#SMLive Season 6: How Music is a Catalyst for Trends on Reels

Reels have made a loud entrance on the social media platform where we look through how music is a catalyst for trends on Reels, how it increases engagement and attracts substantial amounts of users, how brands can find their voice, and tips for creators. Paras Sharma of Facebook India (Meta) opens up.

In conversation with Paras Sharma, Director, Content and Community Partnerships, Facebook (Meta)India, Social Samosa unravels the rationale behind the hype around reels and how it boosts reach and engagement on Instagram, marketing opportunities that it presents, and a few tips to tap it efficiently.

Paras Sharma said, “Music is important for users and creators. It is an expression. It tells us a story through lyrics. It provides an ability for storytelling. It makes transitions easy. It enables attention. It triggers engagement. All of this forms a backdrop for why music becomes important for users and creators and thus becomes important for Meta.”

Songs are not just getting discovered, but they are inspiring creations. It is not about passive leaned back consumption but active consumption and leaned forward creation that makes the reels unique.  

Paras states, "The song Kesariya from the movie Brahmāstra was not even launched, but the promo was released on reels. That itself created close to 400K reels, and that's how the song was discovered. Even the artists like Aditya and his song Chaand Baaliyan are getting discovered on reels. The older songs are also making a comeback through reels."

Also Read: Real-time takeaways from #SMLive 2022

Language is not a barrier anymore. Kacha Badaam is the best example. Paras added, "The song doesn't have to be a high-fidelity song. Lo-fi songs and the audios are also getting picked and used by the community to recreate reels." The industry itself is using platforms like reels for movie marketing. Around 30K reels were created for the song Kahani from Laal Singh Chaddha with 3M- 4M views.

The aim of 1-minute music is that it should inspire emerging and established artists to innovate and create music in a completely new way. Each music composition that they create is 60 seconds long, is vertically short, uses the features of audio and video, and is original. To achieve this, Meta is tied up with 200 artists across India.

"We have seen with the growth and trend of Reels, the adoption and content creation is coming from all parts of the country and in different languages", expressed Paras Sharma.

Tips for brands, creators, and users on what to use in reels:

• The sound that builds to a beat

• Before and after transitions

• Lip sync for comedy content

• A lot of beats where transitions can take place

• Music that enables creative storytelling

Sharing closing remarks and a piece of advice for creators, Paras states, “We want 1-minute music to be embraced by everyone, including established artists and new and upcoming ones, and reach every corner.”

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Paras Sharma shared his thoughts at the 6th edition of #SMLive, Social Samosa’s marquee annual conference, organized on World Social Media Day.

You can watch SMLive Sessions here!