Articles on: Instagram

Publish an Instagram Trial Reel from Notion

Trial Reels let you test a reel with people who don't follow you yet, before deciding whether to share it with your audience. With Scheduled, you turn this on straight from your Notion database, without changing how you schedule.

What is a Trial Reel?

When you publish a reel in trial mode, Instagram shows it only to non-followers at first. Your followers don't see it in their feed. You watch how it performs with this new audience, then you decide yourself to "graduate" it and push it to all your followers.

It's handy for testing a format, a hook or a topic without cluttering your existing community's feed.

How to publish a Trial Reel

1. Add the `sc_trial_reel` property to your Notion database

Go to the Notion database you use with Scheduled
Add a property named sc_trial_reel (type "Checkbox")
This column marks the reels you want to publish in trial mode

2. Tick the box on your reel card

On your Instagram reel card, tick sc_trial_reel
Fill in the other fields as usual (video, text, date, cover…)
Schedule via Scheduled: your reel goes out as a Trial Reel, visible only to non-followers

⚠️ Trial mode only works on Instagram reels. Ticking the box on a story, an image post or another network has no effect.

3. Graduate the reel to your followers

The decision to show the reel to your followers happens inside the Instagram app, not in Scheduled
Open the reel in Instagram, then choose to "graduate" it to share it with all your followers
Until you do this, the reel stays limited to non-followers

This is an Instagram constraint: graduating a Trial Reel is a manual action that happens in the app. Scheduled schedules the trial, but you press the final button when you're ready.

🤔 Frequently asked questions

Do my followers see the reel right away? No. While it's in trial, only non-followers see it.
What happens if I never graduate the reel? It stays visible only to non-followers. It never reaches your followers' feed.
Does it work on stories? No, only on Instagram reels.
Do I need a special permission? No, it works with your usual Instagram connection.

Key takeaways

A Trial Reel is shown to non-followers first, not to your followers
Turn it on by ticking sc_trial_reel on your reel card in Notion
Works only for Instagram reels
Graduating to your followers is done manually from the Instagram app
No extra permission to enable

Followed every step and it still doesn't work? Reach out via the chat at the bottom right or at [email protected]. We'll help you diagnose 🙌

Updated on: 23/07/2026

Was this article helpful?

Thank you!