How to Get More Views on Instagram Reels (15 Proven Tips)

Most of my Instagram Reels used to stall under 1,000 views, even the ones I put real effort into. I kept thinking the next one would break through, and it kept not happening.

The shift came when I stopped treating Reels like content for existing followers and started using them to reach people who didn’t know me yet. Once I made that change, views picked up and the account started growing consistently.

In this guide, I’ll share the exact strategies that worked, from how the algorithm actually weights engagement to a few distribution moves most creators skip entirely.

15 Proven Ways to Get More Views on Instagram Reels

Here are 15 proven strategies to get more views on Instagram Reels and grow your reach.

1. How Does the Instagram Reels Algorithm Work?

To make the most of the Reel feature, you need to understand the Instagram algorithm. It decides how content is displayed and ranked, which affects which posts and Reels appear first in users’ feeds, on the Explore page, and in the Reels tab.

The Instagram algorithm uses machine learning to decide what content is most popular and relevant to individual users. Based on factors like user behavior, it shows content it believes users are most likely to engage with and enjoy.

Several factors can influence the visibility of your Reels:

• The engagement levels of your reels
• How relevant your content is
• If your content is fresh and timely
• How often users interact with your content
• If your video content is high quality

Understanding the Instagram algorithm and aligning your social media marketing strategy with its preferences can help you get more views on your Instagram Reels.

One change that matters right now: Instagram weights DM shares above all other engagement signals. When someone sends your Reel to a friend in a direct message, the algorithm treats that as a much stronger signal than a like or comment. A Reel that gets shared in DMs gets pushed to new audiences far more aggressively than one with more likes but fewer shares.

Instagram also added Trial Reels in 2024, a feature that lets you test content with non-followers before publishing to your full audience. I cover how to use it in tip 12 below.

2. What Are the Best Topics for Instagram Reels?

Sharing topics that matter to your audience is crucial for creating Reels that people will love. However, you need to know who your target audience is first.

Consider your audience’s demographics, interests, and the challenges they face. Building personas can help you dive into what makes your audience tick.

By focusing on their needs and preferences, you can create valuable content that resonates and that they’ll want to share with others.

Staying in the loop about current trends, viral challenges, and popular hashtags in your niche is also important. Incorporating these into your Reels can boost visibility and help you connect with a wider audience.

At the same time, don’t forget about evergreen topics – those that stay relevant and interesting over time. Balancing trending and evergreen content ensures your Reels will have lasting appeal.

Furthermore, people love a good giveaway or contest, so mentioning them in Reels can drive engagement and attract new followers. Get creative with the format and offer exciting prizes to entice users to participate.

If you’re using WordPress for your website or blog, RafflePress is an easy-to-use WordPress giveaway plugin that can help you create and manage online giveaways and contests without code.

It seamlessly integrates with Instagram, allowing you to encourage users to engage with your Reels or visit your Instagram account as part of the contest requirements.

Follow this guide to learn how to create an Instagram giveaway with RafflePress.

3. How Can You Make Instagram Reels More Eye-Catching?

It’s crucial to make your Instagram Reels visually appealing. High-quality visuals grab people’s attention as they scroll, making them more likely to stop, watch, and engage with your content.

A visually stunning Reel captures your audience’s attention and leaves a lasting impression. Engaging visuals give your content a polished and professional look, enhancing your credibility and attracting more views.

Instagram’s algorithm also favors good-looking content, so investing time and effort into your visuals can pay off big time!

To make your Reels stand out, try some of the following tips:

• Choose a striking thumbnail with bright colors and engaging visuals that entice users to watch.
• Include short text overlays to provide context in a bold, readable font.
• Keep your thumbnail theme, design, and colors consistent to make them more recognizable.
• Ensure your video subject is well-lit and the composition is visually appealing.

Remember, quality visuals are key to standing out in the sea of content on Instagram!

4. What’s the Best Length for Instagram Reels?

When creating Instagram Reels, finding the right video length is essential. The ideal duration can make all the difference in keeping your audience engaged and getting more views.

Instagram Reels can be anywhere from 15 to 60 seconds long, offering the flexibility to create bite-sized content that’s easy to consume and share. But what’s the best length for maximum engagement?

While there’s no one-size-fits-all answer, keeping Reels between 7 and 30 seconds is the sweet spot. Shorter Reels tend to have higher completion rates, and completion rate is one of the signals Instagram uses to decide how widely to distribute your content.

Of course, this isn’t a strict rule.

Depending on your content, audience, and story, you may find that longer or shorter Reels work better for you. Experiment with different lengths to see what resonates with your viewers and keeps them engaged.

