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18 Instagram Reels Ideas to Post Today

You may have looked through Instagram's explore page and stumbled into the Reels page. You also may still be rolling your eyes, saying how it's nothing more than a TikTok rip-off and that you don't want to spend time on it. But I can tell you that Instagram Reels is unique in its way. And if you're going to grow your social presence, this is one of the tops ways to do it. Instagram unveiled this new video creation feature in August of 2020, and since then, the short-form content has become quite popular on the platform. If you've thought about hopping on the Reels bandwagon this new year, then here are 18 creative ideas that you can do on Reels to grow your following.

Drawing tutorials

It's time to take out your iPad, paintbrush, paper, stylist, or whatever you use for your art and get to creating. If you know how to draw, then you can share some of your artistic knowledge with your followers. One idea is you can make a quick video on how to create a landscape or specific object. Or you can just show off your skills by doing a painting challenge or finishing a drawing project over a few Reel episode parts. These videos will give people a little lesson on how to improve their drawing skills and gain some inspiration along the way.

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Room Tour

Everyone's home or room can show their uniqueness. Your personal space shows off your individuality. So, if you have created that perfect bedroom that best represents you, then uploading a room tour for Instagram Reels will be perfect. Take your followers through each corner of your personal space and highlight the beauty that you've made. If you want to further and give the whole house a tour, you can easily create multiple Reel videos specifically for each room in your home.

DIY Hacks

There's always something interesting that we can make out of unrelated objects. DIY hacking videos are great for helping people create quick crafts that can also double as something useful like slippers or a holder for your phone. The best thing about these Reel videos is that people can potentially find creative hacks to help save them money, and who doesn't love that? You can also make a Reel series by offering DIY hacks now and then.

instagram reels

Easy or Complex Recipes

If your followers are like many others, they usually surf social media for updates on the people they follow. And they may also find some simple and delicious recipes that they can make. Bring out your mixing bowl and turn on the oven to create your own Food Network-like Reel on Instagram. And while people love to look at elaborate dishes, the best types of recipe videos will include easy meals for someone to try. But what if you're not the best cook? Well, you can always entertain your audience by attempting new recipes from meal subscription boxes.

Trips

Are you someone who travels or visits a lot of different places? Then share them with your followers. Show off the world's natural beauty by sharing videos of the mountains you visited or the trail of a forest you hiked through. But while those are great to see, you also don't need to go across the world just to celebrate where you've been. Upload videos of a beautiful part of a city you've been to or a newly opened café shop down the street. No matter where've you've been, take a video clip of it and upload it to your Reels feed today.

Arts and Craft

Since the pandemic shut many of us inside our home and forced us to find new things to do, many have gone into arts and crafts. It not only makes time go by in a flash but inspires us to use our creative minds to make handy, entertaining, or beautiful creations. If you've taken up any crafting projects as a hobby, you can share your results with your audience. You can also show new, creative crafting ideas that your audience can quickly make. Create a Reel series that goes over multiple crafting tips and hacks that your audience will want to try out today.

Advertise Your business

Do you have a shop or business and want to sell your products? Instagram is a great place to advertise your business to a large audience, which will keep expanding the more you post. And while posting pictures of your products or finished work will help create hype for your business, you can also make a short Reel advertisement commercial if you have the money. Some other ideas include reposting customers' posts about your product or showing off your product in action with models, or something a little more straightforward.

Fashion

Fashion is one of the most popular types of posts that you can upload to your Instagram account. From seasonal wear videos to monthly fashion favorites, you can always find some content to upload to your page. Make a video about your favorite bags or jeans that you bought or show off your closet and shoe collection, which might encourage your followers to do the same. The best thing about this is that you don't have to be a professional stylist or model to get in on the fun. You can even follow trending fashion Reel videos such as making multiple outfits representing a topic, movie, anime, or Potter house.

Hair Tutorials

Do you have a hairstyle that you can share with your followers? Through your Reels, you can do that with a quick video tutorial on creating individual styles that will give your audience some new ideas for when they go out. You can also do videos on how to do quick hairstyle hacks for an already complex style. With this type of video, you can do a variety of hair video content. And if you can create hairstyles inspired by a specific fictional character, then bonus points for creativity!

