Welcome to another episode of the Christian business advantage podcast. I'm your host, Alyssa Avant. And today we are continuing our series on Instagram reals. By talking about the elements of a reel, you probably want to get out some pen and paper for this one. Because it is full of information. Also before the end of this podcast, I'll be sharing with you a resource that you can purchase from me. For a small fee that will give you all of these elements as well.
If you want to save your hand from having to write all this information down. So the very first piece. I have a real is the hook. The hook is key. This is a quick catchy phrase or word to get your viewer to stop scrolling and pay attention. I'll be completely honest with you. The hook was where I struggled when I first made reels. You should have the hook in two places on screen text. Meaning like the typed text on the screen.
And secondly, the start of your caption. So the caption is the content that goes beneath your real written out. So those are two places that your hook should be, and that is the first element. The second element is a call to action. Similar to your hook. You have to have that in a couple of places. Those two places are again on screen. Text. And in your caption, so you should be writing it out. I called to action is something like. Directing them to take a specific action.
Follow you comment, share. I send you a day am you know, Tell them to take a specific action.
Third is.
The main message of your reel, what you're aiming at, what you're trying to get across. With your real, is this real specifically prefer providing value to your readers? Is this real so that these readers or listeners will relate to you. Get to know you. Does your message, give them a new idea, some encouragement, some guidance or advice. Your main message doesn't need to do all of these things.
It just needs to do one of these things. And think about it. Most reals are less than three minutes long. So you don't want to try to. Smash all of those things into a reel, it needs to be quick. And needs to include that hook include that call to action and smashed between those two things is your message. You should also put part of your message. And your caption as a whole. So in deciding whether or not to put your message on the screen or in the caption, here's some things to think about. I only included on this screen, if you can do so without making it too crowded. You don't wanna make it hard to rate. If you do include it on the screen, make sure to edit the video so that the text pops up and sync with.
When you're saying it. Even better if you do just one chunk of text at a time. If it's too much, just use a call to action. To stay and send people down to the caption for the main message.
Another element that you will need is a cover photo. Your reels cover photo is what people will see both in your profile grid and in your reels tab. So you want to make it clear what the reel is about. It needs to fit your brand. It needs to encourage someone to click on your video and even visit your profile.
You want to make it aesthetically pleasing as possible? Choose an existing frame from your video. Or you can upload a cover photo from your camera roll. You can even design one in canvas if you want. I usually just choose. A photo of me from the video, like a screenshot of me from the video where I'm making a pleasant face. Because many times, you know, And it gets us on the worst possible face as possible. Another element is hashtags and keywords. Contrary to popular belief. Hashtags are not dead. A lot of people claim that they are, but many of the pros still recommend them.
And I still use them. So make sure that you use them and your caption. Keywords are kind of a newer emphasis on Instagram. Basically. You want to make sure your onscreen text and your caption, both contain relevant keywords. To your content. For example, some keywords. , that you might use as if you are, , an author you might use. Book's author or even some that are more related to your topic.
So say you're writing about gardening. You would use. Gardening you would use, , Maybe season, you know, the season of the years, since a lot of times gardening is done in a specific season. Or region of the country, just things like that. You want to keep the shorts? And you can also use them in your hashtags.
Finally, you want to make sure that you use a caption. Captions again, besides the hook, the caption was the hardest part for me. Your captions should start with your hook. So your hook needs to be included. Remember on screen as well as in the caption. And you want to expand on your message there. If you're caption is more than a few sentences long, make sure you have plenty of space in it. Make sure you include your call to action, your hashtags, your keywords. And you can tell a story, share your experience.
Be vulnerable, be honest. This is a place where you can learn to.
Gain trust with your readers and your Watchers convert your viewers into followers and convert those followers into customers. You can use emojis in your caption, but don't overdo it. Make sure that your caption is catchy and gaging and decently long, but separated with spaces. This will help you to get more, watch time on your reels, especially if it's a short reel, which will mean it will get pushed out to more people because people will stop squirrel and look at your caption.
So those are the elements let's retrace.
Go back. And I'll say them one more time. And then I want to tell you about my. God. So, first of all, the hook, when I have a hook. You want to have a call to action? You want to have a main message? You want to have. I cover photo. You won't to have. Hashtags and keywords and you want to have a caption.
Now I have this guide and it is called.
A complete guide to reels. It is available on my website and I will share the link to it in the show notes. I would love for you to go and check it out. And also if you're not a part of the Christian business advantage Facebook group, we will be going over some how to use on the Facebook group.
Actually at this point that will have already aired. Or been live. So I will make sure that you have a link to the replay. Thanks for listening.