How to Go Viral on Instagram Reels In 2023 (with Example)
Who knew that one of the oldest tricks to making a folded egg would be of value to 16 million people around the world?
Who knew that one of the oldest tricks to making a folded egg would be of value to someone? In this case, it was valuable to not one but 16 million (and counting) people from around the world.
Going viral is really not as easy as it seems these days, competition is high, niches are getting bigger which leaves you having to think a little harder when it comes to the content that you put out. And we’re just talking organically here, it’s true, the more you spend on your ads the more views and likely your content will go ‘viral’. However, let’s stop and think about it for a second, what really determines whether a video is viral or not? This is a very subjective view. To us, going viral means creating a piece of content that people want to share with others and connect with so much that they leave their comments and opinions. Which is exactly what happened with this one video we made for our client: Lobbs Cafe.
The Reel and the Results:
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Lobbs cafe is a trendy brunch spot located in the iconic Sydney road Brunswick, filled with plants and pink seats. They serve up a mix of healthy and cheeky meals, as well as coffee supplied by Melbourne coffee roasters: Vacation Coffee. The agency manages their Instagram account and creates both photo and video content for the cafe.
Since posting that one reel, we have witnessed double the followers with our client’s account currently sitting at 14.1k followers.
At its peak, we gained 629 new followers per day. That level of growth continued for almost two weeks!
But that's not all. We also saw 17 million accounts reached and 360k accounts engaged. That’s 17 million people that stopped scrolling on their feed to watch this video and 360k people that thought it was valuable enough to like, leave a comment or share! The reel was first posted on the 2nd of December 2022 and is still continuing to increase in views as each month goes by!
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Why It Went Viral:
You’re probably wondering, what was so special about this video that made it go viral? Here’s a little breakdown on why we believe this video went viral so that you could apply some of the theory to your videos!
The Ideal Reel Length
We’re a firm believer that the length of your videos play a huge role on how your content will perform. Since users' attention spans are sporadic, it’s best to keep your videos as short as possible. This video is just under 30 seconds long. For more on optimising video length, check out our How to Grow Your Brand on Instagram: 2023 Guide.
Structure for Mystery and Suspense
Always have some sort of structure that makes your viewers want to watch until the end. In this case, we showcased the technique on how to make the eggs in the first portion of the video and saved the end result until the very last few seconds of the video. This creates a build up and gets your audience excited to make it to the end.
Note: Sometimes, the exact opposite approach works best: Tease the beautiful end result to give them a reason to care then show them how it's done. In this case, the process was so satisfying to watch that we decided to save the best till last.
Educate Your Audience
It’s important to create content that your audience finds valuable. Although this egg technique is commonly used at cafes and restaurants, it’s clear that the general community may not have known about it. Instead of telling your audience how to do something, it’s much more effective to show them step-by-step how to achieve the end result.
Stir up some controversy
Get the community talking! What we gathered from this particular video is that people have a lot of opinions when it comes to cooking their eggs. This egg was either burnt at the bottom and/or uncooked, depending on which commenters you ask. But the real debate centred on one question: Was this a scrambled egg or an omelette? We put #scrambledeggs in our caption. It caused quite a stir.
When you're planning your content, think about the most controversial topics within your niche, then address them—these kinds of conversations are great to see what views and values your followers hold and create a safe space for them to express their thoughts.
Add a trending audio
Adding a trending audio or one that suits that particular video is one way to increase your chances of Instagram pushing out your content—we even had a few comments from viewers asking for the ID of the song! In this video, we chose ‘Shooting stars’ by Bag Raiders. A song that was released in 2010 therefore may have bought back some nostalgic memories for some.
The bottom line?
Sometimes the least expected videos will go viral. Also, you don't have to spend thousands of dollars to get millions of views—it all just starts with the content you’re putting out to your audience. If you're struggling to post consistently, don't miss our Ultimate Guide to Creating Content Consistently.
Looking to improve your social media? Reach out to us here.