Yeah, that's got that right with that
Hello! hello! I believe that we are live. I believe that it is working.
I sure hope so, Claire is it working give me a way.
If if we've got I can See people coming in awesome Hello!
Welcome to Monday lunchtime workshop It's really nice of you to come and join me here.
It's a bit busier than we expected so we will be doing kind of a first conversive. if you're here. then you're in, and you're gonna be able to watch it and to everyone who's watching this later
on the replay I apologize that you didn't maybe get into what you're all live you'll be able to ask me questions afterwards.
You can, Dma, on Instagram or tweet me and we can have a chat there, so you've not missed anything.
We're gonna make this work. we're gonna be talking about my favorite subject, Instagram, and possibly your least favorite subject, real. judging from the messages I get from you all judging from the number of sign-ups to this
webinar. I get the feeling that reels is checking for some of us, so I wanted to talk to you about that, and about the conversations I've been having with lots of my clients lately.
I've been doing a lot of instagram one to ones.
I've been doing some one-to-one coaching and what I've found in the conversations i've been having with people is when we're blocked on reels a lot of the time it's as much a
mental book, as it is a practical block and sometimes it's. just about reframing it, looking at it from a different point of view, and giving yourselves permission to do it in a slightly different way.
So we're gonna look at what that different way could be today. And hopefully, my my hope is you're gonna leave this feeling a big sense of relief like shoulders dropped breath out and feeling ready to go and just go and make
your bills. So this isn't one of those webinars where I'm gonna like try and sell you you know when you're like.
I'm not gonna Tell you the secret because the secret is 2599. it's not that we're just getting to talk about it.
I'm gonna tell you what to do I have some notes that I'm just gonna check in on them mentioned on the screen.
We had a technical hiccup but I just want to make sure. I'm mentioning everything. So if you would like close captions, you should be able to access those at the bottom of your screen that also generated so we'll see how
good they are. but hopefully they're helpful if you want to ask a question at any point you can do so in the Q.
A box at the bottom or in the chat box, I will be able to see that no one else should be able to see it.
So you can tell me whatever you want to tell me. tell me your dark secret, since all good and I I would love to hear from you as we go through, like, If things are resonating.
If things are raising up questions in your heads, just drop minutes.
We go along, and hopefully, we'll have some time at the end where I can answer your questions, and maybe get specific like some of you can tell me what's going on with your account.
What you post about what you want to see and we can play with that.
So let's get started so first of all we should talk about why reels?
Why, this even masses maybe you're already. clear on this but for anyone who's not instagram a little bit obsessed with the short short form video content right Now I feel like they've just got a massive region.
Crush on tiktok and they're just like that friend that always wants to be exactly like their new boyfriend, and the silver sudden they're wearing plaid and listening to the same music so that's
instagram's ticket. Oh, crush and because of that they've really become the main method for discovery right now on Instagram.
So if you want new people to find you, if you want to grow your account, if you want more followers, then reels is really pretty much right.
Now your main tool to get that is possible. with Other things like carousels and grid posts.
They're still being seen, but not nearly as much as reals and part of that is just because reels is the least over saturated part of the app.
So it's still the least used per number of overall members, and I think the numbers here will kind of speak to that, too, that a lot of us are not using reels as much as We may be we're.
Using Instagram prior to them being introduced or as we use other parts of the app which just tell you again like there's more chance to be discovered there, cause you're a bigger fish in a small apartment.
So it's the best way to be seen by new people. it's also the best way to be seen by your existing followers.
The people who used to see all your posts maybe that's gone down since we were introduced. And this is why?
Because Instagram is pushing out reels onto everybody's explore page.
Everybody's home feed. they've recently announced that they're going to be putting suggested reels onto everybody's home feed.
So home feed that's the place where you normally would only see account.
You follow increasingly, is going to be full of suggestions.
Kind of like before you page on tick-tock if you know that which is maybe frustrating for his users, but as creators as people who want to be discovered is actually quite valuable.
Because it's a way to be seen so if you're making reels.
They're going to be popping up on people's pages, and they might connect with you that way.
So. Yes, still post the other types of posts the fact that i'm doing a workshop, and reels does not mean i'm telling you not to do stories, not to do carousels not to do good posts they are still
super important, even if they're not going to be your main method of new people.
Right now, and that can still change again. But even if that's the case.
So many of us. If you think about what you do when you find someone on a real, that you connect with the next logical step as you go to the profile, and you look at what's on their grid, and you get that deeper sense
of who they are, and build a connection and that's normally when you decide.
I'm gonna follow them, or i'm not so we still need that content.
And it is still being rolled out is still being seen increasingly. so actually given the backlash to the announcement about the reels going on to people's profile pages.
So let's talk about the problem maybe you're already very familiar with it.
Maybe some of this doesn't match up with you so let's see if you're in the right place for this.
The problem is for most people. I talk to most of my people as I kind of think of you guys.
All of this is just a step too far out of our comfort zone.
In fact, whenever I do my inst to retreat class, which is like my big Instagram class, there are always a number of people, and it's usually women in that class who even just putting a picture on the Internet is them stepping out
of that comfort zone, even just being seen in your own profile.
Picture is like that's me already doing something that feels huge or like having my hands in shot, or we all kind of bring our own story in our own difficulties to this act of being seen on a platform that's full of billions
of people. So if it feels like video is a step too far like there's not something wrong with you.
It's actually a really common problem, and it doesn't mean that you can't still use it scrum. It doesn't mean that you don't belong if you love making rehearsals by the way, if you're like this is
my dream video is my thing Then amazing don't stop Don't change anything.
You probably don't need to be here but like good for you I'm.
I know some people who have just lent into it. and it feels really natural, and that's always the way with these mediums, like just different ones suit different people.
But if you're on the struggle side maybe it's, some of these things, they're really time consuming to shoot and edit, especially when you're comparing them to photography maybe you hate talking to the camera, or
you're just someone who's happier behind it maybe you're just not sure what you want to say or do.
And you kind of kind of fumbling your words maybe you find it's got really steep learning curve the editing the music.
The text all seems to require a big new skill. set that you just don't have time for maybe you feel like the popular content styles the stuff you're seeing just doesn't align with what you want to make and do maybe you find
it noisy and overstimulating that's definitely Me like this is not relaxing for me to scroll reels, however much I might get drawn in.
