Instagram Reels Trends and Performance Insights For 2022

In 2022, Instagram Reels - alongside TikTok, are the hottest social media trends. While brands seem to struggle with creating both TikTok videos and Reels, social media users are devouring videos - through these content types - more than ever.

TikTok’s and Reel’s popularity has made it obvious that videos are here to stay, becoming more appealing daily.

Some of the primary reasons businesses worldwide seem reluctant to experiment with TikTok or Instagram Reels are - on the one hand, the lack of catchy ideas in line with the brand’s personality and, on the other hand - the potentially high costs it may involve.

Especially in the case of most famous brands - there is a certain quality expected out of every of that brand’s creatives - which implies that Reels filmed with just a smartphone may not meet the quality criteria.

Once technology, set, crew, and probably many other factors are added to the budget, the costs invested into shooting a short piece of content may not prove to have a satisfying ROI.

However, those brands interested in gaining social media success and willing to invest a lot in social marketing should know that, in Instagram’s case, Reels are the type of content that delivers the greatest results, as confirmed by data.

While marketers have long been looking for stats and insights regarding Instagram Reels’ performance, a recent study from Socialinsider has recently uncovered some in-depth benchmarks.

1. In 2022, brands have more chances of increasing their engagement rates by using Reels

There’s not much of a secret that Instagram - just like all the other social media platforms - pushes forward new features, encouraging users to try them out by rewarding them with increased engagement, reach, views, and overall better performance.

For example, as data emphasizes, Instagram Reels record an average 2.54% video view rate, while regular Instagram videos reach only 1.74%.

Following Instagram Story’s pattern, Reels received a lot of attention from Instagram users, becoming one of the platform’s favorite features. By identifying the potential of turning Reels into a feature that could ensure user loyalty and retention, the platform recently decided even to take Instagram Reels to the next level.

Regarding video content - Instagram has experimented a lot over the last year with different formats - in an attempt to overcome its main competitor, TikTok’s insane growth.

From removing IGTV to turning all videos below 15 minutes into Reels, the push and effort into making Instagram Reels a success is quite obvious.

While most brands have not joined the ride and are still reluctant to use Reels, data has revealed the opportunities they are missing out on by not integrating and focusing more on Reels.

When overseeing their brand’s Instagram performance and looking for ways to enhance their Instagram presence, social media marketers should know that by using Instagram Reels, an account increase its engagement rate up to 1.95% on average.

Furthermore, in the case of small to middle-sized accounts, Instagram Reels, these values can go even higher, as these accounts get, on average, an up to 3.79% engagement rate for Instagram Reels.


Another noteworthy discovery of the analysis that offered an answer to the worldwide spread question of whether or not Instagram engagement is decreasing was that Instagram engagement has indeed a decreasing tendency overall.

Despite that Reels are unquestionably Instagram’s most engaging post type at the moment, the dropping curve applies to this content type as well, given that just a year ago, Instagram Reels recorded higher engagement rates - of up to 2.41% on average.


2. Instagram Reels’ average reach rate in 2022 is 20.59%

Every marketing endeavor - regardless of whether or not it generates sales immediately - has incredible importance for generating brand awareness. Often not given so much priority - brand awareness is an essential marketing objective. That's because - in the end - it is where everything starts.

That's because most consumers usually don't buy products from brands whom they have never heard of but rather give them time to know the brand once they heard about it.

Since social media, particularly Instagram, is such a powerful marketing tool - especially thanks to its "Shop" enabled feature- brands should understand how an optimized content strategy could enhance sales and profits.

Going back for a second to the brand awareness objective - in the case of social media marketing - this goal can be tracked and measured by looking at one important KPI - your Instagram reach.

A particular achievement of Reels - compared to the other content formats - is that it generates remarkable reach values - being the content type with the highest chances of getting viral.

While Reels generate average reach values of 20.59%, depending on the account’s size - different brands can get higher or lower values that still remain quite superior to the reach rates that all the other types of posts deliver.

Summarizing the study’s findings, a couple of Instagram Reels stats that every marketer should know are that:
  • small accounts get the highest average reach rates, located between 30.06% - 39.46%
  • middle-sized profiles record the lowest Instagram Reels reach rates: between 10.66% - 16.85% on average
  • large accounts register satisfying Reels average engagement rates - 25.62%


Conclusion

To emphasize the scale of the Reels’ trend, how much they matter for a successful content strategy and how much exposure this feature brings to businesses, I’ll let the numbers speak for themselves and give you some examples and stats about how effective Instagram Reels have turned out to be for various brands using them:
  • Nike: receives about 4.6 million views when posting a Reel
  • Chanel: on average, the brand gets over 1 million views for each Reel
  • Porsche: recorded 16 million views on one of its most successful Reels.
Hopefully, these Reels performance stats and trends were helpful for you to understand how to leverage Instagram's newest features for your business.

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