How To Get 1 Million Views on Reels: 11 Strategies

One million is a huge number. Putting this figure into perspective, the entire country of Fiji could watch your Reels, and you still wouldn’t reach this milestone. You need to put a lot of time and effort into your content creation if you hope to reach this number.

And while we do have a guide on reaching 10k views on Reels, you’ll need to amplify your strategy to get to 1 million views.

We’re going to outline:

If you want to increase your Reels organically, you can put the following strategies in place and start seeing results quickly. Keep in mind that this is just the baseline of what you need to do to get your content seen.

It will take time to reach 1 million views on Reels, and there’s no real shortcut to this level of exposure. If you’re willing to put in the hard work and effort, views will begin ticking up.

How To Get 1 Million Views on Reels?

Reels are amazing for engagement and are a great way to increase your following. People appreciate it when you share content in all formats. If you follow the advice below, you’ll have an easier time growing your social accounts across all platforms.

But the first tip is strictly for video content – because people consume it at such high rates.

1. Hook People in with the First 3 Seconds of Your Video

Instagram Reels can be magnetic and grab the viewer’s attention the moment they click on it. And if you’ve ever been stuck on a video from the second it begins playing, it’s because someone used an irresistible hook that kept people watching from start to finish.

What is a hook?

A hook is kind of like an intro to your story. You want the person to continue watching, right? Mr. Beast uses hooks on YouTube by showing something outrageous and then walking his viewers through the entire story of how he reached it.

You can do something similar by:

You can start with a problem and explain how to fix it, or you can show the results. “I didn’t know how to change my car’s oil until I did…” And then, you would continue on with your video.

For every video you create, you want to begin with a hook that is enough to get people to spend their time watching it.

2. Tell a Story

You’ve hooked the person in, but it’s time to tell a story. For example, in the example above, you changed your oil. And you can tell the story of how you read through books, asked a mechanic and then decided that you’ll give the oil change a try.

You might have:

Everything you create has a story behind it, and this is why people love social media and Instagram Reels. If you use your Reel to tell a story, it’s far more powerful than images because it’s visual.

Talk directly to your audience in your Reel and don’t be afraid to spend a lot of time coming up with your story.

A few things that will help are:

3. Use the Right Hashtags

Hashtags are something too many creators seem to overlook. If you want people to find your content organically, you can help them using hashtags. 

Don’t know what a hashtag is? It’s the “#WORD” that you’ll see listed in descriptions. Instagram will parse the content for these words and then add it to its internal database. If a person searches for the hashtag, it can show up as a:

Top posts stay on the top of Instagram’s search for a hashtag and will drive a lot of organic viewers to your content.

But where do you find hashtags to use?

You can simply type “#” into Instagram’s search and then use that to find how many times your desired hashtag is searched. If you want an even easier method, we have a fantastic tool for you to use.

Use our tool to grab the top hashtags in your niche or for the Reel that you’re posting. We make it simple to find the best hashtags, and you don’t need to give us your email address or any other identifying information.

4. Post Reels Regularly

If you think about the content creators you follow, you’ll realize that the regular posters seem to get more:

Why?

People are creatures of habit. Your followers want to know what to expect from following you, and this may mean that you need to post Reels on every Monday and Friday. Over time, your audience will begin to notice your posting pattern and check your account for your new Reel.

We found in our in-depth posting guide that creators should post Reels 3 – 5 times per week.

If you don’t have the capacity to post this often, you can always stick to two posts a week. Over time, as your views and followers grow, you can then focus more on Reels. And over time, something else will happen.

Not only will your followers get accustomed to your posting schedule, but Instagram’s algorithm will, too.

Posting consistently, especially if your Reels are getting tens of thousands of views, will help your Reels gain even more traction. Remember, Instagram wants you to create content, and when you do it consistently, it’s only a matter of time before you’re rewarded for your hard work.

