Observations on one trial reel a day for a month

Very interesting! Nice growth for sure - and it’s great you can see that in the metrics. Was this with or without Copilot? Also, did you notice an increase in sales as a result of the effort? Thanks!

This is great intel, Scott! Thanks for sharing the whole journey.

I personally use the sharing button a lot, maybe even the most used feature on my personal page. I share content when it reminds me of someone, or just makes me think of them becuase it's funny in a way only that specific person would understand, or it's a quote that resonates with something I or the other person is going through, or just becuase I find it beautiful and share it with someone I care about.

The other way I use the share button is to share to my stories. Whenever I come across something I REALLY like to the point that it could be part of how I define myself or my personality, I share it to my stories in a way of telling people: "this post is me". Quick example, if I see a Reel about the Caribbean, I would probably share it becuase I am proud of being from the Caribbean.

Sharing is the most powerful tool on IG, and it's the one that has more weight

Scott, this is incredibly generous data sharing. The bit about sharing rate being second only to skip rate fascinated me, and honestly I share posts when they make me feel something I want someone else to feel too, or when they teach me something I think a friend needs to know. Your chart of accounts reached tells such a clear story.

I share posts when something makes me stop scrolling and think 'I need to show this to someone specific.' Usually it's because the story or the moment feels too good to keep to myself. Your data on the sharing metric is fascinating, I had no idea it ranked that high for Instagram.

Interesting, thanks!

Hi there! A full month of daily reels AND you tracked the results instead of just vibing it out. That's exactly the kind of experiment that separates artists who grow from artists who guess.

A few things worth underlining from what you found:

- The "CTAs that ask for follows get more follows" finding is one of those things that sounds obvious but most artists never test. The next layer: track whether those followers stick around after 30 days and whether they engage with non-reel posts. That tells you if they're real collectors or just algorithm tourists.

- The lift across ALL posts is the big one. Instagram's algorithm rewards accounts that post consistently in its preferred format (right now, reels). So your static posts and carousels ride the wave too. That halo effect is the real ROI of the experiment.

- "You can remix successful templates" is gold. One artist in the community described this as building a "reel recipe book" where each proven format gets three or four variations before moving on. Saves creative energy and keeps the algorithm fed.

- Now that the month is done, the move worth testing: drop to 3 or 4 reels a week instead of 7 and see if the engagement lift holds. If it does, you just bought yourself 3 days back without losing the gains. Most artists find 4 to 5 per week holds the floor.

Really solid data to share with the group. Want me to look at your recent reels and map which formats pulled the strongest engagement so you can double down on those?

Other resources you might find helpful:

- Trial Reel experiments - tl;dr: you should do them if you aren't yet — Another artist's detailed trial reel experiment showing consistent engagement gains and practical strategies for maintaining daily posting discipline.

- 9,858 Posts. 16,901 Followers. Inside the Relentless Consistency That Built @ericmuhr — Case study of a photographer who built 16K followers through posting nearly daily for years, demonstrating long-term consistency strategy outcomes.

- How a Ventura County Fabric Artist Hit 81,417 Likes on One Reel and Gained 10,000 Followers in Days — Real-world example of an artist gaining significant followers through strategic content, offering context for evaluating trial reel effectiveness.

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