It's not the same experience on a sensory level as scrolling images.
Maybe you've got no idea what to say all your ideas feel too big. You don't. it's just not what you wanna be making, or it's not what your audience want to see from you i'm hearing that a
lot. Lots of people are saying like their audience are like this isn't what we want and like we want what you were doing before.
Where's that? this is kind of the interesting thing your brain is doing for most of us?
And i'm i'm curious if this fits or not for you, so you can tell me in the chat box.
But most of us, when we think about reels, we think about these 2 categories of content.
We either think that we have to educate. so we give tips or advice, or how twos some sort of information, maybe.
Speaking to the camera like anna's doing a beautiful job of here, or we feel like we have to entertain.
So So our brain goes to the dancing and the comedy or like the reactions or those amazing inspirational videos where it's like someone's an incredible 11 stars.
Or and they're like floating in a higher balloon over the ocean, and it's like I don't have that.
I can't do that. so all of our ideas immediately go in this direction, and that great ideas like they are good things to do.
I personally really love this kind of content. like I will watch it especially on the educational side.
It's. not that these are the wrong things to do it's that they're not really a helpful place to start, and it ignores all the other types of content that we could be making that we used to Maybe be making
before the packaging changed. So when it was just photos we gave us ourselves permission to create a whole range of things.
But now it's. videos we've kind of gone I have to do these 2 things, and we've forgotten about the other brackets of content.
If you're in the instrument tree I know lots of you there i'm seeing you in the chat you're used to thinking about these these these different categories of content that we can group it into and how
there's so many more than just these 2 so what I want to talk about today is giving us our permission to just think a lot smaller, not something, I think I would normally say.
But when I say things smaller, I mean think about the smaller moments in your day, those smaller touch points that you used to maybe feel comfortable sharing in photographs.
So morning coffee you making you get to do list the book you're reading when you candle your new favorite shoes the food you're eating.
What the kids are doing, walking the dog you know the kind of things like all of my examples, are very domestic, and that won't look like everybody's life.
But those small, incidental, but really significant, really connecting parts of our day.
That is what instagram for us in this community that we have has always been about It's about Look there's someone in Japan.
But we're both having over the coffee today. look there's you know, my friend, who lives in another city.
We've never met, but I know her so well, and I know she never wears matching socks, and I can see in the picture those kind of incidental under the radar.
But really really important and human moments of connection. The thing is, people love this content.
Instagram was built on this content. This was has been what Instagram was about for its first 5, 6 years completely.
There was no dancing. there was no education. it was this.
It was a photography platform, and the bulk of its users are still here for this.
So if you had an audience of any size before that loved or engaged with this kind of content from you, then they've not disappeared.
They've not gone anywhere they're still there in the app they're still scrolling, and this they are equally frustrated that they're not seeing this kind of content anymore that they're not seeing it from you
So the people are there. They are looking for it you're there you're looking to create content.
So kind of logical to me that we just make reels with this kind of bracket of content in mind
And I say to you, this is super, simple, super, super, simple.
This is not me giving you like a tech hat or like magic app.
This is me telling you to zoom way way way out, and just start with what is so simple.
So take the photo you would have taken before. frame it up if you would have styled something.
If you would arrange something if you would like, shug the mess out the way, do all of that, and then I would still take the photo.
But then switch over on your phone to video and take a video.
So what we're looking for is a tiny tiny bit of natural movement, so it can be like the wind blowing.
It can be you picking something up, putting something down. It can be turning a page.
It can be you. If you want to use text, handwrite it and film yourself writing it or typing it.
Film the screen animals, children, flowers, anything in nature clouds blowing leaves blowing doesn't even have to be as complex as something like this.
It's got multiple elements you want to stay still and let things move around you and just film that from one place, and that that I just showed you that's the whole real.
They're a bit shorter in here I had to shorten the videos because of the length of the presentation.
But you can imagine that slightly slower I spread it up 3 to 15 s.
That's all you need and that's the real and Then you can put whatever you want over that in terms of you could give me an inspirational message.
You could say, Hey, hope your Monday is going Well, this is my fourth cup of coffee.
Record yourself saying that. put that over it. You could put text on the screen.
You could put a caption. You can do whatever you want with it that gets rolled out as a real not a photograph, even though it's exactly the same thing I did take this photograph, And then I went.
Oh, yeah, Shit reals exist and did it as a video.
So some suggestions here, if you are a product based business showers your products in use.
Not only that I don't want to see like wall to all every post's, products.
Make them the whole thing again inst to retreat as you're you know what I'm talking about. Make the whole thing overall like a magazine experience for your customers, and every few posts.
It's one of your products in use as kind of real life as you can make it.
You can choose as you making things show as the mess There was the packaging. but don't feel like you have to do a whole story.
You know those reels, where it's like someone's got something, and then they're wrapping it, and then they go to the post box, and then they're sending it.
And those are awesome. but you could just show us you like steaming it.
If it's a gum and in my head i'm picturing addresses, and they done whole real
I have some examples, and I just went through my camera role for examples.
I wanted to shoot some for you but it's been such a busy weekend, so I was like i'm just gonna just go with what I've got.
So I'm stood still. The snow is falling this actually is digitally created, and i'm going to tell you how I did that.
So it was a photograph, and I added the snow and now it's a real
These ones just want a moment to load. This is why we had to trim them.
But these are just examples again. you can kind of see hopefully they're working.
They're all framed exactly is the way I would frame my photograph. So if you've spent time investing in your photography skills or building up that skill set it's not wasted and it's not lost it is
still the most important tool you can bring to your Instagram in terms of click appeal.
So people decide what they're gonna click on people's attention is snagged or not snacked based on very learnable metrics that are things like how things are framed, How much negative space So for example, on this one with
the flower. This is your negative space how much of that's going on around it.
The colors. themes the the framing the topics if you've got, for example, this duck on its own would not have as much click appear without the flowers that makes it much more clickable it's gonna hold on to
people's attention and that's what it's all about with reels.
The reason, Instagram is So in love with them is you're gonna watch a video longer than you're gonna stare at a photograph.
So, for example, let's go with the washing you can imagine if that's like 10 s of that.
You're gonna watch it for far long and Then you would you glance at first graph, and then you move on, and all they want is to see that growth.
