Instagram Reels are one of the most untapped opportunities in 2024 for building your brand, generating leads, and driving sales. But let's be real—the hardest part is writing good scripts. The reality is, every viral Reel you see isn’t just pointing and shooting, it’s the result of a well-crafted script that ensures the video is both entertaining and valuable.
Maybe you’re tired of watching other people's Reels and want to create your own. Maybe you’re already a content veteran. Either way, this blog is a must read as I’ll be breaking down exactly what makes the perfect reel script and how you can use AI to help you write it. Trust me, there’s something here that will take your content to the next level and make you stand out in the Instagram crowd.
Understanding Instagram Reels
Instagram Reels are short-form videos that can be up to 90 seconds long. Instagram's algorithm LOVES Reels, which means they have the potential to reach a wider audience than regular posts—but only if they're done right. A Reel's success highly depends on its script. To make the most of this opportunity, your Reels need to grab attention quickly, keep viewers engaged, and be packed with value.
The Reels we’ll be focusing on in this blog are those meant to make you money. There are plenty of viral Reels that are simply mainstream content, but we’re talking about content creators who want to create Reels for their business, as affiliates, or for their personal brand selling digital products or services. We’ll dive into the framework for these and exactly how to break down your script.
Key Elements of a Great Reel Script
After studying hundreds of viral videos, we've identified a format that consistently works for creating great scripts. And it's really not that complicated. The challenge lies in how you put each component together to stay concise and engaging. Here are the four key components you’ll want to include. These elements can be mixed and matched, but try and include each one every time:
1. The Hook
The first few seconds of your reel are the most important. Your hook needs to stop the scroll in its tracks. In a world of ant-sized attention spans, you only have a few seconds to captivate the attention of scrollers. The hook all falls down to displaying the value the viewer will receive as well triggering an emotional response out of the viewer. Here are examples of different types of hooks that work in their own ways:
- Question: "Did you know you can work out effectively in just 10 minutes a day?"
- Personal Story: "I've gone from living with roaches and having no money in my bank account to now making over $600k per year at the age of 19”
- Desire: "I turned zero dollars into 2 million selling one single product"
- Controversial: “Copywriters are gonna hate me for this, but f*ck it”
These methods should leave you with endless ideas. If you’re lazy like me, check out the short form hook generator from Dojo, which was trained on over 150 great hooks like these.
2. The Curiosity Intrigue
While the hook grabs attention initially, the curiosity intrigue maintains that interest before diving into the core of your video. You can have the best hook in the world, but if you lose people in the next part of the video, it doesn't matter. Most people skip this step, but don't make that mistake if you want to keep the attention you've worked so hard to get.
These can take many different forms and are more versatile than the hook. Think of the curiosity intrigue as mini-hooks that amplify your initial hook, introduce surprising twists, and keep your audience engaged. Here are some examples:
- Social Proof: “And this is the same marketing method that helped Cory get to $20k per month”
- Turning Point: “But heres what they don’t want you to know. Most people skip this step, but it can double your results.”
- More Value: "We'll use my favorite free marketing method. "
Nobody likes being sold to. They want to be intrigued, curious, and learn something new. If you can consistently use curiosity intrigue in your reels to keep your audience engaged, they’ll always be coming back for more.
3. The Value
If it benefits the viewer in any way, it’s valuable. This is the core of what your reels need to showcase. The value portion of your script delivers on the promise made in the hook and is where you provide the main content, whether it’s a tutorial, a story, or an explanation. Ensure it’s actionable, concise, and truly valuable to your audience. Here are some examples:
- Tutorial: "First, open your Instagram app and swipe left to access Reels. Next, select your music…"
- Story: "Here's how I turned my life around and built the business of my dreams."
- Explanation: "Understanding Instagram’s algorithm is key. Here’s exactly how it works."
Your reels should showcase as many layers of value as possible. This is crucial for building a high-value audience that trusts you and consistently hits that follow button.
