Two theories from last week’s article worked way better than I’d hoped. These are the results.
Instagram Trial Reels
Theory/what I was told by a creator I met at a SpaceX event:
“If you upload a video with different music, Instagram sees it as a different video. Trial Reels shows it to non-followers only. Reposting high-performing videos with different music is a reliable way to quickly grow your account.”
My results:
In the last week, from these Trial Reels alone, I got 2,000 more Instagram follows and 575,000 views (this isn’t including the new Reels I was posting outside Trial Reels). Some of these new followers from Trial Reels were also very big recognizable accounts.
Exactly what I do:
- I have an automation with this that makes every single new video I post auto back up to a Google Drive folder.
- I pick a high-performing video that is over 3 weeks old to repost as a Trial Reel.
- If a video is still going viral, I won’t use it as a Trial Reel. You want to avoid cannibalizing a high-performing video because performance is exponential. If you dampen its curve, it’s not a linear decrease. So I only use Reels that have mostly stopped going viral.
- I download the video from Google Drive or use the original file if I still have it.
- My editing software automatically transcribes it.
- I give the transcript to an LLM with a video screenshot and ask what music adjectives would fit that transcript and screenshot.
- I search my editing software’s music library for the adjectives given by the LLM.
- I add in the music, turned down to ~30%.
- I export and post as a Trial Reel with a one sentence description (these Trial Reels are not meant to rank, so I don’t worry about an SEO’d description).
Something else that’s fun:
The editing software I recommend not only has a music library, but lets you generate music. So you give your transcript to an LLM, have it make a prompt for a piece of music that fits, and give that prompt to the editing software. The music generates in UNDER TEN SECONDS! It’s very addicting.
These Trial Reels results feel too good to be true, but I can’t think of a downside so I am abusing this, stacking followers.
According to my research, doing this doesn’t violate any terms of service either. It’s just a glitch in the system.
𝕏 prioritizing videos
Theory:
Since 𝕏 is paying creators $3,000 to post their own vertical videos for 15/28 days, 𝕏 might also be prioritizing videos in the feed to show others they too can post videos.
Results:
Not as outstanding as Instagram, but videos are performing above my account’s average.
Most of my text posts on 𝕏 get several hundred views.
Most of my videos on 𝕏 get well over 1,000-3,000 views.
I also don’t believe my videos are performing because I’m in the Video Kickstart Bonus program. I think videos have been getting prioritized for the last several months. In one of the screens above, I show a video from two months ago that got 47,000 views.
Exactly what I do:
- Sort my TikTok and Instagram for most viewed.
- Pick a video that performed well and is no longer going viral.
- Download it from my Google Drive backup.
- Repost it to 𝕏.
Two more things I noticed:
- Videos seem to do better when I post the full text transcript vs. just a short line intro.
- My non-SEO videos that were viral on other platforms didn’t really pop on 𝕏. The 𝕏 video algorithm could more heavily depend on early performance from existing followers compared to other platforms. Since I primarily have an SEO audience, this would explain the discrepancy.
What you should do
If you haven’t been making short-form videos…
What are ya waiting for!
They’ve been going crazy for years, and the advantages keep growing.
And make sure you have all your videos backed up!!
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