The 6 B-Roll Reel Formulas (and how to make content, quick!)

Summary

Podcast Summary: "The 6 B-Roll Reel Formulas (and how to make content, quick!)"

Podcast Information:

• Title: Shiny New Clients!
• Host: Jenna Harding (Warriner)
• Episode Title: The 6 B-Roll Reel Formulas (and how to make content, quick!)
• Release Date: January 6, 2025

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Introduction to B-Roll Reels

In this episode, Jenna Warner delves into the powerful strategy of using B-Roll Reels to consistently gain views on Instagram in 2025. She emphasizes that B-Roll Reels are not merely a fleeting trend but a staple content style that has been ingrained in social media marketing for some time. Jenna explains the evolution from static images to dynamic video content, highlighting the advantages of incorporating simple videos with text overlays to engage audiences effectively.

[00:42] Jenna Warner: "It's more like a style of content that has been so super popularized for so long now that it is what we accept as content."

Understanding B-Roll Reels

Jenna defines B-Roll Reels as simple videos that replace static images on platforms like Instagram. Originating from television production terminology, B-Roll refers to supplementary footage that enhances the main content. On social media, these reels typically feature minimalistic video clips—such as someone drinking coffee or walking down the street—with text overlays that deliver the core message.

[02:11] Jenna Warner: "It's like those static graphics and statement graphics, but now it's a B-roll reel—a simple video in the background."

Benefits of B-Roll Reels

B-Roll Reels offer a straightforward and efficient way to create engaging content without the need for elaborate production setups. Jenna points out that these reels can significantly improve watch time, a critical factor for Instagram’s algorithm, by keeping viewers engaged and encouraging them to watch the content multiple times.

[02:45] Jenna Warner: "I'm telling you, this is the easiest form of content to create for your business."

The 6 B-Roll Reel Formulas

Jenna breaks down six effective formulas for text overlays on B-Roll Reels, each designed to maximize engagement and visibility.

1. Question and Answer

This formula leverages common questions from leads to create content. By posing a question as a hook and then revealing the answer, creators can maintain viewers’ interest and increase watch time.

[05:30] Jenna Warner: "When your leads ask you questions, you are writing your content for you."

2. Hook and Reveal

Similar to the Question and Answer format, this method involves capturing attention with a compelling hook and following it with a revealing statement or solution. This approach keeps viewers intrigued and eager to watch until the end.

[06:15] Jenna Warner: "We hook them in with a hook... and then a reveal."

3. Backwards Storytelling (Picture Recipes)

This formula starts with the end result and then showcases the process to achieve it. Commonly used by food creators, it effectively illustrates the journey from the final product back to the initial steps.

[07:40] Jenna Warner: "We start with the final product and then show people how you got there."

4. Guts Spill

"Guts Spill" involves sharing a substantial amount of text over a short video clip. This method encourages viewers to watch the video multiple times to read all the information, thereby boosting engagement metrics.

[09:13] Jenna Warner: "One chunk of text sits on the screen... the algorithm sees people watching your video all the way through twice."

5. Three Steps to Result

This straightforward approach outlines three actionable steps to achieve a specific outcome. It is highly effective for conveying clear and concise information, making it easy for viewers to follow and implement.

[10:25] Jenna Warner: "Here are three things I did to grow on Instagram..."

6. How To with a Loop

Combining "How To" content with a looping video sequence, this formula ensures that viewers watch the clip repeatedly. The seamless loop creates an illusion of endless content, further increasing watch time and engagement.

[12:00] Jenna Warner: "How to with a loop... viewers keep watching the clip and they accidentally watch it twice."

Strategic Implementation and Optimization

Jenna emphasizes the importance of optimizing B-Roll Reels to align with Instagram’s algorithm. By designing content that naturally encourages longer watch times and repeated views, creators can enhance their visibility and reach. She also highlights the necessity of strong messaging and clear audience targeting, ensuring that the content resonates with the intended audience and effectively communicates the desired message.

