Ep 101 We Did a Month of Posting 4 Times a Day... Here’s What Happened

If you’ve ever found yourself posting on Instagram after a long clinic day…
Or sat on the sofa with your phone whilst half watching Netflix…
And wondering why it’s not translating into clients…

Me too!

And honestly? This is exactly why I decided to run a little experiment in my business.

Because, being a bit obsessed with marketing - I kept seeing the big Insta guru's saying:
Post more often. Use the newest features. Follow this exact formula for massive growth...

So I thought… right then. Let’s go all in and test it properly.

What happens if you actually do post four times a day using the newest features?

What Happened When I Posted 4 Times a Day on Instagram

For one full month, my team and I made March a “growth month”.

The goal was simple:
More visibility. More reach. More followers.

So I committed to:

• 3 trial reels per day (the newest IG feature)
• 1 grid post per day
• Daily stories - multiple
• Every single day

(Yes… it was a lot. And no, I won’t be recommending this as your new normal.)

But here’s what surprised me most…More content posting didn’t automatically mean more growth.

And that’s what I wanted you to take away from this. Because when you’re already juggling clinic, a job, CPD, family life, and trying to build a business on the side… the last thing you need is to follow social edia guru advice that has you doing more stuff, taking up your precious time, with very little return.

Are 'Trial Reels' Actually Worth It?

Let’s talk about the shiny new thing…

Trial reels.

These are designed to show your social media content (specifically short video) to non-followers, which on paper sounds ideal if your goal is is to grow your Instagram following.

And I’ll be honest, I went all in with these during Growth Month. We were testing:

• Trending audios
• Strong hooks
• Longer captions so the video looped in the background whilst people read - meaning more views
• Different content styles - b-roll, face to camera, voiceovers, visual hooks, audio hooks

But the results?

Well they were mixed… at best.

Some reels performed well. Most were average. And a lot didn’t match the level of effort going in.

And the truth is…

Trial reels are not the magic solution for Instagram growth.

But they can be useful for testing new content formats, polarising topics, different content angles to see what response you get. But they’re not something I'd rely on as a growth hack.

So if you’ve been thinking, “Why isn’t this working for me as well as the social media guru's are suggesting?”
Please know - it’s not just you. These are actually fairly typical results when you ask others who have tried them.

The Way we are Using Trial Reels Going Forward

We're using them as a testing tool.

With new ideas, formats or things that might be a bit contraversial or different to what my current audience expect, we are:

• Posting as a trial first
• Waiting to see how it performs
• If it does well, it gets shared to my grid as a traditional Reel the next day

And whats great about that is you are creating content once… and using it twice. Which when you’re already stretched for time, that kind of simplicity really matters.

Why The Type of Content Matters More Than You Realise

Another focus for me was looking at what I was posting, as well as how often.

Because not all content types are going to resonate.

We found that two types worked particularly well:

1. Polarising Content

Not controversial for the sake of it…
But taking a clear stance.

Sharing your clinical reasoning.
Saying what you actually believe.

Because that’s what makes people stop scrolling and think,
“Finally - someone who gets it.”

2. Content Series & Linked Reels

This is something I’ll definitely be continuing.

Instead of posts on different topics within my niche, I started creating structured content series.

For example:
I published a weekly reel focused on one specific, actionable Instagram growth tip. I filmed it in the same way, using the same angles, colours, captionisng style and then linked each weeks Reel to the one before so that when people watched one, they were more likely to watch another and another.

And what happens is…

People start to recognise your content.
They come back for next weeks 'episode'.
They binge view your tips on that specific topic.
They begin to get to know, like and trust you.

It’s a quieter kind of growth - but a much more powerful one.

The Instagram Growth Strategy Most People Overlook

Here’s something I do anyway, outside of this experiment:

Focus on keywords. - Not in a complicated, SEO techy way.
It's just about being more intentional about the words I was using in my posts. And by intentional I mean using the words my ideal clients use rather than business or marketing terms, and you should do the same by using laypeople language not clinical terms.

This is important because Instagram is essentially a search engine now. People type in key words or phrases and expect to see content that matches. So in all of my content I:

• Include keywords in captions 
• Add them to on-screen text
• Use them in hashtags (just 3)
• Even place a few keywords subtly within the video itself (as small, almost invisible text.)

