SMM stands for "Social Media Marketing." It refers to a set of methods and strategies used to promote a brand, products, or services through social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, and others. SMM can involve content creation, paid advertising, community management, and result analysis to increase brand awareness, grow the number of followers, and attract new customers.
The basis of SMM lies in using social media platforms as a marketing approach to promote a brand, products, or services. It is built on the following principles:

1. Target Audience: SMM aims to attract attention and engage with the target audience present on social media platforms. To achieve this, it is necessary to understand the needs and interests of the target audience and how they use social media platforms.
2. Content: Content plays a crucial role in SMM. It can include text, images, videos, audio, and other formats. The content should be high-quality, interesting, and informative to capture and retain the attention of the target audience.
3. Interaction: SMM involves interacting with the target audience through social media platforms. This can include responding to comments, messages, participating in discussions, and more. Interaction helps establish a connection with the target audience and maintain relationships with them.
4. Analytics: SMM includes analyzing results. It is important to track metrics such as likes, followers, comments, etc., to measure the effectiveness of social media campaigns and determine what works and what doesn't.
5. Advertising: SMM may involve paid advertising on social media platforms. This can help increase reach and attract new customers.

Overall, SMM is a comprehensive approach to brand promotion on social media platforms, based on understanding the target audience, creating quality content, interacting with the target audience, and analyzing results.

How does SMM differ from advertising on Google and Yandex?

SMM and advertising on Google and Yandex are different methods of internet marketing, although both approaches can be used for brand promotion and attracting potential customers. Here are some key differences between SMM and advertising on Google and Yandex:

1. Target Audience: SMM targets the audience using social media platforms, while advertising on Google and Yandex targets users searching for information on search engines.
2. Ad Format: SMM includes various content formats, such as images, videos, texts, etc. Advertising on Google and Yandex is primarily represented through contextual ads, banners, video ads, etc.
3. Ad Placement: SMM ads are placed on social media platforms, while advertising on Google and Yandex is displayed in search results, websites, and other platforms that work with contextual advertising.
4. Cost: The cost of SMM and advertising on Google and Yandex can vary. In SMM, ads can be launched either for free or with paid options. In Google and Yandex advertising, the cost is determined based on the price per click, view, or other metrics.
5. Timeframes: SMM can be a longer process that takes months or even years to build a community and attract new customers. Advertising on Google and Yandex can be more short-term and focused on a specific period of time.

Overall, SMM and advertising on Google and Yandex represent different approaches to internet marketing. SMM can be useful for engaging with the audience and developing the brand on social media platforms, while advertising on Google and Yandex can be effective in attracting new customers from search engines.

Goals and Objectives of SMM

The goals and objectives of Social Media Marketing (SMM) depend on the specific strategy and business goals of a company. However, in general, the main goals and objectives of SMM include:

1. Engaging with the target audience: SMM helps establish connections with potential and current customers through social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Companies can use SMM to interact with customers, respond to inquiries, gather feedback, and build loyalty.
2. Driving website traffic: SMM can be an effective tool for driving traffic to a company's website. Companies can utilize social media platforms to share links to their website, content, and promotions that can interest and attract new users.
3. Building brand awareness: SMM can help a company increase brand recognition and establish itself as an authority in its niche. This can be achieved by creating interesting, valuable, and engaging content that aligns with the company's values and mission.
4. Increasing sales: SMM can be an effective tool for boosting sales. Companies can use social media platforms to advertise their products or services, run contests, promotions, and offer discount codes that incentivize users to make a purchase.
5. Analyzing results: One of the objectives of SMM is to analyze the effectiveness of campaigns. Companies can use analytics tools to track metrics such as increased followers, website traffic growth, and conversion rates to assess the effectiveness of their strategies and make appropriate adjustments.

Overall, the goals and objectives of SMM can vary depending on the specific strategy of a company, but they all aim to engage with the target audience, promote the brand, drive traffic, and increase sales.

How Long Does It Take to See Results from SMM?

