camera. You
know, even better is if you canturn their user generated
content, which is often heard onthe internet as UGC, into a real

(08:09):
so basically, using theircontent and videos and photos
that they've shot using yourproduct or experiencing your
business or what it offers likethat is the Best, because that's
going to build trust andcredibility. And the last tip
that I would say is a reallygreat reel, and these are all
ones, by the way, that you couldjust put on repeat. You could do

(08:29):
these every single week, everymonth, and just make it be a
cadence of something that you docontinually, and put yourself up
and create your own contentplan. So the last one is
educational tips real. So sharequick tips related to your
business. People will rememberhow you make them feel. And if
you can make them feel likethey're growing, like they are

(08:51):
getting free value, they'regonna remember you. So say you
own a local gym, or you're atrainer, you know, post a 15
second workout demo. Don't justtell people what they're
supposed to do, show them how todo it, so that they gain that
trust from you already, or maybeyou're a boutique, share some
styling advice. Of course, yes,you want people to come in and
buy your clothes, but if theydon't know what kind of clothes

(09:14):
you have, or aren't sure howthey would fit their body or how
to wear it, then they may notcome in at all. So take those
questions out of their mind andshow them how they can do it for
free on your social media.
So a couple tips for how toactually create reels. Now maybe
some of you are listening tothis episode and you're like,
Okay, Sean, like, we've gotthis. This is you know,

(09:36):
something that we already know.More power to you. But the more
and more small business ownersthat I talk to, they stop at
just consuming reels, and theydon't realize how powerful they
can be as a tool for convertingfollowers and just audience
members to real customers. Andthis is why I want to empower

(09:56):
you to do this on your own, ifthat's what you choose. Yes.
Now, first and foremost, keep itsimple. Just use your phone's
camera. You don't need any fancyequipment, and I'm talking about
tripods. You don't need soundequipment, you don't need
Steadicam, you don't need any ofthat. You know, some people may
use it, and that's fine, butalmost everyone started
somewhere, and that somewhere iswith your phone. And be sure to

(10:20):
leverage Instagram's built intools. So there's a lot of great
apps out there. Some of themcost some money. Some of them
don't we personally use cap cut,which we love. They're a great
investment. They're Pro Tools, agreat investment, and it's
really made it so easy to createreally fun edits and cuts
without being a total genius foreditor, but Instagram has built

(10:44):
in tools like music, textoverlays and effects to actually
make your videos pop. So don'tjust slam something like a video
in there. Look to see whatInstagram has built right in.
And ultimately, probably mybiggest tip would be to batch
your content. So that means whenyou sit down to actually record
a reel, do several in onesession to save time. Something

(11:05):
I learned from one of my socialmedia coaches years ago was
don't ever film and post all inthe same moment. And you
definitely don't want to postand ghost, which is posting your
content and then justdisappearing and not engaging
with people. So it's much betterto film a bunch of content and
go back and edit it when you'refocused than trying to stress

(11:26):
out and get things up in realtime. And if creating reals
feels overwhelming, cleaningsocial media, my agency can
actually help you. We specializein creating engaging content
that gets results for smallbusinesses. And if you're unsure
where to start. I couldn'tsuggest more than just to check
out our $97 social media audit.You could find the link below.

(11:47):
We'll pinpoint exactly where youcan improve your strategy, and
it even includes a free downloadcalled the social media
conversion Checklist to help yougrow again. The link is in the
show notes below. So here we go.My favorite part of every
episode is your actionabletakeaway. Here is your action
item for the week. Create oneInstagram reel using one of the

(12:10):
ideas, or all of them we coveredtoday. Focus on keeping it
simple, authentic and fun. Andwhen you do, send me a DM on
Instagram and let me know how itgoes, or better yet, tag us
below at claimant, social dotmedia, I'd love to cheer you on.
Well, bosses, that's it fortoday's episode. Thanks for
tuning in to Social MediaMarketing for Small Businesses.

(12:33):
If you found this helpful,please leave a review and share
it with a fellow small businessowner. It would mean a lot to
me, and then I know would knowexactly what it is you want me
to cover on a future episode.Win, win until next time,
remember, real growth comes fromreal connection. I'll see you
very soon. Stage the social andI'll see you next week. Thanks

(12:56):
for tuning in to social mediafor small businesses now, time
to go apply what you learned toelevate your social media
strategy, and remember to grabthis week's free resource from
the show notes below. And ifyou're ready to make social
media work for your businessgrowth, just head on over to www
claimansocial dot media to bookyour free discovery. Call with

(13:18):
us. We're here to help turn yoursocial media efforts into real,
measurable results. Until thenext episode, keep building,
keep connecting, and I'll seeyou on social you.