To optimize the length of your Reels and maximize engagement, consider the following:

• Keep it concise and avoid unnecessary filler content that can cause viewers to lose interest.
• Use quick cuts, transitions, and effects to maintain interest and keep the energy high throughout the video.
• Grab people’s attention within the first few seconds with a solid hook to keep them watching.
• Include a call-to-action (CTA) at the end of your Reel, asking viewers to like, comment, share, or follow your account.

By keeping Reels to the ideal duration and ensuring the content is engaging, you can maximize your chances of getting more views and growing your audience.

5. Should You Add Captions to Reels for More Views?

Using captions and text overlays in Reels is a powerful way to enhance your content’s accessibility, convey your message, and increase engagement. For example, Instagram content with captions helps users who are hard of hearing understand the context of your video.

Text overlays can also highlight key points and provide additional context or information. Since many users watch Instagram videos without sound, captions and text overlays can help users enjoy your content even when viewed silently.

When creating captions and overlays, remember to choose fonts that are easy to read and large enough to see on small screens. It’s also important to keep them short and ensure they don’t cover important visuals.

Furthermore, make sure that any text, stickers, and watermarks are consistent with your overall theme and design to maintain consistency.

Using captions and text overlays is a simple yet effective way to increase accessibility and engagement, so don’t hesitate to add them to your content.

6. How to Share Instagram Reels on Your Website

Cross-promoting Instagram Reels on your website is another excellent way to reach a broader audience and drive more views. By embedding Reels on your site, you can showcase your content to visitors who may not have found you on Instagram yet.

Embedding Reels on can also make your website more dynamic and engaging. This can encourage visitors to stay longer and interact with your content, improving your site’s bounce rate and user experience.

For instance, if you’re running a giveaway and promoting it through an Instagram Reel, embedding the Reel on your site can create a seamless experience for visitors. They can watch the Reel, learn about the giveaway, and enter the contest together.

One of the easiest ways to embed Reels and other Instagram posts on your WordPress website is with Smash Balloon’s Instagram Feed plugin.

It’s user friendly, doesn’t require coding to set up, and works right out of the box. That way, you can quickly display Instagram video feeds that automatically match your site’s theme.

For assistance, check out this step-by-step guide on how to add Instagram videos to WordPress.

By embedding your Instagram Reels on your website, you can expand your reach and engagement, creating a strong online presence to attract even more followers and viewers.

7. What Are the Best Hashtags for Instagram Reels?

Hashtags are an important aspect of any Instagram Reels strategy. They increase your content’s discoverability and help you reach a wider audience.

To start researching trending hashtags, use Instagram’s native search feature or use tools like Hashtagify and RiteTag, which analyze hashtag usage and popularity.

And to make the most of hashtags in your Instagram Reels, combine popular and niche-specific ones.

Try to avoid generic hashtags, and use no more than 10 hashtags for optimal engagement. More than 10 can read as spam to the algorithm and cut your reach. Experiment with different hashtag combinations to see what works best for your content.

Creating your own branded hashtag is also an excellent way to build brand awareness. Keep it short, easy to remember, and ensure it relates to your brand somehow.

Promote your branded hashtag across all your marketing channels, and encourage your followers to use it when sharing content related to your brand. You can even incorporate it into contests and giveaways as an entry requirement.

Sharing user-generated content collected through a photo contest using your branded hashtag is another way to leverage it as part of your social media strategy. For example, with RafflePress’s refer-a-friend action, you can require users to share a message to enter.

8. How Can Collaborations Help You Get More Reels Views?

Partnering with influencers and other Instagram users can be a powerful way to increase your Reels’ visibility and reach new audiences. One way to do this is by participating in viral challenges or creating content together.

When seeking influencers to collaborate with, look for those with an engaged audience that matches your target demographic. Reach out to them and suggest creating content together, such as hosting a joint giveaway or creating a Reel that showcases your talents.

Don’t forget to share each other’s content on your Instagram Stories and encourage your followers to check out your collaborator’s profile.

Another effective strategy for cross-promotion is tailoring your Reels to suit each platform you’re posting on. This means creating custom captions for Facebook, shorter teaser videos for Twitter, and taking advantage of each platform’s unique features.

Remember to engage with your audience and promptly reply to comments and messages to foster a sense of community and encourage users to check out your content on other platforms.

9. When Is the Best Time to Post Instagram Reels?

Consistency is key to building a following on Instagram, as it keeps your audience engaged and aware of when to expect new content. If you post too infrequently, your followers may lose interest, and if you post too often, you may overwhelm them.

So, what’s the ideal posting frequency for Instagram Reels? Again, there’s no one-size-fits-all answer. The best posting frequency depends on your niche, audience, and the type of content you’re creating.

However, a good starting point is to post at least once a week and work up from there. Posting three to four times a week is considered a sweet spot for keeping your followers engaged without overwhelming them.

Here’s what OptinMonster has to say about the best time to post on Instagram:

Remember, it’s about posting frequently and creating valuable content that resonates with your audience. By understanding your audience’s needs and preferences and tailoring your Reels to their interests, you can build a loyal following and maximize engagement.