The time it takes to see results from Social Media Marketing (SMM) depends on various factors such as the size of the business, market competitiveness, the chosen SMM strategy, and more. However, as a general rule, noticeable results from SMM can be expected at least several months after the start of the campaign.
In the first month of working on social media platforms, one can expect the establishment of a subscriber base and initial results in terms of website traffic. Within the first 3-4 months, an increase in brand awareness and audience engagement can be anticipated.
To achieve more specific results such as increased sales, continuous and consistent promotion on social media is necessary. It typically takes around 6 to 12 months to achieve significant results.
However, it's important to understand that SMM results can be long-term and cumulative. Sometimes it may take years to establish a strong brand presence and gain traction on social media platforms. Therefore, to maximize the results of SMM, it is crucial to consistently work on content, engage with the audience, and analyze campaign outcomes to make adjustments to the social media promotion strategy.

How to Evaluate Effectiveness in SMM

Evaluating the effectiveness of Social Media Marketing (SMM) can occur at different stages of a campaign, and each stage requires a specific approach to analyzing results. Here are some metrics that can be used to assess the effectiveness of SMM:

1. Increase in Subscribers and Likes: This is a fundamental metric that can be used to assess the growth of brand awareness on social media platforms.
2. Increase in Website Traffic: Evaluating the number of visitors who are redirected to the website from social media platforms helps understand the effectiveness of the SMM campaign in driving traffic.
3. Conversions: Assessing the number of users who show interest and take specific actions on the website (purchases, registrations, newsletter subscriptions) helps gauge the effectiveness of the SMM campaign in increasing conversions.
4. Increase in Sales: Evaluating the number of sales generated through the SMM campaign helps determine how well it contributes to revenue growth.
5. Audience Engagement Analysis: Assessing audience engagement metrics such as comments, reviews, and shares helps understand the emotional response generated by the SMM campaign.
6. ROI (Return on Investment): This metric allows for assessing the profitability of the SMM campaign by evaluating the return on investment.

It's important to understand that the effectiveness of SMM can be evaluated based on the campaign's goals and objectives. Regular analysis of results is also crucial to make adjustments to the social media promotion strategy and enhance campaign effectiveness.

Summary

• Approximately half of the world's population uses social media. Social media platforms have substantial information about their users (gender, age, location, devices, behavior, etc.). "VKontakte," Instagram*, FB, and other platforms are highly convenient for business promotion.
• Often, SMM and targeted advertising work in the long term: they make potential customers consider their needs, generate demand, and then sell. Therefore, results can be achieved within a month or even a year. In contrast to contextual advertising, which can easily target those ready to buy here and now.
• In addition, social media platforms help solve various other tasks, such as audience expansion, brand recognition, reputation management, and talent acquisition.
• Social media is not just about posts, likes, and shares. What else? Besides SMM metrics (reach, engagement, and others), these indicators can be used to evaluate the effectiveness of a company's performance (in terms of traffic, orders, calls, average order value, and more).

Consider all these nuances when buying or selling the services of an SMM marketer.

Billions of people know how to do it, now it's your turn.

Stories are a convenient and popular content format on Instagram; a powerful tool for increasing reach and user engagement. It is particularly suitable for online store owners, coaching centers, and training groups. In general, all those people who want to improve their Instagram*.

What are the features of Stories

Distinctive features of Stories compared to other formats.

• Each story (photo or video) lasts up to 15 seconds.
• Stories are automatically deleted after 24 hours.

The automatic deletion of Stories prompts users to view the content before it disappears from sight. Exceptions include only current stories or Stories Highlights, which do not disappear within 24 hours.
Stories are located separately from the main feed, at the top of the Instagram interface.
Stories are placed above the feed, and only the Stories of the accounts that the user is following are visible. Stories in the profile are located below the description and control buttons.

You need to click on the icon to see Stories. In this case, if the Stories have not been viewed yet, they are highlighted.
Many people want to find where they can watch Stories anonymously, but it is impossible to do so within Instagram itself. To achieve this, special services like Gramster or Gramotool need to be used.

