Instagram Trial Reels is the latest feature the Meta-owned social media platform has announced. It allows creators to test their content first with users who don’t follow them on Instagram. Meta says, “Trial reels give you the freedom to explore new formats and help take the guesswork out of how your content will perform.”
As announced via a blog post, Instagram Trial Reels allows creators to experiment with new ideas without worrying about how their followers might react. Trial reels will now be shown to non-followers first, making experimenting with new genres, storytelling formats, or topics easier. This feature provides a quick way to gauge how your content resonates with a broader audience.
If a trial reel performs well and aligns with your expectations, you can either share it with your followers in just one tap or set it to publish to your followers automatically once the trial concludes successfully. As per Meta, this streamlined approach helps you refine your content strategy with minimal effort.
How to Use Instagram Trial Reels?
To share a reel as a trial, take the usual steps to create a reel, but before sharing, tap the toggle to turn on “Trial.” After sharing your trial reel, you can find it by visiting your profile, where it will appear alongside any drafts you have.
Only you will be able to see that your reel is a trial. It will not be shown to other people on your profile’s main grid or Reels tab unless you later decide to share it with everyone, and your followers won’t see the trial reel in their feed or Reels tab. However, some followers may still see your trial reel in places other than your feed. For example, someone might share your reel in a direct message or on a page showing reels with the same audio, location or filter.
Approximately 24 hours after you share a trial reel, you can view key engagement metrics in the reel viewer – including views, likes, comments and shares – to get a sense of how it’s performing. Meta will also share insights with you, such as how the trial performs compared to previous trials you’ve shared.
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If your trial reel is performing well, you can choose to “share with everyone” so your followers can see it and increase its reach. Or you can even automate this process so it would be shared automatically. When creating the trial reel, you can choose to have Instagram automatically share your trial reel with followers if we determine it’s performing well based on the views it receives within the first 72 hours. You can change this setting at any time.
Once it’s shared with everyone, the reel will live on your profile grid and be eligible for distribution to followers on all Instagram surfaces.
Meta began testing Instagram Trial Reels earlier this year and has received positive feedback since. Creators say that their fresh content ideas are performing well with both new audiences and existing followers.
Trial reels have started rolling out and will be globally available to all eligible creators in the coming weeks.