@damianappice

What they said

• Claim: "Last year I gained over a million followers and did over a billion views using Trial Reel." (on-screen insights panel shows about 334,771,000 views at 14s with a purple ring; ring/split of followers vs non-followers).
• "I think we might break this record this year because of this new feature."
• Background: the "repurpose method": take an existing viral video of yours, tweak the editing, re-upload as a Trial Reel so it reaches all-new people.
• New feature: "Versions" in the Edits app (Instagram's editing app) lets you do that at scale. Steps:

1. Open the Edits app and create a draft.
2. Top-left corner dropdown, then tap "Manage Versions".
3. Create new versions inside one draft: take the viral video and add 5 different on-screen hooks and 5 different instrumentals.
4. Claim: it is all original content and allowed to be distributed to Trial Reels.
5. Make 5 versions of one viral video; do this for 5 viral videos per day.
6. Schedule the 5 variations of each video one week apart (example: today Friday, next Friday, the Friday after, and so on). Do this every day with 5 different videos.
7. Bonus: use the "Link a reel" (A real feature, "link a reel") feature to link the video you schedule as a trial to your most viral videos / the videos that gained you the most followers.

• "This is day two of helping my followers grow on Instagram."
• Screens shown: Template settings / Project settings menu, Manage versions menu circled in red, version list (Original, Version 2-5), schedule date picker, calendar view, who-viewed insights (followers vs non-followers, e.g. 0.4% / 99.6% style bars), "Tags" toggle.

Try this

• Creators: Take your best-performing videos and make five versions of each, with five different on-screen hooks and five different music tracks. The creator uses the Versions feature in Instagram's Edits app (draft, top-left dropdown, Manage Versions).
• Creators: Schedule the five versions as Trial Reels one week apart, so each version reaches a fresh audience of non-followers. Repeat daily with different source videos, as the creator describes.
• Brands: Test hooks on Trial Reels before posting to your main grid. Keep your own brand rules, such as caption style and approvals, on every variant.
• Creators: Use "Link a reel" to point scheduled trials at the videos that brought you the most followers.
• Agencies: Package hook-variant testing as a service for creators and brands.
• Starting out: Start with one proven video and three variants, then check the follower and non-follower split in insights before scaling.

Links

• Edits app (Instagram's editor): drafts, Manage Versions, scheduling, insights.
• Instagram Trial Reels (shown to non-followers first).
• Link-a-reel feature (reel linked to another reel).
• Free community (promo): "Digital Accelerator" group shown at 96s; join by comment keyword.
• Coauthor/usertag: @notdamianappice.