Keep experimenting, refining your strategy, and engaging with your followers, and you’ll be well on your way to Instagram success!

10. How to Use Insights to Improve Your Instagram Reels Strategy

Monitoring your Instagram Reels’ performance is critical for refining your content strategy and maximizing engagement. You can do this by using Instagram Insights, an analytics tool built into the app, to track the following metrics:

• Reach: the number of unique users who have seen your Reel
• Impressions: the total number of times your Reel has been viewed
• Engagement: the number of likes, comments, and shares your Reel has received
• Saves: the number of times users have saved your Reel to their collections
• Hashtag performance: the effectiveness of the hashtags you’ve used in terms of driving engagement and visibility
• Audience demographics: information about your audience, including their age, gender, location, and active times
• Video completion rate: the percentage of users who watch your Reel to the end

Using this data, you can make informed decisions to optimize your content strategy.

For instance, you can learn which types of content resonate with your audience and generate the most engagement, then create similar content to boost your results. Additionally, you can tailor your content, hashtags, and posting schedule to suit your target audience better.

To stay ahead in the ever-evolving world of social media, you need to adapt and evolve your strategy continuously. This involves keeping up-to-date with the latest trends in your niche, experimenting with different content formats to gain a competitive edge, and using audience feedback to improve your content.

Take time to observe the strategies other successful accounts use within and outside your niche. Be prepared to adjust your plan as trends evolve to stay relevant and maintain your audience’s interest.

11. How Can an Instagram Giveaway Boost Reel Views?

Running a giveaway is one of the fastest ways to multiply Reel views because every entrant becomes a distribution point. When you require participants to watch and share your Reel as an entry step, your content reaches audiences you would never reach organically.

The setup is straightforward. You build a contest that asks people to watch your Reel and share it to their Stories to enter. Each new entrant puts the Reel in front of their followers, and the loop compounds.

With RafflePress, you can create an Instagram giveaway that includes a Watch a Video or Refer a Friend entry action. It turns your Reel into a distribution engine that gets stronger with every participant. For more detail, see our guide to running an Instagram giveaway.

12. Should You Use Trial Reels Before Publishing?

Trial Reels is an Instagram feature introduced in 2024 that lets you test a Reel with non-followers before it goes live to your full audience. Instagram shows the Reel to a sample of users outside your following so you can see how it performs before committing your reach.

If engagement is strong, publish it. If it falls flat, adjust the hook or try a different angle. It is A/B testing built into the app, which means you stop wasting good content on weak executions.

To use it, go to Advanced Settings when creating a Reel and enable the Trial option. You can review performance in your professional dashboard before deciding whether to publish.

13. Does Sharing a Reel to Stories Help With Views?

Yes. Sharing a Reel to your Stories puts it in front of people who already follow you. That early engagement from your existing audience signals the algorithm to push the Reel to new audiences through the Reels tab and Explore page.

Reels and Stories serve different audiences. Stories reach people who already know you. Reels reach people who do not yet. Using both together means one piece of content works twice as hard.

Tap Share to Stories right when you publish. The first-hour engagement window is when the algorithm decides how widely to distribute your content, and your existing followers are the fastest source of that signal.

14. Do Questions in Captions Help Get More Instagram Reel Views?

Asking a question in your caption drives comments, and Instagram weights comments as a strong engagement signal. More comments means more distribution.

The question does not need to be clever. “Which of these works better for you?” or “What would you add to this list?” is enough to prompt a reply. Specific questions tied to the Reel content get more responses than generic engagement prompts.

Put your question at the end of the caption, after your hashtags. Even a few comments in the first hour can shift how widely Instagram distributes your content.

15. How Do You Use Keyword Research to Find Better Reel Topics?

Before filming, type your topic into Instagram search and look at the autocomplete suggestions. Those suggestions reflect what people are actively searching for on the platform, which means content matching those terms has built-in demand.

This is different from hashtag research. Hashtags are about discoverability after you post. Keyword research is about choosing topics with existing demand before you start filming.

If you run a food blog, search “easy dinner” and see what Instagram suggests. Those completions are the Reels people are already looking for. Matching your content to that demand is one of the simpler ways to get more Instagram Reel views without relying on trends.

FAQs About Instagram Reels

You don’t need to chase trends or rely on luck to get more views on Instagram Reels. With the right strategy, it’s possible to grow your reach, attract more followers, and build real engagement just by making small, smart changes to how you create and share your Reels.

I’ve seen these tips work firsthand, and they can work for you too. Whether you’re promoting a giveaway, launching a product, or just trying to get more eyes on your content, the steps in this guide give you a solid place to start.

Ready to turn your Reels into a reliable growth?
Get started with RafflePress and turn your next video into something worth watching and sharing.

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