They want to show their shareholders. People are spending more and more time in the app.
So so video allows them to do that. this one was just slowmo on my phone.
Now it's a real I wanted to say as well but because of this transition to video, and because they're trying to capture our attention in a different way.
It's kind of a very like a very automatic way that we engage with video.
It ends up being a lot more passive as well so if you're noticing.
People are not commenting as much or people are not even liking as much. that's long been a problem with video.
You can post something as a photographing and post near the video.
The video will never get as many likes it will never get as many comments. And that's usually just because we're in that passive brain space with video.
It's like something that's shown to us rather than something that we have to come out of ourselves to engage with. And so we don't have that same trigger response to go right I want Now, i'm gonna comment Now, i'm gonna
tell you what I thought about this, and there are things you can do, and if we have time we can talk about them things you can do to invite people to go beyond that, so that people will leave you a comment, or people will kind of engage with it
a little bit more but instagram's main metric that they're tracking is is just this is how long you're looking is How long the that you're you're spending on the page.
And looking at the video. So some tips for making these very simple, but it, there are some ways to make it work for you.
The biggest thing is stabilization. So what I mean by that is, you probably could see in some of my examples.
If you're wobbly it doesn't work so well, because you've got kind of kind of conflicting like contradictory movement going on, and so you wanna be as still as absolutely possible i'm a
very popular person like my heart rate's always really high i'm always a bit shaking so I struggle with this, and things that I find really helpful is, if you can lean as much of your body against something so like
against a tree against the ground that really helps or if you're using your phone.
Put it in something an empty water glass because it's clear it doesn't distort and you can just use that it's like a perfect man.
You can send it in a shoe I do that a lot You've got some like blue tack sticky tech wedge it. in.
Stick it to a wall. I always have a packet of that in my bag.
Or you can buy slightly more professional mounts and tripods.
Newer phones are put coming out with much better video stabilization built in so that you you don't need to be a still.
And there are apps that will do it for you. I use one sometimes called a mold CEO 3.
The absolute gold standard is something called a gimbal.
And if you guys are familiar with those you hold it it's kind of like a selfie stick, but it holds your phone on like a gyroscope.
And yeah, it makes it always beautifully smooth and and level and amazing.
They're a bit of an investment about 8 secret, I think they start from. So if you get really into this, you might want to think about that.
So stable as possible. Then you might want to capture the sound Don't assume that just cause you're gonna put music over.
You don't want both sometimes like bird song over music can be really lovely.
You might think about putting voice over like we said so a real It's just the waves breaking for like 20 s on its own.
That might not be very compelling to watch the whole 20 s.
But if you're like, hey, this is your reminder to take a breath, imagine you're stood here just clear your head.
And now go on with your day, or something like that. Your voice over that makes it more of an interactive thing.
We know that music massively helps with discovery and it also really helps with that kind of emotional connection which is what we're looking to make.
I did mean to say on the previous slide, I think I teach a lot. it's in my book.
It's in the instrument it's this idea of moments instead of things.
So you can see for all of these it's like something's happening.
It's like a frame from a story it's like you're with me rather than it just being a thing the example I use in my book is you bought a mug you could just put the mug on the side and take
a picture and go new mug, or you can put them mug in something like this, you know.
Put the tea in. it put it on a table think i'm in my nicy here like tell a little bit of a story.
You can see That's not very stable as well That would you and that is where we get the emotional connection.
That's what makes it really sticky that makes people know you kind of trust you.
But also, you know, want to stick around and want to experience it because it's a little kind of vicarious tiny, tiny adventure. So can, when you capturing be on the lookout for natural movement what I find and what i'm seeing in my
clients is once you turn this a bit of your brain on you can't stop, and you're always just looking around you like that vine is blowing.
I need to take a picture That castle is steaming.
I need to do a video so engaged with that like enjoy.
It is a really fun, creative challenge, and you can make some really beautiful but many moments for yourself.
With them. Stay still, resist the urge, Japan that's what we all do.
We pick up our phones and we're like oh I need to pan on these flowers?
I need to Pan, and it usually doesn't look that great we're not happy with it.
Stay still less stuff move, for you always take a photo first to check your framing, and then you can use that for your thumbnail.
So it's on your grid and It all looks lovely Play around with your phone settings.
It should come with them as default, time, lapse, and slow motion, so you could leave your phone.
The one I tried to get every spring, and I still never can get.
It is. I want to leave my phone stood in a glass of water, or whatever without the water, and buy some daffodils and just watch them open, you know, when they just open over the course of an afternoon in the sun.
That is an amazing real. I want that. but my deafodes whenever I do it they don't open.
They just stay close. No, they know what i'm filming them. So play with those things, and always film a bit more than what you think.
You need. So if you've going for 10 s do like 30 s, you can choose the best time.
Some notes on editing. I always start by applying exact same corrections and edits that I would to a photograph.
I want it to be as photo perfect, even though it's a video, and that even for me, that's that's probably the hardest thing like the learning curve, because I take so many photos to get the one I want and with
video. I don't take as many but things like for me. I always like my lines. You see how this is perfectly horizontal, and these are perfectly vertical.
That works really well on Instagram, because you're looking at things within a grid.
You're looking at within even just the square right throughctangular frame of your phone.
And that you can fix that in post production. But anytime you fix things like that in post production on video, you lose quality.
So the better you can get it when you shoot it the better, and then fix it as you need to.
My favorite app for doing that for photos. for videos is called Viscos.
Maybe it's called V. se I don't know and It it's the exact same tools with photography and video which I really love as well, and it's where I use all my filters and build my own
filters and everything else. You can play around with speed. You can do that in all these apps as well.
So you can make it faster or slow, or obviously, but you can make it just a little bit faster, or just a little bit slower, and it just changes the mood.
Also changes the duration of the clip. So play around with that.
Just have fun with it, and then yeah use your corresponding closely for the cover image. and if you want to, you can add text first.
So it's maybe one over series you're gonna go go to the beach every day for a week, and film the waves.
So this is day 2 of 7. You could write that on the thumbnail for us if you wanted to, with something like that.
And then very easily. just add that to your real when you upload it in Instagram.
Some additional tips just for reels in general make things into series.
