I’ll admit it. I was late to the Instagram party. I didn’t even start my @MarketingWithDave account until March 2025. Since then, I’ve posted every Tuesday and Thursday, sticking to a consistent rhythm. I focused only on regular posts until the end of May, when my wife (a legit micro-influencer who actually knows what she’s doing) said, “You need to be doing Reels.”
She was right.
Even with just a sliver of data, it’s clear: Reels are outperforming regular posts, and quickly.
In March and April, I didn’t post a single Reel. But in May, after switching gears, my Reels engagement rate increased by over 1700%.
I manually tracked engagement metrics across March, April, and May. Yes, manually, because Instagram doesn’t make this easy. From what I can tell, very few people are reporting on Instagram analytics like this, because there’s no clean dashboard unless you’re exporting data via Meta’s API.
Here’s what I found:
- Post engagement peaked in April, then dropped off hard in May.
- Reels engagement shot up once I started posting them, despite only having a few Reel interactions to measure.
Reels + Stories = More Momentum
Starting at the end of May, every time I posted a Reel, I followed it up with an Instagram Story. I didn’t think much of it at the time, but looking back, this combo amplified results. Stories help remind followers your content exists and give Instagram another signal that you’re active and worth showing. It’s hard to separate their individual impact, but together, Reels and Stories feel like a smart move worth continuing.
A Few Takeaways
- Reels clearly outshine Posts. Even just dipping my toe in brought more reach and interaction. The Instagram algorithm clearly favors them.
- Manual tracking is a pain. Instagram’s insights are fragmented and there’s no easy export option. Unless you’re a spreadsheet nerd (guilty), most people won’t do this. But it’s worth doing if you’re trying to measure what’s actually working.
- Post engagement isn’t dead, but it needs support. My posts still brought in likes and comments, but not at the same scale or consistency as Reels.
What’s Next?
I’m going to keep the Tuesday and Thursday cadence but mix in more Reels. I’ll keep tracking manually for now and report back when there’s a bigger data set to work with.