Animal Videos

There's not much to say about this type of Reel video. Animals are super cute, and everyone loves to look at them doing cute and funny stuff. If you have a pet, you also know that getting content for this type of video is also easy. Just a few minutes of filming yourself playing with your pet will offer you a multitude of delightful moments that you can share with your followers. Honestly, you can film them sleeping in their bed, and it will get plenty of views and comments of people talking about how cute your furry friend is. Try out this video idea, and who knows? If your pet loves the camera enough, they may get their own group of fans!

Show Your Aesthetic

One thing that is great for social media is that you can show off any aesthetic. The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines aesthetics as "a pleasing appearance or effect." In other words, anything beautiful to someone, such as a look, is aesthetic. Many Instagram accounts try to have a theme that is aesthetically pleasing to others. It often results in beautiful profiles with a particular color scheme and filter. But your photos don't have to be the only this that is aesthetic. Make videos highlighting themes such as a fairy, cyberpunk, or dark academia aesthetic. You can show it through makeup tutorials, fashion shoots, or room tours. Be creative and show off your aesthetic look with everyone.

Funny Interactions

We've all had times where we're with friends and family, and something funny happens. And social media is the perfect place to talk about it with your followers. Go even further with your Instagram Reel. Upload it again on your Reels and laugh again and again with other users. Using stickers and text, you can put an exciting caption on the video to get people interested in what's going to happen. And if you can get a funny moment with an animal, then just wait for the likes to roll through.

Morning and Evening Routines

One type of popular video content on social media is showing off one's morning and evening routines. There's something about watching someone have a steady and organized life that makes our mornings of silencing the alarm before eventually dragging ourselves out of bed and into the bathroom makes us feel inspired to change. And with the new year here, there no better time for people to find these types of videos on their feed. Suppose you have a great morning or evening routine for 2021, record and post it in a Reel video. Just don't forget your morning smoothie!

Unforgettable Moments

Has something exciting or emotional happened to you? Social media is great for remembering those special times that you shared with someone or even by yourself. Whether it's a moment of being proposed to, spending time with loved ones, or just giving yourself some time to enjoy the world, you can share these unforgettable moments right on your Instagram Reel and make your followers smile. Remember to add touching captions to the Reel to create the perfect post about your memories.

Books

I know what you're thinking. Did I just say books? Don't scroll past so fast. While some may not enjoy a good book's comforts, they can still be used for great Instagram post ideas. If you are a book reader, you can easily take advantage of this hobby by uploading TBRs (To-Be-Read) videos and book hauls of the latest novels you have gathered recently. Just think about the "Bookstagram" side of Instagram, and you can come up with a lot of ideas. But if you're not into reading a lot of books, you can still make content around outfits, or makeup looks inspired by any book cover you know or have looked up.

Costumes and Cosplay

Why wait until Halloween to create your costume when you can do it now? If you love cosplay or just creating your own costume design, then this is an excellent idea for your Instagram Reel feed. Get your phone and a needle and start recording yourself making your costume. And since Reels are very short, you can get more views by making them into separate parts that span the whole project. By the end, your followers will be wowed by your sowing and creative talents.

Oddly Satisfying videos

Remember when everyone watched videos of various items getting cut through very, very slowly? Well, they still are. Oddly satisfying videos is anything that someone can watch and is given a pleasing feeling afterward. It can be cutting through butter or watching dirt being picked up from a vacuum. These popular videos are not only easy to make but can also give you quite the amount of views. If it sounds weird to you, just try it with your Reel feed once or make a series for it through multiple parts. You may find that you quite like it just as much as others.

Dancing videos

Instagram can't have a feature like Reels without having dancing videos found throughout the explores page. Popular, simple, or complex dance choreographies have been arguably the most popular type of content for these short-form video formats like what we see on TikTok. And there are so many dance routines trending on both platforms that you can grab your friends and attempt one or multiple choreographies. Whether your good at dancing or not, the point of these videos is just to have fun with your friends while putting your own spin to the dance.

Conclusion

These are only some ideas that you can post for your Reels feed. If you've ever thought that Reels was just another TikTok, then after adding it to your Instagram experience, you will quickly see that it is quite different in what people want to see and how they interact with the video content posted. If you still want more ideas on what to post on Instagram, Social Media Calendar has resources to get you to post on social media regularly. My advice is if you haven't already, hop on the bandwagon and start making new content right now.

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