You Don’t Need Instagram Reels
If you run a small business and you’ve been asking yourself if you need Instagram Reels, or how to make better Reels for business, I’m here to tell you it’s not necessary.
You don’t have to make Reels on Instagram.
Your business will be just fine.
I recently attended an Instagram training where the instructor told us Instagram Reels are now the only path to good engagement. If you plan to continue a photo-only Instagram account, your posts are not going to get as much attention.
The CEO of Instagram confirmed this the next day. “We’re no longer a photo-sharing app.” says ‘Gram chief Adam Mosseri.
Instagram wants all of us using all their new features. You betta have a Story, oh and a carousel post, and of course lots of Reels, edited in the Reels editor.
Forget That B*llsh*t
Recently I began working with a business coach, the great Eleanor Beaton, who says “I won’t shake my booty for Mark Zuckerberg.”
Beaton helms a multiple 7-figure business. She does not need to shimmy on camera for customers.
Now, there is nothing inherently undignified about dancing for money.
But as a marketer, I know better than anyone which specific tactics attract which specific clients.
Dancing on camera is not an action that draws my target audience.
Life is not a Teen Movie
I don’t know about you, but I haven’t had time to stand in front of my mirror and learn choreography for a hot decade. At least.
So why the eff are we being asked to?
Here’s the tea: because we aren’t creating content to sell to our clients. We’re being peer pressured to engineer eye-ball attracting content for Mark Zuckerberg.
If we want the “free” advertising social media supposedly promises, we have to do more and more outlandish (and time consuming) things to get attention.
Which is GREAT for the Facebook corporation. They get thousands of thirsty entrepreneurs hustling for their users’ attention.
A Lesson My Grandfather Taught Me
My grandfather was an auctioneer. He stood at the front of a room and called out prices at the buyers assembled before him. If you wanted to sell something at his auction, you had to submit to having your item appraised, displayed and shouted about in a room of strangers.
If you’re trying to offload your cattle, that’s a reasonable request. But you can’t sell bespoke services that way. It’s damn hard to sell anything at all that way, especially things that can’t have their tires kicked.
But that isn’t the auctioneer’s fault. They have a way of selling, and you can add your item to the block, or you can hit the bricks.
Same goes for social media. If you want to leverage their platform, you’ll have to hustle however they want you to hustle.
Personally? I’ll be damned if I’m going to start rehearsing like I’m in the final scene of Bring It On.
(Go Clovers, tho, for real)
Instagram Reels Don’t Matter
I guarantee you will not turn more leads into sales simply because someone saw your Reel or your TikTok and your moves were flawless.
There is an important step BETWEEN engagement and sales called “cultivating intent.”
Instagram Reels Don’t Matter. Here’s why:
It means you take everyone whose attention you’ve flagged, and nurture their impression of your offer. Ideally, they then buy it.
Dancing does not facilitate this process. If your buyers first saw you when you were dancing, you still had to do another step to convince them your offer is attractive. I mean, unless your offer is dance lessons.
(Just to clarify, if your offer is dance lessons, carry on with the Reels. You and your good coordination are probably the reason the rest of us are in this mess.)
End the Madness
It’s time to end the madness. Get out of the habit of literally shimmying for your supper.
In fact, stop doing any marketing tactic that doesn’t feel natural and manageable. You don’t need social media AT ALL to be successful, but social media needs you.