[12:45] Jenna Warner: "The only way that people are gonna watch your content is if you rock your messaging."

Additional Resources

To supplement the strategies discussed, Jenna offers a free PDF containing detailed examples of each B-Roll Reel formula. She encourages listeners to access this resource via the show notes or her Instagram page. This PDF serves as a practical guide for implementing the six formulas, providing visual examples to help creators replicate the techniques in their own businesses.

[15:30] Jenna Warner: "You can go down into the show notes, pop in your email and name, get your copy of this PDF and on it I have linked examples of all of them."

Conclusion

Jenna Warner's episode on B-Roll Reels provides a comprehensive guide for service-based business owners looking to enhance their social media presence. By mastering the six B-Roll Reel formulas, creators can produce engaging content that not only attracts views but also drives meaningful engagement and client acquisition. Jenna reinforces the significance of combining strategic content creation with effective messaging to achieve sustained growth on platforms like Instagram.

For more insights and resources, listeners are encouraged to follow Jenna on Instagram and access the free PDF available in the show notes.

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Notable Quotes:

• [00:42] Jenna Warner: "It's more like a style of content that has been so super popularized for so long now that it is what we accept as content."
• [02:11] Jenna Warner: "It's like those static graphics and statement graphics, but now it's a B-roll reel—a simple video in the background."
• [05:30] Jenna Warner: "When your leads ask you questions, you are writing your content for you."
• [09:13] Jenna Warner: "One chunk of text sits on the screen... the algorithm sees people watching your video all the way through twice."
• [12:45] Jenna Warner: "The only way that people are gonna watch your content is if you rock your messaging."

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Further Resources:

• Free PDF with B-Roll Reel Formulas: Available in the show notes or via Jenna's Instagram page.
• Instagram Page: Jenna's Instagram

Transcript

[Jenna Warner]

Welcome to Shiny New Clients, the marketing podcast that helps you attract shiny new clients to your business. We'll talk about social media, what makes people buy, how to go viral, and marketing psychology all in 20 minutes or less. Whether you're a coach, a stylist, or a wedding planner, if you've got a service based business to sell, this is the show you need to fill your calendar. I'm Jenna Warner, your new marketing coach and this is Shiny New New Clients.

[Unknown Speaker 1]

The easiest, most consistent way to get views on Instagram right now in 2025.

[Unknown Speaker 2]

Is with B roll reels.

[Unknown Speaker 1]

And you know, I rarely encourage you to follow trends, and I almost wouldn't even consider this a trend. It's more like a style of content that has been so super popularized for so long now that it is what we accept as content. And I'm gonna tell you all about what, where it came from, what it is, how to do it, and then exactly how to do it. Because I want you to be able to get in on this before this craze passes.

[Unknown Speaker 2]

Because it really is the easiest way.

[Unknown Speaker 1]

To make content right now.

[Unknown Speaker 2]

So think about this, think about how.

[Unknown Speaker 1]

You used to open Instagram and you'd see a pretty square with some text on it. I might have referred to those as a static image or a text graphic or something like that. So remember when that was half of the content you were seeing, just a pretty background with words on it. Oh, statement graphic. We call it, we call it statement graphics all the time. You still see them out there, but it used to be one of the main things that you would see. Well now since videos have become super popular, you know, TikTok started really popularizing video. So Instagram took a cue. So instead of just having a graphic with a pretty color in the background or a photo in the background, we insert a really simple video and then we add a little bit of audio and it's essentially the same thing, thing, but now we call them B roll reels. It's like those static graphics and statement graphics, but it's just like those text.

[Unknown Speaker 2]

Graphics we used to see all the.

[Unknown Speaker 1]

Time, but now it's a B roll reel, a simple video in the background, which can also be as nonchalant as you want. The video could be you just sitting there drinking coffee. It could be you walking down the street. It could be the coffee cup itself with like steam coming up and then text over top of the steam. You don't even need to be in it, but I would like you to be in it. I think it would probably perform better if you were in it. If you're a service provider listening to this, which is who I work with all day long, you are the greatest asset you have in your business.

