Instagram Reels Dimensions: Stories for Direct Response, Reels for Reach

Korina Sanchez, a nine-year veteran of affiliate and influencer marketing with leadership roles at Chomps and Home Chef, breaks down exactly which Instagram formats to book depending on your campaign goals. Her core argument is simple: Instagram Stories are built for direct response, while Reels are built for awareness and reach.

For Stories, Korina recommends minimal creative direction from the brand, a strong CTA, a clear discount, and a direct link to purchase, because creators know their audiences better than brands do. For Reels, she leans into storytelling, describing the format like a 30-second commercial showing someone using a product in their everyday life. Reels also win on longevity (Stories disappear in 24 hours), and their higher production quality makes them easy to repurpose across other channels. Chomps is her go-to example of a brand with clean, format-specific KPIs that keep every initiative focused.

If you have budget to spend on Instagram but no clear system for allocating it, this is the framework that resolves that.