Is posting reels really the secret to planning social media content? I tried it for 30 days. Here’s what happened and what I learned.
If you’ve spent any time planning social media content, you’ve heard it before:
“Just post more reels.”
One reel a day.
Two reels a day.
Reels are the answer.
But…is that actually true?
Will posting reels consistently bring in more followers, more views, and more clients?
Or does it just lead straight to burnout?
Instead of guessing, I tested it.
For one full month, I posted 1 reel and 1 carousel every week to see what would actually happen, and whether this strategy makes planning social media content easier…or just more overwhelming.
The Method
Here’s how I went about running this little experiment:
I took 1 topic & turned it into a reel and a carousel to post for the week.
I did a mix of types of reels – trending audios, talking to camera, etc.
My goal was to see if carousels or reels were “performing better” for my account.
And here’s what I mean by “performing better”: resulting in action taken by the viewers.
Clicking over to my profile, clicking a link in bio, following my account, commenting, etc.
The Results
Let’s start with the results that really should be a no-brainer.
Yes, my reels had more views than my carousels, and they were typically viewed by more non-followers than followers.
Which means my overall accounts reached was MUCH higher than it was the previous month.
But, did that increase of views actually DO anything? Did the hundreds of people who saw my content engage with it in any meaningful way?
Because if not, I can continue chasing more views all day long, but it won’t actually result in any more sales, so it’s not a strategy I want to take for planning social media content.
Here’s what happened for me.
My profile activity WAS up during this month, but didn’t have quite as high a jump as the accounts reached.
In other words, there were more people who saw my content, but most of those people simply saw it. They didn’t DO anything about it.
Now for the specifics. What posts were actually encouraging people to check out my profile & click on a link?
Here’s where things get REALLY interesting.
Not a single reel got anyone to come over to my profile, click on a link, or really do anything to engage with my content further.
ALL of my profile activity came from carousels.
So, the short answer of my question, “Do reels work for my content creation strategy” is no.
And drilling down even further will show you what types of carousels brought in that activity.
Now let’s talk about how to take these results & turn them into a strategy that will make planning social media content a breeze.
My Strategy for Planning Social Media Content
Based on the results of my little experiment, spending my time creating reels alone for my Instagram account will increase my views & accounts reached, and nothing more.
It won’t encourage my audience to check out my profile, follow along, or click a link.
So posting reels alone will not be how I’m planning social media content for future months.
In fact, if you scroll through my Instagram posts, you’ll see about 2 carousels (if not more) for every reel.
That’s simply because I know reels aren’t the type of post encouraging my audience to DO something.
If I want to create a post encouraging someone to click, my data has shown me that I need to create a carousel, not a reel.
Which is incredible, because it means I can create a reel when inspiration hits, when I think a trend is hilarious, or when I want to focus on expanding my reach.
Basically, I can create a reel when I want to, and not worry about trying to hop on all the trends before they disappear.
Therefore, the first bit of my strategy when it comes to planning social media content is to focus primarily on creating carousels.
Which begs the question, what kind of carousels? Or carousels talking about what?
Thankfully, my data can help answer this question too!
These are my carousels with the most profile activity hits within this timespan.
As I look for patterns between them, I notice that two of them are nurturing posts giving people a feel for who I am behind the computer & helping them get to know me more than just a data nerd.
The other one is totally talking about going viral (and how that is something I’m not going to be attempting this year).
As I move forward planning social media content, I want to keep creating posts that include vulnerability and talk about social media strategy.
And I’ll be continuing to keep tabs with what’s going on behind the scenes with my Instagram post data, so I can make tweaks to my Instagram strategy as needed.
But here’s the kicker.
This is the strategy for planning social media content that works for ME based on my audience & my data. It might not be what your audience wants or needs.
So, how do you figure that out?
Planning Social Media Content for Yourself
Here’s what you should do as a result of my social media experiment: spend some time looking back over your own Instagram numbers.
If you’ve never done this before, I’ll walk you through my exact Instagram analysis process here.
You want to look at your numbers and ask them this question: Is the content I’m spending hours creating actually working? Or is it time to try something else?
Because if you continue slaving over something that isn’t working and expecting a different result, we all know that’s the definition of insanity…right?
Go beyond the number of views each of your posts is receiving & start to look for patterns behind the posts that are bringing in the most follows, comments, saves, or profile activity.
Then, use that information to help you build out your own strategy for planning social media content.
I promise creating content will never feel easier.
And if even the thought of pulling up Instagram insights leaves you ready to chuck your laptop across the room, check out booking a Data Drop.
I’ll do the heavy lifting of data collection & analysis for you so that you can cut through the content fog and finally know what’s driving clicks and conversions, so you can double down on what’s working and let go of the rest.