The Christian Business Advantage
Welcome to "Christian Business Advantage," the ultimate podcast for authors, speakers, coaches, and virtual assistants within the Christian community. Join our esteemed host, Alyssa Avant, a seasoned virtual assistant, accomplished author, and captivating speaker, as she dives deep into the world of digital presence and success.
In each engaging episode, we explore invaluable insights and practical strategies to help you establish a powerful online platform. Alyssa expertly guides you through essential topics such as email marketing, social media mastery, content marketing, repurposing your content for maximum impact, and the art of building and maintaining a compelling website.
With an impressive track record of serving Christian authors and speakers for over a decade, Alyssa brings a wealth of knowledge and firsthand experience to the table. As a trusted confidante, she shares the most pressing needs of this unique community, making this podcast an exclusive opportunity to tap into her well of wisdom.
If you're a Christian author, speaker, coach, or virtual assistant seeking to elevate your online presence and expand your reach, you're in the right place. Listen each week to "Christian Business Advantage" and let Alyssa Avant equip you with the tools and strategies to make your digital footprint a testament to your mission. Prepare to be inspired, empowered, and uplifted as we embark on this remarkable journey together.
The Christian Business Advantage
Why You Should Be Doing Reels
It's a new month which means a new theme for the podcast. This month's theme is Instagram Reels. On today's episode we are talking about Why You Should Be Doing Reels. The stats that I share on the podcast came from an article on Agorapulse.com. You can find it here: https://www.agorapulse.com/blog/instagram-reels/
Welcome to another episode of the Christian business advantage podcast. I'm your host, Alyssa Avant. And today we are starting a new series for the month of March on the topic of Instagram reels. As always, I did a poll in my Facebook group, the Christian business advantage and found that people wanted to know more about reals.
I did this poll back last or will at the first of the year, so that I could choose some different topics for the, Podcasts, but also for the free trainings that I do monthly in the group. So this month's training will be on reels. So today we're talking about why you should be doing reels and of course, I want to be sure to. Get statistics, research, all those sorts of things to make sure that what I'm telling you is true.
So of course I did some research and this particular research is coming from. A blog or website, if you will called a AgoraPulse.com, I will link it in the show notes. And what do you know, tell you that. I myself have been doing reels for a really long time. I recently started doing Tik Toks as well, videos and just, I actually repurpose my videos on several platforms. But this particular article It's about reels and how reels have evolved. And how they are useful to you as. Christian authors, speakers, coaches, business owners. More than 1.3 billion people used Instagram.
It's actually more, more people on Instagram than on Tik TOK, which was surprising to me only 1 billion users on Tik TOK. And no, that's not a huge difference. And that gap will probably close soon. This. Article is still very new. It is from February 10th, 2024, which is a little less than a month ago. So it is relevant. Tik Tok has users. That are younger than Instagram.
And since most of my audience is older. I would say that, you know, not 18 to 24, we probably fit into the older category. Then Instagram is more our. Vibe Instagram reels have been more about brands and influencers while Tik TOK is more of an entertainment platform. And so Instagram is where I would say that I would pay more attention to at this point. From a standpoint of being a business than I would Tik Tok though.
I'm sure. TikTok. Has its, I would say benefits, as well. So, why should you be doing Instagram reels? Reels are easily accessible. And you can quickly establish yourself as your own brand on Instagram. And that is so important. You want to be seen. As who you are. And most of us, if we're authors, speakers, we are the brand. We're not necessarily, we don't like stand behind a company name or anything like that.
We are branding ourselves as our selves.. And so you can do that on Instagram.
And you can give them a peek into your life and therefore be able to get them for them.
Do your those who watch to get to know you like you and trust you, as we've said, with other forms of marketing. But reels are a great way to do that because it is video and we all know video is very, very popular. And gives us the ability to connect with our listeners, readers, Watchers, whatever you want to talk, whatever you want to call it. In an easy way. So I believe that doing reels gives you that ability and that is so important. And over the next few weeks here on the podcast, we will be talking about what your goals should be.
You, what your content should be and who your followers are on next week's episode. And then week three's episode will be about the elements of a real and wake for wood will be types of reels because there are different types of reels. That you can have. And then the. Training in the group on the third. Wednesday of this month, we'll be on the topic of reels and I will be sharing some how to choose and some tips and tricks on how you can make the most of reels. And so.
Just be thinking about if reels are going to be a part of your marketing strategy this year. I know it's still early in the year and if you're going to embrace. Reels and try to utilize them as a part of what you were doing for marketing yourself. This year and 2024.
If you truly do want to begin using reels. Then there is some prep that you need to do in order to make reels apart of your marketing. The very first thing is to plan it.. You cannot just turn on your camera unprompted and make great reels. Unfortunately, that's just not the case. But you can create a plan you'll need to, first of all, seek some inspiration. Don't beat yourself up too much though, while you're looking at other people's reels. In an effort to find ideas, be sure that you look at them through the lens of how can I do this better?
How can I do this unique to me? So look at other reels to seek inspiration. Secondly, consider your lighting and equipment. Make sure that you have a place where the lighting is very clear. You can always record in front of a window or you can purchase a ring light to record as well. You might even want a tripod, but you don't have to spend a lot of money to get the equipment that you need. They actually use a ring light that is a tripod in itself, and it was about $14. Then you want to know about editing tools because we can never get reels right the first time.
Trust me, I have never been able to do so, but you can find some very easy to use editing tools that will make it's so simple to record your reels and edit them. My favorite one is cap cut on my iPhone, but there's also one called in shot. These are great tools to have. In your pocket when you're recording reels. Secondly plan out and brainstorm reels that you can make. And try to think of as many possibilities as you can, and you can even batch this content. Then you'll want to experiment with sounds and formats. Trending sounds will help your rails to be found. And I will talk about in a later episode, how to found these trending sounds. Then don't use your reels just once. Make sure that you are able to capitalize on them, but also cross posting them to Facebook.
And you can do that right there in your Instagram app. So. I hope if you've not taken reels on yet in your business, that you will consider doing sad. And then you'll come back and listen to future episodes to help you to. Be ready to record reels. For your business.