What are the advantages of Stories

In a study conducted by Delmondo and Buffer, more than 15,000 Stories were analyzed, revealing that the more Stories are posted in an account, the higher the average reach and number of views.
This can be attributed to the features and advantages of the Stories format.

1. The Stories feed is located at the top, attracting more attention.
2. An enhanced set of editing tools.
3. Instagram Stories seamlessly integrates with Facebook. To do this, simply link the accounts in the settings.
4. Links can be placed on Stories (if the account has 10,000 followers), users can be tagged, hashtags and geolocation tags can be added.
5. An intuitive interface that even beginner Instagram users can easily navigate.
6. The opportunity for gamification of content. Game mechanics create excitement, attract more attention, and require a response. This is beneficial for increasing the reach of an Instagram account.
7. AR filters - a set of special effects that can be applied to photos or videos. These effects can be static or dynamic. It is not the easiest, but nevertheless an effective way to promote your Stories.

How to shoot and add Stories

1. Click on the "+" button next to the avatar (in the account or on the main page).
IMAGE
2. Once the camera opens, you can choose one of the modes (Boomerang or Collage). You can switch the camera mode on this screen.
3. To record a video, press the center button or tap once to take a photo. Finally, to publish the finished work, select a photo or video from your smartphone in the bottom right corner.
4. After shooting, the editor will open - you can draw something or add stickers, for example:
• "Order food" and "Support small business" - new stickers that appeared during the pandemic. You can share a link to a food delivery company or promote a small business account that you recommend supporting.
• Location - indicating a place on the map. With this tag, the Stories will be visible in location searches, providing additional reach.
• Questions - allowing followers to ask something directly to bloggers or companies in Stories.
• "Write me" - a quick way for users to go to direct messages.
• "Quiz" - a great option for gamification, turning communication into an interactive experience.
5. Next, choose the desired filter or mask. There is an option to select the most suitable option from a variety of variations.

What do you need to create and design Stories?

We won't rewrite the requirements from the Facebook* Business Help, but it's interesting to discuss some less obvious points mentioned there:

• To quickly and effectively use the Stories format and get the most out of it, it's best to use short, simple, but vibrant stories. More complex stories that require attention are better suited for regular posts.
• It's preferable to use videos and animations as the basis. For those who watch videos without sound, subtitles can be added. Additionally, consider where to place geotags, hashtags, or mentions of other accounts.
• If you want to create Stories, avoid using too much text as it can be difficult to read within the 15-second timeframe. It's better to place text in the center, as placing it on the edges can hinder focus. When choosing the text color, consider the background to ensure it doesn't blend in.

Five apps that can assist in creating Stories

• StoryArt: This app is designed for creating and editing stories on Android devices. It offers free templates, including animated ones, categorized into topics such as movies and fashion. Users can upload their own images or use pre-designed images from the catalog. There are also additional paid options available.
• VSCO: Used on both Android and iOS, VSCO allows users to create photos based on images with a variety of filters (some paid). It offers fine editing capabilities such as exposure adjustment, contrast adjustment, perspective correction, and white balance adjustment. It's like having Photoshop on your smartphone.
• Customizable music in Storybeat: Storybeat allows users to import music from Spotify and publish it directly to Instagram. It also offers additional features like overlaying audio onto videos or photos and creating stop motion effects.
• Slo mo video: This app allows users to slow down videos. To use it, simply select the portion of the video you want to slow down and adjust the speed.
• InShot: Another tool for editing photos and videos, InShot offers useful free functions such as creating collages, applying effects, and cropping photos. Some video filters are also available for free.

What are the methods of promoting a business on Instagram in 2023?

Today we will tell you how Instagram feels a year after being blocked. First of all, we would like to mention that in this article we will focus not only on conclusions but also provide statistics to support those conclusions. We hope that our article and the information in it will be useful to you.

What has changed since February 2022?

