How to Batch-Create and Post Instagram Reels using Make (Integromat)

Learn how to automatically generate short Instagram videos in bulk with Creatomate's Feed and post them directly through Make (Integromat).

When you use Instagram a lot in your marketing, it's likely that you'll use video content too. Although Reels perform better than static posts with text and images, videos take more effort to make. Batch content creation can help you create Instagram videos faster and more efficiently. Just take one moment to create a bunch of videos ahead of time, so you don't have to make one every time you want to post.

And once you've created your videos, you can download them and schedule your post with online tools like Buffer or Later. But what's even better, you can post your Reels directly to Instagram with a push of a button. In this tutorial, you'll learn how to batch-create Instagram videos with Creatomate's Feeds and use Make to post them. We'll make videos like these:

Prerequisites

Here are the tools we'll use:

• Creatomate: to auto-generate Instagram videos. Don't have an account? Sign up for free.
• Make: to post the videos to Instagram.
• Instagram Business: to share the videos with your followers.

How to batch-create and post Instagram Reels using Make (Integromat)?

As a first step, we'll create a template in Creatomate that will serve as our video base. Next, we'll turn this template into a Feed, which will generate the videos. As a final step, we will set up an automated workflow in Make for posting the Reels to Instagram. However, this last step is optional. If you want, you can also batch-create the Instagram Reels using Creatomate spreadsheet feature, and then download them to your device for further processing.

In the end, we'll generate Instagram Reels like this:

Let's get started!

1. Create a video template in Creatomate

Creatomate has a template gallery with a variety of templates we can choose from. We can use these templates as-is, customize them or design our own.

Log in to your Creatomate account, navigate to the Templates page and click + New. From the Social Media category, we'll choose the Questions & Quizzes template. Select a size, for example 1:1 Square. Click Create Template to open the template editor.

We'll keep things simple in this tutorial by using this template as-is. But it's good to know that templates have dynamic elements that can be changed to make different videos. Our Questions & Quizzes template has 5 dynamic elements; Title, Shape, Question, Answer, and Video. In the next step, we'll create a feed using these dynamic elements.

2. Create a feed

Now that we have a template for our videos, we're going to create a feed. Click Use Template at the top right of the template editor. Choose the Spreadsheet to Video option. Next, select Create new feed and click Continue. It'll redirect us to a new feed.

Those five dynamic elements of our template corresponds to the columns of the feed. The first row is pre-filled with data from the template as an example.

By filling out the feed with our own data, each row will get its own video. But before we do this, let's add a column where we can enter a caption. This Caption column lets us add a unique caption to each video we post with Make. Just click Edit Columns, + Add Column, rename it to Caption and click OK. It'll show up in the feed. Enter a caption for the first row and click Save.

We've created a template and a feed so far. Next, we'll put the scenario in Make first and we'll come back to the feed later.

3. Set up a Make.com trigger

In this step, we'll create a webhook and connect it to our Creatomate project. This allows Make.com to retrieve the generated videos and post them on Instagram.

Log in to your Make account and click + Create a new scenario. Choose Creatomate as the app and Watch Render as the action.

To create a new webhook, click Add. Next, create a connection by entering your project's API key, which you can find under Project Settings in your Creatomate dashboard:

A new webhook was created. Just copy the URL and click OK.

Now, we have to paste the webhook URL into Creatomate's Project Settings:

Right-click and select Run this module only to test the webhook:

It will wait for a video. So, we're going to generate a video for the first example row by clicking the Create render button below the preview:

As soon as the video is rendered, the webhook module will return this data:

Now that we've successfully set up the Creatomate trigger, let's set up the Instagram module.

4. Post the videos as Instagram Reels

Click + Add another module. Search for Instagram for Business as the app and select Create a Reel Post as the action.

Connect your Instagram account and select your page:

After that, we'll set up the Instagram post. In the Video URL field, select the Creatomate - Watch Render -> URL. This is the link to the video generated with the feed:

Last but not least, let's add our caption. In the Caption field, select the Creatomate - Watch Render -> Columns -> Caption. Set the other options however you like. Then, click OK:

5. Test Scenario

We're going to test our scenario by clicking Save and Run Once. Let's go back to our feed and add a row. As we enter our data, we'll play the live preview to see how it'll look:

• Video Column: You can upload a video from your computer or enter a URL to a publicly accessible video.
• Question, Answer, Title and Caption Columns: You can enter text. Emojis are supported. 😀
• Shape Column: You can enter a HEX, RGB or HSL color code.

You can let a cell be empty to use the template's default data. I did that with the Title column. Once you're done, click Save. In the Status Column, it says No Render. Let's change that by clicking Create render in the preview screen. Now our video will be automatically generated! This is what starts the scenario in Make.

Our Instagram account will post the video with the caption if it's set up correctly!

Whenever the test is successful and you are happy with the scenario, toggle the Scheduling button on the bottom left of the editor to ON.

What's next for Instagram automation?

There you have it! Now you know how to batch-create Reels and set up a workflow to automatically post them on Instagram. You can use any template to create videos that fit your specific needs.

It's good to know that by using Creatomate's spreadsheet feature, you don't have to build a Make scenario. You can also download the generated videos to your device and use them however you want.

Alternatively, you can also set up a Make workflow that automatically creates and publishes Instagram posts. Instead of using the feed as a trigger, you can use other events, such as when a new record is added to an Airtable document or a Google Sheets file. Check out this tutorial next for step-by-step instructions to set up a fully automated Instagram system.