Alexis Kestler
Instagram Reels have exploded in popularity, opening up new creative opportunities for influencers and brands alike. By leveraging the latest Instagram Reels trends, you can create content that resonates with audiences, gets high engagement, and helps you stand out.
In this post, we‘ll overview 15 of the hottest Instagram Reels trends you should try this year, along with actionable tips for executing each trend. Read on to future-proof your content strategy and stay ahead of the curve!
What Are Instagram Reels and Why Are They Popular?
In case you‘re unfamiliar, Instagram Reels are short, entertaining videos up to 60 seconds long. They offer TikTok-style formats like filters, audio, effects, stickers, timers, and text overlays to enhance creativity.
Reels have quickly become popular because they allow anyone to create fun, engaging video content easily right within the Instagram app. The built-in discovery features also give Reels the potential to reach huge new audiences.
For influencers and brands, Reels present a major opportunity to show off your personality, promote your products in new ways, and grow your following.
Benefits of Using Instagram Reels Include:
- Showcase Creativity: Stylize videos with music, effects, edits that capture attention
- Increase Engagement: Follow trends to create content audiences love interacting with
- Reach New Audiences: Get content featured on Explore page and viewed by millions
- Spotlight Products: Showcase offerings in innovative, eye-catching ways
- Build Loyal Community: Entertain and connect with followers through personality-driven content
Now let’s overview some of the hottest Instagram Reels trends you should be leveraging this year!
1. Gasolina Dance Trend
The song “Gasolina” by Daddy Yankee has revived as a viral dance trend. Influencers and creators are doing choreographed dances to the high energy track, often in fun locales like beaches, parties, or cars.
To tap into this trend yourself, grab your friends and brainstorm a dance routine or freestyle performance. Capture it with dynamic camera angles and vibrant backdrops for maximum entertainment value. Don’t forget to add the “Gasolina” song!
2. Calm Down Dance Challenge
Selena Gomez and Rema’s new track “Calm Down” has inspired a sea of dance videos. For this trend, creators come up with various choreographed moves or silly freestyles to the chill, groovy song.
Put your own spin by showing off your best and goofiest dance steps. Feel free to enlist friends to join in the trend too! The laidback vibe of “Calm Down” works perfectly as your soundtrack.
3. Fake ID Trend
Riton‘s "Fake ID" song took off in popularity thanks to its catchy beat. For this trend, creators use the audio in videos where they pretend to get into funny situations using their fake ID.
Get creative with the narratives and scenarios you act out to this upbeat track. Show the "Fake ID" getting you into exclusive clubs, buying lottery tickets, or any silly situation!
4. Smooth Transition Trend
The trend here is to show lots of fast cuts between short video clips to the song “Smooth Operator.” It works great to demonstrate progression, like showing a step-by-step process or visual transformation.
Try using this trend to display any kind of smooth transition – traveling across cities, cooking a complex dish, growing up over the years, etc. Get creative with what you document and change with each video clip!
5. I Made This Trend
“I made this” reels showcase creators proudly presenting things they made, like art, crafts, foods, products, and more. The feel-good audio is perfect for a charming, upbeat reveal.
Simply capture yourself excitedly pointing at, holding up, or showing off something you created. You can Tailor it to your niche – bake a beautiful cake, build furniture from scratch, show off your latest coding project!
6. Watch This Trend
Lil Uzi Vert’s “Watch This” song is used for reels documenting creators‘ days. They showcase routine activities like waking up, working out, making coffee, working on a computer, to give followers a glimpse into their day.
Vlog out your own regular day with this trend! Capture your morning routine, work from home grind, midday workout, whatever your day includes. The catchy track serves as an energetic, uplifting backdrop.
7. What I Ordered Vs. What I Got
For this meme-inspired trend, people showcase ridiculous differences between the product images advertised online to what actually showed up. It serves as both parody and critique of misleading marketing.
The humor here comes from the utter absurdity – juxtapose a sleek model photo with your silly recreation using everyday objects. Or capture shots unboxing a delivery gone horribly wrong. Have fun with this trend!
8. Blink Challenge
The blink challenge dares people to blink exactly on beat at an oddly specific time. Successfully timing your blink to hits at exactly 4 seconds into the song has become a surprisingly viral trend.