Starting from February 2022, business promotion on social media has been divided into the "before" and "after" situation. This was caused by the Instagram block, which was the foundation of promotion for many bloggers and companies. But should you exclude this traffic source from your advertising strategies? That's what we will write about today.

What happened to Instagram?

Did the social network Instagram die? Many people say so. No! Instagram continues to thrive and function. We lost the main advantage of the social network - targeted advertising settings. However, thanks to VPN services, you can still use the social network.
Overall, there was a loss in terms of audience. Based on data from various sources, reach has decreased by 50%, but the warmest and most loyal audience for any business - fans - remained on the platform. This has even led to increased activity on the network. This trend is mainly observed among microbloggers, but it applies to almost all categories.

Can you promote through Instagram?

Promotion on Instagram is possible. You will need to spend enough time conducting tests to find a replacement for targeting, but the conversion results will be more than comparable to the efforts invested. Let me give you an example of a personal blog that a friend of mine started. He reached out to me for help with advertising setup. Initially, we focused on enhancing Interactions without setting any language targeting restrictions. We initially tried audiences from different countries: Turkey, Sri Lanka, Indonesia. In Turkey, we found an engaged audience but not his target group. So, we added targeting based on the Russian language while still keeping Interactions as the main goal of the advertising campaign. Interestingly, with this targeting, we started gaining followers. We set a modest advertising budget of $5 per day. The cost per follower is now 20 cents. During the first two weeks, we conducted tests with audiences, geographies, and post formats that the audience responded to. In the following nine days, we scaled up the advertising, increasing it by 20% every 2-3 days.

As you can see, Instagram is feeling quite well. The only problem is that finding those effective methods takes more time and testing than setting up targeting.

What methods can be used to promote through the social network Instagram?

I'll share with you a few working and highly effective methods of promotion on Instagram:

Reels

Initially chosen as an alternative to the TikTok social network, the REELS format quickly transformed into an effective way to promote both commercial and personal accounts.
The key thing to remember in this format is the regularity of your postings. Posting one REELS video per week is unlikely to yield results. It's best to post 2-3 videos daily. They don't have to be perfectly edited or planned. You can include local jokes, behind-the-scenes moments, or work-related content. The main task is consistency.

Influencer Advertising

Let's not forget that influencer advertising is one of the most effective methods of promotion. And let me clarify once again: the overt, heavily branded advertisements we used to rely on no longer work as well.
The influencer should create the appearance of non-advertisement. The advertising should be subtle. The best solution is to collaborate with an influencer who will genuinely use your product or service and organically showcase it on their profile. Mentioning the product when their followers themselves start showing interest in what the influencer uses.

Communities

Advertising in thematic communities (public groups) remains one of the most effective methods in 2023 since these communities usually have a large target audience. When placing such advertisements, it is important to consider three factors:

• The number of "active" subscribers in the community
• Your target audience within the group
• Preparing the advertisement in the style of the chosen community.

Hashtags

Hashtags have made a comeback with increased audience engagement! Without targeted advertising, the effectiveness of this promotion method has significantly increased. Consider these rules when adding hashtags:

• Hashtags should be thematic.
• Ideally, the hashtag theme should be related to your post's topic. This way, Instagram will better promote your content.
• Avoid using high-frequency hashtags with more than 500,000 mentions.

UGC

Most people trust other people's opinions. It's time for the cozy mode. This can be seen in the graph as Instagram is now returning reach to smaller bloggers. Therefore, user-generated content (UGC) will bring you the highest quality audience. However, even with UGC, it should be implemented with your involvement.

Let's say you sell SMM courses. You can launch a contest for the most creative Stories mask. The condition is to create Stories with the mask on their own account and tag you. Your target audience won't see annoying ads, and the portion of the audience that visits your account will already have a positive attitude.

CPS

Cost per sale (CPS) is becoming increasingly popular. Even bloggers are starting to work on this model. I won't go into detail as the mechanics are simple: someone brings you a lead, you make a sale, and you pay a percentage for that sale. I recommend paying attention to a service like Ublogger.

