What makes faceless reels go viral? 

There are thousands of faceless Instagram accounts today. 

But only some accounts blow up and gain millions of views and followers… 

While others struggle to even get 200 views, and die out before they ever take off. 

What separates the successful from the failures? 

Is it luck? 

The algorithm?

Or something else completely?

Well…if you take a closer look, you’ll find that there are some clear differences between the accounts that do well, and the ones that don’t. 

In this article, I’ll go over these differences and show you the 5 steps you need to take to make great faceless content and give yourself the best chance of going viral, building a loyal following, and eventually monetizing your account. 

How to Make Great Faceless Reels With AI in 5 Steps

Step #1: Pick a Good Faceless Niche

Not all niches work for faceless content. 

Find a niche where: 

• AI visuals work well
• Personality isn’t required
• Helps one specific group of people
• Has a format you can repeat over and over again

First, you’ll want to pick something that works great with AI visuals. 

This rules out other faceless niches like recipes, DIY crafts, or tutorials where you have to demonstrate the real thing. 

Meanwhile, niches where you give advice but don’t necessarily have to show it are great for AI-generated content, such as dating advice, nutrition facts, or finance tips. 

AI visuals also work great for storytelling and fun facts niches, where the visuals help with storytelling. As long as you don’t have to show the real thing, it can work with AI. 

Examples: 

• Dating advice
• Quick nutrition facts
• Finance basics
• Future predictions
• Ancient civilizations
• Alternate history 

Next, you’ll also want a niche that works without personality. 

This rules out lifestyle niches, since those are largely personality dependent. 

Instead, pick niches that rely more on storytelling, information, visuals, and concepts. These niches work regardless of who’s telling the story, whether it’s your voice or narrated by AI. 

Some niche ideas that don’t rely on personality include: 

• Historical storytelling
• Business lessons from famous entrepreneurs
• Philosophy and wisdom quotes
• Science facts explained visually
• Productivity tips and frameworks

Now, if you want to monetize eventually, you’ll also want to pick a niche that helps one specific group of people solve one specific problem. 

Storytelling and curiosity niches are great, but they can sometimes be more challenging to monetize. 

If your ultimate goal is to make money without showing your face, stick to niches that help a specific group of people solve a very clear pain point. 

Here are some examples (notice how it’s very easy to pivot into selling ebooks and courses, or get into coaching, for these niches): 

• Focus and concentration tips
• Relationship psychology
• Beginner investing
• Social skills improvement
• Freelancing tips

Finally, you’ll want to pick a niche with a format you can repeat over and over again. 

Which brings us to the next step…

Step #2: Choose a Format You Can Repeat

Great faceless AI accounts all have formats that they repeat over and over again. 

This is important because you need a way to be recognizable. And since people can’t recognize you by your face, make them recognize your format instead. 

For example, one of my students’ formats (@letscreate_ai) was to transform celebrities into babies and make them sing songs. 

EMBED: https://youtu.be/T2QDpGQ4AQU?si=qL_HLKgiKHr-UBF5 

And that’s earned him over 20k followers. Not because his personality shines, but because people follow because they want to see more celebrities as babies singing songs. 

With that in mind, start brainstorming content templates. 

Instead of thinking of a single reel idea, think of a template that you can create hundreds of variations of. 

If you’re doing dating advice, you can use a template where you put a one-liner on screen, while you explain deeper in the caption. 

If you’re doing nutrition facts, you can use a format like “If you want {effect}, then eat {food}.” For example, “If you want clear skin, eat berries.” 

Whatever your niche is, think in terms of templates instead of single reel ideas. 

As a rule of thumb, pick 3-5 templates to start with. 

You’ll refine your strategy as your account grows. But for starters, it’s a good idea to have 3-5 templates to start experimenting with. 

Here are some ideas…

Motivational / Self-Improvement Accounts:

• Lessons From Famous People
• If You’re Struggling With _____, Do ____
• XX Rules For ____
• Imagine if You Started Today
• Daily Mindset Reminders

Facts & Educational Accounts:

• Things You Didn’t Know About
• ____ Explained in 30 Seconds
• Most People Don’t Know This
• Myth vs Reality
• If This Happened

Luxury & Lifestyle Accounts:

• Inside a Billionaire Lifestyle
• Dream Mansions Around the World
• If Money Was Not a Problem
• $10M vs $100M Lifestyle
• Day in the Life of a Billionaire

History / Alternate History Accounts:

• What if History Changed
• Life in [year]
• If Ancient Civilizations Had Modern Technology
• History in 60 Seconds
• Lost Civilizations Explained

Storytelling Accounts:

• True Story or AI?
• 1-Minute Horror Stories
• POV Stories
• AI Rewrites Classic Stories
• What Happens Next? Series

Once you have that, move on to the next step…

Step #3: Build a List of Content Ideas

Every successful faceless Instagram account I know has tons of content ideas stored up. 