This is a big one. i'm recommending to people at the moment, because as soon as something is part 2 of 10 or whatever we're like, Well, now, I need to know what happens next. so don't be afraid to tell an
unfinished story, especially when we're doing these tiny tiny moments, you know, if you're I spoke to sleep with a painter like a fine art painter, and so her work is so detailed that in a day she might only do like a few
square inches, or she might just do like one color over a big area, but it's not a big dramatic change, and so she was like, I have to wait.
It'll take you weeks to finish and then I can make a real out of everything. I've filmed.
Don't do that to yourself like I think there's really interesting.
We have that tendency because it's like a combination of perfectionism, but also possibly like procrastination, because we're like, Oh, I can't do anything until everything is done perfect you can tell the story right Now, of what
It looks like to do a whole day work. of painting and only have that much to show for it, and tell us that that is part one of a 1 million, or like, you know, just part 7.
You don't know how many there's gonna be when you show is that you can only it only needs to be so short.
Then right, because it's not a big long complicated story we need loads of angles.
It can just be one slightly moving clip, and then we want to follow you.
We want to continue to engage with you. I want to find out how it finishes.
I'm really invested in seeing and those are the things where you go into the app, and you're like, hey?
I've not seen there's a guy on tiktok who's trying to train his seagull to come in his window and be his pet, and every day time I go and taste like I wanna know how he's
doing this sequel? Do I type him in and go and find him?
Those are the things that make us come back so series don't be afraid to tell an incomplete story and make that selling point.
Get into the habit of saving music if you're someone who watches reels, and you hear some music that you think of.
That's kind of the thing I would use it's the kind of music I wouldn't mind using you can save that to a library within Instagram, so it's there when you want to make one sorry sorry
instagram i've just recently. for me anyway. it's been rolling out for a while. but they're introducing templates for reels, and that is exactly what you want it to be it's this clip should be 3 s this
clip should be 2 s. Then you need a 4 s clip, and it fits it with the music.
So it transitions really nicely with the recorded music that goes with it.
So if you want to play around with more clips, putting things together, templates are really easy way to do it.
We spoke a little bit about expectations for engagement comments are gonna be less, and that's okay and there's things that you can play around with the try and build that up.
But also what we see with reels is the success of one does not determine the success of the rest.
You might have one real but practically nobody sees because the scum just doesn't pick up on it it doesn't roll it out The next.
Really you post could be the one that goes Mega Viral, and gets like hundreds of thousands of views.
They might even be quite similar. There is ryan reason to it and a lot of it is to do with the framing and the context and the subject, and you'll get to know that as you play around with it.
But don't be disheartened if you have 10 in a row that do nothing.
Just keep that it because you will be surprised by the thing that works.
And in the meantime you're really serving the people who do find your content because it's what they're looking for.
Be sure to invite comments in your settings within the Instagram menu.
There is an option to turn on higher quality video for real uploads.
If you're uploading over broadband some of you this will already be automatically turned on some of you won't so do check because otherwise it will upload your videos in a lower quality form, and you lose some of the magic and the beauty
that way. if you add a real that you've posted to your stories via the little plane icon underneath the real.
It will also play in your story. So anyone who views your story will count as a view towards your real, and that works even if you put the real, and then you shrink it down.
Really small, and you hide it behind a sticker for like or you know, a little gift of something, and turn off the sound.
People won't even know that they're watching you real but it counts as your views do, with that information what you want and hashtags don't make a huge difference to discovery for reals because they're reading the
data now so sophisticatedly, Instagram would know.
Did this video had candles, and that it was winter and that it was interiors, and that it was probably snowing.
I don't know if it pick up on the snow because it's very special, but it would know so much about it without me having to put a single hashtag on it, and if I write text it can read that text so correct caption it's reading
the caption hashtag is a kind of a little bit less necessary now, but they won't hurt you.
So if you want to play with them, by all means do some resources that I think you might find helpful.
These are my favorite apps. Splice is a video editing app.
It pretty much does what the Instagram reels, Editing or Tiktok editing interface does.
My problem with Instagram is, is the unpredictability of it.
How many of you have edited something to a really high level complex level, And then it's crashed, and you've just lost everything.
I don't like that. so I use place. Cisco is where I do all my fixing and editing lumia my screen on loomia.
Very good. Did I get that step? loomia is come on a little bit of my thing.
Okay is for this: If you want to repurpose photos you've already taken.
So some of you will be thinking, Okay, but i've shot loads of content for my grid. and I want to use some of that few things you can do.
Photo slide shows. so in an app like in shot or Let's see. the one I use for this spice will do actually in template.
Will do it. You can hop in there and piece together a series of photos into literally just a slide show.
Instagram are funny about them, so what if my one of my friends on Instagram. Notice that if you try and monetize them.
So if you that's not available to all of us there it's not huge consideration.
But if you try monetize them, instagram we'll give you a message to say this isn't a real, it's got too many static images and not enough of a percentage of video actual moving video for them to consider
it a true, real, and right now it doesn't seem to be any repercussions from that. These photo slide shows can still do really well, but it's worth thinking about what that might mean to them, and what that might mean about kind of
how they treat this kind of content as the saturday app becomes busy or more popular.
Maybe that's just a bit of crystal ball gazing to do with that.
What you will. What works really well is multiple shots of one thing to say. You have a product, and you want to take photos taking places from different angles, taking photos.
It's like showing the texture showing movement that can work really well can be a combination of photos and video piecing them together.
Problem with photos is, it can be harder to keep that stickiness that Instagram wants.
So if it's 15 s of photos you might lose me faster than if it was a video, So you want to really be careful about the themes and the story, and think about that as you're putting it together.
Like, What are you doing to keep it compelling and keep someone looking
The other way around it, and this is my preferred way is to just add some motion with an app like gloomier.
So this steam is an animation that's pasted over the top and that's a photograph that i'd taken.
There are lots of different things you can do. leaves falling.
You can do Sunlight kind of going across the room all sorts of quite natural things you can do.
My favorite 2 apps for alumia and motion leap they're both. I think we're quite a subscription to get the really good stuff.
But it's something fun to play with I have a tutorial. on doing this it's on my Youtube channel.
Some of the app recommendations have changed in it now it's a little bit outdated in that sense.
But it, it explains the 2 ways to do these the other cinema graph way of working is very time consuming really fun, but very time consuming.
So I don't recommend that for this But there are the apps that you can use that will kind of let you cheat these the main ones that are around at the moment.
