How to Batch Create Reels in One Day
Introduction
Are you a small business owner wanting to be more consistent with your Instagram reels? There's only one problem—they take so long to create. What if I told you there's a process to help you knock out all your reels for the month in ONE day?
Posting consistently is a powerful way to build trust, boost brand recognition, and cultivate community. This post covers my step-by-step system on how to batch create reels in one day. If you want to download your free guide walking you this reels batching system, click here!
How to Make Reels Faster
Before we get into it, here are a few tips to help you make reels faster. These will save you time as you work through the reels batching process.
Work in Stages
Instead of creating one reel from start to finish and then moving on to the next reel, work in stages. This means that you do all your research, planning, filming, editing, and captions for all your reels, instead of starting every reel from scratch.
Working in stages like this allows you to "get in the zone" for each stage you're in. Your brain isn't bouncing around from task to task, rather it's getting into a flow state for each stage. You'll get into a groove for your caption writing and your filming. This also saves you "refocus time" that you'd otherwise need when you're frequently changing what you're working on.
Use a Content Calendar
A content calendar is your secret weapon for planning out content, managing publish dates, repurposing, and working through this batch creating reels system.
As a marketing strategist who has managed countless posting schedules for myself and clients, I quite honestly couldn't do my job without a content calendar. If you aren't currently using one in your business, snag the content calendar template I use myself and with all my clients here. I guarantee it will boost your efficiency and consistency with your content.
Work When Inspiration Strikes
Inspiration is not something you can force. When you're feeling extra inspired or motivated, take advantage of that feeling! That's likely when it's best to proceed with batch creating reels in one day.
If you feel the tug of inspiration or a brilliant idea pops into your head for a reel, jot it down in your Notes app. I have a running list of content ideas in my Notes that came to me while on a walk, in the shower, crafting, or out and about, and this list gives me ideas to pull from when inspiration isn't as high. I'll later move these ideas over to my content calendar template, but the Notes app is a convenient place for temporary storage.
How to Batch Create Reels in One Day
Keeping those tips in mind, it's time to batch create reels in one day! Here's my 5-step, simple process for crossing those reels off your to-do list.
1. Creative Planning
The first step is creative planning. This is where you "scroll for inspiration"—but don't get stuck doomscrolling here. Set a timer for 10 minutes and save any reels or trends that inspire you. Save the trending audios you'd like to use as well. Reference the ideas you've accumulated in your Notes app. Add all of these pieces of content to your content calendar.
Then, plan out your shot list, scripts you'll read, and the text that you'll put on the screen of the reels. This list will help you in the filming and editing stages of batch creating reels.
2. Filming
Once your brilliant reel concepts are mapped out, you're ready to film! If you choose to change outfits between each video, I recommend laying all of those out first. It's not required, but some creators prefer to have variety in their videos.
If you haven't compiled a complete shot list yet, wrap that up using the ideas you came up with in your creative planning stage. Then, it's time to film! Work your way through your shot list until you finish filming all your reels. Personally, this is the stage I dread the most, but it never takes me too long if I stick to the shot list.
3. Editing
Now, it's time to edit! Work your way through each reel, adding the trending audios you saved and text on screen that you planned during step 1. Edit directly inside of the Instagram app, or use a third-party editing app like Capcut.
After each reel is edited, save them to your Camera Roll in case your drafts are deleted by accident. Trust me—I'm speaking from experience here.
4. Caption Writing
No more winging your captions! Take some time to write out all you captions. I like to store these inside of my content calendar template, so that when it comes time to post, it's as easy as copy/pasting.
If the reel has little text on screen, I typically make my captions a bit longer. If there's a lot of text on screen or if it's a voiceover, I'll often keep them short and sweet. Caption writing may take a large chunk of time, so I encourage you to repurpose old posts and vary the length of your captions.
5. Scheduling
Lastly, it's time to schedule all your batched reels! This may look like actually scheduling them inside a third-party app like Later or Tailwind. Or, if you prefer to manually post like I do, assign each task a due date.
For this step, I usually ensure all my reels have a due date on my content calendar template. I try to stay consistent, whether that means I'm posting once per week, twice per week, etc. Stick to posting on the same days of the week too, if possible.
Free Reels Done in a Day Framework
See how easy it is to batch create reels in one day when you have a system? This process has saved me hours and hours of time, and it also makes reels much less daunting.
If you enjoyed reading about this system and want to try it out for yourself, click here to download my free Reels Done in a Day framework! This guide walks you through each step, shares the amount of time to allot for each, and it also has places to store your concepts.
Prefer a digital version that's even more streamlined? The Reels Done in a Day template contains all of this same information, but in a ClickUp list so you can more easily track deadlines, plan out all your details, and make this process even more efficient. Click here to snag your template!
Your Place for Content Brainstorming
Thinking this process looks great, but you're still missing that inspiration component? Wishing you had a place for content brainstorming, getting fresh ideas and perspectives, and collaborating with like-minded business owners? The Bloom Membership is for you!
This vibrant community for small business owners will become your go-to place to get feedback and new ideas, virtually cowork, network, and meet your new business friends. Click here to join the Bloom Membership—cancel anytime, but I promise you won't want to!