I’ve never seen someone with a big account scrambling to find an idea to post. They list everything long before, so there’s always something ready to go. 

So…how do you build out a list for yourself?

First, start filling out your templates. 

Take the 3-5 templates that you picked out in the previous step, and start writing down the actual reel titles you’re going for. 

Instead of just “Unsolved Historical Mysteries,” start listing out the actual mysteries you’re going to talk about. 

You can ask AI for help finding more ideas for you. But you’ll also want to wrack your brain a bit, so that you can come up with some original ideas. 

But don’t stop there…

Steal some popular ideas on Instagram as well. 

To do this, go to Instagram search, type in a keyword related to your niche, and take a look at the top-performing reels. 

You can take these ideas and make your own version, or use them for inspiration. 

Don’t be afraid to copy ideas either. On Instagram, every viral reel has hundreds of copies that also go viral. So when you find an idea, jot it down and make your own version. 

Finally, spy on competitors. 

Look for other accounts in your niche, and check what templates they’re using.

Find the topics that are doing well for them, and consider doing those topics yourself. 

Always remember, you don’t have to reinvent the wheel on Instagram. Find things that are already working, and add your own unique spin to them. 

That’s one of the best ways to grow quickly. 

Step #4: Batch Create Content

After all that planning and finding ideas, it’s FINALLY time to create content! 

When creating AI content, there are generally 5 things you need to think about: 

• Scripting
• Visuals
• Narration/voiceover
• Editing
• Your system

Start with scripting. 

For AI content to stand out, your scripts have to be unique. Anyone can recreate the visuals, but the script is what can stand out. 

Good scripts immediately catch people’s attention with a strong hook, keep people glued to the reel, and leave them with an emotional payoff. 

When writing your hook (the first 3 seconds of your reel), put the strongest point that you have right at the start. 

Some strong hook ideas you can go for include: 

• Curiosity hooks – hooks that make viewers feel like they’re missing something if they scroll (ex: “Nobody talks about this, but ____,” “Wait until you see what happens next,” “Top xx strangest discoveries in ____.” 

• You’ve been doing this wrong hook – hooks that call out a common mistake. (Ex: “You’ve been brushing your teeth wrong your whole life,” “90% of people get this wrong,” “Most people misunderstand THIS about ___.” 

• Imagine if hook – invites viewers into a unique scenario. (Ex: “Imagine living in this house,” “You have 24 hours left to live, which of these do you eat?” “Imagine if the Roman Empire never collapsed.” 

• Listicles hooks – listicles are one of the strongest formats for reels, so immediately showing your reel is a list hooks people in. (Ex: “Top 3 financial mistakes beginners make,” “3 facts about the brain you didn’t know about,” “5 habits that destroy productivity.” 

Before vs after hook – tells people that transformation is coming. (Ex: “Here’s what happens after 30 days of discipline,” “What happens when you cut carbs for 30 days,” “Your lungs before and after quitting smoking.” 

Spend a little extra time making your hook as strong and snappy as possible. Then go on to write the rest of your script. 

Once you have your script, I recommend running it through AI like ChatGPT to help tighten it. Ask ChatGPT to remove any unnecessary details, shorten your sentences, and make it snappy and ready for reels. 

Cutting all the unnecessary bits improves your retention and makes people less likely to scroll away in the middle of the reel. 

Finally, end with an emotional payoff. 

Always think about how your viewers will feel after watching your reel, because that’s what makes them like, comment, and share your reel. It’s what makes them follow you. 

Be intentional about how you want people to feel. Whether that’s happy for watching a feel-good reel, intrigued by the information you shared, inspired by your story, or motivated to start today with your tips; always end with a strong emotional payoff. 

Once you have the script, it’s time to generate visuals. 

Some popular AI tools for generating videos include Google’s VEO3, OpenAI’s Sora, MidJourney, or any AI video creator of your choice. 

Start with a storyboard. 

Storyboards are a simple, visual plan for your video. You don’t need fancy tools to create one, you can just use a table with your script on one side, and your visual idea on the other. Like this example: 

Script	Visual
These 3 money mistakes keep beginners broke	Person looking stressed while checking a nearly empty bank account on their phone
The first mistake? Spending before saving.	Person buying lots of shopping bags or clicking “Buy Now” online
If you only save what’s left over… there’s usually nothing left	Bank balance dropping quickly on a phone screen…

…and so on.