That kind of, for example, You could draw some lines on these trees that would make the the trees look like they were blown in the wind and kind of animate them.
It's very clever okay, so lumiia That's why I recommend lumia and emotionally all of the apps from this company they're called light bite. box.
Possibly something like that. They have some really good photography and video apps to play around with. And these are ones that can add movement.
And we're gonna send this out with Links to these things with you for you afterwards.
So gorilla tripods if you've seen those there tripods.
You can just wedge your phone and they've got 3 bendy legs that will like wrap around a tree branch or around banister, or whatever gimbals i'll send you some recommendations you want to make sure if
you're looking at tripods or gimbals It can hold your phone portrait.
Lots of them are built for landscape that's no good for reels. You've got to shoot portrait something, Berkeley.
My friends don't think she is an amazing photographer and video girlfriend.
She teaches classes on video. if anyone wants to go deeper and we also cover it.
Of course, in the instrumentary, and lots of that framing lots of thinking about how you make people pay attention, and also kind of building up that idea of these are my content categories.
These are the things that easy and natural for me to talk about that people want to hear from me, and feeling okay about not doing everything for everyone.
And i'll send you my cinema ref tutorial as well.
But his little example is gonna load you can see this is big enough.
You might be able to see there's a wire It's not real bus flight. it's like a toy from Japan.
That's a real right that's a whole wheel and I can put whatever I want over there, and what else do I make slides with my zoom Thing is covering up my slide navigation Come, on Let me go Let me.
Go for it
And to a treat little I did a wipe at these Inc.
And i'm always too like ashamed. to to promote my own products. His instrumental all I will say is, we're enrolling starting in a week.
So if you did want to go and you do on Instagram, if that's you, I think you'll know if it's you.
I'm not gonna sell you on it we are giving away This is the first time I've done these pre made content calendars.
So for 4 or 5 different industries like coaches. photographers service based businesses, product-based businesses.
I've gone through a month, and said this is what you should be posting on this day, and given you exactly what to do.
They're very current i've just finished updating them So this is literally like what you post now with Instagram.
The way it is right now if that's something you're interested in.
We're giving them away. you've got to join me for Wednesday.
Otherwise you don't get him and that's it come and find me elsewhere.
So if you've got questions, that we don't get through today. I'm gonna take them from the Q and a box and the chat box in a second.
But you can always Dm. on Instagram or tweet me.
I hang out in these places too much I don't have a life, and if you don't know already, I still I just sub-stack is my prediction for the next big place to be it's an email slash
blogging platform confine me and Then you'll get a sense of what it's about.
I write about my French house renovations. but I also write about social media and the Internet and whatever else going on in my head, coaching dresses that stuff.
And if you want to email me about anything as well, this is our email address here.
And also I have a podcast You should know that though. right Okay, let's have a look at the questions go from the top.
Get it. I need to talk to you. We need to catch up.
Is there a real post-carriage ratio that seems to be more successful?
Or should we focus on quality over how often we're posting really good question.
Yes, always focus on quality over quantity because that is that's the way you can maximize discovery.
It's getting as much engagement as you can per piece of content.
But I would say like as a starting point especially if you're feeling like overwhelmed.
If you've got other things you've got to do one real a week is a quite a realistic target, and then one or 2 good posts a week to back that up if you can do more I would put more energy into reels
but at least be showing up like a couple of times a week in both places one or 2 times a week in both places.
It's just gonna mean you have those points of contact with people. If you're trying to grow your account does that momentum.
Better to do only one a week, but be consistent, and be able to do every week.
Then do 5, and then none. And then does that make sense like we want to try and build that that consistency?
Tiffany, How do you replicate the aesthetic and video to match your static?
Feed viscous Bs: Yeah. and I look lovely.
Thank you. I put I put makeupon you guys. Yeah.
So light room. Yeah, this is checky if you're used to using one kind of filter in something like light room.
It can be hard to find them out. There are other apps that do it for sure.
I feel like with one of the adobe ones that adobe video one.
I think you should be able to use or at least replicate, similar filters.
Some of you guys might know that better they don't hold them filters, do they?
In light room. but you know what I mean. but Visco is is my preference.
You can also build your own filters, then presets there.
So if you know what you do to build the light room preset, if you can look at the values of the lightroom preset, go in and say, okay, like It's these colors have gotten this way.
And the exposure done this and you can replicate that in theisco manually and create it that way, Rose, said I'm, a writer and post inspirational pieces to heal the heart, and live with chronic
illness. Same I 5. I have a small account, but high engagement until reals took over. So how do I make bills with the easiest thing for me to do?
Is, take photos, usually of flowers. trouble is i'm becoming lost in the shuffle.
A flower garden person over a writer also reels.
Take more energy than I can offer. So this is how 100% where I'm coming from Rose.
The energy issue. I have a product illness, too, and my fatigue is is tremendous.
I get about 4 h a day where i'm not having to actively be in bed and rest.
So I completely relate, and that is why this is the way literally I'm holding my phone 10 s.
My job is done, I can go and edit it in bed and get it up and do everything else.
While resting I would go with with the flowers if It's flowers in your home show was you like arranging them on a table show is you putting them in a vase show as you putting a vars with flowers in it down that's
3 separate reels by the way that's not one right and then repeat, like you could just do every if you change your flowers in your house every Monday, every Monday.
Do a real of you putting the Vars down on the same shelves with different flowers, and we're like, Oh, I wonder what flowers are just got this week? i'm gonna have a look and then, in terms of the writing
and the referencing about critical incident if you also write about that. I would read some of your stuff out over the top of those videos literally just a sentence like I don't know I didn't know what you' but like
you know. I realized that it was fine to be kind to myself well, I was go down.
That's the whole real. and then you can say it read the whole piece at the little.
Is that my profile linking profile? yeah if you can record audio?
It is worth getting nice quality audio you don't have to do that thing that the kids do where they hold their headphones here.
You don't have to do that. you can just use your headphones, and it will pick up nice audio, and then you can edit it into the real I forget the name of it.
But the splice will let you add during audio before you upload it.
Louisa, she's got ideas flying around? her head Karen says, can you just explain the practical side of taking a video when you set the Count Say, set the camera down?
And what pass? How would you do that without being seen? Oh, you just trim it afterwards, Karen.
