As businesses increasingly turn to short-form video content to connect with their audience, it’s crucial to have a strategic approach to creating reels and TikToks that drive real results, not just views and likes.
In her presentation at the November Business Blueprint conference, Creative Director Alisha Mufatia shared her insights on the key ingredients for a successful video marketing strategy.
The 4 Types of Reels
According to Alisha, there are four main types of content you should incorporate into your reel strategy:
Promotional – This is where you directly promote your products, services, offers, or other business initiatives. The goal is to drive sales and conversions. However, as Alisha explains, “If all you’re posting is promotional content, you might experience crickets chirping and no customers, because you haven’t actually got the right people in the room to talk to yet.”
Educational – Provide value to your audience by sharing quick tips, insights, or tutorials. This helps establish you as an expert in your field. However, be mindful that most people don’t come to social media for education. They want to be entertained first, so keep your messages short and snappy.
Storytelling – Share personal anecdotes, behind-the-scenes moments, or the story behind your business. Storytelling builds trust and connection.
Shareable – Create content that is entertaining, inspiring, or taps into trends. This type of reel is designed to maximise views, shares and engagement.
The Winning Recipe
Just like baking the perfect cake, Alisha emphasised that a successful video marketing strategy requires blending these four content types in the right proportions.
She outlined a 7-step “recipe” for reel success:
- Know Your Audience – Deeply understand your target customer’s pain points, desires and behaviours.
- Balance the Content Types – Ensure you’re posting a mix of promotional, educational, storytelling, and shareable reels.
- Provide Context – Use the middle portion of your reel to deliver value, share information or develop your story.
- Include a Clear Call-to-Action – End your reel with a specific next step you want viewers to take, whether that’s visiting your website, making a purchase, or engaging with your brand.
- Make it Consumable – Format your reels for optimal mobile viewing, using the right aspect ratios and keeping content ‘snackable’.
- Be Consistent – Post regularly and maintain a cohesive brand voice and messaging across your reels.
As Alisha explains, it’s important to think about the content and the message you share. “When you make people feel something, happy, excited, sad, you’re likely to get a reaction, an action, because it goes through to the subconscious mind, and that’s where it all really happens,” she explains.
By following this recipe and experimenting to find the right mix for your business, you can create a video strategy that captures attention, builds relationships and drives real results on social media, but there will be some trial and error involved. Alisha adds that, “Your recipe is going to need some refining, but every time you post a reel, you will learn what works and what doesn’t. From there, you can make it better and start seeing these dream results.”
Viral vs effective short form video
One of the key distinctions Alisha emphasized in her presentation was the difference between short-form videos aimed at going viral versus those designed to drive sales.
Viral-focused reels tend to be more broad, humourous or relatable in nature. The goal is to create content that is highly shareable, allowing it to spread quickly and reach a large audience. While this can be beneficial for building brand awareness and growing a following, Alisha cautioned that it doesn’t necessarily translate to actual sales.
On the other hand, sales-focused reels are more targeted and specific. Rather than aiming for mass appeal, the content is tailored to the needs and pain points of the brand’s ideal customer. These videos may be longer, more educational, or use storytelling to build a deeper connection. Alisha shared her own experience of creating a 52-second reel during a product launch that, while not her most viewed, directly resulted in over $15,000 in sales within 24 hours. The key, she emphasised, is prioritizing quality of views over quantity – focusing on reaching the right people, not just the most people.
Think of viral reels as appealing to your ideal audience and sales/promotional reels as appealing to your ideal buyer, then aim for a mix of the two.
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