Using Instagram Reels to market your dairy diversification

Instagram can be a very effective platform for some businesses, particularly those that sell photogenic products such as food and drink. One of the best ways to increase reach on Instagram is to use their reels feature. Using reels is a highly effective way to increase the reach of your dairy diversification on Instagram. But knowing what to post can be difficult if you are new to using reels.

Why should you be using Instagram Reels for your dairy diversification

Central to making the most of any social media platform is to work with the tools they give you. Currently, Instagram is really pushing its reels feature. This is in an attempt to stave-off market share loss from TikTok. So, if you aren’t using reels, you are likely to find your reach significantly reduced. Reels can be scary when you first get started, but practice makes perfect, and it is another fantastic tool for educating your audience.

Some ideas for reels could include:

• What happens to male calves on our farm?
• A tour of our milking parlour! What system do we use?
• Why do we use mob grazing for our cows? And what is it?
• How do we make our ice cream? See our behind-the-scenes process!
• Cheese tasting masterclass
• Which cheese should I choose for my cheese board?
• Why should you buy milk from vending machines rather than from the supermarket?

These are mostly educational, but you can also have fun with reels such as dancing ones, or following current trends in the audio choices, for example, the use of ‘’tik tik boom’’ a few months ago.

If you are interested in blog ideas for your dairy diversification check out this blog

Getting the most out of Instagram for your dairy diversification

Reels are also the main form of content that is shared outside of your following. This is why it is so effective for increasing your reach and following on the platform. You can also choose to have your reels shared on Facebook for added reach.

At the moment, Instagram is pushing users to complete reels every day or as often as possible, but even doing them a couple of times a week will help your reach. You can also use a scheduling tool for some reels or use the draft option on Instagram to have a few reels prepared and then post them over a few days, saving you time and energy.

We often make a couple of different reels using the same or very similar video/image content and just change up the audio or caption. We can then post the ‘’extra’’ copies the following week or even a few days later with different hashtags, so it shows up in the feed      of different Instagram users.

Audio for Reels

You can also improve your reels reach by using trending audio from the app, which will help to gain more exposure. Examples of trending audio from the last few months include:

• Tik Tik Boom
• Instagram says I have to keep making reels to grow, so here’s your reel…
• Seriously, what is this place…
• I’m a small business owner, which means I am also a content creator…

The trends will come and go, but if you can tap into them where appropriate, they will make a big difference to your reach. The trends will also indicate if it is best to use images or videos or both on your reel.

Searching for audio on the app can be a bit of a pain, so I recommend saving audio you like when you spot it so it is easy to access when you make your reel. You can also use original audio, but for those new to using reels, I wouldn’t recommend this. However, if you have a good audio setup, it can be useful if you want to tap into the ASMR trend.

The ASMR trend is the creation and sharing of pleasing audio, which is often seen in food and drink preparation videos, coupled with low, soothing voice-overs. Depending on what type of dairy diversification you run, you may be able to create ASMR content. For example, if you are producing a dairy-based drink or cheese, this can be a really effective trend to use. But it does require a good quality audio recording set-up and some skill in creating the right sounds and tone.

For dairy diversification businesses recipe videos are a really useful and engaging form of content. The recipes don’t have to be hard, it’s just about showing your audience another way to engage with your product. For more farm marketing content ideas, check out this blog.

Once you have engagement from your audience, make sure you build on it: reply to all comments and, where possible, try to start a conversation. So often I see businesses respond to comments with a simple emoji or with a “thank you”. Try to go one better: can you ask a follow-up question? Or can you give them additional feedback or information?

What type of users will be on Instagram?

We can fall foul of thinking of Instagram users as teenagers, but the truth is that teens have now moved on to platforms such as TikTok, and the majority of active Instagram users are now aged between 20 and 40. This means that active Instagram users are predominantly millennials and some older Gen Zs.

These are people who have careers and are likely established in their living situation. They are also increasingly likely not to have children and to be more willing to spend money on experiences, or experience-     led products. They are also more likely to be educated consumers and to make purchase choices that they see as being ethical. This can include trends such as the increase in plant-based diets, but it can also include trends towards buying more locally and choosing high-welfare animal products.

Instagram also benefits from having a strong foodie community, which can be extremely valuable for dairy businesses if leveraged effectively.

Their love of experience-led shopping means they are the ideal target market for many farm businesses. They are also often keen to spend on value-added experiences. As such, a good way to increase the average spend of your customers is to team up with other local businesses who provide complementary activities. For example, if you are a cheese producer, you may be able to team up with a local restaurant or vineyard to offer a wine and cheese night.

Is it worth having a photographer/videographer in to do some content creation for your dairy diversification?

If you want to use Instagram Reels, then ideally you need to look at getting good at recording short video clips yourself. Reels demand a high quantity of good-quality content as video clips and images, which is hard to achieve without having some internal skills for this. However, some reels are better than no reels, and we often find our clients get much better at capturing image and video content with practice.

That said, if you are a newer business, having some brand photography or videography done to give you a backlog to draw on can be really useful. It will give you time to hone your own content skills.

Having this done doesn’t have to be a regular event and doesn’t mean you only use professional images online, but it does give you a library of professional imagery for ongoing use. You can then choose to add to this content with personal images you have taken or content from customers.

When you are having professional content created or when you are filming for your own purposes, make an effort to consider how you will dress your products and the business as a whole to look as good as possible. You can always do other content where you show what it looks like on an average day to educate your audience. But doing stunning images of really attractive set-ups will help your content, and hence your business, to gain further reach on Instagram.