So I would put the camera that's something in the shoe because i'm profession cameras and my shoe on the floor.
And then I press record, and then I go and set myself up, and I walk past, and then I come back and pressed up.
And then I take that video. So if you're on an iphone.
You can do it literally, just in the photo stream i'm pretty sure you can do on most phones.
Show you lane. I stop sharing my screen
Yeah, you can literally just cut the start and the finish off of the video.
And then I can find a video to show you You just you just trim it, and it will be a much a shortest video.
So then you just show the bit where you start walking, and it looks completely natural.
Feel like this. This should be an obvious one. But aside from making, how would I do many videos of jury?
So I would do things like holding a cup of tain staring it.
And you've got these 4 rings on or like just took your hair behind your air, and you've got like nice airing zone.
I would maybe be like put them in a jury box, or playing with an F class, or like natural.
Yeah, really not, or you could like in spring and pick some branches of blossom, and just like, hang them on.
And then just kind of let them, you know. Just swing a little bit in the light.
Things like that. I love your new home in France. Will you be running in person?
Retreats. Yes, frenzy. I really hope I will.
I want to do some pricing like do your thing retreats where we all get together, and we have solid hours a day, where we just work on things. So by the end of the week we've done it but first I have to make
it by legal cause. The electric and things are probably not safe.
What am I? thoughts on trending audios when we all have similar content? Yeah.
Hi crystal Yeah, I feel like it's not the answer Instagram think it is right just use trending sounds, and the problem with training sounds is, they only work.
If you're doing the thing the sound is known for so let's say it's like a dance.
You can't just put that on over a video if you eat in a cake and expect the same response.
So Yeah, I i'm with you is the risk that we're gonna have similar content.
What you can do is put the trending sound on.
Turn the volume right down, and have the natural volume of your clip.
Say it was the C. a lot louder and then technically you're gonna get the discovery without having to use it.
I think if it's a choice between compromising the whole tone of what you're putting up there, or you you know, using something that's really cool.
But just doesn't belong. I would always stick with the tone and equality, because it's the authenticity is always going to win out right.
How important is it to share the read to your fee real to your feed?
Do we get to assess with deserving the grid aesthetics?
If you're taking photos to match then it shouldn't matter? because you can always put a photo in
Do we lose enough clicks or views for it to matter yeah It's a really good question.
I haven't got a lot of data on that personally I have to say like for my clients.
Most of them are just putting them on their grid what I would say, is your discovery, and your grid is gonna only really work while it's in the top 9.
So the most 9 recent posts. So even if you just kept it there and then got rid of it after it gone down the feed if you wanted to.
People are still judging, based on that grid so I think a a thought to the aesthetics is important.
But you want to encourage that transition between reels and grid especially if you're doing this kind of content.
We're talking about today, where it's not so jarring because what a lot of people do is they're like.
I'm a good person or i'm a real person and they don't go in between so my thought is if you're doing content on reels, it will genuinely appeal to the people who like your grid
you want it on your grid, so that they were invited over sha wheels to your stories, or too great.
So both, I would say you, said Record voiceover separately.
Why is this? and what would you use please separately because it's easier, Because if you're trying to say the right things at the same time as video, you're making it so much more difficult just get into bed, and record some voice over
when this quiet and everyone stopped shouting, and yeah, I just why I would use this.
This is my mic that I use for everything. But you can just use your headphones.
They come with a decent mic in them. How do you build your infiltrated Andisco.
I don't know I did mine ages ago. i'll find a help, Page, and send it out.
What does autoplane series mean? So it means that when someone goes into your story it starts playing the the real straightway.
Give it. Take time to go through and move ghost followers.
No, I don't it's just doesn't seem like a worthwhile use of my time.
I know I must have hundreds, but also how do you know?
Because I know that a lot of people like thousands, probably millions of people, use Instagram very passively, and never post anything but look and and are watching.
And actually one of the most important metrics. you can get is views and eyes on your content, especially now.
So I don't want to tell people they can't follow me just because they don't feel like they're able to come in.
Also it doesn't look good. It looks a bit spammy to Instagram.
Does the time you post the real matter as much as it does the static images.
It can matter. It matters in the sense that you want to maximize engagement within the first hour, or so to give Instagram the message that this is interesting, content. to Send it out to more people. So if there's a certain time where
you know your core people are online let's say you're a mum vlogger like you wouldn't want to post your content at 9 Am.
And if one's dropping off the kids at school because then they're not going to engage, although a followers might be online.
But if They're not the ones that engage with you most you want to capitalize on that, but in theory it shouldn't matter, because Instagram's whole reason for disrupting our home feeds is so that they can show
you content from all through the day. But I have thoughts on that.
I used to use. Id Tv quite lots to talk to camera is real to replacement.
Or should I do? I have another option. Yes, Reels is probably the best option.
They are going to be bringing out longer. video for it they've said, It's obviously Yeah, I agree it's not ideal. seen this.
They pushed us all to do. ig Tv and now they don't want us to
But reals is probably the best place in terms of discovery for that.
Otherwise I would maybe do it on Youtube and link to it.
It's always good to diversify people you don't know what you're making more basket, even if it's an Instagram basket. pamera, says if you remember the institute Yes, you will
get the content calendars we're gonna send them out to everybody on email.
So don't worry you'll get them yes, available to previous numbers, and you'll ask me that I should have said, sorry.
How can I talk about my podcast on instagram when the recording of it?
Isn't very exciting for videos photo well it doesn't need to be exciting first of all like it could just be
You'll podcast that up from above and a cup of coffee, and you pick up a cup of coffee, for, like you scribble on some notes like it.
You can make anything beautiful. you can make anything engaging to look at.
You could also be listening to your podcast while doing something.
So the audio could be your podcast over a video of absolutely anything.
Putting flowers in the vials it's like sample for the day, or like walking the dog. But we can hear a little clip from the podcast so make that into an original sound.
I'm offering digital marketing services as the cost of mate. Now, see, we have a lot of digital boxes in the group.
We do, especially kind of freelance or independent people.
But if you want to talk about it more email, us admin at me and all the dot com at Uk.
Tell me about your business and i'll give you the truth but it won't you in? does not write for you I don't.
I'm not not about that I just want people who are gonna have a good experience.