Direct Messaging

It's clear that spamming is not a good practice. However, before getting blocked, a method of direct messaging through other accounts used to work well. Most of these accounts may end up in spam, but even in highly competitive niches where the cost per subscriber reached 350 rubles, this method achieved a subscriber for as low as 60 rubles, and they were targeted. Here are the key rules to remember:

1. Make sure to scrape the groups of your competitors or accounts related to your niche or closely related to it.
2. Filter out private accounts (you can't send messages to them anyway, and you won't lose 30% of the overall effectiveness).
3. It's good if you can also filter the audience/accounts that have shown activity. This way, you can exclude inactive accounts and save at least 30% on ineffective messaging. The costs may be small, but with mass messaging, it will save you a significant amount of money.
4. If you have a predominantly male audience, it's worth filtering out and keeping only male accounts, and vice versa.

Of course, you will have to put in some effort and search for parsers that allow you to clean and filter groups, but believe me, the results will exceed your expectations. The actual Instagram messaging campaign costs around $2 for 1000 messages. However, it's crucial to remember that a campaign of 10,000 messages will yield approximately 20-22 subscribers. Therefore, aim for the massiveness of such a campaign. In other words, the cost per targeted subscriber will be slightly less than $1, which is several times cheaper than hard and medium business niches. If you have an online school or want to sell your educational course, you need to attract 8,000 subscribers. Around 2,000 people will unsubscribe from you during the warming-up phase before launching your course sales. If you sell a course priced at $800 or two parts at $400 each, you will be able to sell approximately 28 courses to this audience size.
The key is not to stop after sales and start parallelly warming up the audience for the next course while conducting the current one.

Effectiveness of Instagram Promotion

As we can see, Instagram is alive, and it can be used to promote products and services just as effectively.

One billion people use Instagram monthly. This social network is growing five times faster than the overall usage of the network in the United States. With huge numbers come significant earning prospects. Do you have an Instagram account? You can start earning with it already. Read on, and we will tell you how.

Instagram Account Theme

The choice of niche determines how challenging it will be to promote your account and how much you can earn from it. It's not recommended to choose popular niches as they have a lot of competitors. Such accounts are difficult to promote and earn little unless millions are invested in promotion. It's easier to work with a narrow niche, for example, ukulele lessons. There are fewer competitors, but it's easy to find an audience. Advertisers will reach out to you: online music stores, educational courses. This is one example of a good theme for an Instagram account.

Instagram Design

People first buy with their eyes. A consistent account style, well-written descriptions, and a profile picture are the keys to success. You don't need to order a design or learn to draw to create a beautiful account layout. The service Canva allows you to choose post designs from thousands of templates in just a few minutes. Don't forget about your username and account name; they will greatly help in search results if they match key queries.

Promotion on Instagram

If your niche is narrow, you'll need around 1,000 followers to start. There are two main ways to gain followers in the beginning:

• advertising purchase. Find competitors and negotiate advertising with them. Your account will gain a live audience and a good boost for future promotion. This method is suitable if you have at least a small amount of money for initial investment. It will pay off in the long run.
• follower boosting. To attract your initial audience, you can use follower boosting services. Instagram doesn't like this and may remove followers or even delete your account, so it's important to be cautious and use reliable services.

Do you have your first 1,000 followers? Reach out to your competitors and propose mutual promotion. It's a good way for free promotion.

Earning in Instagram

Monitor your competitors' accounts. When they start running ads, find their contact information and reach out to offer ad purchases. Work on crafting a persuasive offer, you can even hire copywriters for a compelling text.
Upload your account to Instagram advertising exchanges. Potential advertisers can be found there. How much should you charge? Base it on the reach and engagement of your audience. A commonly used formula is to divide the reach by 10. This applies to an audience engagement of 30-40%. Invest your initial earnings into channel development to increase your audience and income.
For 70% of Instagram users, it's merely a social network for entertainment. The remaining 30% understand that it's a good tool for earning. Some may think that managing an account in 2023 is no longer relevant, but they are mistaken. There are still niches to break into and reach the top. While the opportunity exists, you should take action.

