INSTAGRAM REELS MISTAKES TO AVOID
That's why we are here to tell you the top 8 biggest Instagram reels Mistakes you need to Stop Making right now.
TEXT
mistake number one is text. there are actually quite a few common mistakes I see with text that's added onto a video so let's go over a few of them.
NOT USING A POP-UP TEXT
right now mistake one a not using pop-up text you want to use text and you should be using pop-up text in every video.
why because often times when somebody first comes across your reel it's muted.
so you want to be able to help them understand what your reel is about with or without the audio and the best way to explain or walk somebody through your reel is with that text or closed captions popping up.
if somebody were to watch your reel from beginning to end without the audio on they should still be able to have a full understanding of what that reel was about.
MISPLACING THE TEXT
Misplacing the text. i see this happening most often when people edit their reels outside of the Instagram app.
there's nothing wrong with editing outside of the Instagram app i do that for probably half of my article i use in shot to edit.
but when you use an outside editing app to pop up the text you don't have those blue lines that instagram gives you as a guide if you were editing inside of instagram.
i suggest after editing your video in in shot don't add the text yet then upload it to instagram reels then you're able to add the text there you can drag the text around to get those blue lines to pop up and they could guide you so they tell you hey don't put it above this line or don't put it below this line.
when editing outside of the instagram app you don't get those guidelines so more often than not people actually get their text cutting off at the top or cutting off at the bottom it's hidden behind their caption or behind the likes comment section.
so i definitely recommend using or adding the text inside of the instagram app.
USING TOO MUCH TEXT
up next Instagram reels mistakes you need to stop making Using too much text. you don't want to overwhelm or confuse the viewer when they come across your reel.
keep your pop-ups short sweet and easy to read. give them enough time to read the whole thing before that text disappears.
you want to keep it as simple to follow as possible so don't put those extra thoughts just do closed captions word for word of what you're saying or even paraphrasing what you're already saying or what is being said in that video.
keep it short and sweet alrighty miss a mistake.
CROP
mistake number two crop the most common mistake i see is when people forget about the 4x5 crop.
Which dimension to use when posting your Reels on Instagram
reminder reels are filmed and uploaded in the 9x16 dimension which is the view you see in your reels tab it's the story view it's the long. it's the long view 9x16.
but when somebody comes across your reel on their feed your reel is actually cropped into the 4x5 dimension.
this is most often referred to as the portrait crop this is also used for in-feed photos or in-feed posts.
oftentimes i see people having their text cut off which we've talked about because it's too high or too low but what's also important is people get their faces or their heads cut off because they're not thinking about that crop when they film their reel.
if you're filming your reel and your head is a little bit too high in the placement of recording when your reel gets cut into that four by five crop your face is usually cut off.
you have less than three seconds before somebody decides if they want to watch your reel or skip past it.
so the little things like being aware of your head placement do matter. if you think they don't matter and you're not seeing success with your reels then weird pay attention to those things i'm just trying to help you out.
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TOPIC CONSISTENCY
number three Instagram reels mistakes you need to stop making not being topically consistent. i know this is an obvious one but you'd be surprised how many times i come across this.
basically instead of saying stick to your niche i'm choosing to say topic because i can guarantee that there is somebody watching this video right now who thinks that they have their niche down pet and that they're doing everything right.
what you're going to do is pick one topic to talk about on your page one topic then pick three to five sub topics around that one topic.
for example my topic is instagram so the three to five sub topics i can teach about is instagram growth, the algorithm increasing engagement brand collaborations.
and teaching instagram to business strategies. those are my five sub topics.
i'm only going to stick to those topics when i make my reels. why because the more you stick to those topics the easier it will be for instagram to categorize your account and they'll be able to push your content to the right people.
if you're not being topically consistent right now your videos are being viewed but they're not being viewed by the right people boom.
NOT SAVING YOUR VIDEOS
mistake number four not saving your videos, instagram is really glitchy i can't tell you, hey let's just delete all of their videos that they spent eight hours batching that'd be hilarious i don't know why they do it. i don't know why.
i saved my reels once after i have them recorded and then again after i have the text edited and added to my liking.
when you go to save them sometimes there will be a pop-up that says this video is going to save without the audio and that's fine just save it anyway you can always add the audio on top of the video afterwards. just save your reels.
we don't know why they disappear sometimes you updated the app sometimes if you've logged out of your account or just because instagram felt like it like.
we don't know why exactly they disappear but always save them as a backup.
TRYING TO GO VIRAL
now mistake number five i see people make is trying to go viral. now hear me out there's nothing wrong with wanting to go viral i actually have a video that teaches how to increase your chances of going viral.
but the mistake happens when you are solely focusing on going viral and you forget about your audience you forget about what what you're doing.
i see this happen all the time where somebody wants to just follow where the trends are going and they're only making trending content. but they're forgetting to make it relevant to their niche or relevant for their audience so it's not sticking.
always ask yourself before you post am i showing up for my audience with this is this valuable to my audience and by valuable i mean is it educational inspirational entertaining or relatable.
how does this post show up and cater to the audience that i either currently have or want to have.
VIDEO QUALITY
number six Instagram reels mistakes you need to stop making video quality. there are two mistakes when it comes to video quality that come up more frequently first one say you recorded your reel in 4k it's the best quality ever then you go to post it to reels and all of a sudden the quality drops.
that's because instagram is using its own compressor to fit your video into their 1080p.
you want to have your video already at 1080p to keep the best quality possible.
second you need to remove any logos that might be on the video before uploading.
by logos i don't mean like brand of clothes you're wearing i mean specifically if you posted that video to tiktok first and then it's saved to your camera roll with the tiktok logo that needs to go.
Instagram has said themselves in posts that videos with logos will not perform well and their reach will be affected.
in the past everyone and myself are advice was to screen record your tick tock before publishing and that way it automatically removes the logo. but tick tock has changed their design since then.
so what i recommend using is the website snap tick dot app which i'll link below and that's how i've been removing my tick tock logos.
OVERTHINKING
mistake number seven is overthinking. it if you're stuck and you haven't created reels you're probably overthinking it.
your reels don't have to be perfect they don't have to go viral.
they don't have to hit whatever expectation it is that you have set in your head.
all you have to do is show up even if it's a five second video go to the reels tab on your phone right, hear an audio more than once save that audio just save it you don't have to know what sort of spin you're going to add to it yet just save it and keep going sooner or later you'll have 10 sounds saved with those 10 sounds you have 10 videos that you can batch record right now and you can think of a way to apply your fun twist to it a little bit later.
just take action in whatever order you need to to get a video up. even if you feel like you have no clue what you're doing.
again don't overthink it there's no right or wrong way for the creation process if you just need to get that spark started again just just go for it.
NOT PUTTING A CALL TO ACTION
alrighty, number eight Instagram reels mistakes you need to stop making not putting a call to action on your videos.
come on you want to treat each reel like it's going to be somebody's first time coming across your face.
at the end of every reel make sure to add a call to action or cta.
WHAT IS CTA AND WHY YOU NEED ONE
a cta is something like follow for more Instagram tips follow for part two comment uh orange heart emoji if you agree with this.
you know you're encouraging somebody to take a follow or encouraging them to engage with your post.
you never know which of your videos might pop off and you want to increase your chances of getting more followers by having a call to action on every video you produce.
now i'm curious comment below which mistake you are making but you won't anymore you'll stray away from it.
So this was our list of the top 8 biggest Instagram reels mistakes you need to stop making.