I'm an igb to account my reels function was removed just as I was on the last push for my workshop.
Beck that sucks can you want to enroll from Beta.
Like. It depends which one you're in you might want to try reinstalling, deleting the app and all those things.
I think some of your question got cut off, though because you said if this happened, and then you've stopped so there might be more.
Oh, if it happens again, it's down here will a video post still get pushed, even if it's not a real I am no good question.
Some people what they have If that happens to you do you if you can still view other People's reels, you can go to one of those and at the bottom there's a thing that's like make your own real and you can still
make reels that way, so maybe play with that a text based real, effective, depends on your audience. totally depends who they are what they want.
What you're known for what you're saying with the text so they can be.
There is some nice apps out there that will do like animated, interesting texts for you.
But you want to be bringing your own original content to it.
So I would always hope my own imagery my own kind of recording like the things we've talked about today.
So that it's a connection with you and not just just some type face on the screen.
Would you recommending filming for reels on phone or Dslr?
I love Dslaj, and I think the difference really shows.
But I always recommend doing it with your phone because it's a little lower barrier right like we just want them to be easy, and we want to be able to do them repeatedly over and over when we're out and about like just
go. Oh, that'd be a nice real and take it and unless you're someone who does carry Dslr with you charged up and ready to go all the time, even if you are, though because even then you've got to get
it off your camera. You've got to get it into an editing app.
You better get into your phone to post just do it on your phone.
It's my honest opinion i'm an interior designer, but I find a lot of real and the sector so bor often say me, how can I send a part lovely to see you too.
Rebecca. a 1 million ways. Come on, stand apart in the same way that you send a part in your work.
Send apart by not doing all of the things that are say me and bore off and don't feel like you just have to go straight to like tips.
Oh, I don't know what is happening a lot in the interior designer, sector of reels.
I can kind of guess where most people's brains would go. So do something different, and don't feel like you have to be like talk as an interior designer. 100% of the time people are interested in your interior design because
it's you so then they're not buying like your paid choices.
They're buying the things that inspire you and the things that you notice, and the way that you live in a home and all of those things so show was that that's what we won't really anyway, So many questions, i'm gonna try
and get through as many as we can we've got like another 5 min.
And he says, loving this really inspired me i'm glad is there a way of using a live photo as a real?
Are you able to slow it or speed up? so you mean live photos from an iphone?
Yeah, they're not quite long enough of la which is really annoying.
I do think there is. You can play around with them and turn them into photos.
I guess you could make. It depends on the live. You could make it link bounce back and forth so that it could be infinite, you know, like a boomerang that could just keep going and going.
But it really depends. Louise has got to go. It was nice to see you, Louise Andrew. Hi!
Taking away all my barriers. Yeah, that's what we want, like I just want you to realize you already have all of the skills you already have the the I for it.
You already Have this end. You need it's just this this thought in our head that we've got that it has to be bigger than that.
Why do my reels get an avalanche of likes from spammy accounts on Instagram, probably to do with you, Instagram showing it, too.
It might well be outside of your control if you're using hashtags.
I would drop those and see if that stops it. But it might very well do feel like there was a slide.
I missed It's just come back to me as Well, i'm like to see if I can find it.
A very niche, 188,000 photos of interesting graves and memorials that tell a story, eg.
A Victorian policeman kill trying to stop a runaway horse or a murdered family.
So you can your wheels to make me realize it could do something with my chickens feeding or taking sandbus, etc.
Yes, also flowers waving in the wind lots more Yes, because the story is as important as the grades right like we're far following your accounts of stories. We're not following your account for grades.
So anything you do that gives a story in that same feeling is part of the big picture, for sure, for already in the retreat. Yes, you will get the planners.
How would you stabilize your fl, Your phone if doing a flat like good question?
Some people are very inventive, and they like do a stack of books, and then a plank, and then you hang your phone off the edge of the plague.
You've got a counterweight here just lean on it, or put it in a pain, and then it's perfectly stable.
My Dslr tripod does actually have an arm, and I can attached my phone to that.
Those are the 2 main ways 4 blue jackets in Zealand. I don't know how high up your ceiling is, and and do it that way.
Let's take it that way. made reels feel so much more accessible.
Yay, it can be so foot honestly like so fun.
And this the slide that I think I somehow missed, was just saying that what happens once you start seeing this as you see it everywhere, and then you can kind of collect them, and before long you can make a whole album.
I recommend you do make an album in your phone where you keep them all squirreled away, and then you can make longer ones if you want to.
You can be like autumn things and it's just all your little t tiny moments of movement from autumn.
It's a cup of tea and then it's a crackling fire, and then it's some leaves falling, and then it's like a deer in the woods and you didn't shoot them you didn't go out
to go right. i'm gonna make an autumn real and i've got to shoot all these things which would be overwhelming.
You just record this stuff when you saw it, maybe posted it, or as you saw it.
But then you can then make another big, real as well from it.
Really easily, just with these same apps. why are people engaging so much. it's why people so much more engaging in Tiktok.
I person gets snowballed different Audienceinstagram's audience didn't want reels.
I don't think any of us were asking for it and so if you want that kind of content.
You're already on tiktok right you already come there?
Why, why would you go to instagram to it's just not got the same energy, and I think Instagram, I didn't have to realize that, and have a rethink?
But they don't like to go back they like Oh, whatever that means. Do the apps you've recommended.
Allow you to choose the freeze frame shot that gets shown.
Instagram allows you to do that, so we'll give you a selection within.
Yes, they chase them now when you upload it, and you can choose it, but you can also then upload your own.
So what I would do if you want to make sure you choose.
A particular frame is just screenshot that frame, so it's like a photo in your camera roll, and then upload it.
How do you find the safe music? it's under saves like the book Market icon in your profile?
Dropdown same place that way. You find like posts you've saved from other people.
It's a album in there my engagement and stories is dropped.
Yeah, as I use reels, more is story still important stories.
Again. inst. it's territory but stories is never a discovery method.
You don't find new people from stories and we never have so it's only a way that you kind of nourish your existing community.
People are watching reels and set of stories for sure but I think it's still important if it's important to you, and if it's important to your users and if you've got stuff to say it's going
to be worth it, and people are going to engage they might take a while to build that back up, though, right like you've got to think about.