[Unknown Speaker 2]

So I would love for you to be in it.

[Unknown Speaker 1]

And if you're nervous to talk on camera, even better, because you don't have to. You just have to sit there and film five to seven seconds of literally anything. And then the text that you put on the screen, that's gonna follow one of six formulas. And don't worry, I'm gonna lay out all six formulas. You in this episode. We'll get into that in just a sec.

[Unknown Speaker 2]

I'm telling you, this is the easiest form of content to create for your business. So let's get into it. In case you're not sure if you're hearing me right, I'll say it a little bit slower. Plus, I know the audio on this episode isn't great. I'm sorry about that. Don't worry. The value will make up for it. So what I'm saying is B roll real. And the term B roll comes from TV land, right? Comes from. If you're watching and they talk about a truck, they're going to show you a clip of a truck. And it might not be the truck they're talking about, but it's just in tv, they call it, say, truck, C truck. So they're going to have a bunch of footage kicking around of trucks or snowstorms or rain, and they call it B roll. And it's kind of just a filler clip. Now, you can get fancy with your clips, but let's start at level one. Let's start not fancy. Think about, or even open your phone, if you can, and look through Instagram reels. You're going to see clips where the person on the screen is just sit, sitting there smiling. And then they point above their head and then words appear. And when you're absorbing this content, when you're watching this content, it feels like a big production. There's music and there's text and there's some sort of punchline and all that. But if you just look at the footage, just look at the footage, it's just a person sitting there pointing to nothing. It's just a person walking out a door. It's just a person putting on a hat. And so when we start to compartmentalize all the elements of a post, we realize the video itself is the easiest part. It's so easy. I actually have probably millions of views across Instagram and TikTok of videos where I share ideas for your B roll. I've shared so many ideas because once you start to get the hang of it, it becomes really easier. Like, oh, me sitting here in the window reading a book can be B roll and then you can add text to it that doesn't have to be about the book. If you try and make the text relate to the thing in the clip, that's where you're going to get stuck. And the more you watch these B roll reels on Instagram and the more you compartmentalize text versus music versus Clip, you're going to realize that a lot of the times what they're talking about in the text has nothing to do with what's happening in the video. So that is a big thing to be aware of. So I've broken down basically six formulas that the text on B roll reels typically appears as. And originally this was for my program members inside Magic Marketing Machine, the program where I teach service based business owners how to get clients from Instagram, make amazing content and manage their accounts in 15 minutes a day. And I've turned some of it into a free PDF and you can get it down in the show notes. And this is going to go through the 6B roll reels formulas. And here today in this episode, I'm also going to go through them just high level, just sort of explain them to you. And then you can go down into the show notes, pop in your email and name, get your copy of this PDF and on it I have linked examples of all of them. So if just hearing me explain them doesn't do it for you, you want to see examples so that you can replicate them in your business. Awesomesauce. Ooh, that was so millennial. Oh, I can't believe I just said that. Awesome. You can go ahead and do that. I'm going to rapid fire them to you because you're going to get more information in the PDF first. One question and answer. These are great for answering the questions that your leads are asking you. When your leads, when the people you're talking to, when your clients ask you questions throughout the day, they are writing your content for you. If your lead asks you a question, chances are other leads out there have that same question. We always want to turn that into content. So we've got question answer the question in this case is going to sort of act as your hook and you can formulate it as a hook or you can just leave it as a question and then you're going to reveal the answer and that pause between asking a question and providing the answer is going to have your viewers on the edge of their seat, which means they keep keep watching the reel because they want to see the answer be revealed. Meanwhile, you're getting a longer watch time on your video and the algorithm loves a longer watch time. Very strategic. The next one, very simple. Hook, reveal, hook, reveal. We hook them in with a hook. The same type of hook you would be saying out loud on your videos. The same type of hook that you might say at the beginning of a story to really pull whoever's listening to you in and make them want to know the next line of the story and then a reveal. Sort of like the question and answer the answer akin to the reveal. And again, in the training, I'm going to give you a little bit more on each of these and examples so you can see these in action. Next one, picture recipes, recipe. And like food creators use this one all the time. Have you ever seen a video if you get food popping up in your feed as much as I do, where you see the finished product, like a pie or you know, a Mac and cheese casserole, you see the finished product and then a second later it goes to the beginning and you watch someone make the meal all the way to the end where we begin again at the final product. So I'm going to call this backwards storytelling. We start with the final product and then you show people how you got there. Another way that I see this done is do you want this result? Here's how to get there. So you show them the end result and then the text on the screen is going to bring them or the clips themselves maybe are going to bring people through the story. Backwards storytelling.

