Want to give your event legs? Do it with a short video recap via Instagram reels, Breana Baranek recommends. She’s a creative director and iPhone content creator for Howell-based Sprouts Content LLC, and also works with her husband doing corporate video projects through his event rental company Mammoth Party based in Detroit.
“Historically, with videography being expensive, a lot of brands have prioritized photography,” Baranek says. “Photography pauses you in the moment, but a good reel is able to portray the experience of what it was actually like to be in the moment.” Baranek says an effective event-recap reel should be about 90 seconds, with one or two supporting reels from 30 to 60 seconds. The key is to get them completed and posted the same day or shortly thereafter.
“They perform really great on Instagram, but they also can go on platforms such as LinkedIn, YouTube Shorts, TikTok, and Facebook,” she says. “Generally, the only people who are going to see the photos you posted are those who already follow you. But if you’re trying to reach new people, a reel is an incredible [method] for discovery.”
Nicole E. Lakatos, director of events for Anthology Events at Detroit’s historic Book Tower, is seeing more and more event planners who use reels this way. “They will have someone on their team or [a person] they hire who will come in, shoot it, and put it all together,” she says. “It helps promote them and the actual event after the fact.”