4. The Call-to-Action (CTA)
Always, always, always end your Reel with a strong call-to-action. You want to make sure your viewer has a clear next step to take with your business.
The most effective call-to-action when it comes to engagement is to tell users to comment and then use ManyChat to automate sending them a DM with your lead magnet. This lead magnet can be a free guide, a free trial to software, a free document—literally any valuable resource. ManyChat not only automates sending lead magnets to your commenters but it also lets you automatically reply to them, which boosts engagement and rides the Instagram algorithm like crazy. However, there are plenty of other effective CTAs. All these examples have viral potential:
- Engagement CTA: "If you want to see the exact template I used to generate over 2 million views in one single video, comment the word 'chat' and I'll send it to you for free."
- Follow CTA: "Now, this was some value. The price for it is to follow me for more."
- Loop CTA: "But today | I’m gonna teach you how to make a perfect looping video in 29 seconds."
Your CTA should align with the goal of your Reel and encourage viewers to take the next step, keeping them engaged with your content and boosting your reach.
Other Tips for Creating Viral Reels
- Hop on Trends: Trend jacking is always a smart move. Use popular audio clips, intros from trending videos, or leverage buzz words to boost your Reels' visibility.
- Script for Simplicity: Your content should be so straightforward that even a 10-year-old can get it. Over half of Americans read below a 6th-grade level, which is shocking, but honestly, it makes things easier.
- Have Great Visuals: Use visual hooks, high-quality cameras, clear audio, big captions, bright colors, and good animations. All these elements help make your Reels more engaging. Theres no doubt elegant visuals will beat mediocre ones.
- Be Consistent: Regularly posting high-quality Reels shows Instagram that you care, and the algorithm rewards people who care.
By following these tips, you'll be well on your way to creating viral Reels. Now, let's get into the fun part—using AI to help you craft scripts with frameworks like this, unlike regular ChatGPT, which gives you plain old bad copy.
Using AI to Write Your Script
Most of you have tried using ChatGPT to write your Reels. We have too. But the cringe factor and lack of understanding our style convinced us to start this software, sooo...
Anyways, let's compare using ChatGPT to write a short-form video script with Dojo AI.
Dojo AI lets you teach the model by showing it how to respond. You can feed it your current Reel scripts or viral scripts from creators you adore.
Like I did with this model, where I fed it over 70 examples of short-form videos I really liked. And guess what? They all used some or all of the four elements mentioned above, and they all went mega-viral.
I have the prompt template set up so that each input says, “write a short form video script about %TOPIC%” So when I input the topic “healthy pizza,” the AI reads as “write a short form video script about healthy pizza” and the output I got was, well, phenomenal. And yes, it swears. We trained it to be a savage:
Lets try the same with regular ChatGPT:
See, as much as I tried to prompt it with clear keywords, the results were still a brutal read. It’s not what I want. I need the output to be easy to copy and paste and to understand the elements that make a good Reel.
Even if you try to prompt GPT-4o, a leading AI model, by pasting in 30 examples, the model won't be able to handle all this data effectively. Even if it does, it still won't be trained to sound how you want. GPT-4o is only told, not shown.
But with Dojo, it's a different story. Dojo is shown by you literally feeding it examples and uploading how you speak into its code to create a custom-trained model. The results are mind-boggling.
How to Use Dojo to Create Reels Scripts With AI:
Step 1: Go to the Marketplace
- Navigate to the Marketplace Tab: On your Dojo AI dashboard, click on the "Short Form Video" category.
Step 2: Select Your Model
- Choose Your Trained Model: Select the Instagram Reels Scripts model and clone it. This model has been optimized to write viral Instagram Reels.
Step 3: Generate New Content
- Input a New Topic: Enter the input for the content you want to generate. This could be any prompt.
- Generate Content: Click the “Generate” button to let your model create new content based on the topic you provided.