Now, keywords wont suddenly skyrocket your views overnight. SEO is a long game, and the purpose is to help your content reach the right people.

And whe you get that right, that’s what actually leads to more followers… and eventually, clients.

The Truth About Social Media for Dietitians

If there’s one thing this experiment really confirmed, it’s this:

You don’t need to do more to grow on Instagram. Whether thats more posting or using more features. 

What you do need more of is intentional posting. You need to create content thats specifically intended to resonate with your ideal clients, which means using the keywords they are likely to be typing in to the search bar, producing content on topics you know they are interested in and looking for information about and above all else be specific and relatable so that they can see themselves in your shoes. Thats what being intentional means. It’s:

• The right message
• In front of the right people
• In a way that they get
• And of course feels sustainable for you when your time and energy are already stretched.

So… What Should You Focus On Instead?

If you’re wondering how to grow on Instagram as a dietitian, here’s where I’d gently guide you:

Focus on:

• Understanding exactly who your ideal client is - not in broad terms, but in the minute detail of their day to day lives.
• Creating content that speaks directly to them
• Using the keywords they use, to help them find you
• Building trust through posting consistently (not constantly)
• Testing, what lands with your audience - not just following the IG guru's trends.

Because social media is an extra, not the main thing and shouldn’t feel like full-time job.

A Doable Next Step

If you’re feeling stuck with your social media content…
or like you’re putting posts out there and hearing nothing back…

You just haven’t been shown a strategy that actually works for our kind of business yet.

That’s exactly why I created Social Media Made Simple 👉 https://www.sarahalmondbushell.com/social-media-made-simple

It’s designed specifically for healthcare professionals who want a clear, realistic way to grow their businesses online, but without spending hours glued to their phone or trying to keep up with every new trend.

The Master Plan:

Helping you build the business of your dreams. Get your 22 point step-by step workbook here: https://www.sarahalmondbushell.com/master-plan

Connect with me:

Website: https://www.sarahalmondbushell.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dietitiansinbusiness/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dietitiansinbusiness

Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/beyondtheclinicbusiness

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@BeyondTheClinicPodcast

Episode transcription:

Today's going to be a really interesting episode because over the last month, I decided to run a bit of an experiment in my business. My team and I made March my growth month. We wanted more eyes on my business and more followers. So I thought, right, let's actually go for it. I set myself a challenge to really push my social media content. And when I say push it, I mean properly push it. I ended up posting

four times a day on Instagram every weekday. And this is something I have never done in my business before. And not only that, I was testing out some new strategies when it comes to growth, including trial reels, which are a fairly new feature on Instagram designed to help you grow your audience. And to make it a bit of fun, I decided I'd do 10 boxer style skips for every new follower I gained. My PT was very proud of me for that one.

But the reason I wanted to do this episode is because I know so many of you are also wanting to grow your audience and be more strategic on social media, but don't know what to do and also don't know how much of your time is actually worth dedicating to this. Maybe you've seen people talk about how effective things like trial reels are, but haven't really seen results from it yourself. Or maybe you've never even heard of trial reels before.

and I haven't got a clue what they are. And that's absolutely fine because I'm gonna explain it all in this episode. So in this episode, I'm gonna give you a completely honest breakdown of how that month went. What I actually did, what worked, what definitely did not work and what I would and wouldn't recommend you do if your goal is to grow your social media audience right now. And before you run away thinking,

She's going to start to tell me to post four times a day on Instagram. Hell no to that. You'll be glad to hear. I will not be telling you to do that. Okay. Let's get into it. Shall we? Okay. Let's start with the main thing that I focused on during growth month. Trial Reels. Now Trial Reels are a fairly new feature on Insta designed to push your content out to non-followers. So these are not shown on your Instagram grid.

They're only shown to the people who don't follow you. However, for trial reels, the content needs to be completely new and unique to anything you've ever created before. Otherwise you get zero views. So naturally, when this shiny new feature came out, everyone got quite excited about it. All the Instagram gurus were telling you, you need to do trial reels if you want to grow on Instagram. And yes, I definitely jumped on that bandwagon.

because on paper makes complete sense. If your goal is to grow your audience, you want your content in front of new people, not just the people who are already following you. So I went all in on this. A lot of people were recommending posting trial reels as frequently as possible with some suggesting three to five times a day. So I thought, you know what, why not try it? So I ended up posting three trial reels alongside my normal

one grid post per day. And most of my energy during that month was really going into reaching non-followers. So I was testing a few different things

I'd seen working well for trial reels. People were suggesting strong hooks, of course, but trending audios and making sure they were low usage and longer captions so that videos would loop in the background while people were reading and increase views that way.