Generating visuals takes time. So having a storyboard and knowing what to create ahead of time can save you a lot of time and redos. 

Next, plan your visuals out for variety. 

One of the biggest problems with AI reels is that their visuals can feel repetitive. 

So before you start generating, take another look at the visuals side of your storyboard. 

Are there too many similar shots next to each other? Mix it up to keep things engaging. 

Use a mix of aerial shots, close-ups, wide cinematic shots, POV shots, and slow-motion moments.

Finally, when it’s time to prompt, try to be as specific as possible. 

For beginners, try to include these 5 things in your prompts:

• Subject / Action – exactly what’s happening (Ex: Man putting coins into a piggy bank)
• Camera Angle – what camera angle you want the visual from (Ex: over the shoulder shot)
• Environment / Setting – where is this happening? (Ex: in his bedroom)
• Lighting – what’s the feel of the place? (Ex: Nighttime, with the lamp turned on)
• Style – the visual style you want (e.g., cartoon style)

Prompting like this also helps keep your style consistent throughout your reel. 

Then, there’s the narration or voiceover part of the script. 

If you’re just using text-on-screen for your reels, then you can skip this. But if you’re adding voice, you can either use your own voice or get an AI voiceover. 

Using your own voice is great. It’s unique, and you can show personality through the narration. 

But if you’re not confident in your own voice, or you just want to make reels faster, AI voiceovers are perfectly fine. You can use tools like ElevenLabs, Murf.ai, or LOVO to generate realistic voices for your reels. 

Then, there’s the editing. 

If you’re a beginner and just want a simple program to combine audio and visuals, then go for something like CapCut. 

If you want a more professional program with more features, Adobe Premiere Pro or Final Cut Pro are some of the top editing programs. 

Finally, throw everything together and create a system. 

As much as possible, try to batch-create content instead of creating content one-by-one. 

Write a bunch of scripts at one time. Generate all the visuals you need. Record, or generate, your voiceovers. Then, finally, edit and schedule everything on Instagram.

This makes your workflow faster and lighter too, since you don’t have to “reset” every time you’re finished making one reel. 

Step #5: Test and Analyze Your Content

Don’t expect your account to blow up instantly. 

Just create your account and start posting the content you’ve prepared without stressing too much about how it’s doing yet. 

But every few weeks, take time to go over everything you’ve posted, and take notes on which reels did well, and which ones didn’t. 

Double down on the things that work, and start cutting away ideas that don’t work, and you’ll get to 1k followers in no time. 

For more precise improvements, you can also start studying your analytics. 

Under your reel, click on “view insights.” 

Then take a look at your metrics like: 

• View Rate Past First 3 Seconds – this shows you whether your hook is strong or not. Aim for over 60%, because that signals your hook is very strong. But 50% – 60% is okay. Below 50% means you need to work on finding better hooks. 

• Average Watch Time – watch time is one of the most important metrics in Instagram’s algorithm, so check this metric to see if people are watching your reel until the end. If you have a 30-second reel, aim for a 10-15 second average watch time. If your reel is 60 seconds, go for 15-25 seconds. 

• Retention Graph – this graph shows you when people scrolled away from your video. Ideally, you want a smooth retention graph (like the one below). If you notice a steep drop at any point, that shows a weak spot in your reel when people leave. 

• Engagement Rate – there’s no official “engagement rate” stat, but you can eyeball how many likes, saves, and shares your reel gets compared to how many views it has. If you have high views but low engagement, this signals that you may want to improve the payoff of your reels. 

Check the analytics of the reels that are doing well, but also the ones that aren’t. It’s one of the best ways to find out what’s working and what isn’t. 

Ready to Start Making Great Faceless Instagram Content?

Making faceless content for Instagram is not a walk in the park. 

Contrary to what some people think, you can’t just create brainless, spammy content and expect your account to grow. 

It takes planning, scripting, content generation, voiceovers, and editing to bring everything together. 

It’s a lot of work. 

So if you’re just getting started, and this all seems daunting to you, don’t worry! I made something just for you. 

It’s the AI Content Generator, the best tool for getting your Instagram account up and running as fast as possible. 

In it, you’ll find AI tools that are ready to use, templates you can steal, and tons of ideas you can draw inspiration from. 

With it, you can skip the guesswork and start creating content right away. 

So sign up here today for instant access!