What Happens When You Only Post Reels on Instagram?

My 30-Day Instagram Test

Last month, I quietly ran an experiment on my Instagram account.

What would happen if I only posted Reels for 30 days?

Would my reach improve?
Would I gain followers?
Would I get more interaction?
Would I see any difference at all?

Some Backstory:

I’ve never been shy about saying that Instagram is my least favorite platform. Other than posting to Stories and scrolling through a few, I don’t spend much time there as a user (how I approach it for clients is a different story).

Translation: I put almost zero effort into my own Instagram account.

I know some people love Instagram, but it just doesn’t feel fun or interesting to me as a user. As a marketing strategist, I recognize its value and know it can be an amazing tool for certain businesses - but personally? It’s not my thing.

And if you’re thinking, “Oh, she just doesn’t like video,” that’s not it. I actually love short-form video - just not on Instagram. I prefer TikTok and even YouTube Shorts.

A few more details before we get to the numbers:

• My follower count has been stagnant for about a year.
  

• The only significant change in that time was when I actively removed around 1,000 inactive followers (anyone who hadn’t posted in at least a year).
  

• I routinely remove spam accounts as they follow me.
  

• My account is small and not particularly engaged (I fully recognize this!)
  

I did this purely out of curiosity. My account is so inactive that there was no real risk - only potential insights and a chance to learn!

The Rules for My Experiment:

1️. I didn’t announce or discuss the experiment while it was happening (except with my Build Your Marketing Muscles membership group).

2️. I only posted repurposed, watermark-free TikToks as Reels.

3️. Every Reel had to be about marketing strategy/tips (no cute cats for easy engagement).

4️. I didn’t change how I interacted with Instagram - which meant sticking to my usual habits and didn’t tweak my caption style.

The Before & After:

BEFORE (Baseline: January 8 - February 6)

Followers: 2,965 (28 new follows, 24 unfollows)

Overall Views: 4,296

• 46.6% from followers

• 53.4% from non-followers

Content Posted:

✅ 4 Reels (62.5% of views, one had significantly higher reach & engagement)

✅ 32 Stories (24.6% of views - about 10 were boring “housekeeping” updates for my Highlights)

✅ 3 Feed Posts (12.9% of views: 1 quote post, 2 carousels - 1 educational, 1 branding update)

Content Interactions (Likes, Comments, Shares, Saves): 159

• 53.8% on Reels

• 27.4% on Feed Posts

• 18.8% on Stories

Breakdown of Interactions:

❤️ Likes: 84
💬 Comments: 13
📌 Saves: 2
🔄 Shares: 1

Other Metrics:

👀 Profile Visits from Posts: 89
🔗 Link in Bio Clicks: 3

📌 Key Takeaway: Before the experiment, my views were almost evenly split between followers and non-followers. Reels (even with only four posted) were already driving most of my views and engagement.

AFTER (Experiment: February 5 - March 6)

Followers: 2,965 (19 new follows, 22 unfollows)

Overall Views: 5,049

• 37.8% from followers

• 62% from non-followers

Content Posted:

✅ 18 Reels (77.6% of views)

✅ 31 Stories (13.5% of views - about 11 were “housekeeping” updates for my Highlights)

✅ 1 Feed Post (8.9% of views - a promotional post for a workshop)

Content Interactions (Likes, Comments, Shares, Saves): 121

• 72.4% on Reels

• 13.1% on Feed Posts

• 14.5% on Stories

Breakdown of Interactions:

❤️ Likes: 81
💬 Comments: 4
📌 Saves: 11
🔄 Shares: 5

Other Metrics:

👀 Profile Visits from Posts: 63
🔗 Link in Bio Clicks: 0

What Does This Tell Me?

Posting Reels definitely put me in front of more people, giving me 750 additional views, but it didn’t significantly impact my follower count.

Interestingly, interactions from non-followers dropped drastically (from 30% before to just 9.7% during the experiment). However, this could be skewed by the fact that one “spicy” post in the previous month likely inflated engagement from non-followers.

On the positive side, I saw an increase in saves (11 vs. 2) and shares (5 vs. 1), which suggests I was sharing valuable content even if it didn’t translate into more comments or follows (I also know that a quirk of my audience is that they tend to watch & absorb without necessarily following or commenting).

That said, profile visits and link clicks were down, though again, the outlier post from the previous month may have played a role.

What Surprised Me?

I didn’t expect to see any change in views or followers at all, so the increase in views was interesting.

What really stood out was how much more my followers interacted with my Reels compared to non-followers (90% vs. 9.7%). That wasn’t something I expected.

What Would I Do Differently?

TikTok’s vibe and aesthetic (as well as my own) are much more casual than Instagram’s. A better experiment would be to create new Reels tailored to Instagram’s style rather than repurposing TikToks.

Although I wasn’t engaging or using the app more during my experiment, I was posting more content. On the surface, it was 44 pieces of content, compared to 52 during the experiment. However, the overall number of posts to the main feed (between Reels and the single static post) ended up being almost 3x as much.

That extra content alone likely impacted the views and reach I had. If I did something similar again, I would make sure to have a more evenly matched amount of content (and in the same places).

That might give a clearer picture, but overall it was an interesting experiment!

I encourage business owners to be curious when it comes to their marketing and to test different ways of showing up as well as different formats. There’s no one perfect way to do social media and no one perfect way to share your story!