You've posted all month, filmed between customer calls and kept showing up, and the audience has barely moved. The enquiries look much the same too. Before you book another filming day, I'd take one video you've already made, give it a clearer opening and test it as a trial reel.
Source: The posting history, trial reel testing and editing method come from creator Jamie Brindle's Build Your Tribe interview. The renovation example and the advice on reading results for a business are ours.
More posting won't show you what to fix
Brindle describes a stretch where he posted around twelve times a day. He now puts out roughly three public feed posts a week, and behind those three sit multiple edits he's tested through Instagram trial reels before deciding which to share widely. Copy his public schedule and you'd miss most of the work.
If every spare hour goes into the next video, you can repeat the same slow opening or vague topic for months without noticing. Choose a pace you can keep alongside running the business, and set aside an hour to look at what you've already posted, even if it costs you one new video.
Pick a question customers ask before they buy
Brindle spends time learning why his audience shares his videos. Some of his freelancer viewers want the people around them to understand the choices they've made. Others recognise a situation and send it to a friend who's been through it.
That's more useful than a general push to make shareable content, because you can picture who receives the video and what they say when they open it.
Say you run a renovation business. A walkthrough of a finished kitchen shows off your work, but a homeowner comparing quotes has a more pressing question: why do two builders price the same kitchen so differently? A video on what to check in those quotes is something they'd send to their partner, and it gives them a reason to remember you when they're ready to talk.
Go through recent enquiries, sales calls and comments, and pick one question you keep answering. If you've already filmed a video about it, start there.
Trial reels show your edit to people who don't follow you
Instagram's trial reels go to non-followers first, so you can see how a new audience responds before your followers see anything. When you create the reel, turn on the Trial option before sharing, if your account has it. You can decide later whether to share it with your followers.
That makes a trial a cheap way to try a different cut of footage you already own. One reel and one alternate edit is enough to start.
Change the opening and leave the answer alone
Watch the first few seconds as someone who's never heard of your business. Can they tell what question you're answering, and why it matters to them?
If the kitchen quote reel opens with your name, your business and a general introduction to renovations, try opening the alternate with the question the homeowner already has: "Why are these two kitchen quotes so different?" Keep the explanation as it was. You've already filmed the useful part, and the new opening gives someone a reason to stay for it.
Brindle sometimes goes further, connecting the opening directly to a later answer and cutting the dialogue in between. That works when the middle repeats the setup. Watch the result back, though, because cutting a qualification can turn good advice into misleading advice.
Change one thing per test. If the hook, the music, the length and the topic all change at once, a better result won't tell you which one helped.
Look for the moment viewers leave
If Instagram shows you a retention curve for the reel, find the point where people drop off and watch that stretch of footage again. Brindle describes curves with an early drop followed by a flatter line, and in his examples, trimming material before the stronger section gave viewers a shorter route to the answer. A steady slide all the way through usually points somewhere else, like repeated points or an explanation that takes too long to get going.
If you only see summary numbers, use them to decide where to look:
- A high skip rate: is the question clear in the first second or two?
- Short average watch time: does the first useful answer arrive too late?
- Plenty of views but few shares: who would send this to whom, and why?
Each one points you at part of the footage. You still have to watch it to know what to cut.
Give it a day, then look again
Check both versions after a similar amount of time has passed, around the next day for a first look, and come back as more data arrives. Brindle describes reels that looked weak early and picked up later.
Keep the raw counts beside any rate. If a few hundred people saw each version, a gap of a handful of shares isn't enough to change how you film. When one version clearly does better, you have an editing choice worth repeating on your next video, and it usually takes a few rounds before you know whether it keeps helping.
Views and enquiries are different results
A reel can earn plenty of views and bring in nobody you could serve, while another reaches a few hundred people and starts one good conversation. Read the results against the job you wanted the post to do, whether that was reaching relevant people, building an audience that wants more, or starting buying conversations.
Ask new enquiries "How did you hear about us?" and note the answer beside the posts you've been publishing. People often watch several videos and then find your website later, so you won't trace every enquiry, but the answer tells you more than a view count can.
If attention grows while enquiries stay flat, check who the content is reaching, then check what happens after someone gets interested. Can they tell who you help, see your work and find a clear way to contact you?
Try this with one reel this week
- Pick an existing video about a question customers ask before buying.
- Make one alternate edit that brings the question or answer forward, keeping the meaning intact.
- Post it as a trial if you have the option, and note what you changed.
- Check it the next day and again a few days later, then write down one thing to carry into your next video.
