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Growth experimentsChapter 02 / Instagram

By Louise Ivan A personal growth experiment

I took one reel from 12.6K to 2.1 million views by changing 2 simple things.

Five days into learning Instagram, I changed the hook and cut of a reel that had reached 12,655 views. Here are both versions and what I learned.

01 / The beginning

How I started

When I don’t know how to do something, my strategy is to find 5 specialists who are experts in this particular domain, talk to them and really narrow down who I wanna learn from.

This experiment came after learning from one of them. I had posted on Instagram before, but March 8 was the start of putting those lessons into focused practice. Over the next 16 days, I posted 34 reels. This chapter is about the first reel that broke through. The 5.1M-view kitchen reel has its own chapter.

12,655first-version views
2.1Msecond-version views
7seconds in the tighter cut
5days into the experiment
02 / First comparison

Your hook should capture the audience’s attention in the first three seconds

For a simple reel I want to go viral, I focus on three things: a hook that captures attention, a visual that shocks the audience, and a caption that delivers the full story. I aim for about 7 seconds.

Swipe to compare both reels

What I learned

I focus on three elements in an Instagram reel: a hook that sparks curiosity, a shocking visual that delivers the emotion, and the full payoff in the caption. While someone reads the caption, the video can keep looping. A caption that holds their attention gives them a reason to stay longer.

The first version reached about 12,600 views. Then I used the same hospital footage, shortened it to 7 seconds and made the hook more direct. And bam, 2.1 million views.

03 / Take it with you

A process you can try

Try another cut and a clearer hook before giving up on a reel.

  1. 01

    Find a reel with a visual moment that still feels compelling to you.

  2. 02

    Make the opening clear enough to spark curiosity in the first three seconds.

  3. 03

    Cut away anything that delays the visual or the payoff.

  4. 04

    Post the new version and compare the result with the original.

That’s the experiment.

Your next viral reel might already be in your camera roll.

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