Waiting days to see whether a reel will land can feel like a lot of pressure, especially when it seems like the same small circle of people sees everything you share. Trial reels offer a lower-stakes way to reach brand-new people, test what resonates, and learn what your future clients and fellow photographers want to see.
In this episode of the Motherhood Anthology podcast, TMA community manager Ali Payne walks through how trial reels work, how to post them, and the simple approach she uses for her own photography business. If you have tried a few trial reels and watched them stall at around 200 views, or you have ever sat on a reel for days because you were nervous about how it would land, this conversation is for you. The approach is quick, it is repeatable, and it does not ask you to reinvent anything.
What a Trial Reel Is and How to Post One
A trial reel is a regular Instagram reel posted in a special mode. Instead of going to your followers, Instagram shares it with people who do not follow you yet. It does not show up in your followers’ feeds or on your grid, and it lives in its own section on your profile. Picture someone scrolling reels on a Tuesday night or searching for a family photographer in their city. They have never heard of you, and your video appears. Those are the people watching your trial reels, and that is the biggest benefit: instead of the same handful of people seeing your work again and again, a trial reel goes to all new eyes.
There are two ways to post one. The first is to open the reels tab on your profile, tap the drafts and trial reels spot, and choose create trial reel. The second is to make a reel the way you normally would, then scroll to the audience setting on the final screen and switch on the trial toggle. As long as that toggle stays on, the reel only goes to the trial reels section.
One thing to check before you post: Instagram has a setting that can automatically share a trial reel with your followers if it performs well on its own, so look at that toggle if you want yours to stay strangers only. A quick disclaimer as well: trial reels are only available if you have at least 200 followers on a business or professional account. If you do not see the trial option at all, your account may not be eligible yet, and your account settings are the place to check.
Each trial reel has its own insights, which you can find in that same folder. They show your views, how many people followed you because of that specific reel, and where viewers dropped off, especially when you edit in Instagram’s Edits app. The more you post, the easier it becomes to spot patterns in what sticks.
Test Your Hooks and Choose Your Audience
Because your followers are not seeing these videos, you can post as many as you like. Ali often posts the same clip several times with different on-screen hooks (the text on top of the video) to see which one makes people stop. On TMA’s account, she posted one video with the same caption and only changed the words on the screen. One version landed around 200 views, and the other has more than 20,000. You are not creating something new each time, only trying a different hook on a clip you already have. Ali also uses an AI tool to brainstorm hooks and captions quickly, so more time goes to posting and less to overthinking.
It also helps to know what to expect. About 90 percent of Ali’s trial reels land somewhere between 200 and 500 views, and that is normal. These videos go to strangers who have no reason to care about you yet, so they start slower than a regular reel. As Ali puts it, “Compare your trial reels to other trial reels, not to the reel you posted to your followers.” Every so often one takes off, like the video on her own photography account with more than 160,000 views, or another that brought in more than 50 new followers.
Before you post, decide who the reel is for. You might be speaking to other photographers, to potential clients, to a bit of both, or simply showing more of your personality to people who already follow you.
Ali shares two examples of how much this matters. A relatable reel of her working from bed with a laptop on her knees passed 160,000 views, but it did not bring followers because it was not specific to photography. A six-second behind-the-scenes clip of a family session, with a posing tip as the hook and the tip explained in the caption, has around 7,000 views, more than 100 saves, and more than 50 new photographers following her. The smaller reel did more for her business because it spoke to a clear audience.
Going viral is mostly luck, and a big number means little if none of those viewers live near you or care about photography. Decide whether you want people to follow you or book you, and the rest of the reel gets easier to plan. Since viewers have never met you. You have about three seconds to give them a reason to stay. Ali shares three ways to do that.
First, show your camera. A short clip of you shooting a session tells people right away that you are a photographer, which frees up your on-screen text to make the real point. If clients appear in the clip, ask them first, ideally with a quick line in your client questionnaire.
Second, use keywords on the screen and in your caption, and make your location clear. A hook that starts with POV and names your city works well. Most people skim the words on the video rather than reading captions, so put the main message on screen and let the caption do the search work for Instagram. Ali saw this firsthand after she began adding “Gulf Shores family photographer” to her captions. She received five beach inquiries the following week, and a family from Tennessee told her they had searched that exact phrase and found her. In Ali’s words, “30 extra seconds of typing, and it booked a session for me.”
Third, tell viewers what to do next, whether that means following you, finding you, or saving the video for when they need a photographer.
Keep It Simple and Keep Posting
This episode grew out of a recent TMA live coaching call, where Ali spent so much time on trial reels during a Q&A with Katie Lamb that Kim Box asked her to turn it into a training. That back-and-forth is one of the best parts of learning alongside other photographers. Katie shared that the reels that resonate most tend to be the ones you spent the least time on, the real and raw ones.
Kim also offered a helpful tip: once you have a handful of trial reels posted, screenshot your insights, share them with an AI tool, and ask what your top performers have in common and for five more ideas like them.
The message running through the whole episode is to treat trial reels as a testing ground. If you have a good idea, post it. Change the hook and post it again. Reuse your clips, because Ali has posted the same video a dozen times with different hooks and nobody is keeping track.
Katie even suggested a fun idea for behind-the-scenes footage: if something funny happens mid-session, end the reel right before the payoff and invite people to check back for part two. If you do not have any behind-the-scenes clips yet, that is the place to start. TMA offers a behind-the-scenes mini course (already included in the membership) and a free behind-the-scenes starter.
Listen and Learn More
Listen to the full episode for Ali’s complete walkthrough, including where to find trial reels on your phone and how she decides which hook to push. Her challenge for you this week is to post one trial reel with a camera in it, say where you are, tell people what to do next, and then message TMA on Instagram to share how it went. Even if it only reaches 200 views, she wants to celebrate you for putting yourself out there.
Find Ali at alipaynephotography.com or on Instagram at @alipayne__.
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The Motherhood Anthology is a community and educational resource for photographers who want a profitable and sustainable business they love. With 15+ expert mentors and 7+ years of proven content, TMA helps portrait photographers build confident, thriving businesses through monthly education, mentorship, and a supportive community of 700+ members.