So I wasn't just posting and hoping for the best. There was always a strategy behind what I was doing. Now, in the beginning, I actually started by posting the types of content that I know usually perform really well for my audience, like inspirational content around leaving the NHS and money-focused topics. Because on my grid, that kind of content tends to do really, really well. But I learned that it didn't land in the same way with a completely

brand new audience. So then I started to switch things up, testing more humor based content, more tutorial style content, and more proven hooks for trial reels designed to help get people onto my page. But even after making those changes and doing all of those things, the results were still pretty underwhelming overall. Some of the trial reels

did get decent views, but interestingly and frustratingly,

the results in reach and followers didn't quite match the level of effort that I was putting in. Even when I tried different content types, different hooks, we tried B-roll versus tutorial style. Even when we really focused on the right keywords, even when we tried jumping on trends.

The reach was nowhere near as high as I expected it to be, and neither was the number of new followers as a result. And this is definitely wasn't what I expected to happen when I increased output this much, especially using a feature that's specifically designed for growth.

But recently it's now come out that while trial reels can be helpful, they're not as effective as we were initially led to believe. So this isn't just my experience, which I'm really quite glad about. Only the other day, Instagram growth coach, Brock Johnson was talking about this and he's one of the best in the industry when it comes to Instagram growth.

got inside access to the head of Instagram.

And honestly, what he was saying didn't surprise me at all after the results I saw. So the question you're probably wondering is, are trial reels really worth it? Well, I'm not going to tell you not to bother with trial reels because they can work and they did work a bit for me. They can get you in front of brand new audiences. And yes, some people do get great results with them. But what I am going to say is,

don't believe everything you see online about them because when trial reels first came out, there was an awful lot of hype. People were saying things like, just use this hook or use this trending audio or follow this exact formula and you're going to get amazing

but the reality is it's just not as simple as that. What I found and what's now coming out more widely is that most of the time trial reels

don't actually perform that well. A lot of them actually get pretty average or actually below average reach and views. Yes, some do better than others, of course, but it's not a guaranteed growth tool. And that's really important to understand because otherwise you end up putting a lot of pressure on yourself thinking, well, why isn't this working for me? When actually it's just the nature of the feature. They are for trialing and experimenting.

Now here's a quick practical tip if you're thinking, I don't have time to be posting tonnes, but I still do want to test out trial reels. One way you can approach this is to use trial reels as your testing ground first. So instead of creating separate content for trial reels and your grid content, you could post something as a trial reel only, see how it performs. And if it does fairly well, you can then repurpose that onto your grid.

When you're doing this though, it's important to think about the purpose of your content. If a piece of content is designed to attract new people, then it makes sense to post it as a trial reel first with the intention of sharing it to your grid if it performs well the next day. So you're creating it once, but you're using it twice. But remember, if a piece of content is more about nurturing and speaking directly to the people already following you, then that just needs to go straight on your grid.

So overall, my take is this. Trial reels can be something you test and experiment with by all means. Learn about them, give them a good

but they are definitely not something to rely on. And they're definitely not a magic solution for growth.

Okay, that's enough about trial reels for now. So what else did I do during my growth month? Well, another thing I really focused on was keywords. So having as many terms that my ideal client would be searching for in my content as possible. And I have another really simple little hack for you here that you can start using straight away. You can hide keywords within this content. Now stay with me on this because this is actually a really useful thing.

for helping control who your content gets shown to. So when you're creating a reel, for instance, you've got a few different places where keywords can live. Typically, it's in your onscreen text, so your hook, your caption, and in your hashtags. And I definitely recommend trying to get as many keywords as you can into those places. But what I started doing was also adding a few keywords directly into the reel itself. So not loads.

I was only using about three per reel, say. So I'd think about key search terms that my ideal client would be using. So for me, that's things like dietitian, dietitian business coach, that kind of thing. And then I'd place those keywords really small somewhere in the video so you can't actually see them. Now, this is a really great hack because whenever you post something, Instagram scans your content to understand what it's about.