Step 4: Manage Your Generations
- View History: All past generations from your model are stored in the right tab. You can review and edit previously generated content there.
- Favorite Your Best Generations: Click the star icon next to the generations you like the most to save them as favorites for easy access later.
How to Use Dojo to Train Your Own Model With Your Reels:
You can train models on Dojo yourself to sound exactly like you and the style you truly want from your AI copywriting assistants.
Step 1: Create a New Dataset
- Navigate to Model Training: On your dashboard, click on the "Training" tab.
- Start a New Training Session: Click on the “New Dataset” button. Select the type of content you want to train, such as Tweets, Emails, LinkedIn, Short Form Scripts, or choose “Other” for custom types. By using our templates, we help you automate the prompting process.
For instance, if you select Short Form Script, we automate the “Prompt Template” to say: “Write a short form script about %TOPIC% in the style of tiktok.”
Thus, the %TOPIC% variable is all you'll need to input in your dataset. So, if you enter “pizza” into your dataset, the AI will interpret it as: “Write a short form script about pizza in the style of tiktok”
We also automate the system prompt, which serves as the overall instructions for the model. If you choose “Other,” you will need to create these prompts yourself.
For example, if you select the Short Form Script template, we set the system prompt to: “You are an expert at writing amazing short form scripts. Please write a short form script about the topic I provide. ”
Step 2: Prepare Your Dataset
Method 1: CSV
The recommended method is to upload a CSV full of the content you want to train it on.
- Upload Your Data: Click on the "Import" button and select “Import CSV”.
- Select your CSV file.
- Map Your Fields: Map your fields to the topic & output.◦ Topic: What the content is about. Example: “How successful people are typically into fitness.”◦ Output: The desired output showcasing the style you want. Example: “Almost all the successful people I know have a fitness habit. They're religious about going to the gym. Why? Because fitness teaches you that if you just go and do this thing repetitively over the course of months and years, even if it's tiny improvements each time, over time, it’s going to lead to a big exponential increase in growth.”
- Review Your Data: Ensure everything makes sense. If you just have your example outputs, go through and add topics. Be sure you remove any examples that might confuse the model, such as text captions for images that don’t provide useful context.
Method 2: Manual Entry
You can also manually enter each example one by one.
- Enter Input and Output: For each example, manually type the topic of your content and the corresponding output you want to train it on.
- Save Each Entry: After entering each example, click “Save” to add it to your dataset.
Step 3: Train Your Model
- Initiate Training: Navigate to the “Models” tab and select "New Model" to begin the training process.
- Name Your Model: Enter a unique name for your model in the "Model Name" field.
- Add a Description: Provide a short description of what your model does in the "Description" field. This helps you keep track of the purpose of each model.
- Customize Your Model: Choose a color and an emoji to identify your model. This customization helps in easily recognizing your model in the dashboard.
- Initiate Training: Once you have at least 10 examples, click the “Train model” button to begin the training process. We recommend at least 30-50 for better results. Dojo AI will process your dataset and start learning the patterns and nuances of your content. Note that training your model will cost credits, as indicated in the interface. Training typically takes 5-20 minutes depending on the size of your dataset.
TLDR:
- 4 Key Elements: Viral Reels rely on four crucial elements: the hook, curiosity intrigue, value, and a strong call-to-action.
- Effective Scripting: Great scripting is essential for creating engaging and successful Reels, each one should be thoughtfully crafted.
- Limitations of Standard AI: Regular AI tools often fail to produce compelling content due to lack of customization.
- Dojo AI Advantage: Dojo AI allows you to train custom models using your content and examples from successful creators, resulting in highly accurate and powerful scripts tailored to your style.
Final Thoughts
Creating engaging Instagram Reels doesn’t have to be daunting. With the right approach and tools like Dojo AI, you can produce high-quality content that captures your audience's attention and drives engagement. Start experimenting with your scripts in Dojo today and see the difference custom-trained AI models can make for your content strategy.
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