- Having a custom cover photo for your Instagram Reels
not only makes your profile look better,
but it also makes it easy for somebody
to wanna watch your older videos
and make sure they keep getting seen by new people.
In this video, I'm gonna walk you through step-by-step
how to create a custom cover photo
for Instagram Reels, all right?
Let's get into it.
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so they can get more results in less time.
I wanna invite you to a masterclass that I teach
and I'll tell you how you can access it completely free
coming up at the end of this video.
Right now, though, let's talk about
how to create custom cover photo for Instagram Reels.
So here's my Instagram profile.
And that first post on the upper-left
is a Reel that has a nice cover photo that I made for it.
So if somebody sees it on the grid,
they can see why Google can't help you
with social media results.
The second one over,
you can tell I did not make a cover photo for,
and it's a little harder to read
and it doesn't stand out as much.
So as you can see, like if you look at...
Some of these are posts and some of these are Reels,
it looks really nice when you make
a custom cover photo for your Reel.
Now, I do wanna point out
you have to add the cover
when you are first posting the Reel.
You can't go back and add it later,
at least not as of this recording.
So once you've created your Reel
and you are here on this screen,
I'm gonna tap that little icon there.
On the bottom of the thumbnail of the Reel,
it says Edit cover.
So I'm gonna tap that, and it'll load it, and then...
You see the slider down at the bottom?
I can put my thumb on that,
and I can slide it across,
and I can choose something from my Reel as the cover.
And so I slide it to where I want it
and then if I let go with that face,
now that becomes the cover.
So that's one way to do it.
By default, it's gonna be the first frame of your Reel.
So you might just be able to find something
among your video that makes a good thumbnail,
but I like to create mine upfront
so that it really pops
if somebody is checking out my profile.
Now, you can create these in any graphics program,
but I like to use Canva.
It's super fast and easy.
And so if I was using Canva,
I could come up here and just search Reels,
and it'll actually give me the right size,
but I wanna give you the actual size
in case you're not using Canva.
So you're gonna look for
or create a graphic that is 1080x1920 high.
I'm gonna hit Create new design.
And so this is the size of your cover
for your Instagram Reel.
Now, here in Canva, I can even
do a search for Reels under the Templates,
and a bunch of stuff will come up,
where if you saw something here that you liked,
you could just add it to the project
and then change the text to whatever you want.
So that's one of the things that I really like about Canva.
I'm gonna actually build mine from scratch
and I want them all to have a consistent look.
So first thing I'm gonna do
is I'm going to get a photo that I can use.
So I'm gonna use one of my photos.
It's got this nice white space that I get to use.
Now, one thing that's important though,
is on your Grid,
you'll only be able to see the middle section
or at least a square's worth of this cover photo.
So you don't wanna accidentally crop off
some of the important elements.
So I'm gonna click Elements over here,
and then I'm gonna grab a square,
and I'm gonna make it full size here,
and I want the square to be 1080x1080.
So if I drag that, I can keep going,
and I already know this is 1080 wide.
So there it is. I know it's 1080x1080.
So whatever I create, I want it to fit in that square.
So you could have it centered if you want,
but you can actually adjust
what shows in the Reel later as well.
I'm gonna move this out of the way right now,
but I'm gonna use that to make sure everything fits
where I want it when I'm done.
So then I'm gonna add my text
and let's say this is for a Reel called,
"Why You'll Do Better Focusing on One Social Network."
I'm gonna go ahead and increase the size of that
by adjusting the font.
And by the way, I've linked to a Canva tutorial
if you want more help with Canva specifically
in the description of this video.
So I'm gonna go ahead and put that right there
next to my head.
I think just for design reason,
I'm gonna go ahead and change the color of that.
And then what I really want
is to make sure that it fits in the square,
so it shows up on the grid.
So I'm gonna move this up here.
And now I know that my face
and this part will all show in the grid,
and that's what I'm really trying to achieve.
So now, I can get rid of that.
If you like the way it looks now, it's totally fine,
but you can also add something that won't show in the grid,
but will show if somebody looks at it full screen.
So what I like to often do, let me keep my box there.
I like to just go ahead
and throw a logo or a little branding up here
just to kind of add a little bit more to it.
So here is my box that I know everything's gonna fit in
and so I know this will not show in the Profile view,
but it will show if anybody views it the full way.