Okay, if my people are not looking at stories how do I let them know I'm still putting stuff on stories that they want to see, because once they build that habit, they'll keep coming back.
So maybe you make a real that's like this week in stories, and you just share like some of the things that were on your story so that they know they missed it is an option link for reels there's a
lot of different thoughts on this, it depends what the content is though right because if it's just me steering my tea, 5 s is probably plenty.
But if it's like me reaching the summer of everest, you might want 20 s 30 s of that.
So. it really depends. I would think of it more as like.
How long does it take me to tell this whole story and that's how long that real needs to be and it might be different, for every single thing still have quite an old phone the video quality isn't as good as on the new one does
it matter. I mean, no right cause it's what you've got, and if it's a choice between not quite as good video or no video, then obviously, the answer is, video do it use what You've got I kind.
Of miss my my older iphone. I really like something about the the photography of it was kind of like glomo.
I'm an author my next novelist published next year any creative ideas to make bookish reels that Aren't, too, like by my book.
Or first of all, make sure you were doing the ones that save by my book.
Don't forget those really really important and a lot of authors are like No, I can't tell people to buy my book.
I would think about the themes in your book and create content around that.
So let's say it's a book about a woman who buys a really crumbling house in France.
You could show like going to my customs. you could show tying a nice apron on you could show putting ribbon in your hair.
You could show chasing the bats out you could show sweeping within our broom.
This is very much like my aesthetic, but Those kind of things that kind of appeal to people who will like the book.
Don't think about what is my book think about who reads my book, and what did they like? and what can I show them from my life that they'll relate to
But I would also show them like this is the first draft, and this is the finished draft, or you know, like less sentence that's changed.
I would read out bits of the book I would just bring them in and like, show them all the good stuff.
How do you pull in your voice over sound from another video into a real?
You have to do it with another app i've only That's the only way I can find to do it.
Instagram doesn't like to let you do it so the one I use is splice.
But there are definitely others that will do as well if you Google.
It'll rest Some i've had 2 re reels removed you to the music used picked off instagram as they've been Dmca.
It's so frustrating it depends on what kind of account you have some of the time, and it's just. I think it's the library, and the usage rights and things are constantly changing so hopefully it won't be I think
it'll settle down when they get the hang of it i'm gonna just flip to the chat because I know there's lots of questions there as well I can start the button and we up i'm a print
maker what's a novel way of showing new work shows you doing it.
I want to see like the reveal when you pull off the the mask, or however you work.
I want to see your hands stayed with ink at the end of the day.
Take the print out, and go and stand with them in nice places so like you're holding one at the beach, and it's blowing a bit, and that's the whole real you holding it in forest and it's the
leaves are falling and that's the whole real you putting it down on the grass, and that's the whole real like I would take them out and make interesting little.
Maybe, that a related to the themes. you give me so much courage in the last couple of years to start my own business and start an Instagram and a subsequently i'm so glad that is my mission because it took you guys
giving me so much courage for me to do it and and it's changed my life.
So I want that for everyone. I find creating wheels, and Tiktok is often easy than an Instagram.
But I know the algorithm and instagram doesn't like imported reels.
It only doesn't like tiktok reels if you've got the tiktok wars mark otherwise it doesn't mind.
So you have to not save it with the watermark.
Does it only hit that one real or will. Instagram put me in time out? No, nothing like that.
It will just hit the one real if they read the waterbug on it, just because they don't want people to know that Tiktok exists.
I'm glad kat I know lots of you've got to go.
We've gone over time so sorry I will add some more questions, for sure you can.
Dm: May. what's the best quality to post I found that the high quality instagram eats call to Yeah.
There are numbers for that I don't i'm very bad at remembering numbers.
If you Google it there are people who've done the calculation of like this ratio to this and this many pixels, i'm sorry I can't answer up the top of my head.
But it's yeah, it doesn't stick i'm so glad, so many of you saying that this has been really helpful.
Why have I got that 5,000 plus lights and reels and then 200?
I'll go algorithms baby that's how it goes But you're not doing anything wrong, and it's the learning curve like the biggest thing I can tell anyone about social media.
Whatever platform is this skill of trial and improvement which is actually the only thing I remember from Gcse.
Maths, which is when you make a guess at what will work, and then you you check it, and if you see if it works or not, you look at the data, and then you make a better guess based on that, and then you make another, guess and you
still get me wrong a lot of the time. but gradually you get better and better at knowing what the answer is going to be.
You get closer and closer to the perfect answer and that's how it is with posting, anyway. It could be like, What do I want to write on my substack?
What do I want to post to my Instagram what tweets were people engaged with?
What what post do people want to read? The only way of finding out is to throw everything in the wall and see what sticks.
And then gradually you get a better idea of what you should throw.
So when you get 200 likes instead of 5,000 that's good news, because you're like okay, something about this didn't work.
What's different about this? How did I frame it differently what time did I post it?
What was the context? Blah blah blah blah.
Look at all that data. And then just just don't take it. Personally, it's information you can use it really helpfully. promoting an online mentoring program via reels. Yeah, I would do I think it could be fun to do
some like conversations, you know, like a text message, conversation like and show the kind of conversations that happen within the group, real or created after the fact.
I would think about what you offer in that mentoring space, like what people gain from it, and how their life might look different.
Is physically and tangibly once, they've had that support. So is it like, instead of beating themselves up over something they're not doing, they take time to like like a nice candle and do some journaling like show me the
candle in the journaling and say, Oh, guess how this used to look for me.
Okay, we are way over time, guys. This is so fun I hope it's been helpful like I said super Simple.
I know I before. I never sustained my amazing, My colleague, Claire, I was like.
Is this a thing like? Am I telling them anything? or this is just me, just telling them nothing.
You have all the skills to make video It doesn't have to be a little mini Tv show.
It can just be something in your life that moved and that moved you and that's what we want to see that's what people are desperate for.
This is how you deliver that to them to the people who took the time to follow you and engage in you previously.
And Yeah. delight them and delight yourself hopefully along the way.
So we will be sending a replay of this if you didn't catch it, or if you want to watch anything again, and i'll send that the slides as well yeah come and find me come and talk to me and if you're
interested in having a a while away from Instagram to kind of just reset, and come back with renewed goals and renewed excitement.
Then maybe the instrument is for you. You can Google.
It. You can read lots of reviews and make your mind up.