5 Must-have Tools for Creating Reels
01
Tripod
Especially if you film your own reels, a tripod for your phone is a MUST. The great news is that it’s not too expensive. This is the one I have—click here—cheap, but it gets the job done!
02
Creator Account
I was on the fence for a while between using a business account or creator account. I stuck with business because after all, I am a business. And there weren’t enough differences between the two. Until reels came along. With a creator account I have more access to trending music and so my reels perform much better. I still get all the same insights and analytics I need, so as far as I can tell, it’s worth the switch. (Disclaimer: It is illegal to use copyrighted music to sell your products or services which is why music is limited under the business accounts.)
—How to switch to creator:
+In instagram, go to SETTINGS
+Click on ACCOUNT
+ Click on SWITCH ACCOUNT TYPE
+Click on SWITCH TO CREATOR ACCOUNT
03
InShot
As a filmmaker, I never ever wanted to edit videos on my phone. In fact, I despised it.
Until I started using inShot. It’s a brilliantly powerful tool that I use to make reels and videos. They have wonderful transitions, film effects and the ability to input your own audio, extract audio if you need to, layer over sound effects, cut clips, adjust speed and even import logos and fonts. Literally the most powerful and easy to use editing tool I’ve come across for a phone. It’s a MUST GET.
It’s also a great place to store and batch reels as a backup because in my experience the instagram reels draft area can be really glitchy and I have lost a few reels in the past. Which really, really sucks.
04
Mojo
Mojo is another brilliant app to have on your phone for creating content.
For reels specifically, I would recommend using it to create a very sophisticated branded outro. An outro is a short, animated clip that might feature your logo, instagram handle or a call-to-action like “for more tips follow @ashbranding.co”—which is great to draw people back your way if your reel goes viral.
I also use Mojo to animate some of my photos, videos or graphics and bring those clips into Inshot to piece them together with other video footage or custom audio tracks.
Here’s a reel I made on my phone going back and forth between Mojo and Inshot.
05
Canva
Last, but not least is Canva. I use Canva occasionally for creating cover photos, especially if I want it to be text or graphic-based (versus a still shot from the reel). I also particularly do this if I know I plan on keeping that reel on my grid and want to maintain my aesthetic.
Pro Tip—
Reels perform best when you also post them to your grid. However, I know the feeling of having a reel mess up your aesthetic. But I also hate when the thumbnail photo has nothing to do with the reel (because people are just trying to keep their grid nice). And then I can't find it later or what I click is not what I thought I was about to see.
Instead, what I do is post all reels to my grid and once its performance is optimized (likes start plateauing and I know it's pretty much reached its potential on my grid, typically 24-48 hours later) I remove it from my profile grid but keep it as a reel that people can still watch and find.