And actually, because my head is on that side,
let's move it to that side.
So now I know this is gonna be hidden in some views,
but that's okay, as long as the main stuff
is not cropped off.
So now, that's what my cover is gonna look like.
You obviously can design yours however you want.
I'm gonna hit Share in Canva here, download.
Go ahead and hit Download.
And next, I'm gonna send it to my phone.
So you could email it to yourself,
you might be able to text it to yourself,
or if you have an Apple product, you can use AirDrop,
but somehow you gotta get
that cover that you just designed onto your phone.
Now, if you're using Canva as well,
and by the way, if you've never used Canva,
you can get a free 45-day trial to Canva Pro.
The free version's pretty great,
but we can get a free 45-day trial to Canva Pro
using my referral link
that you'll find in the description of this video.
But if you want, you can create it right there on your phone
and then just save it directly to your Camera Roll that way.
And that way, you don't have to worry
about going back and forth
if you're already doing everything on your phone
because this is Instagram, after all.
So we're back here in Instagram, the Reel's ready to go,
and then I tap that little Edit cover button
at the bottom of the thumbnail there.
And instead of sliding to choose my thumbnail,
I'm gonna tap Add from Camera Roll at the bottom,
and there's the one I just created,
"Why You'll Do Better Focusing on One Social Network."
I'm gonna tap Profile grid
and over here, I can use my finger
to move it up and down exactly where I want it.
So that actually kind of works with the logo as well.
But like I said, you can use any square that you want,
but I'm gonna hide the logo in the Profile grid
and just have it look like that and hit Done.
And that's it.
Now, when you go to share your Reel,
you will have a cover photo.
If you're really looking to grow your business with,
Instagram Reels are great for bringing in new people.
But then you wanna make sure your profile is set up
to convert those people into followers
and more importantly, buyers or people who hire you, right?
And I'd love to show you how to do that
so that it is set up perfectly
to do that for as many people as possible
using my Profitable Pages and Profiles Workshop.
Hundreds of business owners, maybe thousands at this point,
have implemented what I teach
in this workshop into their businesses
and a lot of them see results within a day or two,
like Portia who stayed up one night
making sure her Facebook personal profile
was set up the right way
and got a new lead and client the next morning,
or Jen who used the workshop
to makeover her pages and profiles
and got two inquiries within 18 hours
that led to over $1,000 worth of new business,
but the record's gotta be Tom
who set up his Facebook business page
using what we teach in the workshop, hit Publish,
and 30 minutes later,
a woman called his business to book him.
And he said, "Where'd you hear about me?"
And she goes, "Oh, I searched on Facebook
and your page came right up."
This is a way to increase sales without more posting.
Worse yet, if you haven't set up
your pages and profiles the right way,
you could already be missing out
on potential sales right now.
Inside, I'm gonna show you the four essential items
every page and profile needs,
so that visitors become buyers.
And the best part?
Go through this process once
and it will serve you for years.
Now, normally, it's $47,
but right now, if you go to profitablepage.com/youtube,
this is a special link for people on YouTube.
You can get this entire workshop for only $17.
Again, that's profitablepage.com/youtube
and, of course, you can also find that
in the description of this video.
And you know what?
I'm gonna throw in a couple of bonuses as well.
If you're not sure that you are on the best social network
or networks for your business,
I have a five-part framework that I use with people
to help make sure that you're in the right place,
like, where's your content gonna perform the best?
It goes so much further than just, "Where is my audience?"
You need to make sure you can reach them,
you can engage with them, all of those things.
And I'm gonna throw that in as a bonus.
As well as if you have social networks
you're not posting on as much anymore,
I have a special training
called How to Revive Your Abandoned Networks
so that it doesn't look like
you went out of business on Twitter eight years ago.
You get both of those now.
Again, go to profitablepage.com/youtube
to get that special price
just for YouTube viewers right now.
Thank you for watching.
Today, you're not only supporting me,
but also my two tiny superheroes at home.
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Hey, if you're frustrated
with the way your social media for your business is going
and you want a streamlined plan
where you can get more results with less work,
check out my free masterclass:
Three Secrets to a Streamlined Social Media Strategy.
You can click the link and get signed up right now
or watch this video for more information.
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