Instagram Launches Trial Reels, Giving Creators the Ability to Share Reels with Non-Followers Before Sharing with Everyone

Instagram / Trial Reels

Instagram has launched a test of Trial Reels, allowing creators to share a Reel with only non-followers. Creators will gain insights into the performance of the Reel and can choose to share it with everyone or not. There’s also an option to automatically share the Reel with everyone if it receives a significant number of plays in the first 48 hours.

Why It Matters: This experimental feature lets creators gauge the performance of their Reels without committing to sharing them with their followers. With creators frustrated with the reach of their content, this provides an opportunity to test their content with non-followers and then share it with everyone if it performs well. This could be quite handy for sponsored Reels too — marketers, if you’re working with creators who have access, encourage them to try this out.

Instagram could eventually expand this to A/B testing, allowing creators to share different versions of their Reels with slight variations like text overlays and captions, helping them to further experiment and optimize their Reels over time.