As the Japanese director-animator Hayao Miyazaki once said, "All the beauty of the world can easily fit into the head of one person." But in our case, all the beauty of your business can fit into your Instagram profile.
Every company has a business profile on social media, and Instagram is trendy, modern, vibrant, and beautiful. It is a service for online promotion of your business with over 2 billion active users.
If you want to swim in the ocean with sharks, you shouldn't be afraid of sharks!
Let's break it down:

1. How to properly set up your page.
2. And how to make your profile beautiful.

Your business profile should meet the main requirements:

1. Relevance - your profile should be easily found by its name. It should provide clear information about your services, product details, prices, and contact information.
2. Attractiveness - to make your profile stand out among competitors, create high-quality photos, videos, or animations. This can be done by a good SMM specialist or a professional photographer. Of course, to keep your page consistently active, you will need an SMM specialist.
3. Username - one of the key elements of your recognition. It should be unique yet simple, relevant to your business, easy to read and remember.
4. Brand Identity - the profile header, also known as the "avatar." Below it, there should be a brief description of your company, what you do, what you offer, and perhaps a mention of a few achievements.

What do you need for a beautiful and proper avatar?

First and foremost, it should represent you immediately. This means the image should be memorable, showcase your field of activity, allowing users to recognize you instantly. It should be "love at first sight."

What should you avoid when choosing an avatar?

Avoid blurry images, which result from improper lighting and framing.
Avoid using small fonts. There are numerous examples on Instagram where people use small and bold fonts, resulting in blurry and unattractive visuals.
Colors. Don't chase after the trendiest and most popular ones. If your profile is designed with a "rainbow" theme but you run a serious legal services company, few would be inclined to trust such a frivolous firm.

How to properly organize "highlight stories"?

As the saying goes, "give people what they want."
The so-called "story highlights" are located above your feed. You can upload photos and videos there. It's a very useful feature that allows businesses to provide a wide range of services or segment their products into different categories.
Let's take a clothing store as an example and divide it into:

• Underwear;
• Outerwear;
• Lingerie;
• Jackets, and so on.

You can also divide them based on seasonal products:

• Spring - Summer;
• Fall - Winter.

You can create new highlights for promotions, discounts, and more.
Accordingly, each section should be clearly labeled according to what will be inside the story.
Properly organized information requires less effort to access. Follow this advice, update your Instagram profiles, and eagerly await the next news.