[Unknown Speaker 1]

Guts spill.

[Unknown Speaker 2]

We're calling this Guts Spill where you spill your guts. I actually don't use this one a lot, but I see it all the time. Think of this one as just one chunk of text. Your five to seven second B roll clip plays in the background and one chunk of text sits on the screen and you read through this big chunk of text while the video plays in the background, often playing twice through because it takes you a few seconds to read this guts spill of text on the screen. So the video plays twice through and what does the algorithm see? The algorithm sees people watching your video all the way through twice. And the algorithm is going to show your post to more people. When folks are watching it all the way through like that and re watching it like that. Plus it's going to look like your views are doubled as well. I Hope this isn't too overwhelming. Again, get the PDF. It's going to be so much simpler to see it written out, but Three steps to result. We see these all the time. You see this a lot on Carousel. The example would be like, here are three things I did to grow on Instagram. Here are three things I did to get my kids to go to sleep on time without complaining. Three steps to result. The next one is how to and how to content very popular online. There's a bit of controversy around it because people say not to do how to. I disagree with that. But just to up the ante, I made it how to with a loop. So similar to how with the gut spill, folks are going to watch your video twice all the way through because it takes them time to read the text on how to with a loop. You're going to design the footage to look as though it never ends. Which means viewers keep watching the clip and they accidentally watch it twice. And listen, I've posted about this before and people show up in my comment section and they're like, what? What's with the trickery? I hate all of this trickery. And if you feel like this is trickery, I mean, okay, sure, but you have to play the engagement game. You have to optimize your posts if you want people to hear your message. It's not tr. It's not like you're stealing from people. You're not taking from people. If you take my program, I will show you how to give away so much free value. We want people to be here. We want them to enjoy your content. You're going to be giving away edutainment, education, entertainment. You're going to be giving away value. And we also need to optimize our posts. You need your posts to be optimized so that they get engagement intentionally, so that they get shown to more people, so you can impact more lives. And further to that, like, none of this will work if you don't have something to say, if you don't have awesome messaging, if you don't have awesome positioning. The only way that people are gonna watch your content is if you rock your messaging. You've got a clear audience. You know what they wanna hear from you because you've done your research. This is all stuff I work on with my clients. That's why I can give away so much of this optimization stuff and so many of these tactics on how to make amazing content. Because I know that truthfully, the marketing that is gonna have the biggest impact on your bottom line and make you actually grow your business has to do with the nerdier side of this Spoiler I often say that my program is a marketing program disguised as an Instagram program. I know people come in because they want the views, they want the engagement, they want the followers. I'll help you get all that, but the thing that's gonna get you clients is the deeper work. And I'll help you do that too. Inside Magic Marketing Machine Meantime, head down and grab this freebie from the Show Notes. I'll also share it all over Instagram. So if you don't know how to navigate to the Show Notes in whatever platform you're listening on right now, no sweat. Come see me on Instagram. I'm at Jenna's page and I will be promoting the heck out of this because I'm so excited to get it into your palms. To get it into your sweaty palms. If you want to work with me in Magic Marketing Machine, enrollment is open. There's info on that below this episode as well. I will see you soon.