5. Create Covers for Your Reels

Instagram Reels have their own covers, and they act as a sort of thumbnail. If you create any video content, you know that thumbnails are crucial to getting clicks. People will look at the thumbnail and decide whether or not they want to click on the video.

But how do you create a cover?

You can use editors to find a screenshot from your video, edit it and make a cover. Adding the cover is simple:

You can use your own custom image as the Cover for your Reel. We’ve found that changing the cover to something that is intriguing is enough to attract more views to the Reel. If you’re reaching the 1 million view mark, using an attention-grabbing cover may push you over the 1 million view threshold.

The cover that you add will certainly be much higher quality than the one from your video footage.

You can even add in a call-to-action to tell people to view the Reel.

6. Use Text

A lot of Instagram users watch Reels without sound. If you want to keep people engaged and boost your views, it’s important to cater to these users by adding text to your Reels.

Text will tell people what’s going on, so even if they’re watching your Reel without sound, they can still understand what’s happening.

It’s estimated that 85% of people watch videos on mute, so if you’re not adding text, you’re missing out on a huge number of viewers.

To make your text more engaging, you can experiment with different fonts or use caption tools that will automatically generate captions for your Reels and save you time.

7. Use Trending Music

Here’s a little-known hack to get more views to your Instagram Reels: use popular or trending music. 

When you view a Reel on Instagram, you’ll see a little icon under the three dots (below the share icon) at the bottom-right side of the screen. If you tap that icon, it will take you to a page for that audio, where you can listen to the music and see other Reels that are using that song.

If you’re using trending audio, there’s a much higher chance that people will find your Reel on the audio page.

While it’s great to use trending audio in your content, it’s also important to make sure that music is relevant to your Reel. In other words, don’t just add music because it’s popular. If it doesn’t fit the vibe or content of your video, look for something that does.

8. Post When Your Audience is Online

Instagram has billions of users, but so it’s easy to assume that you can post your Reels any time of the day and get a ton of views. But that’s not how it works.

To maximize your reach, you need to post when your audience is online. 

How do you know when your audience is online? Check your Instagram Insights if you have a business account.

On your Insights dashboard, you’ll find a tab for Most Active Times, which will tell you which hours of each day your audience is most active. 

Make a note of these times and start posting when you know people are online and will see your Reels.

Don’t have any data on your Insights tab? Try posting on a weekday between 7 AM and 8 AM. This is the time when users are just waking up and checking their phones, so they’re more likely to see your Reel.

9. Use Analytics to Improve Your Content

If your goal is to hit 1 million views on Reels, then you need to continually improve your content. Each Reel should be better than the last.

But how do you know what kind of content works best for your audience? 

Use analytics, or Instagram Insights, to find out. You can view individual insights for each of your Reels, including:

Use this information to see which Reels performed well and which ones didn’t. Create more of the content that did perform well, so you continue to feed the algorithm and your audience what they love.

10. Buy Views

Want a simple way to hit 1 million views on Reels? Buy them! Just make sure that you choose a trusted, credible provider that offers real views from real accounts – like Viralyft.

We have packages ranging from 500 views all the way up to 100,000 views for your Reels.

Buying views can be a great way to kickstart your Reels and help you attract more organic views along the way.

11. Collaborate with Other Creators

If you have relationships with other creators or influencers, you can create Collab Reels to get more views. 

Collab Reels appear on both users’ accounts, so you get twice the exposure.

To create a Collab post:

Collabs are a really easy and quick way to skyrocket your views. To make your account available for collaborations:

Under the Who can tag you section, you’ll find three options:

If you don’t allow tags, you won’t be able to collaborate with others. It may be best to stick with the second option, “allow tags from people you follow,” so you don’t get bombarded with spam.

Summary

More than 200 billion Reels are played on Instagram and Facebook every day. But there are also thousands of creators all vying for views and engagement. To get 1 million views, you have to stand out in the crowd. Use our guide to start creating unique Reels that rake in the views.