Instagram Reels have exploded in popularity lately, becoming a cornerstone for engagement, brand visibility, and therefore opportunities to turn this attention into sales and clients for your businesses activity. But keeping up with the demand for fresh, high-quality Reels can be a Herculean task. This is where Artificial Intelligence (AI) steps in, not as a distant sci-fi buzzword, but as a powerful ally available today. If you're looking to supercharge your content, leveraging AI for Instagram Growth is no longer an option—it's a necessity for staying competitive.
Reels are now the N°1 Priority of Instagram and that can be easily explained by the fact they were created in a push for survival when the platfform saw the instant hit of TikTok threatening its hegemony. In order to push its users to create more Reels Content, Instagram then pushed that format over the others but not only Instagram does, the audience too. A recent study from Sprout Social reveals 81% of consumers want more short-form videos from brands.1
1. Leverage Reels for Leads
As we were discussing before, prospects and especially those from the younger generation, want short-form content and could choose your competitor over you for that same reason. In fact, this translates into a near 3x conversion rate than through Google. For example, one clinic found that IG Visitors converted at 7.9% vs 2.7% for Google so even if you had only half the views on IG than on Google you would still probably make more profit out of it.2
However, to capitalize on this opportunity you need to make sure that your profile is optimized for conversion. For that you must make sure that:
- Clean and coherent profile: Have a clear logo (or headshot if you use a personal brand) that resonates with the colors in your Posts and Reels but also include a keyword-driven bio and name
- Add CTA to your Reels: Make sure to use CTA (Call to Action) in your Reels and not only in the end because a good amount of people won't even reach the end before they scroll especially if they feel like it's the outro.
- Be consistent: Social Media isn't Holywood production. Viewers aren't here to watch perfectly shot cinematic movies, they are to entertain themselves and maybe learn a few tricks along the way. That's why there is absolutely no reason for you to be perfectionnist and most of you should post at least once a day (there are a few exceptions, like if you use social media only to announce product upgrades and you acquire clients elsewhere like Apple but if so it was you wouldn't be here).
Later on, we will see how to post at peak time to increase your chance of getting higher engagement. There are some tools to automate this, but frankly, I don't think they are worth the headache because Instagram now offers that as a built-in feature so there is no need for those tools anymore.
2. Smart Video Editing: AI-Powered Production for Stunning Reels
Video editing is often the most time-consuming part of creating Reels. AI video editing for Reels is designed to streamline this process, making professional-quality videos accessible to everyone.
Key AI Editing Features: Many tools now offer AI-driven features like automatic scene detection, smart trimming, auto-captioning, and even suggesting B-roll footage.
- Automated Clip Selection & Assembly: Upload your raw footage, and AI can identify the best segments, arrange them into a coherent narrative, and even sync cuts to the beat of trending audio.
- AI-Enhanced Visuals: Apply AI-powered filters, color correction, and special effects with a few clicks. Some tools can even upscale video quality or stabilize shaky footage.
- Voiceovers & Music: AI can generate realistic voiceovers from text or help you find the perfect copyright-free music track that matches the mood of your Reel.
Now, a lot of these tools are actually overpromising and for example InVideo AI isn't that great. The thing is they do make ok edits for your brand but it will stay very generic and basic, don't expect motion design and 3D Elements here, so if you don't have much time to dedicate to it, sure use them but otherways I think it's better to go with tools like SubMagic that will focus on making very good subtitles which are a must. In fact subtitling doesn't require much personalization but does waste a lot of time for editors so it's an amazing tool and you can even try it for free.
Bonus Tip: SubMagic does have a Watermark in its free tier but if you can't afford to update just use my little hack. Upload your footage, make it be subtitled, then redownload it and put the two files together in your Video Editing Software and set the original footer to the top and crop just so that we see the subtitle. It works fine evn though there is a slight difference in colometry so you will see a weird line but it's lite and most won't even notice.
3. Optimal Posting & Scheduling
There are 3 mains slots of high engagement which are the morning (07:00-08:00), the midday (12:00-13:00) and the afternoon (17:00-18:00). It's because the correspond to the time where most humans have a free slot to scroll like when you just wake up, when you are lunching at work, and when you are coming back from work. Now, at the beginning if you don't have much views you will have to blind guess your time of posting because it actually dependes on the location where most of your viewers are but you only get that data from Instagram once you get good views. Now, for the scheduling a lot of people recommend third party tools but recently Instagram started rolling out a native function for that so if you have it, don't bother with those externals tools and otherways, use them.
4. Sharpening Hooks and CTAs with AI
Finally, one of the best ways to use AI for me is to have an external view advise you on details you may have missed. However, ChatGPT and others AI Tools can often be very Yes Man and make you enter in an echo chamber syndrome which would make you unfounded hopes and loose time on biased advice so make sure to clearly set him first to be upfront and don't fear to bring up the flaws. A trick to do that often works is to change its perspective and frame it as if you were commenting someone else's work so the LLM feels more free to tell the truth. You can show it your CTA and Hooks and ask him to rate them and give you ways to improve based on proven strategies of neuro-marketing.
The Future is Bright (and Automated) for Reels Creators
The integration of AI for Instagram Reels is rapidly evolving, promising even more sophisticated tools to help creators and businesses thrive. From script optimization to fully automated (yet customizable) Reel creation workflows, the potential is immense.
By embracing these AI-powered solutions, you can not only save valuable time and resources but also elevate the quality and impact of your Instagram Reels, ensuring your content stands out in a crowded digital landscape. The future of Reels is here, and it's intelligent.
