Last week, Jason Pantana shared the news about Instagram’s latest nod to Tiktok. IG Reels may be extending their runtime, allowing users to post videos of up to ten minutes.
And if there’s one thing we’re huge fans of here at BAM is diversifying your content—from snappy shorts to long-form interviews and podcasts. And there are definitely advantages to creating longer-form content.
What we know so far
The folks at Tech Crunch have all the details we’ll be spilling here. As of yet, Instagram is only testing longer Reels internally. Reverse engineer Alessandro Paluzzi first uncovered the feature by sharing an image of the internal prototype on X.
#Instagram is working on the ability to create #Reels up to 10 minutes long 👀 pic.twitter.com/jQTUM9fPsM
— Alessandro Paluzzi (@alex193a) August 30, 2023
By expanding their Reel length from three minutes to 10, Instagram would, once again, be taking a page from TikTok’s book. TikTok increased its maximum video length to 10 minutes over a year ago—in February 2022. Ten-minute Reels would also compete with YouTube.
If Instagram officially rolls out 10-minute Reels, creators will have more time and flexibility for videos that are difficult to trim down to three minutes—or that otherwise need to be broken into multiple parts. Even if you tell your audience to “Watch Part 2,” there’s no guarantee they’ll take the time to find and watch it.
If Reels can be up to 10 minutes long, users who create educational content, comedy sketches, cooking demos, etc., won’t have to choose between gutting their content and breaking it into smaller pieces.
That said, with longer videos, you will have to work a bit harder to keep viewers interested all the way to the end. But those who stick around and who then take the time to comment or send a DM are more likely to be, as Jason put it, “high-intent prospects.”
Instagram is different from both YouTube and TikTok, both in the way you engage with your audience/subscribers and in users’ ability to create an online community around their brand.
People use these platforms differently, but there’s plenty of evidence to show that if you create high-quality long-form content, people will watch it.
So, now what?
It’s too soon to tell whether this feature would crash and burn like IGTV. But it’s doubtful Instagram would even toy with the idea of 10-minute Reels unless they’d learned something from their IGTV experience that would make that outcome less likely this time around.
In any case, what should you be doing right now to (possibly) take advantage of this new feature?
First of all, if your Instagram posts are still not getting the engagement you hoped for, it’s time to change that. We recommend a three-pronged approach with BAMx courses by The Broke Agent and BAM Creator Tom Storey:
- 7 Pillars of Instagram Growth (The Broke Agent)
- The Ultimate Instagram Course for Real Estate Agents (The Broke Agent)
- Lights, Camera, Leads: How to Attract Clients with Video Content (Tom Storey)
Second of all, if you’re not already creating long-form content, start building a library of high-value longer-form videos for your audience.
If you’re not a BAMx member, stop missing out on the best deal in real estate. The BAMx Facebook group alone is worth the price of signing up.
Case in point: Yesterday, we hosted a live Manychat webinar—the replay for which is now available on the BAMx platform. Learn exactly how to use this genius tool to get massive engagement on Instagram and Facebook.
The list of courses and other content on the BAMx platform just keeps growing. And as long as we can keep finding ways to help you grow your real estate business, BAMx will keep growing in size and value for committed professionals like you. We look forward to seeing you there!