Once upon a time in a faraway kingdom, there lived storytellers: film and television directors, marketers, PR specialists, social media managers, and Instagram bloggers. They possessed the magical power of gathering huge crowds of people around their campfires and screens and telling them stories.
The stories were completely different: some revealed their personal problems, sharing dramas of everyday life and difficulties of building relationships; others talked about a new product and its advantages; some made their cats and dogs dance or run into flat, transparent surfaces of their front doors to entertain their audience. And more sophisticated storytellers came up with terrifying horror stories about bloodthirsty clowns and machines that wanted to take over the world.
The gift possessed by these creators and orators is called storytelling. You can also learn this magical art if you plan to become a famous blogger, cool social media specialist, or a film director.
In simple terms, storytelling is the art of narration in which the storyteller conveys information to their audience in an entertaining format, taking into account the dramatic structure: a certain plotline, conflict, and resolution.
A story is capable of turning listeners into participants of the events, transporting them to the storyteller's world, crossing the threshold of intimacy and being in the moment where all emotions and impressions are real. Moreover, information is better absorbed if its delivery is associated with emotional perception: empathy and sympathy. The effect becomes stronger if the listener has experienced something similar in the past or if it is currently present in their life. This is why we watch movies and become attached to bloggers' stories - all the stories they tell us are directly or indirectly related to our inner world.
Today, storytelling is perhaps the most effective method of turning a boring topic into an exciting text or video, and is therefore widely used in marketing. A well-constructed story can be much more convincing for the reader than just arguments and facts.
Storytelling helps businesses establish a trusting relationship with potential customers and sell more. Rob Walker (writer, journalist) and Joshua Glenn (writer, semiotic analyst) demonstrated the value of storytelling in marketing in their joint book "Selling Stories!" They purchased trinkets such as buttons, bottle openers, and various figurines from thrift stores for just a few dollars each and put them up for auction on eBay, accompanied by a heartfelt story for each item. They spent only $200, but skilled storytellers earned almost $8,000. This experiment showed that proper storytelling can increase the subjective value of any useless item and increase the profitability of investments.
Storytelling in business starts with a slogan. For example, "Just do it" is a ready-made call to action, aimed at achieving the goal and purchasing products of the Nike company. The task of the slogan is to demonstrate the brand's values and its basic principles. Thanks to the slogan, consumers should understand how emotionally close the product is to them.
A website can also be created in the format of storytelling and filled with life through real customer stories, for example, writing about how your products and services help people solve certain life tasks.
Email newsletters can bring in new customers and maintain the loyalty of those who have already purchased something from you. However, the information must be presented in an interesting way so that your emails do not end up in the "Spam" folder.
Personal presentations provide a great opportunity to tell the story of your brand and the development of your company: some interesting moments or difficulties on the path to success always motivate and inspire a huge number of people! If your story is memorable, consider your customers secured.
Social media is a place where you can shout about your achievements, problems, and the advantages of the product you are selling every day! Here, you can use all types of storytelling: verbal, written, and visual in the form of photos and videos.
Almost every story develops according to a classic scenario:

• First - the exposition. This is the introductory part that describes the situation, the hero's profile, and their problem. If you fail to hook the listener/reader/viewer with your story at the beginning, if you fail to arouse interest so that they delve into the narrative, consider it all lost! Without a hook at the beginning, the user will simply switch to something else.
• Then the story unfolds: you need to outline the problem's solution, the hero's path, the difficulties along the way, the experience gained, and so on. In addition to a bright plotline, the characters' emotions, and an unexpected denouement, the story must have a message. Think about what you want to say? What should listeners take away from this story, what should the aftertaste be, and what is the main idea they will take with them?

And then the conclusion, plans for the future, and motivation of the audience towards a specific action - we carefully lead up to the call-to-action at the very end of the story. All parts should be united by a single, well-thought-out plot.
As you can see, you can learn the magical gift of storytelling; you just need to try, try, and try again... And also collect analytics from stories that have interested your audience the most. And voila, the move to the far-off kingdom is virtually guaranteed!

How to shoot reels, instructions, and a bonus app for editing. In our previous article, we discussed what Instagram stories are, how they work, and how to shoot them. Today, we'll continue the topic about Instagram and cover: What are reels and why do we need them? How to shoot reels? And a couple of interesting, useful editing tools.
The video format reels on Instagram was introduced in 2020. It is designed for creating creative clips up to 60 seconds long. The highlight of this format is:

1. The ability to put your favorite music in the clip, as well as choosing from Instagram's library;
2. Using built-in editors and effects, as well as separate apps;
3. The choice of format, length, and quality of the video clip. Reels not only reaches your Instagram followers, but it also targets the entire field of topics that interest you and promotes it in that circle.

Reels Format

The standard format for reels:

• Vertical video - 9:16;
• Duration - from 0.1 to 60 seconds;
• Resolution - 600 by 1067 and 1080 by 1920 pixels.
• Video format - 4K is not supported.

This is necessary for creating high-quality, vibrant, and beautiful short video clips that are becoming more and more popular every day. For example, for people who want to entertain themselves and quickly pass the time, there are various themes, such as animals, entertainment shows, ridiculous moments of people, and much more.

Additionally, this is a useful tool for promoting businesses such as online stores, beauty salons, various services, and online schools like Loftschool: https://instagram.com/loftschool_ru?igshid=MDM4ZDc5MmU=

How to film reels?

