How to optimize your video content strategy with Instagram Trial Reels

Attracting new audiences on social is a balancing act between posting content you know will resonate while taking a few risks with new content styles. Your fans may not care about a new aesthetic for your videos, but it might be the hook that draws in new customers.

Trying something new can feel uncertain, especially when it comes to video. Video content is key to your Instagram marketing strategy in particular, and requires a certain level of creativity to standout. Few things are more disappointing than seeing a video you spent weeks on flop. Ideally, you’d be able to test MVP versions of your new ideas before putting all your production resources toward a project.

A/B testing is a traditional marketing approach that can work well on social media, too. Instagram trial reels, a feature that began testing and rolled out globally in 2024, is aiming to give brands and creators an A/B style function to try new video ideas, multiple variations of videos and more.

You can experiment to your heart’s content, get real time feedback and hold off on posting your new ideas to your main feed until you’re sure they’re ready for prime time. Let’s break down exactly what trial reels are and how to use them.

What are trial reels on Instagram?

Instagram trial reels let you share short form videos, specifically with people who don’t follow your account to get a read on how the content is resonating. Users who follow your account won’t see these particular reels on your account page or in their feed.

You can track feedback, reactions, comments and more just like a regular reel. It’s a bit like a digital focus group where users are served recommended trial reels in their feeds as normal, and brands get the benefit of testing new ideas in a curated container.

You’ll see insights on your trial reel within 24 hours, and if the content is resonating, you can choose to share it with everyone. If the video doesn’t take off with your non-followers, you’ll still gain valuable insights for your video marketing strategy.

How to get trial reels on Instagram

As of December 2024, trial reels rolled out globally to professional brand and creator accounts. Some select creators without professional accounts also have access as part of ongoing testing. The feature will likely continue to be added to more accounts over time.

The benefits of using Instagram trial reels

Integrating trial reels into your video strategy gives you an algorithm shortcut to a broader audience, placing your content directly in front of non-followers.

The feature also gives you a place to try out new content ideas without fear of negatively impacting your current audience. When you’re using Instagram for business, it’s understandable to be protective of your brand’s reputation in the space. Before taking the leap on your main feed, post those out-of-the-box video ideas you’ve always wanted to try on trial reels!

You can do actual A/B testing of your video content ideas by posting different versions of the same piece to see which gets better feedback. Use different music styles, aesthetics, video lengths, etc. for cuts of the same content and gather feedback on which resonates more strongly.

This approach is useful for pre-testing full campaigns you want to do, and can inform your future content strategy.

How to create and share Instagram trial reels

If your brand account has access to trial reels, using the feature is easy and feels just like sharing regular Instagram reels.

How to share trial reels with non-followers

To share a trial reel, start as you normally would when sharing a regular reel.

1. Click the + at the bottom of the app and choose reel.
2. Upload your pre-edited video content from your files, or record and edit a new reel within the app.
3. Once you’re finished uploading and editing, click Next to get to the caption editing and finalizing screen. If you have access to trial reels, you’ll see a toggle button right below the caption box. Make sure to switch this on.

4. Finish your caption, music selection and tags, and then choose Share to push your trial reel live to non-followers.

Within 24 hours, you’ll be able to see insights about how the reel is performing. Only you will be able to see that your post is a trial reel. Note: your followers may see your trial reel if a non-follower shares it directly with them.

How to share trial reels with everyone

As you track feedback on your trial reel, you might eventually want to share it with your broader audience if the content is playing well. You have a few options to share trial reels with your followers in addition to non-followers.

1. When initially sharing your trial reel, you can select Settings on the final editing page and toggle the option to share to everyone automatically. If your trial reel performs well within the first 72 hours of posting, Instagram will push it out to your full audience automatically.
2. If you’d like to make the decision to share your trial reels to your audience on your own, leave that option toggled off.
3. Once you post a trial reel, you’ll see an option at the bottom of the reel to View Insights. Click this option to see stats for your trial reel’s performance.
4. At the bottom, you’ll see an option to Share to Everyone. You can select this at any time to push out your reel to your main feed.

Best practices for maximizing your content testing

Here are some best practices to consider as you experiment with Instagram trial reels.

Align your trial reels experiments with your business objectives

When strategizing ideas for trial reels, look to your overall social media, marketing and business goals. How do you see your new video ideas supporting your objectives? What KPIs are important, and how do the new ideas you want to try tie into them?

For example, you may have goals around boosting brand awareness, increasing video conversion rate or building stronger connections with your brand’s community.

A trial reel where you test out a trending meme style your brand doesn’t normally use could drive more brand awareness, and a more interactive video approach could help build community.

Tap into engaging trends

Every trend isn’t a fit for your brand, but there may be some viral elements just outside your normal wheelhouse that may be interesting to your audience. Use trial reels to test some Instagram trends in a lower risk environment.

Experiment with popular Instagram reel hashtags that aren’t in your normal block and add in trending music and sounds. Trial reels are a sandbox for testing different video lengths as well. Try out different video lengths up to three minutes long and gauge which get the most traction. You also can make different cuts of the same video and then push out the one that does best to your full audience.

Try out a variety of content types

When crafting video content, it can be natural to fall into a slump of posting the same type of content time after time. After all, if your audience loves “day in the life” style POV videos with your products, it might feel safer to stay in that lane.

But your “not following yet” audience might be interested in other things, and your current audience could appreciate shaking things up. Use trial reels to play with content types like edutainment, promotional posts featuring your products and services, or user generated content (UGC) style clips.

Track the right metrics

Instagram trial reels offer a condensed version of Instagram reel analytics, including views, comments, likes and shares. Based on your overall social media goals and what you’re testing in trial reels, prioritize which metrics are most impactful for you.

If you want to drive more interaction with the trial reels you’re testing, a high number of shares and comments may point to the video being a winner in this area. Likewise, if more awareness is your goal, pay close attention to the number of views the trial reel is getting. For trial reels that do well, consider uploading them to other channels as you consider what to post on each social media platform.

Optimize your Instagram content strategy with trial reels

Trial reels offer a new way to test video content ideas before you share them with your loyal fans. With this feature, if a video you share doesn’t perform well, you can easily put it back in the vault.

But the best case scenario is you discover an unexpected viral hit. There’s a world of social media users not yet following your brand who can offer valuable insight through trial reels. To craft your next great social media video, download our free video content workbook to support your creative process.