Reels are essential for growth on Instagram - that's old news. But it's hard to narrow down what kind of Reels to create. One of the tried and true Reels trends is simply sharing educational content about your niche or industry with your followers. Here are our top tips for making educational Reels that will help you gain views and followers.

1. Hook viewers immediately.

When it comes to viral video content, you want to drop the interesting element right at the beginning and then explain it. If you start with an explanation, many viewers will keep on scrolling. But if you start out with something like “you’ve never used Instagram the right way before”, you’re likely to stop the endless scroll. Starting with a list of facts isn’t going to keep your viewers interested. Catch them - then educate. In this reel that has over 100K views, the first thing users see are the words "The Formula for Instagram Growth". That's a scroll stopping headline.

2. Text is essential

Remember that many users scroll Instagram without their sound on. Adding text to your educational Reels helps you hook those users too. Captioning videos where you speak is so important for accessibility for all Instagram users. If you’re going to do your captions by hand, it’s okay if you get the idea of what you’re saying instead of a word by word account. But if you want an easier way to caption your videos, check out these apps that will automatically generate captions for you. The Reel below uses lots of texts, but it doesn't match the speaking word for word. But if you weren't using sound, you'd still be able to learn everything the Reel is trying to teach.

3. If you want to gain followers - stick to your niche.

When users come across a video they like on Reels, they’ll usually head to the creator’s profile. If they were drawn in by a video about cute dogs, and they land on a profile that normally posts about architecture - they’re not going to hit the follow button. The same is true for your content. To attract your ideal audience, you want to keep your educational Reels focused on the industry you have expertise in. That way when viewers come across your education Reels and click on your profile, they’ll want to tap the follow button because your profile will support the Reel they just viewed. The viewer knows they’ll get more of the content they were looking for.

4. What do you want to learn? Learn it and then teach it to others.

If you’re struggling with ideas for educational content, try following your curiosity or your own lack of knowledge. Is there a new SEO technique that you’ve been interested in researching? Research and then create a bite sized explanation for Reels. Have you been avoiding a new recipe that looks really hard but you want to tackle it? Try it out, record it, and share it as an instructional Reel. Learning is good for everyone involved. I was looking for some tricks to make my work in Canva more efficient. When I learned about some incredibly helpful keyboard shortcuts, I turned it into an educational Reel for Media A La Carte.

5. Repurpose content

Work smarter - not harder. If you write a blog, turn each blog post into an educational Reel where you share 5 main points from your blog. Turn long form instagram captions into Reels. Turn your TikToks into Reels. You have so much knowledge you’ve already put out into the world in other forms of content. Simply repurpose them into educational Reels that will draw in your audience.

Don't be discouraged if your first few Reels don't get big views numbers. Keep putting in the work on your content, and we know it will pay off.

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