So when Instagram is deciding who to show your content to, those keywords help give it context, meaning you're more likely to be shown to the right people. And that's the key thing

This isn't a hack that's suddenly going to get you thousands of more views and reach overnight. Unfortunately not. But what it does do is help you get seen by the right people over time. And that's ultimately the most important thing when you're trying to grow your audience. Because yes, things like trial reels can increase your reach, but if it's not reaching the right people, it's pretty pointless as it's not going to convert into followers or clients anyway.

So if you're going to bother with trial reels, make sure you're focusing on your keywords as well. Now, this hack is something that I've only started testing more recently with my content. And I've been doing it for trial reels and also on my grid content. I haven't really given it enough time to see any huge results from it yet, but it's definitely one of those longer term strategies that when done consistently, it's going to support growth in a much more targeted way.

Okay, so what else did I focus on during growth month? I was also really intentional with the content that I was posting on my grid. And this is important because your grid content still plays a huge role in growth. Yes, trial reels are designed to get you in front of new people, but your grid content is also shown to new people too. So I started focusing on the type of content that I was putting out there.

I leaned more into what I would call visibility content. So there's lots of different types of visibility content. And one of the best in my opinion is polarizing content. So when I say polarizing content, I don't just mean posting

controversial content for the sake of it. What I mean is taking a position and saying something in a way that reflects your clinical reasoning or how you work with clients, even if not.

everyone would agree with you. One of my best performing posts in my nutrition business was a post that was polarizing and slightly controversial. And it did so well. I ended up putting some ad spend behind it to get it in front of even more people. Now I have another podcast episode I've recently recorded all about this and how to create polarizing content in your business. So make sure to go and check that episode out after this. I'll put the link in the show notes.

There are tons of other types of visibility content too. And one that's becoming really popular at the moment and something I've been testing myself is creating content in a series format. And the reason this works so well is because it brings people into your world in a more structured way. So instead of just seeing one random post, they start to recognize a style and a consistent type of value from you.

And it also gives you the opportunity to share genuinely useful, actionable content in a way that leaves people wanting more because they know another part is coming. So this is something that I have been trying recently and I've definitely noticed some good results from it, enough that it's something I'm planning to stick with. What I'm aiming to do is to run a new series roughly every six weeks or so. And with that, I'll post one episode a week, usually a talking head style of real.

where I'll focus on one specific practical tip on the topic. So for example, this month I'm running a series on my Instagram called, Dietitians Do Business Differently. And each week I'm sharing a really useful implementable tip around growing your business and getting clients, but in a way that actually fits with being a healthcare professional. Because as we know, business advice doesn't always translate directly into healthcare. So it's about bridging that gap.

And the kind of content that not only helps with visibility, it also builds trust and it positions you as someone that people want to learn

Okay, let's remind ourselves what we can learn from my growth month experiment. Well, I think the main lessons are more content doesn't automatically mean more followers and shiny new features aren't always the game changer they're made out to be. What actually matters is that you're being intentional with your content.

Now, of course, knowing your ideal clients, including what they needed to hear and what they're actually searching for is still and always has been the most important thing. It's what my social media made simple course is all about. So take what feels useful from this episode, test it in your own way and focus on building a strategy that actually works for you, not just what everyone else online is telling you to do.

Let's face it, a lot of social media advice out there just doesn't translate well into healthcare either. And that's exactly why I created social media made simple. The goal of this course is to cut through all of that generic noise and make growing on social feel simple and actually doable for you. So you're not wasting hours creating content that

doesn't get you any results. It's designed specifically for health care professionals trying to grow profitable, ethical private practices. Inside the course, I walk you through how to create content that gets you seen, but more importantly, gets you seen by the right people. So not just more views for the sake of it, but attracting the kind of people who are actually likely to follow you, engage with your content, and eventually become clients.

My students have seen some amazing results from this course. So go and check out the sales page in the show notes if you want to have a nosey. And of course, if you've got any questions or if you want to see if the social media made simple course would be a good fit for you,

just DM me with SMMS on Instagram and we can chat.

You can find my Instagram handle in the show notes or by searching Dietitians in Business. Bye for now.