There are a few rules to follow to ensure that your reels video is recommended not only to your followers but also to the audience that enjoys the content you create. These rules include:

1. Not breaking the guidelines;
2. Not using someone else's videos;
3. Not publishing watermarks and large amounts of text.

There are several options for filming and uploading videos.
One of which is to film a video through the Instagram app.
Open the app > swipe right > the camera opens > select reels mode under the circle > press and hold the circle. Done.
The second way is to film a video on your phone > open the Instagram app > open the camera > select reels mode > tap the square in the lower left corner > select the video > upload it.
It's not that difficult, is it? Really?
The app itself has many built-in filters, masks, music, and more. But what if you want something else? For example, you liked another video editing app. You filmed a clip there, edited it, and want to transfer it to Instagram? No problem.

Video Editing Programs for Reels

Top 3 video editors that will help you put together and enhance your story and showcase it to your audience.

1. Wondershare Filmora - a top-tier editor with high-quality tools. The variety of filters and special effects available in the app allow you to show users something new, beautiful, and vibrant, everything you need for Instagram reels is available in this app. And that's not all, you can also add animations, frame functions, and motion tracking.
2. Instagram app - this app is perfect for creating reels without having to download a separate video editing app. It has a lot of features and tools for editing, such as the "Align" tab, which combines multiple videos into one clip, which in turn attracts users with its brightness and beautiful effect.
3. iMovie - this is a video editor. Its capabilities include many different features like "Align". Understanding how the editor works is easy. One click and you're done. There is a built-in music library, the ability to record voiceovers, background mode settings, and a title, which makes the overall frame look cohesive and attractive.

Read. Use. Enjoy.
That's all for today. Have a great day, friends!

What are Instagram Stories, where to watch them, how to shoot and add them

– Look at the beautiful sunset.
– Wow, I'll shoot it now and post it to my story.

Doesn't everyone do this? Of course! After all, everyone wants to share and tell what they find attractive, funny, interesting, etc. In social networks, a "story" is a process where a user tells a short story that automatically follows one after another. In addition to sharing different life situations and funny pictures, a story is a very useful tool for business development, for example, for owners of online stores and online schools like Loftschool. Follow the link to our Instagram profile:
https://instagram.com/loftschool_ru?igshid=MDM4ZDc5MmU=

What are the features of Instagram Stories?

Examples of the main differences between Instagram Stories and other formats are:

1. Duration: Video and photos - up to 15 seconds.
2. Removal of the post: The uploaded story will be posted for 24 hours, after which it is automatically removed.

This format allows you to quickly capture the user's interest in the content while the published information is still relevant!

Also, the app has a feature called "Stories Highlights", which remain on your page and are located in circles on the main feed. Their special feature is that they do not disappear after 24 hours.

How to view stories?

1. Open the Instagram app, and on the main page, you will see circles - these are the accounts you are subscribed to.
2. Click on the circle where the user or company's avatar or store is located.
3. How to know if you have viewed the story or not? Look at the color. If the avatar is surrounded by a red color, it means you haven't seen the story yet, and if it's transparent, it means you've already viewed it.

To tell your subscribers a story, you need to click on the "plus" sign located on your avatar or the "plus" sign at the bottom between the "search" and "heart" buttons. After clicking, the app camera will open on your phone. To take a photo, click the white circle once.
For video, hold down the white circle, and you can also choose effects by swiping to the right and holding it down.

After shooting, click the share button and you're done!
Now your story is uploaded to your account.
By clicking on your avatar, you will see your story, and by swiping it up, you can see:

1. The number of users who have viewed your story
2. Who viewed your story
3. Who liked and commented on it

Of course, that's not all. There are many different ways to use Instagram: blocking, restrictions, contests, various types of posts, descriptions, enlarging, and much more. Here's one piece of advice: if you want to learn more about possible features, use your time wisely and carefully study all the functions, read about what you can do with them, and how they can improve your account.