Give this odd trend a shot yourself! Caution: perfectly timing your blink is surprisingly tough. For added entertainment, film your failed attempts too.
9. Good Part Trend
For this trend, creators build up anticipation with a series of quick clips leading up to an audio drop signifying the “good part." It‘s commonly used to reveal vacation destinations or other surprises.
Try using this for any big reveal – show messy preparations before the final costume look, the long journey before reaching a stunning landscape, years of work before launching a product. Let anticipation build!
10. Say No Trend
This challenge shows creators responding "no" in diverse emotional styles. Examples include an exaggerated happy no, deadpan no, extremely angry no, and more.
Flex your acting chops for this trend! Brainstorm a list of different moods – confused, scary, bored etc. Then film yourself stating no in those styles. Enlist friends to make it more dynamic!
11. It‘s Corn Trend!
This odd trend simply captures Gen Z‘s absurd enthusiasm for corn set to a remix of a boy passionately declaring "it‘s corn!" Creators highlight something they‘re excited about and declare it too is "corn."
Showcase your own favorite things, whether pets, fashion, plants etc and declare "it‘s corn!" The randomness and silliness make it fun. Get creative remixing the audio too!
12. Money Don‘t Jiggle Jiggle
Duke & Jones’ viral track “Money Don’t Jiggle Jiggle” has blown up reels with dance videos. People come up with fun choreography or silly moves inspired by the song’s lyrics.
Bring this dance craze to life yourself! Shake what you got and freestyle moves inspired by money making. Have fun with it and watch your reel jiggle with enjoyment!
13. Show Your Mood Reels
For this trend, creators pose like different emoji faces to reflect moods like happy, sad, angry, etc. Transitioning between the emotional poses adds humor.
Quickly replicate a spectrum of emoji icon faces – excited, crying, shocked, in love. Challenge yourself to showcase more nuanced moods too like confusion, disgust, pride. Transition smoothly between them!
14. I Can‘t Help But Feel Trend
This reels trend uses Seven Skin‘s groovy track to transition mid-video to express an unexpected feeling about something shown earlier. It‘s great for throwing in plot twists or surprise endings.
Set up an initial mood then flip the script! Display something positive then transition into feeling awful about it. Or vice versa – recover from a disastrous moment by revealing things worked out. Get creative revealing those plot twists!
How to Find More Trending Reels
Now that you’re filled with ideas to try the latest reels trends, here are some pro tips for staying on top of what’s hot:
1. Browse the Instagram Reels Tab: Scroll through the Reels feed to see volumes of the most recent viral content
2. Use Relevant Hashtags: Search hashtags like #reeltrend and #reelsinstagram to see what‘s popular
3. Follow Trendsetters: Stay updated by following major influencer trendsetters known for setting viral crazes
4. Check Story Trays: Look for creators sharing their trending reels across Instagram stories
5. Utilize Social Listening: Use tools like BuzzSumo to identify rising reels topics
6. Analyze Your Analytics: Check your own reels insights to see which trends resonate most with your audience
Why Reels Work Well for Influencers & Brands
Now that you’re filled with ideas, you may wonder – why should I invest time in leveraging trends with Instagram Reels?
Implementing reels trends into your content strategy generates huge value:
For Influencers
- Entertain followers with fun videos aligned to latest memes
- Increase engagement and shares by tapping into viral moments
- Attract new followers interested in trending content
- Get your reels featured on Explore page to gain massive reach
For Brands
- Showcase products uniquely with creative, meme-inspired videos
- Raise brand awareness by aligning with viral moments
- Engage Gen Z/Millennials through funny, entertaining content
- Increase conversions and sales by spotlighting offerings
Key Takeaways
Reels trends offer immense potential for creators and businesses to captivate audiences in new ways. By aligning your content strategy with the latest viral crazes, you gain valuable exposure, engagement, and relevance.
Key highlights include:
- New reels platform offers creative video formats for influencers and brands
- Tapping into latest trending memes grants huge discovery opportunities
- Try out dance challenges, viral sounds, ironic humor and more
- Tools and strategies help identify and leverage trending moments
- Big benefits for engagement, reach, awareness, and conversions
The reels format will only grow more popular going forward. Stay ahead of the curve by keeping up with emerging trend and putting your own spin on each meme!
What trend will you try out next? Share your reels with me!
